CEO's Pregnant Lover (7 page)

The first touch of his lips against hers had Brianna’s heart racing and she moaned and softened against him more.

Trent gently explored her lips with his own, taking little sips from her lips and coaxing her to let him in. As she eased her mouth open, Trent took advantage and surged in. His tongue taking long sweeps inside her mouth, urging her tongue to tangle with his own.

Brianna couldn’t ever remember being kissed like this. It was like he was making love to her mouth. She had only had two serious relationships in the past, and neither of them had been interested in kissing her like this. It was like being devoured and cherished all at the same time.

When Trent heard the little moan leave her throat, he pulled her tighter against himself and let his hand move up to tangle in the hair at the nape of her neck. Gathering the long strands together, he transferred them to one hand and let his other roam over her face and down the side of her neck. Tracing the vee of her shirt to where it was buttoned, he played with the button there, waiting for her to protest and tell him to stop.

Brianna closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling of Trent’s hands on her. All week he had been touching her; a brush against her shoulder with his arm as he reached for something, leaning against her back while looking over her shoulder, his hand in the small of her back as he ushered her into the elevator. She hadn’t realized how much she had desired his hands on her. Now that they were, she didn’t want him to stop.

Trent told himself he needed to stop, but it felt so good to hold her in his arms, he just couldn’t do it. His fingers played with the button between her ample breasts, and he wished they were already home. Then his conscience reminded him that she was injured, wasn’t thinking clearly, and how in appropriate it would be for him to continue taking advantage of her in this condition.

Moving his hand back up to her neck, he slowly brought the kiss back so that it was a gentle taking and giving of kisses. Finally lifting his mouth from hers, he pushed her head back down against his chest and felt her settle against him with a long sigh.

The remainder of the drive was made in silence. Trent continued to run his hand through her hair, being careful to avoid the bandage on her temple.

Brianna closed her eyes and enjoyed being held and the sure knowledge that she was safe in this moment. How long had it been since she could say she felt safe at night? Five months? Six months? Whatever it was, she was going to live for this moment, who knew how long it would be before she felt this way again.

Trent instructed his driver to unload Brianna’s belongings and stack them in the back hallway. She wouldn’t need anything tonight, and there’d be time enough to deal with them tomorrow.

After getting Brianna settled into bed, he made a few phone calls and arranged to have his second in command handle the negotiations scheduled for the morning. He then called Janet and let her know what had happened and told her that he and Brianna would be taking Monday off. Janet offered to come over and stay with Brianna, but Trent declined, encouraging her to enjoy the rest of the evening with her husband Shawn.

After ensuring that everything was in place for the negotiation to go smoothly, he climbed the stairs to check on Brianna. He had put her in his bed, telling himself that he would sleep in one of the guest rooms. But seeing her snuggled down in his bed had those thoughts quickly being put aside.

In deference to his houseguest, he donned a pair of pajama pants before climbing into the bed next to her. He turned the lights down, not wanting her to become fearful if she should wake up during the night and not remember where she was.

The doctor had instructed him to wake her up every hour. It was just after midnight and he set the alarm for 1 a.m., taking his job as her caretaker seriously.

*****

It felt like he had just closed his eyes when his alarm went off, reminding him to check on Brianna once again. He had followed the doctor’s instructions, waking her every hour, and this was the last of the recommended checks. He glanced at the clock and tried not to groan when he read 7 a.m.; it had been a very long night and he felt like he could sleep for hours.

Brianna had slept the sleep of one suffering from complete exhaustion, waking only to let him check her eyes, before falling right back to sleep.

Performing the last required check, Trent made sure the alarm was in the off position and settled down for some uninterrupted sleep.

*****

Brianna struggled to open her eyes, groaning as the light sent shards of glass ripping through her brain. Slowly turning her head away from the source of the light, she cracked her eyes open only to find herself face to face with her boss, Trent Coldwell.

He was propped upon an elbow, and shirtless. That fact registered, as did the muscles and broad shoulders. Brianna let her eyes open more fully and took in the whiskers, which darkened his normally clean-shaven jawline. His hair was tousled and his eyes were looking at her with a warmth she hadn’t seen previously on his face.

Trent watched Brianna slowly come awake and resisted the urge to brush her hair off her face. The edges of the bandage showed the evidence of a bruise which had formed around her cut. He watched her eyes widen as she recognized where she was and then saw the beginnings of desire ignite in her warm gaze as she looked at his bare chest and face.

“Good morning. How are you feeling?”

Brianna watched his mouth move and remembered what it had felt like to have his lips on hers. Had she really made out with her boss in the back of a moving vehicle last night? She started to sit up and then realized that she was wearing nothing beneath the sheet. Where were her clothes? Furthermore, who had removed them?

Trent watched the emotions cross Brianna’s face as she realized she was naked beneath the bed sheet. Before she could voice her questions, he said, “I figured you would sleep more comfortably if you weren’t fighting your clothing.”

Brianna swallowed before letting her thoughts be voiced, “Did you have to remove my bra as well?”

Trent hid his grin, he hadn’t
had
to remove her bra, but the desire to look upon her abundance had been overwhelming, and once he’d begun, he found himself unable to stop from removing the remainder of her garments. She was magnificent and he couldn’t wait until she was feeling better so that he could show her exactly how magnificent he found her.

Answering her question, he reached a hand up to brush the back of his fingers down her cheek, cupping her neck, “Brianna, No – I didn’t have to remove your undergarments. I’m not sorry I did, you’re gorgeous. Every inch of you.”

Brianna blushed and wondered if he had hit his head instead of her. Her last boyfriend had only been interested in mauling her breasts and finding his pleasure as quickly as possible. Brianna had only engaged in sex with him a few times and had found each time lacking. After her mother’s stroke, Brianna had barely found time to sleep, and sex was the furthest thing from her mind.

Todd had been less than patient and blamed her for the growing problems in their relationship. According to Todd, it was her job as his girlfriend to make time to help him relieve his stress from work. She had been tempted to ask who was supposed to be helping her relieve the stress of caring for a critically ill mother? Instead, she had attempted to meet his needs, but her lack of enthusiasm had been hard to hide. Todd had vacated her life within a few weeks of her mother’s illness.

Her first boyfriend hadn’t been able to think about anyone but himself. She had given in and had sex with him one time, but when he had started calling her dirty names, she had been so turned off; she had refused to repeat the experience. He had called her a prude, sexless and frigid. She had been glad to see the last of him.

Then her mother had suffered a stroke. Time for boyfriends had disappeared as Brianna’s entire world had narrowed to caring for her mother and making enough money to provide for those services.

Trent waited for Brianna to speak, and when she didn’t, he quietly inquired, “Is your head still hurting this morning?”

Brianna raised her eyes and attempted to nod, only to stop on a groan as the glass shards changed direction in her brain. Closing her eyes, she waited until the stabbing pain stopped before she weakly responded, “Yes.”

Trent couldn’t stand to see her hurting, and quickly left the bed and returned with two of the pain killers and a glass of water. Trent had never felt this need to care for someone else. Normally, his interaction with women involved being seen at some function with them, providing them with an appropriate token of his affection, and then returning to their place for some meaningless sex, at least on his part.

He never brought them home, needing the ability to leave on his time frame, not theirs. Pam had often told him that his idea of a relationship was just shy of hiring a local streetwalker, but Trent argued that the women he chose to date were after the same thing he was and everyone knew the score going in. Nobody got hurt, no harm, no foul.

Caring for Brianna had sparked a thread of humanity in Trent that he frankly hadn’t known was there. Ever since Serena had played him for the fool and then killed herself, laying the blame on him, he had sworn off serious relationships. He had attempted to let his heart guide his actions once before and had it trampled upon. Never again was his motto; at least until Brianna Daughtry had walked into his life. He had this overwhelming urge to take care of her and right all that was wrong in her world.

Sitting up to take the tablets seemed to rob Brianna of what strength she had left, and she promptly fell back to sleep.

When she woke several hours later, it was to find herself alone in a luxurious bedroom with the curtains drawn to keep out the sunlight. Rising from the bed, she pulled the sheet around her body and chanced a glimpse out the window. The backyard was unlike anything she had ever seen, except on the TV or in magazines. A brilliant blue pool occupied one side of the yard, complete with a pool house, and the other side of the yard extended to a tennis court.

She didn’t know where she was, but it was evident that this was not a cheap hotel. Entering the bathroom, she was surprised to see that she wasn’t in a hotel as she had first assumed, but a private residence. Trent’s private residence; his private bathroom to be exact.

She opened the medicine cabinet and spied the bottles of cologne and couldn’t resist smelling them until she found the one that he had worn all week. He found her standing at the sink, wrapped in the sheet from the bed, eyes closed with his cologne bottle opened and it appeared that she was smelling it. Was she remembering his smell?

Leaning against the doorjamb, he waited for her to open her eyes and discover she had company.

Brianna inhaled deeply and then slowly lowered the bottle, closing the lid as she did so. She put the bottle back inside the cabinet and then closed it, gasping as she spied Trent lounging in the doorway.

Grabbing the sheet with both hands, she turned slowly to face him. “You startled me.”

“You look like you’re feeling better.”

She started to nod and then stopped herself, her head was just barely throbbing and she didn’t want to chance the drums starting up again. “I do. I was looking for my clothes?”

“I gave them to my housekeeper. I’m afraid your skirt was beyond repair and your shirt will most likely be permanently stained from the cut on your head having dripped onto it.”

Brianna looked down, well that was just great. Not only had she incurred even more medical bills with last night’s events, but she was also down one serviceable outfit, leaving her with only a few shirts and … Suddenly she remembered seeing Trent and someone else in that crummy motel room, packing her stuff and hauling it away? Was that a dream, or…?

“Did you take my stuff?” she asked.

Trent pushed away from the door, but before he could speak, she continued, “What I meant to say was, did you and someone else…”

“My driver, Tom,” Trent provided.

Brianna looked at him, “Tom… did you and Tom take myself from that motel room?”

Trent looked at her before answering, “Tell you what. You come back into the bedroom and eat the breakfast my housekeeper fixed you, and then I’ll tell you what’s going to happen.”

Brianna bristled at his high-handedness. Who did he think he was? He didn’t make decisions for her. She walked back into the bedroom and took the seat he pulled out. The delicate omelet on the plate looked fabulous. A glass of orange juice and a perfectly toasted bagel also occupied space on the breakfast tray. Glancing up, she found Trent sitting on the edge of the bed watching her. At his nod, she turned her attention to the breakfast in front of her and was surprised at how hungry she was.

Trent watched her eat and took a more thorough inventory of his houseguest. She was underweight, had the beginnings of dark circles beneath her eyes, even though she had just slept for nearly twelve hours, and was totally unaware of the effect she was having on his body.

After she finished eating, Trent outlined the plans he had made on her behalf, “So, your memory was correct in that Tom and I did remove your possessions from that dive. You will not be returning and Tom made that clear to the motel’s personnel. As far as your belongings, please explain to me how someone gets to the age of twenty-four, finds herself living in a place not fit for rats, and the sum of her possessions equals four boxes, 1 suitcase, and a trash bag full of odds and ends.”

Brianna felt like crying as Trent ruthlessly listed her life in the terms of her meager possessions. She told herself there was no shame in being where she was today, life had been hard and she was a survivor. She wouldn’t always been in this place, she just had to keep working hard and eventually she would rise above the circumstances that had brought her to this place. Who was she kidding? Life had been an excellent teacher and she would be over thirty by the time she finished paying off her mother’s hospital bills. This was her life.