Stanton Bliss: Stanton (14 page)

Avril Lavigne starts to yell at us as she climbs out of the pool. Bridget flips her the bird above her head as she walks in the opposite direction. We get out to the front yard and all climb into the large black SUV.

We sit still for a moment as we take in the last ten minutes and wait for our driver.

“Well, that night ended nicely, didn’t it?.” I sigh as the car begins to spin. It’s a good thing, actually. I’m feeling very drunk and I know Joshua was about five seconds away from losing his shit with that girl. His temper knows no bounds these days.

“Yeah, well, I’m going to annihilate that bitch next time I see her.” Bridget tough talks as she punches her fist.

“You should have ripped her top off,” Cameron slurs. “That is the kind of shit I want to watch. Topless booby cat fighting”

“Oh my God.” Adrian sighs, disgusted, and I smile broadly at my friend’s stupid shenanigans.

Joshua winks at me and starts to shower my hand with kisses before he sucks on my index finger. He has that come fuck me look in his eyes, and I feel a flutter of arousal hit me.

“Pound Town,” he mouths in the darkness of the car.

“I need a
Big Mac
, Stanton.” I smirk as I eye him sitting next to me.

He puts his hand on his crotch and grabs it seductively. “I got one right here for you, baby.”

From the seat behind us, we hear Adrian groan. “Oh, shit, this just gets worse.”

From my bed, I hear the front door open downstairs, the car keys hit the foyer table with force, then I listen as he takes the stairs two at a time. I feel a rush of excitement sweep through me.

My man is home.

Once upon a time, he trained to fight. Now his fight is daily. Mentally battling his demons and physically fighting competitors at 6:00 a.m. every morning, I feel sorry for the poor bastards he fights. They don’t stand a chance. He’s changed. He’s darker, damaged and unwilling to conform. Joshua Stanton is dealing with the last six months the best that he can… as am I.

We have each other, we get it, nobody else can understand the language we speak or the pain we have been through. I lie still, trying to recover from our night, and yet he has been up and to the gym. I know why he does it; he’s trying to control the anger at what we have been through. He’s still furious, furious at himself for letting it happen, furious at Amelie for doing what she did, and furious at the press for feeding on our nightmare. He turns the corner into our room and his dark eyes drop to my naked body on the bed. He’s wet with perspiration and there’s a tangible force, a feeling of adrenaline pumping through his body out onto me where I lie. His t-shirt comes off slowly over his head, and he drops his pants to reveal that beautiful rock hard body.

“How was your fight?” I whisper as my eyes lower to my name on his side.

He smiles sexily as he walks around the side of the bed, surveying me. He doesn’t answer as his hand drops to between his legs and he gives himself three slow hard strokes. My breath catches. He hasn’t said a word or touched me and yet, as always, just the sight of him makes me good to go. “You look exceptional, Mrs. Stanton,” he whispers as his hand continues to stroke his cock.

I hold my breath and open my legs just that little bit farther. Joshua cracks his neck hard as his dark eyes stay fixed between my legs.

His tongue slides over his bottom lip before he drops his head and begins to lick my inner thigh.

“Give me my breakfast. I’m fucking starving.”

I lay back and close my eyes. Mr. Stanton is here, like he is most mornings when he returns from fighting. The adrenaline in his system is through the roof and I’m the lucky girl he releases it on. Our sex is rougher and less controlled than it has ever been, but it’s also never been so hot. I’m putty in his dominant hands.

I crave his control over my body. I crave the way he takes what he needs without a care in the world.

His strong hands hold my legs apart and his hot tongue swipes through my flesh.

“Hmm,” he groans into me.

My hands fall to the back of his head.

“Oh, you fucking taste good, my beautiful girl,” he whispers.

I shudder immediately and close my eyes. If I watch him do that, I will come in five seconds flat.

He starts to really eat me, dragging my body up and down his face. His sharp whiskers are grinding but it’s a pleasurable burn, a pain I have become accustomed to, the pain is my addiction. His tongue swirls around and around and I feel myself buckle beneath him.

“Still,” he orders as he rips my legs back to the bed. “Give me what I need.” He growls.

“What do you need?” I whisper.

“A creamy orgasm on my tongue,” he whispers as his eyes hold mine. He gently bites my clitoris and stretches it back from my body. I jump in pain and then he circles it gently again with his tongue. This is what he does so well, shifting tempo. The hard bites followed by the gentle licks, the strong hands holding my legs down to the bed versus the gentle kisses on my inner thigh. The look he gives, telling me that he is about to rip me apart, and then the tender kisses that show me he loves me.

I love this man. I love all of this man. The dark, the fucked up, the sex craved maniac.

He pushes three fingers into me aggressively and I flinch off the mattress at the burn.

“I need some pain this morning, baby. Can you give me that?” His dark eyes watch me as I struggle to accept his large fingers.

I nod. “Give it to me,” I whisper.

He pushes me hard again and I sigh in pleasure. He sits up and starts to ride me hard with his hand, so much so that the bed starts to hit the wall with force.
Thump, thump, thump
,
the heavy sound of the bed hitting the wall matches my oncoming orgasm. My legs start to close and I quiver as I lose all coherent thought. He bends and starts to tongue my clitoris gently as his fingers pound into me aggressively. The combination pushes me over. My body lurches forward, the force of the strong orgasm taking over, and before I know what’s happening, Joshua has my legs over my shoulders and he’s pushing into me hard.

He stays still for a moment, letting me adjust to his brutal length. No matter how much he is aroused, he always pauses after he has pushed in to allow me to adjust to his size. Joshua knows he is a large man and he sees it as his responsibility to make sure he doesn’t hurt me. But, fuck, I love it when he does.

He holds himself up on tensed arms as he waits for my permission.

“Go,” I whisper. “Fuck me.”

His eyes close in reverence and he slides out slowly. My calves are next to his face and he kisses the inner ankle of one foot tenderly.

This feels so fucking good. He spreads his knees widen to gain control and pushes forward again.

“That beautiful, sweet cunt of yours feels so fucking good around my cock.”

I clench hard and he bends to kiss me aggressively.

I smile, a proud of myself smile, and he bites my bottom lip.

I watch the sheen of perspiration that covers my beautiful creature as he holds my ankles wide in the air, feeding his desires with my body. “You’re so fucking wet. Dripping for me,” he purrs as he watches his cock disappear into me. Our bodies start to make a loud slapping sound as he fucks me hard.

Bloody hell, once again, I start to quiver. Stop dirty talking; you know it’s my undoing.

The sight of his sweaty, muscular body, the sound of my wet skin clinging to his, and the feeling of his thick, engorged cock sliding through me is too much.

“Joshua,” I whimper.

He picks me up and throws me over onto my knees, yanking my legs apart as far as they go. Then he is riding me hard while he grips both of my hips and slams me back onto his cock. He goes harder and faster, until he’s pushing my shoulders down onto the mattress to get deeper.

This is how he fucks me. He’s never deep enough, never hard enough, never close enough.

“You feel so fucking good.” He growls and stills, and I feel his cock jerk deep inside of me, forcing me to close my eyes as another orgasm steals my ability to articulate anything. I struggle for breath as my heart hammers in my chest.

And then, as if by some miracle, my gentle man comes back to me and showers the curve of my spine with tender kisses. He lays his body over mine and I feel his lips on my cheek before he nibbles my ear.

“I love you,” he whispers.

I smile breathlessly. “I love you.”

I feel him smile broadly. “I love fucking you more.”

We fall onto the bed in a tangled mess and kiss, long slow kisses. Even when we have rough sex, there is an overwhelming feeling of love between us, an overwhelming feeling of what we have is so very precious. And we can never forget that because it governs most of our daily thoughts.

We lie still for ten minutes before Joshua stands and kisses my hip.

“Shower.” He slaps my behind.

“Hmm.” I’m dozing.

“Come on. Up. It’s eleven. I’m making breakfast.”

I drift off but vaguely hear him shower, go downstairs and fuss around in the kitchen.

I feel the bed bounce as Joshua jumps on it. “What’s this?” he demands.

Hmm, I keep my eyes closed and pull the blankets over my head. God, stop being so fucking perky. I’m feeling very hungover here.

“Natasha.”

“Hmm.” I pull the blankets back over my head in a fuck off not now symbol.

“I know what this is.”

“Oh God, Joshua, I want to sleep in,” I groan.

“So, you are taking pregnancy tests without me now?”

Huh? My eyes open instantly. Oh fuck. I left it in the drawer. I pull the blankets even farther over my head.

“I did it the other day.” I close my eyes again; God, I am really tired here.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I was only going to tell you if it was positive.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

“Oh.” He thinks for a moment. “So, it was negative then?”

“Yes.”

He starts to tap me on the head with it to annoy me. “One egg or two?”

I snatch it from him. “Stop it.”

“Do you want avocado?”

“Yes, please.” I roll over onto my back and hold up the test to look at it, I frown.

“What?”

I frown as I try to wake up. Am I seeing things here?

“What are you frowning at?” he asks.

“Why are there two lines on this test?”

He takes it from me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, why are there two lines on this test?”

He shrugs as he looks at it. “I don’t know, you tell me. You took the test.”

I keep staring at it in horror. I got totally drunk last night.

“What do two lines mean?” he asks.

“Two lines means positive,” I whisper.

“It does?”

I put my hand over my mouth as I try to think. “It was one line the other day.”

He stands, and then sits back down, and then he stands again.

I shake my head. “It must be dodgy. Maybe they don’t age right.”

Joshua frowns at me. “Do we have another test?”

“Um.” I think for a moment. “Downstairs in a brown paper bag in my hand bag, under my desk in the office.”

Joshua jumps up and practically runs down stairs. I sit up in bed. Fuck. Why did I drink so much last night?

He returns as he rips open the bag and fumbles around getting the second test out of the bag.

He passes it over and smiles cheekily.

My eyes hold his and I snatch it from him. “It’s negative, don’t give me that hopeful look. You are going to be disappointed. See, this is why I didn’t tell you. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

He kisses me gently. “You could never disappoint me.”

“W-we are not ready to be parents,” I stammer.

“Why not?”

“I got hopelessly drunk last night. You are suing people and all the aunties and uncles are totally out of fucking control. Bridget is cat fighting and Cameron’s a Dr. Deviant. Adrian’s attracting weirdos.” I throw my hands in the air in defeat. “Who was I kidding? No way can I be a parent.”

“We are all normal,” he whispers against my lips.

“We are crazy,” I murmur in a panic.

He kisses me gently. “I love our crazy.” His lips linger on mine. “I need our crazy.”

I melt a little and walk to our bathroom. Joshua follows me.

“Wait outside,” I tell him quietly. God, he’s not watching me pee on a stick. No way in Hell. It’s humiliating enough to have to watch myself.

He frowns and nods. “Fine.”

I pee on my stick and then walk out and find him reading the instructions with intense concentration.

“Here.” I hand it to him.

He bites his lip as he tries to contain his smile, taking it from me. He begins to watch it as I pace at the end of the bed and shake my hands.

My heartbeat is racing and my eyes keep looking up to find him. For the longest five minutes in history he sits still, focused on our stick.

I watch in slow motion a huge smile spreads across his face.

I frown. “What?” I whisper almost afraid of the answer. “What does it say?”

He stands and then bends and kisses me. “Baby Stanton is in the house.”

My eyes widen.

Dear, God.

Chapter 8

Joshua.

I
smile as I
stand in the elevator on my way up to my office. In fact, I have been smiling since Saturday morning at eleven o’clock. Even when I try to wipe the smile from my face, it just won’t go. I am completely consumed with emotion and never have I been so fucking in love with my girl.

Natasha doesn’t want to tell anyone until she’s at twelve weeks. Apparently that’s standard practice.

How do you keep a secret like this? It’s impossible.

The doors open and I exit into the corridor.

“Girls.” I smile as I walk past reception.

“Hello, Mr. Stanton,” they all call as their eyes linger on me.

I walk straight into Adrian’s office. He’s on the phone, facing the window, but he spins in his chair to look at me as I enter.

I smile broadly and he frowns in question.

“Who’s that?” I mouth.

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “Yes, I understand your point of view and I will take it up with Human Resources.”

I smirk. A disgruntled employee, no doubt.

He listens again and raises his eyes to the ceiling in frustration.

I sit on his desk and buzz Tiffany. “Tiffany, could you please bring in Adrian’s and my coffee, plus a cappuccino, to his office, please?”

“Yes, sir,” her polite voice answers.

I twirl my finger in the air to signal for him to hurry it up.

He frowns again and shakes his head as he listens.

“Get off the phone,” I mouth.

“I’m fucking trying,” he mouths back.

My phone beeps a text. It’s Cameron.

Where are you?

I text back.

In Murph’s office.

Two minutes later, Cameron walks into Adrian’s office, followed by Tiffany with our coffees.

“Hey,” he calls. “What’s up? What couldn’t wait?”

I gesture to Adrian. “Wait for him.”

He takes a seat at the desk and yawns into his hand. “Thank God you made me go home on Friday night. I can hardly remember being at Carson’s.

“God, you’re an ugly chick.” I wince.

“That lipstick is bloody hard to get off, you know. I had to work yesterday and my lips were fucking burning from scrubbing the shit off. I had to wear lip balm.”

I smirk. “Get off the phone,” I mouth at Adrian.

“Who is he speaking to?” Cameron frowns.

I shrug. “Some whiner.”

Adrian finally hangs up and looks at me, deadpan, as he takes his coffee from the tray. “Why are you in my office?”

I smile an exaggerated smile.

They both look at me in confusion.

“Natasha’s pregnant.”

They both stare at me dumbfounded, not saying anything.

“Did you hear me?”

“What?” Adrian frowns.

“Serious?” Cameron asks.

“Deadly.” I smile.

“Deadly pregnant?” I hear a touch of excitement fill Adrian’s voice.

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”

Cameron grabs me in a rough handshake and puts his head with mine.

“We don’t count,” Adrian whispers as he lets his excitement flow and grabs me in an embrace.

“I know. You both don’t count. But don’t let on I’ve told you, especially not to Natasha.”

“Oh my God.” Adrian starts to jump around and then his face falls as he joins the dots. “But… Tash was drunk on Friday night.”

“Yes, she didn’t know.” My eyes flicker to Cameron. “Is that a problem?”

He screws up his face. “Not ideal. But a lot of women don’t always know at first. It should be ok.”

I smile brightly again. “That’s what Dr. Google said. What else should I know?” I ask.

“About pregnancy?”

I nod as I sip my coffee.

His face falls. “Are you only telling me so you can get medical information?”

“Of course.”

He curls up his top lip and shakes his head at Adrian. “Figures,” he mumbles under his breath. “How far along is she?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. We are going to the doctors this afternoon.”

“We are having a baby?” Adrian repeats. “For reals.”

“I’m having a baby.” I grin. “You are just helping.”

Adrian puts his hand over his heart. “Oh, I just want to squeeze my girl.”

“She’s my girl and
you
don’t fucking know yet,” I mutter into my coffee cup.

“Oh, right.” He flops down onto the lounge. “We should go get drunk or something.”

I smile and I look to Cameron who is smiling like an idiot. “We really should,” he replies.

I shake my head. “No, we’re going to the doctors later.”

“Tonight?” he asks.

“No.” I frown. “I’m not leaving her alone for one minute. I had to drag myself to work today.”

Adrian lies back on the lounge and holds his heart. “My Cinderella is having a baby. This is the best news ever.”

My attention returns to Cameron. “What about sex?”

“Sex is fine.”

My eyes hold his in question.

He tilts his head to the side already knowing my question. “You mean rough sex?”

I nod subtly.

“How rough is rough?”

I lift my chin defiantly.

“Rough, rough. Like rough?” he questions.

I give him a lopsided smile and tilt my head to the side, not really answering him.

“I don’t know much about the female anatomy, but I do know that you can’t do that. Put a fucking cork in it, you sex maniac!” Adrian snaps as he runs his hands through his hair in disgust.

I roll my eyes.

Cameron thinks for a moment and shrugs. “I think its ok, but maybe just tone it down a bit.”

“Oh.” I frown. Shit, I gave it to her hard on Saturday morning. What if I have already done damage?

“You already did it, didn’t you?”

“Perhaps,” I murmur.

“And she’s ok?”

I shrug. “She seems ok.”

“Then it’s ok.”

I turn to Adrian and he shrugs. The office door opens and Jarvis wanders in. “Oh, hello.” He smiles.

“Hi, mate.”

“Hey,” Cameron calls. “How are your arms?” Cameron smirks.

“Ripped off the fucking bone.” He sighs as he starts to file things away in Adrian’s drawers.

I smile broadly and throw the boys a wink. Cameron and Murph have taken Jarvis under their wing. They take him everywhere, even dragging him to their early morning gym sessions. He’s acting like he hates it, but I know he loves the time they spend with him. Even Tash and Didge are enamoured with our young friend. I smile. I can’t say I blame them. I’m quite taken with him myself.

“Ok, losers. I got to go to work.” Cameron sighs as he stands. “Are you cooking me dinner, Murphy?” he asks.

Murph’s eyes flick to Jarvis. “You want to come for dinner?”

“Sure,” Jarvis replies casually.

Adrian’s looks at me. “You guys want to come over for dinner, too?”

I shake my head. “No, thanks. I’m taking Tash out.”

Adrian smiles a
we have a secret
smile and I shake my head. “I will be in my office if you need me.”

I walk out down the hall and Tiffany calls me. “Mr. Stanton?”

“Yes?”

“Your appointment is in your office.”

“Who is it?” I frown. “I haven’t opened my diary yet.”

“He made the appointment weeks ago. He’s from the Australian Medical board.”

“Why is he here?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s weird, actually. The appointment was made in one name and then when he turned up today he had a different name.”

“What is his name?”

She walks back over to her desk and picks up her diary. “James Brennan.”

I feel the floor move from beneath me and, as if working on autopilot, I storm toward my office, pulling the door open in a rush.

He stands with his back to me, staring out the window, wearing a dark grey suit and cream shirt. He slowly turns toward me.

“Hello, son.”

I glare at him as shock starts to trickle into my bloodstream.

I feel like it’s the first time I have ever seen his face. We look alike. We fucking look alike. He stands at my height, six feet four inches tall. His hair is greying at the temples and his skin is olive. But it’s the eyes that are the mirrors. I drop my head and swallow the lump in my throat. How can I look like him?

“Get out before I fucking kill you,” I whisper.

He stays still, his eyes hold mine.

‘That’s no way to talk to your father.”

“You are not my father.”

“Ah.” He smiles sarcastically. “We both know that’s not true now, don’t we?”

I step toward him as I feel the adrenaline start to pump through me.

He raises his chin in defiance.

“So help me God,” I whisper. “I will tear you apart, limb by limb.”

He glares at me.

“Get out!”

“No. You will listen to what I have to say.”

“The hell I will.”

“I’m not here for myself. You are too Stanton to ever be my son.”

‘Thank fuck for that.” I growl.

“I’m here for your mother.”

“How dare you? I said get out.”

“You haven’t spoken to her in six months.”

My hostile eyes hold his.

“And you have yourself to thank for that.” I sneer.

“What did you want her to do? Pine her whole life for a husband who took his pleasure in other beds.” I start to hear my heart beat in my ears. “Is that really all she deserved?”

“You were his best friend.”

“And I saw how he treated her.”

“Get out.”

“He never loved her.”

I can’t even look at him and my eyes focus on one spot on the carpet.

“I love her, Joshua. I have always loved her.”

“That’s why you beat her?”

He pauses. “We…” He tries to articulate his thoughts. “It’s true we have a volatile relationship. You don’t know how many times I begged her to leave him – to come out to the world about our love.”

“Liar.”

“She loves me.”

“If she loved you she would have gone with you.”

“Would she?” He raises his eyebrows in question. “You and I both know there is only one reason she stayed.”

I glare at him. “You blackmailed her for my money.”

He shakes his head. “No. She loaned me the money to start up another business. It was a short term loan.”

“Fuck off. You’re lying. What about Wilson? I don’t see you knocking on his door?”

“Wilson is next on my list,” he tells me dryly. “But it’s you that upsets her. Her beloved Joshua Stanton.” He sneers. “She sacrificed a whole lifetime of happiness to live in a loveless marriage… for
you
. She didn’t know about Wilson until recently.”

“You have approximately ten seconds to get out of here or you will be leaving on a stretcher.”

“You are more like me than you know.” He smirks sarcastically and I frown. “It feels good to be violent doesn’t it?”

Violence has long been my favourite hobby. Dear, God, I feel the pain of truth seep into my bone marrow.

“Some days, you just feel like you will explode if you don’t get the anger out.” He replies.

I drop my head. “No.” I murmur to myself.

“Like the desire to hurt someone will eat you alive if you don’t get it out.”

“Shut up.”

“How many times do you kick someone’s ass in a week, Joshua?”

“Shut up!” I yell.

“Can you imagine being so in love with a woman that you can’t see straight? To have a child with her and for her to deny it to the world? For the child to be bought up by another man?”

My heart starts to race.

“We were in each others arms every damn day, yet she went home to him every night. It killed me.”

I stare at him.

“Do you blame me for losing control with her. Can you imagine if Natasha was married to someone else? If your child was brought up with another man’s name when you knew that she loved you?”

My baby comes to my mind and my eyes mist over. “Get out,” I whisper.

“Yes, we fought, but I loved her. With every ounce of my being, I loved her.”

I can think of anything but my Natasha and our baby. I can’t even imagine what he is telling me. Would I ever hit Natasha if I lost control? No. I could never.

“Talk to your mother, Joshua. She needs you.”

Pain lances my heart. I need her, too.

I don’t know what to say, I have no words. I look at him through blurry eyes. “Goodbye. It’s been nice never knowing you.”

His tortured eyes hold mine. “I wish I could say the same.”

I turn and leave my office on, what I swear will be my last interaction with that man.

I upload the last of the files and blow out a deep breath. It’s three o’clock and I have just wanted to go home since my earlier visit from James, but I haven’t let myself. He’s not getting to me. My door opens and Natasha’s beautiful face comes into view.

“Hello.” She smiles.

I stand immediately and walk over to her. “I thought I was picking you up at four?”

She wraps her arms around my neck and I push her hair behind her shoulders. “I wanted to check you were alright.” Her lips meet mine.

I smile. “I’m fine.”

“Were you shocked?”

“Yes.”

“Did it go ok?”

I shake my head. “No.” I inhale a breath in her hair. “But I didn’t kill him so that’s something.”

She smiles as her tongue gently rims my lips. “Why do I have two extra guards today?”

My hand instinctively drops to her stomach. “Because there are two of you now.”

She raises her eyebrows as she places her hand over mine. “Are you serious?”

“I am.”

“Joshua, I have nine months to go. Are you going to be overbearing the whole time?”

I smile and kiss her gently. “You have seven months and three weeks left, and you have not even began to see overbearing yet, Presh.”

I lead her over to my desk by the hand, drop into my chair and pull her down onto my lap. I inhale her scent deeply and smile. All in the world seems perfect again. We kiss, gently at first and then deeper and I feel my arousal start to rise. Every time, every damn time I think I can’t feel closer to this beautiful woman, something happens to intensify our intimacy, taking it to another level.

I beam.

“What?” She smirks.

“I told you my boys were good swimmers.”

She giggles. “You are such a confident bastard.”