Forever Wishes (Montana Brides Book 4) (20 page)

Erin shook her head. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that because it isn’t true.”
 

“You weren’t wrong. I used Scott as an excuse for being a self-centered bastard. All he’s ever wanted from me is my love and support. Scott’s the one who had to deal with people putting limitations on his life, when there weren’t any in the first place. Mom and dad had their own issues going on, and I guess it was easier to blame myself for their problems as well.”
 

He looked down at her t-shirt and sighed. “I could have made more of an effort to be part of my family, but I’m trying to make up for lost time now.”

Erin sunk into the nearest sofa.

“I’m still not convinced I’d make a good father, but I want to be a special person in your life.”

Her heart thumped in her chest. She’d come to his house hoping they could still be friends. She hadn’t expected anything more, didn’t know what to say to the man looking at her like she was the most important person in the world.

He sat beside her. Reaching forward, he gently held her hands. “I’ve been thinking about what you said about marriage and children. I know you’re worried about leaving it too long to start trying for a baby, so I’ve got a deal to offer you.”

Erin blinked. Had she heard him correctly? “
What
have you got to offer me?”

“A deal. A contract. Kind of.” He looked uncomfortable.
 

She felt confused. “I thought you were going to…you know.” Good grief. She’d just about made a total fool of herself. She had no idea what marriage, babies and her tight biological timeframe had to do with a contract. Unless he wanted her to sign a prenup before they got married.
 

But he hadn’t asked her to marry him. And his truck was worth more than her entire life savings. She sat back, finally realizing what he was worried about. “I’m not interested in how much money you have. I’ll sign whatever you want me to.”

“What are you talking about?”
 

Erin took a deep breath. Wrong again. “I don’t know,” she groaned. She needed to take ten steps back and try and work out what he’d been talking about. “What contract did you want to talk to me about?”

“A baby contract.” He sat back on the sofa with a satisfied gleam in his eye. As if those three little words should make complete sense to her.

She looked at him again, waiting for the punch line in an awful joke. He didn’t say a word. He kept looking at her as if he’d discovered another solar system circling in the night sky. “You want to help me adopt a baby?”

He frowned. “Adopt a baby? Why would you want to do that when I’m offering you my sperm?”

He was? Oh Lord. “I’m really confused. What has a contract and your sperm got to do with adopting a baby?”

“Nothing!” He stood up and started pacing backward and forward. “Forget the adoption thing. I’m going to write a contract that gives us a certain amount of time to get to know each other. If either of us doesn’t want to continue the relationship after that time, then I’ll guarantee the use of my sperm so you can get pregnant. If we stay together, you get my sperm anyway. Free of charge.”

Erin’s lips clamped together. “And what kind of timeline were you thinking about?” He stopped pacing and sat back down beside her. If he wasn’t careful she’d find the rest of the spaghetti and dump the whole lot over his thick head.

“We could negotiate that. I thought maybe a year. That would give you time to get pregnant before your eggs totally dry up.”

She choked on her spit. “I’ve got time! I’m only twenty-eight-years-old.”

He raised his eyebrows.

She glared back. “Alright, I’m nearly twenty-nine. But my eggs won’t reach maturity until I’m in my mid-thirties.”
 

Jake rolled his eyes as if a few years made that much difference to his argument.
 

Damn straight they did. That time made a huge difference to her options. Limited as they were. “And how were you planning on getting me pregnant, on the off chance we ended up hating each other after twelve months?”

“Turkey baster.”

Erin’s mouth dropped open.

“It’s true. I read about it on the internet. It’s almost as good as the real thing.”

She stared at his crotch.
 

He crossed his legs. “It won’t come to that anyway,” he muttered.

Visions of a similar conversation she’d had with Nicky played over in her mind like a rerun of a bad movie. Only she hadn’t been able to work out how to combine her two passions in life. Jake and babies. Now she knew. She took a deep breath, trying to ignore visions of plastic turkey basters getting anywhere near her body.

“What do you think?” he asked.

She stared at him. He wanted an answer now? Right at this very moment? She couldn’t even work out if either of them would be considered sane enough to enter into such a harebrained contract.
 

She cleared her throat. “Well…the idea’s got merit.” It was just a pity she hadn’t thought of it a few months ago. “I can see how the contract would benefit me. But what do you get out of it?”

Heat rushed to his face, and his gaze shot across the room. He slipped into lawyer mode, trying to look mature and sophisticated. But the dull blush skimming his face gave him away. “Well…there’d be certain benefits that would make the sacrifice of a few sperm acceptable.”

There was only one benefit she could think of that might inspire a baby-phobic male to provide his sperm to an estrogen starved female. “Like what?”

On a rush of air, he said, “Sex. Lots of it. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow.”

Her eyes widened until she felt like she had two saucers stuck to her face. Heat swept through her body, wiping every scrap of common sense away in a rush of hormones.
 

That sounded more like a mutually beneficial outcome to her. A bubble of laughter tickled her throat. “I might get performance anxiety issues with that much pressure.”

The smile on Jake’s face nearly had her asking for an immediate one night trial. But she’d already had two of those, and performance issues hadn’t been a problem.

She took a deep breath. “Okay.”

He stared at her. “Okay, what?”

“Okay, I’ll be your sex slave for twelve months. But I have a few conditions of my own.”

He groaned. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

She tilted her nose in the air, deciding to ignore his interruption. “If either of us decides not to continue our relationship, our baby still gets to spend time with you and your family. I want our child to know them as if we were still a part of each other’s life.”

He nodded. “Fine. And?”

Erin swallowed. “And if we break up, I get full custody with weekend visitation rights for you. I’m not letting you take our child away if you find someone else you want to live with.”

He stared at her in silence. A sadness filled his eyes that she didn’t understand. “I’d never take our child from you.”

She took a deep breath, trying to stay focused, but his blue eyes tore straight into her soul. He’d never do anything to intentionally hurt her, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

“I’ll put it in the contract,” he sighed.

She nodded, glad she was still sitting down. “The next one involves everyone else. I don’t want to tell anyone about the contract. Nicky and Emily wouldn’t talk to me again if they knew what we were doing.”

“Are you sure you haven’t been thinking about this before now?”

Heat scorched her cheeks. “I may have considered a similar plan a few months ago.”

Jake frowned. “When you asked me about whether I’d donate my sperm in the interests of science?”

“I wouldn’t say science had a lot to do with it,” she mumbled.

“Okay. Is there anything else?”

Erin rested her hand on his denim clad leg, and then slowly brushed her fingertips up his thigh. He flinched, sucking in a breath too raspy to be anything except pure, undiluted lust. “There’s just one more condition.”
 

Her hand wandered a bit more. Jake leaned back and closed his eyes. She knelt beside him on the sofa, rubbing her lips against his ear. “I want to see if the benefits you were referring to earlier are achievable.” Her lips skimmed along his jaw, and then devoured his mouth in a kiss that left them both gasping for breath.
 

Jake pulled her onto his lap, and she felt just how achievable those benefits were. His fingers started to do some wandering of their own.
 

Within thirty seconds her jeans were unbuttoned and a warm hand had slipped under her panties. She wiggled as raw, urgent need shuddered through her body. She tried to open her legs, but her jeans locked her in place. She needed him deep inside her, and she needed him now.
 

She pulled his hand away and slid onto the sofa. Grinning at the confused, totally-ready-for-sex look on his face, she yanked her t-shirt over her head and pushed her jeans and panties off her legs.
 

He wasn’t slow on the uptake. Before she had her bra unhooked, his jeans, boxers, and shirt had disappeared off his body. The only thing he wore was the biggest smile she’d ever seen. And that suited her just fine.

Jake grabbed a clean shirt out of his closet, buttoning it on the way to the kitchen.
 

He heard Erin’s feet slap against the wooden floors as she hurtled around the corner of the living room, wearing her t-shirt and underwear and nothing else. Her green eyes darted around the room, hunting for something.
 

“Have you seen my purse? I put a lipstick in the side pocket.” She ran over to her jacket, picked it up, and smiled when something heavy hit the floor with a thud. “Don’t worry. I’ve found it.”
 

He watched his raven haired tornado fly back across the room and disappear into the bathroom. He had a feeling the next few months were going to be just as chaotic as the last half hour.
 

He hadn’t known whether she’d agree to his baby plan or not. It seemed calculated, too clinical for someone who dreamed of motherhood and marriage wrapped together in a bright red bow. He suspected a good dose of happy-ever-after had entered into those dreams as well. But she’d agreed to his crazy contract. Agreed wholeheartedly if the way they’d sealed their bargain was anything to go by.
 

He walked toward the bathroom, watching her get ready for Nicky and Sam’s pregnancy celebration. She flicked her head forward, letting the hot blast of air from the hairdryer blow into her tumbled mass of mahogany curls. She lifted her head and stared straight at him in the bathroom mirror. Her green eyes glowed with excitement.
 

“How are we going for time?”

He glanced down at his watch. “It’s ten minutes since you last asked. I’m sure Nicky and Sam won’t notice if we’re a few minutes late.”

She put the hairdryer away and reached for her lipstick. “Are you kidding? Nicky’s got a stopwatch surgically stitched to her brain. She’ll remember exactly when she called me and have a pretty good idea of when we should arrive.”

He smiled, watching pale peach gloss slip across the lips that had sent his body to heaven and back. “She’s got Sam to keep her occupied now.”

Erin rolled her eyes. “Sam can’t change what’s ingrained in her DNA.” She gave her lips a final pucker, pulled on her jeans, and slipped her feet into her shoes. “Let’s go.”

Taking separate vehicle’s to Sam and Nicky’s ranch almost undid all of Jake’s good intentions. The only thing keeping him on the road were the red tail lights of Erin’s Honda zipping along the road in front of him.
 

So much for Mr. Macho. Sweaty armpits and heart palpitations weren’t the sign of a confident man. Just thinking about stretch marks and cracked nipples made his stomach clench. He’d better get used to it, because in the not so distant future he’d be dealing with all the traumas of Erin’s pregnant body. Whether he like it or not.

He knew he’d caught her off guard by agreeing to go to the baby party. Hell, he’d managed to surprise himself at how easy it was to say yes. Lucy would be proud of him. Even he was proud of himself. How hard could a baby orange juice celebration be? He knew for a fact that it wasn’t as hard as making the decision to donate his sperm to Erin’s baby making dreams.