Baby Be Mine (Spinsters & Casanovas Series Book 1) (15 page)

“About capturing the perfect sperm for
Clarice,” Elise explained.

“Why are we on to capturing sperm now? What
did I miss?” Max asked.

“Nothing much,” Whitney explained. “Just
that. To find a way to capture that sperm so Clarice can fall
pregnant before the end of the year.”

“Oh, that.” Max laughed as if he were
possessed by some unknown spirit. His eyes shot up and he stared at
the three older women, suddenly serious. “Easy,” he said, “just
pounce on him.”

“What?” Clarice was flabbergasted at her
cousin’s suggestion. “Max, I’m not a lion stalking my prey.”

“What I mean is seduce him,” Max
clarified.

“Seduce him? Like how?” Clarice asked in
confusion.

“You know, so that one plus one equals one.”
Max wiggled his eyebrows.

“No, one plus one equals two,” Whitney and
Clarice both said at the same time.

“God, why are you two so naïve? You’re both
mature women, but you don’t even know what one plus one is.”

“Max, I know my mathematics. One plus one
equals two,” Clarice told her younger cousin.

“Mmm. I was good at maths,” Whitney said,
nodding. “Even I can work it out.”

Elise began giggling on the sideline. “You
guys, what Max said has nothing to do with mathematics. He means
for you to sleep with Anton so you can have the sperm to make you
pregnant.”

“What?” Clarice’s face bloomed pink.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t think about that
avenue?” Elise asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“Of course not. I was just planning to ask
him formally,” Clarice said.

“You could and see what he says,” Whitney
added, because even she herself couldn’t even imagine Clarice
sleeping with anyone. Love was a deal-breaking factor in that
department.

“Obviously, he would say no, cuz.” Max
provided his opinion. “Who in their right mind would donate sperm
to a woman just because she asked for it? Unless you sleep with
them, of course. And how is he supposed to deliver the live sperm
to you anyway, if, hypothetically speaking, he agrees on your terms
and conditions? Like when he gets his thing up and hard, then…”
Argh, how could he explain this analogy to his cousin? Then he
finally said, “You know that thing, and then he puts it in a petri
dish for you.”

“Thing? What thing?” Clarice asked, looking
even more confused.

Max sighed. “You know… his little brother,
ding-dong, willie?”

“Urrgh, Max, that’s gross terminology.”
Clarice winced in disgust.

“What am I supposed to say? Co—”

“Don’t even say it. I’ll make you wash your
mouth out when you get home,” Clarice warned.

“Enough about the terminology, then. What
I’m trying to say is the best way is just to sleep with him. Get it
once and then it’s done. Just make sure he doesn’t wear a condom,
that’s all.”

“Max, I’m going to smack your head in a
minute. Stop suggesting such foul ideas.” Clarice’s cheeks burned
even brighter.

“You don’t have to be shy, cuz. I know
you’ve never done it before.”

“That’s it. Elise, switch seats with me. I’m
going to give this no-good cousin of mine a full-blown
punishment.”

“Elise, help me.” Max hugged himself closer
to Elise.

“You know, what Max said is also true. I
think he has a point,” Whitney said after pondering his
suggestion.

“Whitney, how could you agree with him? You
never agree on anything he says.” Clarice glared at her friend like
she’d just grown a pair of devil’s horns.

Whitney and Max hardly got along, but now it
looked like the ray of friendship was shining upon them.

“That’s because I didn’t want to admit he’s
smart. This time, he really is smart,” Whitney said.

“Whitney. I love you. I am now officially
your friend. Give me a hug.” Max got up from his seat and went to
hug Whitney from behind.

“All right, enough now, little puppy. Let’s
get back to business.” Whitney patted Max on the hand that he’d
wound around her neck. “Now, be a good boy and go back to your
seat,” she instructed.

Once Max went back to his seat as Whitney
had ordered, she turned to Clarice. “You should listen to Max’s
advice.”

“No, no. I’ve never done it before.” Clarice
shook her head, not wanting to acknowledge the truth.

“If you want his sperm that much, then
you’ll have to do it. I’ll help you,” Max added.

“No!” Clarice said. “I want a baby, but that
doesn’t mean I have to beg someone to sleep with me. I still have
my dignity, you know.”

“Fine,” Max grumbled as he slid back into
his chair.

Meanwhile, Whitney and Elise watched their
friend’s sad face and wondered what they could do to help with her
dilemma.

CHAPTER 12

“Yahooo!” Max shouted out to the pristine
lake below, standing on the balcony, his arms wide apart like he
was Moses parting the Red Sea. The wind blew cold upon his face,
messing up his already brown mop of hair. “I am here, Queenstown.
Wait for me. I’m coming for you tonight.”

“Max, shut up, will you?” Clarice hushed him
while unpacking their luggage.

Clarice couldn’t help being upset. That talk
she had with her friends and Max the other day was still rolling
around in her head. She really wanted Anton’s sperm, but there was
no way in heaven she was going to sleep with him. She guessed her
next best bet would be to go back to the fertility clinic and apply
for that sperm donor again.

“Hmm,” she sighed in sadness.

“Why are you so down, cuz?” Max asked,
coming back from the balcony. “We’re in Queenstown. The air is
fresh, the lake is as clear as the sky above, and we are breathing.
We are alive. I am alive, Queenstown. Can you hear me? I am alive,”
Max shouted again.

Somewhere down below their eleventh-floor
hotel suite, they could hear a distinct shout of, “Yeah, we can
hear you. Now shut up!”

“See, even the people downstairs are annoyed
with your hyperactive mood.”

“So what? They just don’t know how to have
fun.”

“Yeah right.” Clarice eyed her cousin, who
didn’t seem to be affected by anything. Sometimes she just wished
she could be more like him. She shook her head to dispel this
dreary dilemma of hers and continued to unpack her bag in silence
instead.

“Cuz, don’t say you’re still upset about
that talk we had the other night.”

“I’m fine,” Clarice said to reassure him.
She really didn’t want to think about that subject just now. They
were here in Queenstown for her talk at the Dental Hygiene
Conference and for a well-deserved break, so no talking about
unhappy issues.

“You don’t look fine to me.” Max came to
look at his cousin’s face. “Look, I’m sure all will work out. I
promise. I have a good feeling about coming here. I feel all your
dreams will come true.”

“What? Like having a baby?” Clarice
jested.

“I don’t know,” Max said, quirking his
eyebrows. “Just know it might happen if you really want it.”

“Really?” Clarice asked her sweet cousin. He
always managed to put a smile on her face.

“Let me hear you say it.” Max teased
her.

“Say what, you rascal?” Clarice smiled,
shaking her head at her cousin’s childlike behavior.

“That you want your Mr. Anton’s sperm so you
can make the perfect baby with your egg.”

“Max!” Clarice jerked her head up from the
folded clothes to stare at her cousin, who still had that
mischievous look on his face. “Shut up. I’m embarrassed.”

“Oh, come on, say it.” Max tempted Clarice
to confess her desire for wanting a baby.

“No.” Clarice just shook her head and turned
away from Max, but he was being persistent as he followed her
around and around until she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Max, stop it. You’re starting to piss me
off. If you continue to do this, I might not take you out for
dessert. Remember your favourite gelato?” she warned.

“No, I don’t care about that gelato. I want
to hear you say it. Say it, Clarice. Otherwise, I’ll continue to
annoy you.” Max blackmailed his cousin.

“Okay! Okay! I want Anton’s sperm,” Clarice
said just so he would shut his mouth. “Happy now?”

“Very happy,” Max said, then went to the
door. “I’m going out exploring. Let’s have dinner at The Burger
tonight at six after the conference, okay? Then we can go
sightseeing and get that gelato.”

“Yes, sure. And be careful exploring. If you
need anything, just call my cell.”

“I know. And, you, don’t forget to smile,”
Max said, smiling cheekily at her through the cracked door. “Be
happy now. Keep studying those notes. You don’t know when that
cupid will arrange for your wish to come true.”

“Aye, aye.” Clarice nodded her head. When
she heard the door shut, she lay down on the bed and closed her
eyes. Suddenly, something Max had said struck her.

Notes? What notes?

Ah, the presentation notes for her
appearance this afternoon.

Clarice took out her stack of notes from her
bag. Except, along with the presentation notes came flying the
lists and doodles she’d written for her “quest for sperm
research.”

Clarice’s face bloomed red as she shyly
picked up the papers that had dropped to the floor.

How did these notes appear in her bag?
Didn’t she hide them in the safety of her locked drawer?

Clarice cast her mind back to the time when
her friends were deep in discussion mode on the hot topic of
“mission capturing Anton’s sperm.” After that conversation, despite
being truly adamant about not going down the path of the devil, her
mind would not stop thinking about it. She’d bit her lips and flung
all caution out the window to study the art of seduction, just so
she could get Anton to sleep with her.

So the research was underway, without anyone
knowing of course. She started reading romance novels, her favorite
genre, but that didn’t really explain how to get a guy into bed at
all. So she resorted to reading erotic romance, which was
definitely not her genre, but for the sake of research, she had to
take one for the team. It was her habit to read every night before
going to bed, and she’d been doing so for the past week. In total,
she’d read five books and had even taken comprehensive notes.

But dearie, did it give her a nosebleed when
she got to those scenes. When she read the first line, she almost
threw the book across the room, but her curiosity for the unknown
prevented her from burning the whole stack of books in the log
burner. Her mind had now been corrupted with those steamy,
jaw-dropping scenes, but they did give her a clearer understanding
of what she must do.

Sitting on the bed and making sure she was
comfortable, she started skimming through the contents again.

“First step,” she started reading, “to lure
him in.”

She chuckled and shook her head. Yeah, it
was so like her to lure Anton into bed. She could not, in a million
years, see herself luring
anyone
into her bed, least of all
Anton.

“Step two: say sweet things to him in a
seductive tone, dripping with honey, to turn him on.”

Clarice pondered this statement. Sure she
could muster the “sweet things.” Max mentioned she said sweet
things to him all the time, so that wasn’t a problem at all. But to
say sweet seductive things dripping with honey, she’d never done
that before. Did she even possess such a voice?

“Step three: kiss him,” she read out.

Kiss him? Clarice shook her head. How does
one kiss someone? Then the image of that Casanova popped into her
head, like an uninvited gatecrasher at a party, of that one episode
when they’d accidently smashed their lips against each other’s
outside the bathroom at the Cambodian restaurant.

No, no, no.
She shook her head to
dispel the image. Definitely not, most definitely, definitely not.
But she couldn’t help remembering the feel of those lips resting
upon her own, so soft, as he tasted her, teased her, as if
searching for something.

She touched her own lips, remembering the
feel of Hunter’s on hers, tracing her index finger softly along.
Yes, right there. Those lips touched hers right there, so silky
smooth, so velvety, like the taste of a plum, ripe and juicy,
deli—

“Clarice, stop it right now.” She snapped
out of her delirium and slapped herself on the cheek when she
realized she was fantasizing about Hunter. “Why are you fantasizing
about that Casanova kissing you? Step four, step four, read step
four.” Her hands were fluffing around in nervousness, trying to
grab hold of the notes in front of her, and then when the words
came into focus again, she read, “Step four: have seeex with
him.”

Not used to saying the word, her mouth just
wouldn’t cooperate with her.

“Sex?” Clarice asked herself. “Have sex? How
does one do that without love?” She pondered. Surely they needed to
love each other.

What other reasons could drive someone to
seek another person’s bed? Money? Boredom maybe?

Oh, what was she thinking? Clarice slapped
herself again. What she-devil had possessed her to write this stuff
down? It wasn’t like she was going to act out any of it . She was a
woman, a woman with morals and dignity. She couldn’t go around
seducing harmless hot guys like Anton for the sake of sperm. She
would find other ways to get that sperm.

Happy with that thought, she quickly shoved
the notes in the drawer out of her sight before she started
thinking about it again. Then, picking up her presentation notes
this time, she started reading.

It was only a one-hour presentation, so she
should have plenty of time to dress up then meet Max at The Burger
by six.

The Burger was a restaurant next door to
Torque, one of the most prestigious nightclubs in all of New
Zealand. She didn’t know why Max would want to eat there. It was
just burgers anyway, and to get to The Burger, she’d have to walk
past the nightclub.