Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance (43 page)

I
didn’t know
what to do.

I didn’t need a doctor. I probably needed to sit down. I should have wanted a stiff drink but
that
wasn’t a good idea now.

The trainers said to wait it out, drink some Gatorade, and let an ambulance take me to the hospital. I refused, staying until the dizziness stopped and I could make it to my doctor without the media blitz.

This wasn’t a story I wanted spread unless it was absolutely true.

The doctor confirmed our suspicions with a smile.

I didn’t believe her. I left her office and bought three other tests before heading to Jack’s. If I wasn’t dehydrated before, I was now.

The tests all said the same thing.

Pregnant
.

Holy. Hell.

I always wondered how it’d feel when it happened. I once pictured a very different life. Husband. Stability. A candlelit dinner and me brushing Wyatt’s hand, whispering my excitement.
That
was the romance I planned. I imagined soft music playing while I revealed to him how our lives would change. I thought we’d dance in candlelight and just enjoy that miracle.

I could have made Jack a dinner. Maybe? But he already knew. There wasn’t much of a mystery anymore, and I didn’t know what to serve for such a blessed revelation. Or what music to play. What we’d do after we confirmed the pregnancy…

And Christ, there was no comparing Jack and Wyatt, even if every time I imagined that gentle dance, I saw me swaying in
Jack’s
arms.

This was so not how I planned my life, but I wasn’t regretting it. Not in the least—and that was weirder than everything. The past six weeks of “dating” Jack by day and rolling in his bed at night wasn’t structured or planned.

But it was
fun
.

Was life supposed to be
fun
? Having a baby was a serious, life-altering event. We had to plan things and organize everything and prepare for a multitude of changes and events and—

I grabbed a pen, paper, and my laptop. I could make a list of things that were immediately necessary. Doctors and more vitamins, insurance changes. One afternoon, and I’d map out our life for the first trimester, at least. Maybe tonight I’d tackle the second…

Jack’s car roared up the driveway. He didn’t wait for the garage doors to open. Jack leapt out as soon as he parked and sprinted into the house. The front door slammed behind him, and he bellowed my name like it was Christmas morning and I was the present waiting for him under the tree.

“Kiss?” He held his arms out, phone in hand. I already texted him the news. He wanted more. “Tell me it’s true.”

I held up the three home-pregnancy tests. “It’s true.”

His smile only faltered for a split second. “That’s really gross. Drop those before you give me a kiss.”

“Oh, come on, Jack—”

“Kiss me, Kiss!”

I dropped my notebook and paper and the tests, but Jack swooped over me before I could move. His arms captured me. I sucked in a breath to reveal it again.

“Jack, I’m—”

He didn’t let me finish.

His kiss overwhelmed me, stealing the words, savoring the truth, and hiding it from the world so it could be ours and ours alone.

I hadn’t expected the kiss, but my body desired nothing but his lips, his touch, his cock. Six weeks of complete and utter passion had left me starved for any contact, any attention from a man who operated on pure testosterone. I’d warned him it’d be harder than it seemed to get pregnant, and that it might take some months of trials. I thought he’d be demoralized.

Jack took it as a personal challenge.

I should have known not to doubt him.

He fucked me every morning. Every night. Sometimes in between. My life became little more than the impatient hours when I wasn’t in his bed.

His cock hardened. My body responded, melting into his arms and sighing in his kiss. I moaned against him and let his dominating tongue lure me into that fuzzy, heated world where I lost all control.

God, what were we doing?

Jack’s hands drifted over my curves, grasping me as if he hadn’t felt the softness of my skin for decades, not hours. We fucked in the morning. Passionate. Fast. Demanding. I rode him, seizing the pleasure he gave. Again and again. My orgasm was frenzied, and I knew something had changed.

I just had no idea how much.

What were we doing?

I pulled from his arms and released a shaky breath. “Jack, we should…talk.”

“
Talk
?” He didn’t know the meaning of the word. “Kiss, we need to
celebrate!
”

“Celebrate?”

“Damn right! We should hit the town. Go out for dinner. Fuck, we’ll go out for two. Have the second deliver to the first restaurant. What do you think? Italian and sushi?”

“I…I don’t think I can have sushi now—”

“We have to tell everyone!”

Not a good idea. “Jack, we can’t announce it yet. It’s too early. We don’t say anything until I’m about twelve weeks along.”

“
Twelve weeks?
” He groaned. “This is
huge
, Kiss! What’s the point if we don’t tell anyone?”

“We just want to be safe.” I bit my lip. “So we don’t…you know, jinx it.”

“Oh…can we still be excited?”

God, he was cute. “Of course.”

He grinned. “Perfect. Then…we’ll go out. Hit a club. Dance. You can’t drink now, but I’ll buy a bottle of sparkling grape juice. Or…better yet…” His grin turned mischievous. “I’ll go rent us the biggest, swankiest, most luxurious hotel in the city.”

“Why?”

Jack’s eyes brightened, excited and wild and staring at me like I was either a prize to win or a piece of meat to devour.

“
Why
?” He moved close, brushing the hair from my cheek. “Because you’re carrying my baby!”

I shouldn’t have had such a good shiver warm my core.

I shouldn’t have parted my lips for another kiss.

I definitely shouldn’t have let him overpower me again. He scooped me into his arms and carried me to the bedroom. I rested on the bed where we had fucked, where I whispered so many secrets but never revealed what I was truly feeling.

“Do you know how I want to celebrate this with you, Kiss?”

Jack brushed his lips against my ear. His lips tickled my neck. I was dizzy again but not from the heat or the news.

“I want to strip you bare…kiss every inch of that beautiful, dark skin…hear you moan my name while you come and come and—”

“Jack…” My body naturally surrendered as he rested over me. I curled my fingers into his shirt, grazing hard muscle. How many times had I clung to his strength as he fucked me through the night? “Really…we have to talk…”

His hands were already at my waist, tugging down my skirt and marveling at the little black panties I wore. “No reason to talk. We just need to fuck. I need to be inside you, Kiss.”

“
Why
?”

I didn’t know what answer I hoped for or why I even asked.

Sex was complicated enough while trying to make the baby. Now we had one growing inside me, safe and warm and our little secret.

We didn’t need to have sex now. We had no reason to continue beside our own greedy comfort.

But I wanted it. Him. Us. Together.

And so did Jack.

It scared me.

“You think I need a reason to fuck you?” Jack dove for my throat, nipping where he had learned I loved to be bitten. “What reason do you want, Kiss? That you’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen? That when you come you almost squeeze my cock off, and I love to take my chances?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then how about the biggest reason?” Jack ripped my panties off, staring at my soft petals. “How about that you are carrying
my
baby. That I took you, seeded you, and now you’re doing the most amazing fucking thing I can think of because of
me
. I
fucked
you. I put a baby in you. And if I don’t have you again I’m going to go fucking insane because that is the hottest thing I have ever heard in my life.”

Jack lowered himself between my legs, making good on his demands as his tongue flattened against my quivering pussy and struck hard, fast, and completely enveloped me in his mouth.

“But…what about…”

Why was I still talking? His tongue fit inside of me, licking and savoring and drawing every little slickness from me with the full intent of preparing me for his fucking.

His mounting.

Except we didn’t have a real reason to do this now. I couldn’t justify fucking him, not when we had the baby and we already convinced the press that we were a couple.

Sex could ruin everything.

Especially when I didn’t understand what I felt for him.

“What does this mean?” I tried again, my mouth dry and words fading as Jack’s tongue flicked over my clit. He rewarded my body with the same trouble that tangled us together in the first place. “We’re…we’re already…I don’t know what it means.”

Jack grinned at me, ravaging my pussy with his tongue and earning my shudder. “It means I can’t spend another without sliding inside you. It means the only thing I want to do is bury deep in your pussy and celebrate what we
made
.”

And God, I wanted that too, I just had no idea what wanting it would eventually lead to.

How dangerous this would become.

And I didn’t care. Damn the lists. Screw making plans.

He was right. It was time to celebrate. I spread my legs and welcomed another lap of his tongue against the furiously hot center of me.

He knew exactly how to tease me, how to make me scream his name as his teeth nipped my clit. He was never rough, but Jack was too big, too strong, and too raging with his own desire to ever truly be passive. His kisses were meant to lower my defenses. His licks against my most sensitive area a deliberate attempt to weaken me to his commands.

And when he fucked me?

I could cling to the bed or I could hold onto him, but there was no escaping that masculine, animalistic war between his humanity and the primal need to sate himself inside me.

I trembled and welcomed the first rush of heat flooding my slit with his reward for nearly bringing me to orgasm. I whined as Jack stilled. His movements turned deliberate.

I watched as his hand brushed from my hip over my sensitive slit. He tickled his fingertips over my stomach, but he touched too high for where the baby was inside of me.

I took his hand. He looked at me, and I lost my breath. His eyes burned through me. I felt
stripped
. Not just bare, but utterly exposed and vulnerable, as if I’d slip and reveal the words hidden within my heart.

I couldn’t speak them. I didn’t understand them. I had no idea where their place was.

But I knew where mine was.

Under him. With him. Taking him.

I guided his hand lower, below my navel, and pressed his fingers where I would eventually grow. His body shuddered with mine, and I knew what he imagined.

A baby. A miracle. A little part of him and me.

It was just as we planned, but nothing like what we expected. The baby was our little secret. Something we shared alone.

It was an intimacy that overwhelmed both of us.

Jack kissed me, slowly. Gratefully. The tender brush of his lips was so different from the rushed, desperate crash of our bodies.

He pumped his cock, but he didn’t immediately plunge inside my waiting slit. He kissed me, again and again, just enjoying the feel of our nibbling lips. The head of his cock caressed my clit. Gently. As if asking for permission. As if wanting to hear my gasp as I bucked against his hardness and imagined how perfect it’d feel to be filled with him again.

“Kiss…” His words rasped. He stared at my body, at my yet flat tummy. “I need you.”

“You have me.”

“Do I?”

Did he?

I guided him into my body, holding my breath as the thick head of his cock sliced through me. My eyes widened as he slowly, inch by inch, entered me. Agonizingly patient. Staring at me. Watching me. Waiting to hear words I swallowed and bit my lip to silence.

His cock filled me completely, like nothing ever had or would again. I gripped his arms and arched. He sunk in deeper, and I stretched to accommodate the slow thrust that revealed entirely too much.

Jack groaned. I tried to stay silent, tried to grip his arms and hold myself on the brink of sanity as his length offered me pleasure and excitement and danger and everything I wasn’t ready to give.

He stared at me, marveling in how our bodies connected and moved and
created.

“You’re carrying my
baby
.”

His thrusts began. He wasn’t frantic. Every leisurely withdrawal ended just before his thick head popped from me. He pierced me with gentleness and savored how my body welcomed his length within my tightness.

“That means you’re mine, Kiss. You got that? From this moment on, you’re mine…”

I came, gasping his name as the hardness pressed just right against my sensitive body. He didn’t finish his thought. He grunted, forcing his cock to rip through my clenching body.

He exploded too, the heat of his orgasm so familiar, so deliberate, and so…so…

Right.

Just
perfect
.

Just the way it was supposed to be. Exactly what I needed in my life.

If only I had imagined a Jack Carson instead of someone safe, reliable, and tamed.

He fell over me, bucking his hips to fill the rest of me with anything else he could offer. He rested on his arms, preventing his weight from falling over my body. I loved that he covered me with his strength, his size, his intent.

I accepted his kiss as his cock re-hardened and filled me again. His movements remained gentle. Too gentle.

Too
loving
.

And I thought having his baby would get me in the most trouble.

If I was his, then he was mine. And neither of us knew what to do with that gift.

N
othing
greater than a woman waiting for me outside the locker room.

It would have been better if Leah joined me in the showers, but that would have meant my teammates getting a look at the sexiest girl in the world. And then they would have seen me fucking the ever-loving hell out of her.

It made more sense to take her at home, in the privacy of my bedroom, where her cries for me echoed for my ears only.

Leah struggled with her blouse. Only a month into the pregnancy and her tits already swelled and looked both ridiculous and sexy on her. Of course, they embarrassed her. It excited me. This woman was beautiful, especially knowing it was my fault her body shifted, softened, and, in some places, deliciously plumped.

I told her I couldn’t wait to see her get a bump from the kid. Leah wasn’t so thrilled. She made me swear to keep the pregnancy on the DL until we were ready to formally announce.

“When’s your plane leave?” I asked.

She waved me close with a finger so she could redo my tie, earning a few knowing smirks from my teammates heading out for the evening. “Soon. I have to go now.”

I grimaced. The tie choked me. She finished, but I loosened it immediately.

“Come on, Kiss. I hate this thing. Why can’t I just wear normal clothes?”

“Unless you’re in a jersey, I want you looking like you’re ready to give a presidential address.”

“Hard to get these layers off.”

She smiled. “Good. I’m going out of town. Those pants should stay on, Mr. Carson.”

If she had asked, they’d have dropped in an instant to take her again. “You sure you gotta go?”

“This is a fundraiser in LA for some very important political candidates. They want to secure movie deals for the city.” She couldn’t hide her excitement. Over the past few weeks, I decided I didn’t want her hiding anything from me. Ever. “I think this could be the second client that I maintain. Jolene trusts me to woo these people.”

“Don’t woo them too much.”

“You afraid of a little woo?”

“Afraid of you woo-hooing.”

“You jealous?” She grinned.

I kissed her. “I gotta watch out for two of you now.”

She liked that. “The only thing we need to fear is that I’ll throw up on their shoes. Believe me, between the morning sickness and flying, I’m going to be a mess.”

I tensed. “You better be careful.”

“I am.”

“I want you to stay safe. Especially since you’re—”

She hushed me as the locker room door opened and a handful of players walked out, slapping my shoulder and complimenting the suit and the woman who picked it out.

“Don’t say it,” she said. “It’s still our secret.”

“You know I’m no good at secrets.”

“You better be good with this one.” She poked my chest. “Just for another couple weeks. Now wish me luck.”

“Why?” I crossed my arms. “So you can go get a client that takes up more of your time than me? No, ma’am. I’m your number one trouble-maker.”

“Not something to be proud of, Jack.”

“Speak for yourself.” I winked. “Maybe I like keeping you on your toes.”

“I gotta go.”

“Like you on your knees more.”

“Jack.”

“On your back…”

She smiled despite her better judgment—pretty sure I was the destruction of all her judgment.

“Enough.”

“Come here, woman.” I tugged her close. “I want a kiss goodbye.”

“And if I say no?”

“You’re gonna be gone all weekend. Leave me something so I don’t miss you.”

Leah’s eyes widened. My reaction shocked me too. I had been fucking the woman because I couldn’t keep my hands off of her curves, imagining how she’d grow for me and how sexy it was that I got her pregnant. But I hadn’t admitted to wishing she’d stay in my bed for any other reason but sex.

But, damn it. I would miss her.

She was fun.

Kept me entertained.

Straightened me out if only because I was a slave to the slit between her legs.

She wasn’t bad at dinner conversation either. And she had decent taste in movies and music. She also liked to sit in the pool while I did my laps.

And she was soft as fuck to hold, keep in my bed, and wake up to in the morning.

She was the only woman I ever woke up with.

Leah was dangerous territory for me, but I wasn’t ready to retreat yet.

I threaded my fingers in hers and pulled her close. She rewarded me with a shy smile as I kissed her, long and deep, even while a few of my teammates sauntered out of the locker room and hooted. She tugged away with an adorable embarrassment, hiding her eyes from the other players.

“I’ll see you Monday morning.” She pointed at me. “Stay out of trouble.”

“Maybe.”

She huffed. “I’m serious.”

“What could I
possibly
do while you’re gone?”

She left me with a timid wave. “That’s what I’ve been asking myself all morning.”

“You have no faith in me.”

“Prove me wrong.”

“There’s no fun in that.”

She sauntered out of the door, wagging that beautiful ass. I expected the hand clapped on my shoulder. At least Bryon knew to wait until Leah left before hanging around me.

“That bitch don’t like me,” Bryon snorted. “What’d I do to her?”

“Don’t call her a bitch.” I knocked his hand away and buttoned my suit. “Maybe getting arrested for sexual assault gave her the wrong idea.”

“They released me.”

“And how much is that civil suit gonna be?”

“Man, what the hell is with you?” Bryon frowned. “This girl gets all up on you, and suddenly you’re not chasing pussy, you’re becoming one.”

“Just chasing the right one.”

“And how long do you think that’ll last?”

I hadn’t thought about it, but I let myself hope. Probably more than I should have. I doubted Leah had fit Jack “Trouble-Maker” Carson into her life plan.

Hopefully she’d tolerate Jack “Baby-Maker” Carson instead.

For a long time.

I wasn’t used to thinking of woman as something other than disposable. And I wasn’t sure what the hell I was feeling when I looked at her, saw her, felt her. I watched her fucking
sleep
in the morning.

And since we found out about the pregnancy?

The sex was unreal. More than a celebration, better than that first time I buried myself in her and unloaded jet after jet of my seed. She
knew
me now, and she anticipated what I liked and what I needed. I never had a woman actually care enough to learn.

Christ, I was sorry to see her leave for the weekend. I hated being alone. Hated being without her.

“Dude, it’s Friday, we gotta go out,” Bryon said. “Get out of that damn suit and let’s kick it.”

“And piss off Leah? Yeah, right.”

I couldn’t ignore her only request. She knew what she was doing. Leah was the only reason the league hadn’t suspended me for breaking that journalist’s camera on that first date we went on. I paid him ten grand to stay the hell away from me, and that was good enough.

“You gonna let that woman pussy-whip you?” Bryon nudged me. “You ain’t dating her. Don’t feed me that bullshit. Dude, I was with you that night you almost scored with three horny little sluts. You telling me you were in a
relationship
when you set them in your lap?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Either you’re banging her exclusively, or you’re fucking around the town.” He shrugged. “And you know what you rather be doing.”

Maybe once I did. Now I wasn’t so sure. I liked what I had with Leah, difficult and strange as it was. And, God, did I love sheathing in that woman knowing full well what she hid in her tummy.

“Look.” I lowered my voice and pushed him back. “Gotta tell you something. Don’t freak out.”

“Oh, Christ. What the fuck did you do now?”

I couldn’t hide my smile. “She’s pregnant.”

Bryon smacked a hand against the wall. “Goddamn it, fool. You know better than that. Wrap that goddamned prick you…fucking prick.” He exhaled. “You fronting her the money for an abortion?”

Jesus fuck, the thought paralyzed me. “Christ, it was
intentional
. We meant to have a baby.”

“Oh…” Bryon blinked. “
Why
?”

Wasn’t about to get into that. “Because we wanted it. I wanted it.”

“A
baby
?”

“Yeah.”

“With that sexy little chocolate kiss?”

“Yeah.”

Bryon grinned. “And you knocked her up?”

“Got her on the first cycle.”

“That’s my
boy!”
Bryon grabbed me, pulling me into a hug and slapping my shoulder. He pushed me into the locker room and hollered for our usual gang to drop what they were doing. “Me and my boy here are gonna go out and celebrate his latest T&A. Who’s with us?”

Goddamn it. This wasn’t good. I nudged him. “We’re not announcing yet. It’s like…early or something. Women don’t talk this shit before a certain time.”

“That’s cool, that’s cool.” Bryon pointed to me. “We just taking our Play-Maker out on the town. Been a while. Pack it up, we going.” He lowered his voice. “You girl ain’t cutting off your balls now that she got a kid outta you?”

I clenched my jaw. “No.”

“Then what she don’t know won’t hurt her. We get a drink, toast to your successful nut, and everyone can tuck safe and sound in their beds with a slut of their choice. Except you,
Daddy
.” Bryon cackled to himself. “You got yourself a baby-momma to hold your leash now.”

Too bad I liked letting Leah have that lead.

I shouldn’t have followed, but it had been a long week. I wasn’t looking forward to going to an empty house. Always hated the quiet, and I kicked my ass at practice. If I even looked at the pool I’d probably drown.

I missed heading out too. Leah was fun, but music and lights, loads of people begging for my attention? I couldn’t resist it. What could it hurt? Wasn’t like I was gonna hook up with anyone. Hell, I stopped hunting pussy because I didn’t
want
anyone else. I wasn’t done exploring everything Leah had to offer yet.

And since her body would be changing for the better part of a year? I’d have a
lot
to explore. I planned to have eight more months of fun with my
baby-momma
.

More, once the kid came.

So one night out wasn’t bad. A drink, some music, a few laughs. It was just a way to blow off steam.

I agreed.

I drove myself to our bar of choice, but I didn’t make it inside with the guys. My phone buzzed instead.

My agent with bad news—as always.

No new negotiations opened. The Rivets’ general manager didn’t even return his call.

Now I really needed a night out.

Christ, what else did I have to do to prove to the team I was committed?

I slammed the door to my car and stalked inside. The rest of my team shouted and waved me from our private room. The waitresses drew straws to see who would have to serve us tonight. The one fresh out of college, Mary or Beth or something like that, pulled the short one. She groaned and grabbed a tray just to take our order.

Then used it as a shield to cover herself while Bryon’s hand curled up her shorts.

I slapped his head and told him to pick from one of the girls sitting at the bar. They had waited for his arrival. Bryon had them on fucking speed dial, and I hoped to God he hadn’t paid them to show.

“No contract yet.” I took a sip from my beer and crushed a handful of pretzels. The bar was dim, but the waitresses groaned as a pitcher of beer tipped when two of my offensive guards decided to arm wrestle. “They don’t fucking want me.”

Bryon slapped the waitress’s ass. “Keep on dressing in suits and taking Miss Respectability places, and you’ll get that hundred million.”

“Yeah. It’s not about the money.”

“Of course it’s about the money.”

“It’s about the
respect
.”

I pitched the pretzels away. The beer bottle would have been next had it not jostled against the table and spilled all over me. Bryon separated the guards after the arm wrestling devolved into a near fist-fight.

“They don’t respect me.” The beer soaked through my shirt. I swore. “Think they can jerk me around. They think I’m trouble, just like her.”

“Who?”

“Kiss.”

“Your girl?” Bryon laughed. “Dude, she got you so whipped you can’t even see straight.
She
’
s
the reason you can’t get respect. You’re Jack
Mother-Fucking
Carson. You don’t
apologize
for taking three sluts home. You don’t dress in prissy-ass suits and pretend you’re some high-class wannabe. You gotta be
yourself
to get any respect. If they know they can make you grovel…” Bryon ordered me another beer to replace the one soaking into my suit. “Fuck dude, you might as well castrate yourself.”

He had a point. Of course, it completely countered Leah’s school of thought.

But not like playing by the rules got me anywhere. I was entering into the last year of my contract for a team who expected me to lead them beyond a championship and into a
dynasty
. But the bastards didn’t even offer to extend the terms. If I ate a sack, broke an arm, and was out for the season,
fuck me
. That was it. No one had a reason to sign me the following year if they thought I’d be damaged.

The linemen were drunk already. They beat the pinball machine in the corner. It ate their quarter, and, apparently, that deserved two boots through the side of the machine. A fist pounded on top of the glass. The waitress hurried over to ask if they needed help.

I saw it happening, but I was too slow to stop it.

One of my men picked her up by the waist, sat her on the pinball machine. He grinned at her.

“Hey, baby. Game’s broken. How about if I twist your buttons tonight?”

“Let go of me!” She slapped him. “Now!”

I shouted to my lineman, but some knight-in-shining armor hopped up from the bar and crashed into the private room. He called to my linemen, but he was just some college-aged punk who really should have looked to see who the fuck he was harassing.

I hopped from the table as the swearing started.