His Best Man's Baby (9 page)

“N-No.” She cursed herself for showing her fear. “I want this.” To demonstrate, she pulled from his grasp and ran her hand down his chest to his abs. At first she watched her exploration, loving the sight of his body, so hard and sexy. His tanned skin made her weak in the knees and wet between the legs. She’d seen him naked before when she was at his house and he’d stepped from the shower, not even worried about her getting a look. Maybe he’d wanted her to. That’s how she knew his cock was big. Now as she touched his body, she lost the nerve to look at his shaft while she reached for it. Daniel chuckled, and she frowned at him.

“It’s not funny.”

“Aw.” He grinned, making her heart beat faster. “No, it’s not.” He wrapped his fingers around hers and taught her how to stroke him. They started at the bottom and slid up, then down again. He shut his eyes and tilted his head back. In fascination, she watched, thrilled that she made him feel this good.

His cock twitched under her palm, and she gave it a tug. Daniel stilled her hand. “Easy.”

Her eyes widened. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No.” He raised her chin and kissed her, then pushed her back so she lay flat on the bed. He leaned over her, staring into her eyes. His muscular arm seemed to block out half the room when he reached to brush her hair from her face. “I will teach you everything you need to know to please me, but first…”

His fingers found her heat, and she started to look down, but he clicked with his tongue.

“No, baby, look at me.”

She held onto his arms, shaking, and he parted her lips to slip one finger inside. Her pussy ached. Daniel waited until her hold eased, and then he pushed in a second finger. He stroked deep into her box and then pulled out, his digits coated with her juices. Her breaths came heavy and fast. She wanted to shut her eyes, but she forced herself to keep looking at him. The love reflected in the blue depths helped her to relax a little, and he nodded his approval.

“Hold on. I’m going to put on a condom. Just relax. It’ll be okay.”

She loved him more and more seeing his concern for her, and she waited as calm as she cold while he tore open the packet he’d fished from his pants pocket. The magnum-sized condom rolled onto his shaft, and Daniel positioned himself between her legs. Tae squeezed her eyes shut and balled her hands into fists at her sides.

“I shouldn’t have waited so long. I shouldn’t have waited. I shouldn’t have…” she chanted.

“Hey.” Daniel’s voice came from just above her, and she opened her eyes. The same man she’d loved for months stretched above her. While she knew from the stiffness of his cock he must want her bad, he maintained control and waited for her. She wasn’t being fair. He brought her to an orgasm, and she wanted to please him.

She uncurled her fingers and stroked his cheek. Leaning up, she kissed his lips and pushed her tongue into his mouth. He responded, teasing the tip of her tongue with his until they deepened the kiss. When she raised her knees, he settled on top of her, and she drew in a sharp breath as his cock pierced her entrance, expanding the cramped opening and making her cry out in pain.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry,” he murmured around kisses on her lips. His hands shifted to her hips, and he held still while she got used to the feeling of him deep inside her. Her pussy hurt like hell, but it felt good too, better than she imagined it could the first time. “I’m going to push in farther. Hold on. I’ll make you feel good soon.”

She clutched his shoulders, digging her fingernails into his skin without meaning to and unable to stop. “It already feels good, Daniel. Give me everything. I want all of you.”

He drove in deeper, until his pelvis bumped hers, and Tae encircled his neck with her arms. Her head spun with the pleasure that increased as the pain diminished. Daniel placed his hand under her ass and pushed her up toward him. The angle made his cock surge into her heat at a different angle, and she gasped at the change in sensation. Her jaw went slack, and she shut her eyes. He drove in slow and gentle, and then withdrew only to invade her pussy again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and rested her heels on his ass.

“Again,” she begged. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

“I’m not going to quit until we both come,” he promised, and she gave herself to him, body and soul.

When Daniel reached the end of his control, he plunged into her heat and stilled. She looked up at him, marveling at the expression of bliss. His forehead dropped, and he buried his face in the pillow beside her. His entire body jerked, and he lay heavy on top of her. Then she felt it, an odd sensation, heat, and pulsing as he pumped his seed into the condom. Tae whooped in silence. She’d done it. She’d made her man come, and just watching him had sent her lust so high, all she had to do was wiggle her hips while Daniel was still inside her to come a second time. The orgasm consumed her, tightening her core muscles and making her moan and whisper his name. When the sensations eased, Daniel pulled out and lay at her side. He drew her gently into his arms, and Tae drifted off to sleep, sore but content.

Chapter Nine

Tae heard the doorbell ringing, but she couldn’t roll off the couch onto the floor to crawl across the floor.
Roll
and
crawl
were the operative words since she’d collapsed where she lay not an hour ago. A marathon of vomiting in the bathroom had led to her present position. How could this happen anyway? From all she’d heard and from its freaking name “morning sickness” should happen in the morning. Besides that, wasn’t it too early? She’d thought to check the literature her doctor had given her, but she forgot it in her purse, which happened to be in the bedroom.

The doorbell rang again, and she moaned in agony. A heavy banging started, and then she heard Jax shouting through the door. “I know you’re in there, Tae. Open up.”

For real?

She rolled to her knees on the side of the couch and managed to use the coffee table to stand up. After what felt like years, she reached the front door and undid the locks. Peeking out at Jax, she studied his form. He looked the same, normal, unaffected by this damn sickness, and he’d done it to her. Life wasn’t fair.

“What are you doing here, Jax? Come to call me more names?”

“I came to apologize.”

She blinked. He brought the hand from behind his back that she hadn’t noticed and presented her with flowers, a beautiful array of red tulips and blue irises. The sweet scent stirred her stomach, and she backed away, slapping a hand over her mouth. Alarm registered in Jax’s expression.

“Damn, I didn’t realize.” He looked left and right, spinning this way and that. If she weren’t feeling so bad, she would have laughed. At last he jogged the flowers over to her neighbor’s place, yanked the card free, and plunked them down to the side of the door. Then he hurried back to her. “Let me help you to the bathroom.”

She raised a hand, but he ignored it and roughly jerked her into his arms to carry her down the hall. When they reached the bathroom, he set her on her feet and lifted the lid to the toilet. Next thing she knew, he sat before the commode with her on his lap and him holding her hair in one hand.

“Go,” he said, and she laughed.

“Is that a command, sir?”

“I mean it’s okay to let loose.”

She shook her head and found it to be a mistake. For want of energy to do anything else, she laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s past now. I don’t have anything left in my stomach.”

Jax touched her face with calloused hands, so unlike Daniel’s, which were soft. Jax stood, carrying her with him and walked from the bathroom to the living room. He laid her down on the couch and took a spot on the loveseat not far away. She breathed a sigh of relief because sitting on his lap had not done anything for her equilibrium.

“Tae.”

“Hm?” she murmured.

“You reek.”

Her eyes popped open, and she pushed herself to her elbows. “I just told you I was sick. No one invited you to stay. If I offend your nose, you can get out.”

She glared at him, but her lower lip trembled. Was this the emotional roller coaster she remembered her sister telling her about when she was pregnant? Tae hadn’t spent much time with Janita or Sasha, so she wasn’t sure. Lack of sleep could do it, too.

He stood up, and she folded her arms on the couch and put her head face down on them. Good riddance. She didn’t need him or anyone else either. His footsteps receded, but she never heard the door open and close. Instead the bathroom faucet came on, and she heard clunking around, sounds she identified with the hall closet. The sound the water made changed, and she guessed Jax filled a container with water. If he was thirsty, why didn’t he go to the kitchen and use the dispenser in the refrigerator door? For that matter, what the hell did he use to get the water?

She started to sit up when she heard him coming back. He hurried over to her, water sloshing above the side of the basin he carried. Tae ground her teeth and said nothing at wet splotches on the carpet. Jax dropped to his knees beside her, and a whiff of strawberry rose from the sudsy water. He must have squeezed in her bath gel. When he dipped a washcloth into the water, she drew back.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“Wash you.”

“Dude, seriously? I’ll brush my teeth and gargle, okay?” She tried to sit up, but dizziness assailed her, and she fell back down. Jax caught her and righted her on the couch.

“Lie still.”

“I don’t need your help, Jax. Every woman goes through this when they’re pregnant,” she lied, having no clue if her statement was true. “I can deal with it.”

He ignored her protests and pulled his jacket from his shoulders. That’s when she noticed the gun. Her heart skittered and then beat faster. Jax followed her line of sight, and looked down at himself. “Damn, sorry about that. I came here from a job.”

“You had to carry a gun?”

“I often carry one when I’m working. I have a license to carry a concealed weapon.”

“That seems dangerous.”

“It can be. Now, forget about the gun. I’ll take the holster off. Just relax.”

She kept looking until he’d divested himself of the weapon and set it on the coffee table. “I said I don’t need help.”

He reached out to unbutton her blouse. She smacked his hands. He frowned. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Are you going to hit me over the head?”

“No, but I can pin you down.”

“You’d like that!”

“Tae, I’m here to help you. I know you don’t want it, but the last I spoke with Daniel, he decided to work on his marriage.”

She gasped. The words cut. Not that she thought Daniel should stay by her and ignore is own wife, but she had enjoyed her time with him the other day. Even if she never wanted a family, the experience of having Daniel visiting the doctor’s office with her and shopping for the baby with her was kind of nice. But Daniel didn’t have the right to be here. Jax did, and she resented him for it.

“I’m not an invalid,” she said.

“How long have you been sick?”

She shrugged. “A couple days,
all
day. It’s not fair.”

“When is the last time you ate?”

“Is this twenty questions?”

“
When
, Tae?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed, then thought about it. The last thing she ate was cereal, and that had been… Wow, had it really been two days ago? “Tuesday.”

“You haven’t eaten, so you’re weaker.”

“I haven’t been able to keep anything down, so I didn’t bother.”

“Don’t you think you should talk to your doctor about this? It can’t be healthy. You’re eating for two.” He picked up the washcloth and rang it out. She realized her blouse stood open, exposing her breasts. Good thing she’d wrestled a bra on that morning. When he leaned over and placed the cloth on her chest then reached behind her, a flick of his fingers relieved the clasp on her bra, and her nipples were in clear view for him.

She smacked his hands again and covered herself. “You just want to see me naked.”

He grinned. “I’m not going to deny that, but I do want to help you, and I’m not going anywhere until you let me get you cleaned up and in fresh clothes. Then you’re going to try some soup.”

“I don’t have the flu,” she growled. Mustering the energy to drive him away or to get up did not work. She lay at his mercy. “You’re the worst nurse.”

He gave a bow of his head. “Thank you.”

Tae didn’t see how she could win the battle, so she gave into him. Jax removed her clothing from the waist up and took his time running the warm, soapy washcloth over her skin. She had to admit it felt good, and if she were not so ill, she might have liked his touch too. To her surprise, he didn’t try anything funny, but she did notice his gaze lingering on her nipples, which made the traitorous buds tighten. Their doing so drew more of his attention, and the cycle continued.

At last, Jax brought a T-shirt from the bedroom and pulled it over her head. He removed her jeans but didn’t replace them. When he reached for her panties, she drew the line. “No, absolutely not!”

He gave in. “Fine. Let me empty this, and I’ll help you brush your teeth.”

Tae imagined her light brown skin flamed red as he went through the steps of caring for her. His touch, rough as it was, seemed to settle her stomach, and soon he brought in a small bowl of soup and set it on the coffee table.

“Do you need me to feed you?”

“No. I can do it. I’m feeling a lot better.” She was, and a “thank you” trembled on her tongue. Mumbling the words made him chuckle, and he cleaned up the tools of his nursing while she ate the soup with a spoon. Chicken and noodles never tasted so good, but she wondered if Jax could cook anything not from a can. She doubted it.

The evening passed with Jax staying and watching TV with her. Every time she looked at him, she willed herself to tell him the truth, that the baby was his, but her lips wouldn’t part. Why was he there anyway? Did Daniel spill her secret, and Jax waited for her to admit it for herself? No, she believed Daniel when he said he wouldn’t do that.