The Footballer's Designer Baby (A BWWM Pregnancy Romance) (11 page)

She laughed it off, but Maryanne looked at her thoughtfully and smiled at her, then hugged her shoulders and kissed her cheek where the tear had been.

“That’s alright. Things will work out. You’ll see,” she said and turned her attention back to the game.

Though Delilah’s body grew healthier and stronger every day, her heart ached and felt like it was fracturing into little pieces the closer she got to being herself again, because it meant she would have to go.

Chapter Six

Aaron sat down beside Cameron in their locker room after practice late one afternoon, and Aaron looked at him. “Brother, we have to talk.”

“What’s up, Aaron?” Cameron asked.

“I know you just had little Oliver, and you’re not getting a lot of sleep, working out the schedule with the new baby and all that, but there’s something going on, and you are not focused on your game, and it’s not the baby. What’s up with you, Cam? Where’s your head?”

“It’s that noticeable?” Cameron asked, furrowing his brow. He thought he’d done a better job of keeping it to himself.

“Not to everyone, maybe not even to Josh and Mikey, but I can see it, and I want to know what’s going on with you. Talk to me.”

Cameron sighed. “It’s Delilah.”

Aaron watched him silently.

“I can’t get her out of my head… she’s just so amazing, she’s really special and I think she’s going to be leaving soon. She’s just about healed up. She has her six week checkup with the doctor in a couple of days and then she’ll be gone. I don’t want her to go. I like having her in the house… I like having her around… I… I can’t let her go.”

“Did you tell her?” Aaron asked.

“I’ve tried, but, it hasn’t really come out very well.” Cameron knew it hadn’t gone like he’d hoped it would.

“What did you tell her?”

“I kissed her.”

“What did she do?” Aaron leaned closer to Cameron, keeping his eyes on him.

“She walked out.”

Aaron pursed his lips and rubbed his chin, looking down at the floor. He sighed and then looked back up at Cameron. “You have to tell her. You’ve got to figure this thing out one way or the other. We’ve got some big games coming up, and you have got have your head in the game… no fooling around.

“We’ve had a hell of a year, but we could take the playoffs again if you were all here,” he said, tapping his finger against Cameron’s head, “and if you don’t get it together, you’re going to start seeing it on the field, and that is going to wipe out your dreams, my friend. Do you love her? You want to be with her?”

Cameron raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. “Yeah, I do. I do love her.”

“Well then, you better throw a Hail Mary pass and tell her, because no matter what happens, whether she stays with you or walks out that door, either way, you’ve got to get your head back on this field right now. It’s a long shot, buddy… a real long shot, but you’ve got to go give it your best and get it figured out. Okay?”

Cameron nodded and smiled at his friend. “Yeah, okay, Aaron. Thanks, brother.”

They hugged each other and Cameron called his mother to ask for a favor.

When he got home late that afternoon, he walked into the house and didn’t see anyone. He checked the kitchen and den, then walked into the library and saw that Delilah’s desk had been cleared and cleaned up; all of her things were gone, and panic shot through him. He couldn’t be too late, he thought, she couldn’t already be gone.

He rushed down the hall to her room and saw her standing beside her bed. She turned to look at him and he reached her in two strides. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close and burying his face in her neck.

Delilah thought something must have happened and worry struck at her. “What is it, Cameron?”

His words were spoken against her neck and his breath made her skin tingle. “I thought you were gone. I thought I was too late.” He held her close to him, relieved to have her in his arms; relieved that she was still there.

Delilah felt the warmth of his breath on her and she closed her eyes, feeling the struggle come back to her. She couldn’t take it any longer and she had to stop him now. She pushed his chest and he let his arms loose from around her, as he stepped back and looked down at her. She met his eyes and tears formed in hers, frustration mounting in her.

“What are you doing? Cameron! Why do you insist on doing that to me? Don’t you think I’ve been through enough? Don’t you think this is hard enough on me without you getting close to me like that?”

“I’m sorry…” he said, confusion and ache sweeping into his heart again.

“I just… I thought you were gone and I wanted to stop you, to talk with you.”

She shook her head.

“Cameron, you have to stop. I came here and I did what I was supposed to do, I did the surrogacy pregnancy and I had your baby for you, but you just keep stretching it out, you keep getting closer to me. I wasn’t supposed to be at the house here, I wasn’t supposed to come back here after I had Oliver, I wasn’t supposed to nurse him…” she began to cry.

“And you just keep holding me here, and the longer I’m here, the more it hurts me! Can’t you see that?”

He stepped toward her, desperate to find some way to make her see how important she was to him.

“Delilah, I don’t think you understand, I don’t want you to leave, you’re such a part of this now, and I really want you to stay!”

Anger and pain clutched at her whole being.

“I can’t stay! I can’t stay here any longer Cameron, because the longer I stay here, the harder it will be for me to go, and eventually, I will have to go. Every day I’m here I fall more and more in love with Oliver and Renee and your mom…

“Every day it feels like I’m more a part of this family, and Cameron, I’m not, every day that I’m here this feels more like home to me, and it’s not, and every single day I fall more and more in love with you, and it’s breaking my heart that I have to go and leave this all behind, and you, you are being so selfish!

“You keep getting close to me, you keep making me stay here, you kiss me… just so you can hold on to your happy little world just a little bit longer, but I’m the one who will have to leave.

“I’m the only one whose road leads me out of the door here, and away from all of the things that are becoming more and more precious to me, but you just can’t see that! All you’re interested in is keeping your happy little home here, and keeping me in it!” She raised her voice and tears rolled down her cheeks as the pain felt like it would burst her heart in half.

Cameron stared at her for a moment and then reached his hands to her shoulders and pulled her close to him. He looked down into her olive green eyes and said,

“You’re right. I am selfish. I do want it all; I want the happy perfect little home that you and I have together here, and I want you to stay, but I don’t want you to stay for just a little while with your eyes on the door, thinking you will have to leave someday. I don’t ever want you to leave.

“I love you, Delilah, and I want you to stay here with me, and with your son Oliver, and help me raise him. I want to see you when I come home every night, I want to kiss you anytime I feel like it, I want to hold you and make love to you.

“I want you to be with me every day for the rest of my life, here, in this home, and I want you to be part of the family I’ve made, because without you, it isn’t a family. I love you, Delilah, and I want you to be mine, always. Please don’t go. Please stay here with all of us, forever.”

She stared at him in shock. Her whole body was frozen and she had no idea what to say to him. She hadn’t expected this from him at all. He took a deep breath and leaned in to her, gently placing his lips on hers and kissing her lightly, whispering,

“Stay with me, just one more day, every day, for the rest of your life, please, Delilah… please…” He kissed her again and her body began to thaw, her brain began to work, and her heart began to pound against her chest.

His kiss grew deeper and he opened her mouth with his lips, tasting her with the tip of his tongue, and then closing their kiss and letting passion drive him as his mouth and Delilah’s began to share the secrets of their desire for each other.

Her breath grew short and she felt the familiar warmth spreading through her, the closer he got to her. She could not believe he’d told her he loved her, and that he’d asked her to stay with him always.

But he kissed her, and as his hands began to move over her, her disbelief turned into desire, and she let all the anguish and ache go from her, discovering a hunger and need for him had taken the place of all that had been hurting her.

Cameron slowly moved his hand to her blouse, pulling it away from her and catching his breath at the sight of her skin. He ran his light hands over her dark chocolate skin, lovingly caressing every part of her and drawing fire to the surface of her body. She paused only for a moment and then took his shirt off of him, and ran her fingers over his chest and stomach.

“What about the baby?” she asked, suddenly looking up at him in concern.

He smiled. “My mom has the baby. She’s giving us some time to work things out.”

Delilah laughed, and Cameron smiled at her, sliding the rest of her clothes off as well as his, and pulled her onto her bed. “I have wanted this for a long time, now,” he said quietly as they lay there together, touching, tasting, exploring and discovering each other.

“You know what’s funny?” she said as she pressed her dark lips to his neck and his chest.

“What’s that?” he asked, running his hands over her back.

“We have a child together, we live together, and we’ve never made love.” She laughed a little and her mouth moved lower over his stomach.

“That may be one of the strangest things I’ve ever heard,” he said, pulling her up to him and kissing her deeply for a long moment.

Then he whispered,

“I’ll help you take care of that right now.”

He moved his hands over her body, appreciating every inch of her, tenderly touching her breasts, and finally moving between her legs as she wrapped them around him, their breath short and fast, their hearts pounding, their bodies hot and moist.

Cameron slid himself inside of her, filling her body and her heart, making her dizzy with pleasure and relief, hungry for more of him, and thrilled with happiness that her life was better than her dreams. She found his lips, kissing him deeply and fervently as he began to move urgently inside of her, his breath warming her neck and her breasts, his arms closed around her, and Cameron was amazed at the love and passion coursing through him like a river.

He had never known love like he felt with Delilah, and with every breath, every move she made, every touch of her lips and her fingers, he knew he would never, ever get enough of her, and there could be no measure of love for the woman he held in his arms, the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

She grasped at his back as he pushed himself deep into her body, and all of her muscles clenched tightly as she felt the climax of pleasure building up in her, and then, their hearts pounding together as one, their orgasms met and matched, their bodies locked together in love and passion, their cries mingled harmoniously.

When the wave of pleasure subsided, and Cameron lay down beside her, he looked at her face and caressed her, tracing his finger over her cheek.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known. I can’t begin to tell you how much you mean to me, and how much I love you.”

Delilah closed her eyes for a moment in utter bliss, and then looked back at him.

“I love you too, Cameron, so much.” A tear escaped her and he kissed it away.

“Promise me you’ll stay here with me, Delilah. Be here with me always. Marry me. Be my wife and make this family with me. Please.”

She gasped and reached for him, holding him tightly, barely believing it.

“Is that a yes? Delilah?” he asked with a little laugh, and she kissed him and smiled at him.

“Yes… that’s a yes.” 

He held her close, and before long they were making love again, slower, deeper, taking their time and reveling in their passion together for a long while.