Seducing the Wolf (63 page)

Manning grinned. “Oh, I like that.”

“I like
you
.”

He tweaked her nose, then sat on the piano bench and pulled her feet down to his lap as she reached for the small box of cigars she’d placed there earlier. The expensive stogies were a gift from an Argentine industrial tycoon who’d attended one of her concerts last year.

“I didn’t even notice that box sitting there,” Manning remarked.

“I know. You only had eyes for me.” Taylor took out a finely wrapped cigar and tucked it between his lips, then smiled tenderly. “Congratulations.”

He gave her a bemused look. “Congratulations…?”

“Yes.” She held his gaze. “You’re going to be a daddy.”

Manning went still, staring incredulously at her. “You’re…pregnant?”

Her smile widened. “
Oui
.”

“Oh, my God,” he breathed, taking the cigar out of his mouth as he rose from the bench. With a sudden shout of rapturous laughter, he picked Taylor up and swung her around. She laughed and clung to his neck, her heart bursting with euphoria.

When he set her back down on the piano, his eyes were shining with tears of joy. Standing between her legs, he tenderly cradled her face in his palms and asked in an awed voice, “How long have you known?”

“Not long. I had a dream about Micah this afternoon, and he told me I was having a baby. The dream was so realistic, Manning. Micah was there with his father, and he was working on one of the jigsaw puzzles you gave him and—” She broke off, her voice hitching with emotion.

Manning’s expression softened as he gently thumbed away the tear that rolled down her cheek. She swallowed past the tightness in her throat before continuing, “While you were in the shower, I snuck out and bought a home pregnancy test. It was positive.” She gazed wonderingly into his eyes. “We’re having a baby, Manning.
A baby
.”

He wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him. She clung just as tightly, her cheek pressed against his chest.

“All these years,” she whispered, “I’ve been so afraid to even
want
children because of what happened to Micah. But seeing him in that dream, hearing him tell me that I was going to be a good mother…it was like he was reassuring me that he doesn’t blame me for the past. He was giving me permission to become a mother…giving me permission to be
happy
.”

Manning clasped her tighter and whispered fervently, “I love you so damn much.”

“I love you too,” she avowed, drawing back to look into his eyes. “I can’t wait to have your baby, Manning. I can’t wait to start this next journey with you.”

He cupped her nape and slanted his mouth over hers, kissing her so deeply and fiercely her heart melted and fresh tears welled in her eyes.

“You’ve made me the happiest man in the world tonight, Tay,” he whispered against her lips, making her smile.

“I’m feeling pretty happy myself right now.” She ran her hands down to his firm buttocks and squeezed. “
Very
happy.”

They laughed softly.

“I wonder when it happened,” Manning murmured.

Taylor smiled. “If I had to venture a guess, I’d say we conceived the very first time we had unprotected sex. Which would be the evening you came to my hotel room all worked up.”

Manning chuckled softly. “I remember.” Struck by a sudden thought, he lifted his head and stared down at her. “If I’d known beforehand that you were pregnant, I wouldn’t have been so rough with you tonight.”

Taylor grinned, touched by his endearing concern. “Don’t worry, you didn’t hurt me or the baby.” She winked. “Rough sex is how I got knocked up in the first place, remember?”

He grinned sheepishly. “Still…”

“Still what? I hope you don’t intend to handle me with kid gloves over the next several months,” she warned. “I still want it rough. And when my belly gets too big for you to comfortably get on top of me, we’ll work it out doggy style, ya hear?”

Manning laughed. “Well, damn! It’s like that?”

“Damn right it is.” She winked. “We’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”

“We sure do.” He pulled her close again, kissing the top of her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed against his chest.

She sighed. “After tonight I’ll never look at my piano the same way again.”

Manning chuckled. “I think we just gave new meaning to ‘making beautiful music together.’ ”

She laughed. “Indeed.”

They fell silent as they stared out the windows at the glittering Paris night.

“I’ve been thinking,” Taylor murmured.

Manning rubbed his jaw against her temple. “About what?”

She hesitated. “Even though it’s good to be back in Paris, it doesn’t feel quite the same anymore.”

Manning went still. “It doesn’t?”

“No. It doesn’t.” She paused. “And I think I know why.”

He drew back to search her eyes. “Why?”

“I belong in Atlanta, Manning,” she said quietly. “I belong there with you.”

His expression softened with gratitude. “I want to be with you, Taylor. If that means moving to Paris, then that’s what I’ll do.”

Her heart constricted. “Manning…”

“I’m serious, Tay,” he said ardently. “We’ve lost so much time already. I’m not gonna let anything else separate us again.”

She reached up and tenderly cupped his cheek. “I appreciate your willingness to make that sacrifice for me. I know you’re serious, and that means the world to me. But as much as I’ve enjoyed living in Paris all these years, I think it’s time for a change. And I want our child to be raised around our families. I want the Sunday dinners and cookouts and birthday parties. I want to hang out in your family’s skybox at Mason’s football games, howling with the rest of the stadium every time he scores a touchdown. I want the weekend trips to Savannah to visit Mama Wolf. I want everything I’ve missed over the past twenty years.”

Manning gazed wonderingly at her. “You don’t know how long I’ve dreamed of this moment,” he said, his voice husky with emotion.

“Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea.” Taylor smiled as he turned his face into her palm and kissed it. “My family has been trying to convince me to return home. Tru says I just needed the right incentive, and he was right. I can’t think of any better incentive than you, Manning.”

He groaned and pulled her into his embrace, his mouth slanting hungrily over hers. As Taylor responded with equal fervor, he picked her up and carried her off to bed, where they spent the rest of the night celebrating with fiercely tender lovemaking.

40

“
I
knew this was a mistake,” Taylor murmured two days later, her arms looped around Manning’s neck as his tongue lazily stroked hers.

“What was a mistake?”

“I shouldn’t have come up to get you.”

Manning smiled. “Why not?”

“Do you even have to ask? You’ve got me up on your desk—”

“
You
sat here,” he reminded her.

“True.” She smiled against his mouth. “Seriously though. We should get going. Mr. Haley is waiting for us.”

“I know.” Manning sucked her lush bottom lip. “He doesn’t mind waiting.”

“Doesn’t mean he should have to.” Taylor ran her hands over Manning’s shoulders and down his chest, then snapped his suspenders and grinned. “Let’s go home.”

He smiled, cradling her face in his hands. “I love the way that sounds when you say it.”

“I love saying it.” Her expression softened. “Home is where the heart is, and my heart is here with you.”

He reverently stroked her cheek. “I’m so lucky. So unbelievably lucky.”

She smiled, watching as he gently curved his palm against her stomach, something he’d been doing frequently over the past two days.

“A baby,” he marveled with the same sense of wonder she’d expressed more than once. “We’re going to be parents, Tay.”

“We are,” she said with a tender smile. “We really are.”

He grinned broadly. “God, I can’t wait to tell my family. They’re gonna be so excited.”

“I know. It was so hard not to spill the beans when I asked Lexi for the name of her ob–gyn. Even if she suspects something, I know she won’t breathe a word to anyone.”

Taylor, who had a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, hoped to have her lab results by the end of the week. Since her family was coming to town for the concert, she and Manning were throwing a dinner party for everyone on Friday night, at which time they would make their big announcement.

Manning helped Taylor down from the desk and then shrugged into his suit jacket. “Are you having any cravings yet? Do we need to stop and pick up anything on the way home?”

“Nah, I’m good.” She grinned. “But I
am
looking forward to seeing what your talented chef made us for dinner. So…”

Manning grinned. “I got you.” He stole another kiss, then took her hand and led her from the office.

As they passed the reception desk, Larisa smiled at them. “Have a good evening.”

“You too, Larisa,” they responded warmly.

As they boarded the elevator, Manning leaned down and kissed Taylor with soft, nipping bites that made her giggle.

When the doors opened onto the lobby, he took her hand, lacing their fingers together. As they stepped out of the elevator, they heard a commotion at the security desk, where a woman was arguing loudly with the two guards on duty.

When Manning saw the troublemaker, his gut tightened with dread.

It was Violet. The one-night stand from hell.

“What do you mean he won’t see me?” she challenged belligerently. “I need to talk to him, so he’d
better
see me!”

“Ma’am, we have orders—”

“I don’t care about your damn orders!” she screeched.

Taylor frowned, her fingers tensing against Manning’s. She looked at him. “Do you know her?”

“Unfortunately.” He clenched his jaw so hard a muscle in his cheek throbbed. “Why don’t you go wait for me in the car? This won’t take long.”

Taylor hesitated, then nodded tightly and walked off. As she passed the security desk, Violet glared venomously at her and then whirled around to stare at Manning.

“Did you tell these goons to—” She broke off, her eyes widening in alarm as Manning charged toward her.

Grabbing her arm, he dragged her away from the security desk and over to the bank of elevators, ignoring her feeble sputters of protest.

Turning to face her, he demanded furiously, “What the
fuck
are you doing here?”

She swallowed visibly. “I came to see you—”

“What part of ‘I’m not interested in seeing you again’ did you not understand?”

“Oh, please,” she spat with a defiant toss of her weaved mane. “I understood you perfectly. But things have changed.”

His eyes narrowed sharply. “Like what?”

“I’m pregnant.”

The words struck Manning like a vicious uppercut to the throat.

No
, he thought.
She can’t be.

“You’re pregnant,” he repeated flatly.

“That’s right,” Violet crowed, her dark eyes gleaming with triumph. “I’m having your baby.”

He took a step closer to her. “And how did that happen?”

“What do you mean?” She gave a snort of derisive laughter. “Obviously it happened when we—”

“That’s not what I’m asking you.” His voice was chillingly soft. “We used protection, so how did you get pregnant?”

“I don’t know,” she huffed impatiently. “The condom must have broken.”

“Really?”

“Yes,
really
,” she snapped. “It happens.”

“Not to me.”

She smirked. “Guess there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”

Thrusting his hands into his pockets, Manning contemplated her with narrowed eyes.

As he let the silence stretch between them, Violet nervously tucked her hair behind one ear and gnawed her lower lip. Out of the corner of his eye, Manning could see the security guards pretending not to eavesdrop.

“There are two things you need to know about me,” he said, low and succinct. “First, I never have unprotected sex. I don’t care how fine a woman is or how much she begs me to hit it raw. I don’t get down like that. Second—and this is real important—I always supply my own condoms.
Always
.” He pointed across the empty lobby. “The only woman I have
ever
made an exception for is the woman who just walked out that door—the woman I’m about to make my wife.”

Violet’s eyes widened with dismay as he continued coldly, “The condoms I used that night had no defects.
None
. But I’m willing to acknowledge that accidents can and do happen. I don’t know if you’re pregnant or not, but we can settle the matter right here and now.”

As he removed his key card from his pocket, Violet looked wary. “Wh-What’re you doing?”

“I’m taking you down to the lab to get your blood drawn. We can have the results in five minutes—ten tops.”

A look of panic crossed her face. “I’m not one of your lab mice! I need to see my
own
doctor!”

He snorted. “Wolf Biotech has one of the largest laboratory facilities in the country. Believe me, I’ve got more than enough lab techs on staff who can run a routine blood test to confirm that you’re pregnant.”