A Xmas Gift: The Sperm Donor (11 page)

“You never did tell us about London. Did everything go well with your business trip?”

Lies and more lies.

“As well as it could, Mom.” Elise hugs her diminutive mother. “I’m all right, really. You go back to Dad. He’s looking for something.”

Indeed, the cry for help comes.

“Marla? Where the hell are my reading glasses?”

“Hush now, no swearing on Christmas Day, Sam. You promised.” Marla squeezes Elise’s forearm. “Let me go help your Dad before he turns the house upside down looking for it.”

Elise nods. Tingly warmth suffuses her body. She loves what her parents have together. Too bad her life isn’t going down the same path.

All that non-alcoholic punch is stretching her bladder. She supposes it’s as good a time as any.

She wanders to the bathroom upstairs. She seats herself at the toilet and takes a test kit out of her purse. As her urine pours out, she holds the strip in the warm flow. So much hope compressed in that little plastic indicator.

She holds up the test strip, her heart pounding within its casings.

As she suspected, it turns blue.

19

Justin is running in Hyde Park. His legs pump in and out furiously. Even though it’s bitterly cold and the wind is whipping up a frenzy through the barren trees, he’s only dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. His blood churns too furiously for him to feel the chill.

And anyway, he wants to punish himself. His body anyway. This run is a catharsis of sorts – for him to think things through. And his mind has been tripping over and over the same things like some cranky Laundromat.

It’s his decision and his alone.

Whatever happens thereafter will be his burden to bear.

He runs all the way to his car. The congestion charge for central London makes it expensive to drive and park, but he doesn’t care. It’s a company car anyway.

He drives back to his flat. It’s the day after New Year, and the London bustle has begun in earnest. He hits the showers immediately and lets the hot water soak his flushed skin.

He dresses in a smart charcoal grey Gucci suit. Red shirt, red tie. He eyes himself in the mirror. He’s as handsome as any male model for a designer ad, and he knows it. Instead of gladdening him, it makes him sick.

Elise was right. He’s a trophy.

He hasn’t said ‘yes’ yet to Abby. He hasn’t said ‘no’ either. He pleaded something about needing more time to think about such a momentous decision. He recalls the entire family eyeing him with hopeful expectation, willing him to say ‘yes’ – to assuage Abby’s destructive need to possess him.

Once dressed, he drives to the office. The office in which he’s soon to be promoted to COO.

He walks in with his briefcase. The receptionist greets him with a “Happy New Year, Mr. Morgan.” He smiles and gives everyone the perfunctory ‘New Year’ salutations.

He walks into the CEO’s office. Thaddeus Morton’s middle-aged female PA rises.

“Happy New Year, Justin. He’s on the phone right now, so I wouldn’t go in if I were you – ”

Justin strides in anyway despite her protests. Thaddeus Morton is indeed on the phone, but one look at Justin’s face makes him say to whomever it is on the other line, “I’ll call you back”.

Justin lays his briefcase on Thaddeus’s desk. He eyes his prospective father-in-law as he snaps it open and takes out a letter.

He hands the letter to Thaddeus.

“What is this?” the older man demands.

“My resignation.”

Thaddeus Morton raises both eyebrows.

Justin takes a deep breath. “I’m resigning from your company. I’m not marrying your daughter. Yes, I do realize she’s in a very vulnerable psychological place right now, but it’s not fair to make me jump through the hoops just because I’m afraid of what will happen to her. It’s emotional blackmail. No one has the right to do that to another human being.”

“Justin, I know what happened upset the two of you . . . but there’s no reason to – ”

“No. I’ve thought long and hard about it. If Abby goes off the deep end over this, it’s really time you seek major psychiatric counseling for her.” He holds up his hand to stop Thaddeus from interrupting. “No. Like I said, I’ve thought about it. You know as much that Abby’s threats to kill herself if she doesn’t get her way have got to stop. Especially if she is going to have any semblance of a normal life.”

“Justin, her threats are very real. She’s a seriously damaged woman – ”

“Who needs help . . . but not from me. Not anymore, that is. I know this sounds callous and hard, but believe me, I can’t live the rest of my life being held by the throat to someone else’s whims.” Justin feels the burden slowly lifting from his shoulders. “I should have ended it a long time ago before it got to this. That is entirely my fault and I’m sorry.”

He can see the pain in Thaddeus Morton’s eyes. There is pain, but also understanding.

Justin says, “I’m telling you first . . . but I’m going to tell her right now. Please . . . stand by.”

Both of them know what he is saying.

Thaddeus says, “No, Justin. I’d rather you didn’t tell her face to face. Let me be the one to tell her. I’ll . . . let her down easy.”

They lock eyes for a long time. Then Justin nods.

“Thank you,” he says softly.

“I’m losing one hell of a COO.”

“You’d probably be getting one better than me.”

“I doubt that.”

He gets up from behind his desk and they shake hands firmly.

“So where will you be going?” Thaddeus asks.

Justin smiles. “Somewhere I should have gone a long time ago. My own path.”

20

Elise is looking at several storyboards on a new beer campaign when Alice Munro, the department gossip, scuttles in.

“There’s someone calling for you at the reception,” she says mysteriously.

“Who?”

“He’s walking in right here as we speak.”

Elise looks up, amazed, as Justin walks through the door. He’s dressed in a black wifebeater, over which he has donned a white shirt. He wears a pair of black Levi’s. Very casual compared to his usual fare.

At first, she has to blink a few times to make sure he’s not an apparition. Apparently not, because all the women in the room are staring at him too with obvious admiration. And who can blame them? Justin Morgan is a very stunning man.

But he seems to only have eyes for her as he strides across the room until he is at her side. He smiles. She can feel her stomach tightening. Butterflies swim everywhere, or maybe she’s floating off her feet on little fairy wings – she can’t tell.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” she stammers.

OK, that is so lame.

“I’m on vacation,” he says. “No, actually, I’m on permanent vacation. I’m unemployed. I’m looking for a job.”

“Stateside? Whatever happened to – ?”

“I quit.”

“Why? I thought you were going to be – ?”

“COO?” He gives a short laugh. “I decided that the price for it is too high to pay.”

She looks at him wonderingly. So much to ask. So much to catch up. And she hasn’t even scratched the tip of the iceberg. It is like they are the only two people in the room, even though everyone is watching and listening with bated breath.

He says, “Actually, I do have a favor to ask you, Elise.”

She’s experiencing déjà vu here.

“Shoot,” she says. Right to the point, as always.

“I would like you to consider letting me into your life again. Whatever happened to you and your ex is the past. We are the present and the future. You don’t have to go to a sperm bank to make a baby. I’m offering my services, right here . . . for as long as it takes.”

“You mean right now?” She steals a look at everyone. They are silent and extremely fascinated. The women are envious. And no wonder. Justin’s hazel eyes are lighted up into a transparent green by the sunshine pouring through the windows, and he is so beautiful that he takes her breath away.

He grins. “We can talk terms and conditions over lunch. I don’t suppose you have a Pret A Manger’s downstairs?”

She grins back as she strokes the shoal of her tummy. “No, but we sure do have a lot of talk about.”

His eyes widen in amazement. “You mean – ”

“Yes.”

“Oh wow.” His face transforms into almost rapture.

Impulsively, she reaches for his hand and pulls him away – out of the room, away from everyone, and into the great, big unknown.

The unknown they will explore together.

EROTICA BY APHRODITE HUNT

The ‘Bound
and Shackled
to the Billionaire’ series

His Indecent Proposition

His Indecent Demands

His Indecent Desires

His Indecent Secrets

His Indecent Revelations

The ‘Initiation’ series

Open Your Legs for Me

Blindfolded and Spread-eagled

Thighs Wide Apart

Teacher, Please Spread my Pussy

The Final Initiation

The Initiation: A Bundle of 5 Stories

The ‘Initiation 2’ series

Open Your Legs for my Family

Bend Over for my Family

Publicly Display Yourself for Me

Sex Slave at Sea

Paraded before the Billionaires

Sex Slave at the Auction

The ‘Initiation 3’ series

Sex Slave to the Dictator

Shacked by the Dictator

‘
The Royal Captive’ series

Prince Miro’s Capture

Prince Miro’s Submission

Prince Miro’s Enslavement

Prince Miro’s Punishment

Prince Miro’s Escape

Prince Miro’s Final Confrontation

The Royal Captive: Vol 1 to 3

The Royal Captive: Vol 4 to 6

The ‘Naughty Nymphomaniac’ series

I was a Naughty Nymphomaniac

Officer, Please Spread and Cuff Me

Gang Banged by the Chain Gang

Tempting the Hot Navy SEAL

The ‘Delicate Piercings’ series

Her First Clit Ring

Her First Clit Ring 2: Menage

Her First Clit Ring 3: Desensitization

The ‘Undercover’ series

Undercover: Exposing the Bad Doctor

Undercover: Stealing from the Sexy CEO

The ‘Alien’ series

Trapped with Sex-Starved Aliens

Trapped with Sex-Starved Aliens 2

Hot, Wet and Steamy
(individual stories)

When He’s Inside You

My Stepson is a Naughty Stripper

The Gorgeous Naked Man in my Storm Shelter (Erotic Suspense)

A Xmas Gift: The Sperm Donor

WORKS BY ARTEMIS HUNT

EROTIC ROMANCES

The ‘Inhumanly Handsome, Humanly Flawed Alpha Male’ series

A Virgin Enslaved

The Pretend Boyfriend

The Pretend Boyfriend 2

The ‘Maid for the Billionaire Prince’ series

Mysterious Desire

Forbidden Desire

Infamous Desire

Royal Desire

Maid for the Billionaire Prince

ROMANCES

The Body Snatcher Wears Lipstick

Snow White and the Alien

Dear reader, as this list is not always comprehensive due to more stories being churned out after this point in publishing, please visit
http://artemishunt.blogspot.com/
and
http://aphroditehunt.blogspot.com/
for more stories and updates. I write as Artemis Hunt for erotic romances with a more romance feel and Aphrodite Hunt for pure erotica and erotic romances which are slightly kinkier. So please be aware of what you’re getting into, dear reader, when you read one of my stories. Thank you so much for your support.

READ THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS OF ‘THE PRETEND BOYFRIEND 2’ BY ARTEMIS HUNT