скачать книгу бесплатно
“Baby, I was born ready.” She hooked a leg around his waist and arched up to meet him.
He’d expected the move, so he countered it, letting himself sink into her a single inch and no more. “Slow, minx. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Her laugh seemed to vibrate her whole body, and her blue eyes shone with true amusement. “That giant cock of yours is impressive, but I can take it.” Becka grinned. “Do your worst.”
Impossible to resist the playful challenge in every line of her body. He didn’t really want to hold back any more than she seemed to want him to. Aaron slammed into her, sheathing himself to the hilt. She jolted, that delicious whimper slipping free again. He ate the sound, kissing even as he began moving. His leash had snapped without his realizing how close he was to losing control. This woman, this wildfire in his arms, she brought out something he’d fought long and hard to tame within himself.
Something savage.
He tried to pull back, tried to regain control.
As if sensing his withdrawal, Becka wrapped both legs around his waist and grabbed his hands, lacing their fingers together. She stretched her arms over her head, guiding him to pin her down. “I’m not breakable, Aaron. You don’t have to be careful with me.” She squeezed his hands. “I want everything.”
He could no more resist her command than he’d been able to turn away from her at the bar. Aaron put his weight onto her hands and pounded into her, each thrust making her breasts bounce and drawing a cry from her lips. He watched her face the entire time, finding only a mirror to the delirious pleasure spiraling through him. Feeling more animal than man, he shifted his grip to her wrists, and her splayed fingers only drove him to fuck her harder.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Becka let loose another of those intoxicating giggles, her pussy clenching around him in climax hard enough to pull him over the edge with her. He thrust into her roughly, his grip on her the only thing that kept them from sliding right into the headboard, his orgasm hitting him with the force of a tidal wave.
Aaron dropped his face to the curve of her neck and pressed a careful kiss there. “Fuck, minx, nothing could have prepared me for you.”
* * *
Becka shouldn’t let a comment like the one Aaron just made stand, but she couldn’t work up the energy to remind him yet again that this was a one-shot deal. Not with his big body pinning her to the bed, his hands still holding her down in a way that had her squirming despite coming twice in quick order. Aaron made her feel... She didn’t know how to put it into words. She wasn’t submissive—not really—but being at his mercy while he fucked her within an inch of her life?
Yeah, that moment was going into her hall of fame.
She stroked a cautious hand down his back and shivered as he thrust into her a little. He was still half-hard, which had her glancing at the clock and doing a quick calculation to how much time was really left in this one-night stand. More than enough. It doesn’t really end until the sun rises, right?
Aaron kissed her neck again and then took her mouth. There was no other way to describe his mouth claiming hers, his way of controlling the kiss that made her head spin. He thrust again, and she clenched her legs tighter around him. “More. I need more. Again.”
He set his teeth to her bottom lip, but just when she thought he’d give her exactly what she wanted, he cursed and retreated. “We’re going to have to go back to my place for that nightcap. I have exactly one condom on me, and we just used it.”
Disappointment threatened to sour her good mood, but she shoved it aside. What would it hurt to catch a cab back to his place and keep this thing going for a few more hours? He’d already more than proven he could give it to her better than ninety percent of the guys she’d hooked up with in the past. Letting a tiny technicality get in the way of more orgasms wasn’t her style.
Becka reluctantly uncrossed her ankles so he could move. “I suppose you’ll make it worth my while if I suffer through a cab ride.”
“You know it.” Her heart skipped a beat at his answering grin. His buttoned-up attitude hadn’t lasted past their first kiss, but there was such mirth in that expression she couldn’t stop herself from grinning in response.
Aaron pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Let me clean up and we’ll get out of here.” He slid off her...and froze. “Fuck.”
“What?” She scrambled back, her stomach doing a slow flip at the sight of the broken condom. Fuck, indeed. “Shit.”
“I’m clean.”
It was too much on top of everything else that had happened that day. Becka shook her head and edged around him to get off the bed. “Thanks for the memo.” She believed him, even though she had no right to take his word for anything at this point. She reached the edge of the bed and hesitated. Think, Becka. Don’t be a jackass. “I’m clean, too. I get tested regularly.” He deserved to know that, at least.
She pushed her hair back, hating that his face had immediately fallen back into the cold lines he’d worn when she first caught sight of him. This was never going to work. Get out now before it gets even more awkward.
“Becka—”
Becka. Not minx.
She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I’m on birth control. If you’re clean—”
“I am.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” She grabbed her dress from the floor and tugged it on. “This has been fun, but I need to go home now.”
He disappeared into the bathroom for a few seconds, and then he was back, unabashedly naked and stalking across the room to her. “We need to talk about this.”
“Actually, we don’t. Clean.” She pointed at him. “Clean.” She pointed at herself. “Birth control. End of story. This has been fun, but it’s over now.” Becka didn’t see her panties, but she wasn’t about to stick around to search for them. Instead, she grabbed her shoes and ducked under Aaron’s arm.
“I’d like to see you again.”
She reached the door and paused. It had been fun. A lot of fun, right up until that shitty ending. Becka closed her eyes, letting herself picture—just for a moment—what it would be like if she said yes. Maybe he was talking about just sex, and they’d spend a prolonged one-night stand blowing each other’s minds until he got tired of her and decided to try to let her down easy, bruising her in the process. Or maybe he’d try to take her out on a date, and they’d end up fucking again, and it would end exactly the same. Even if things did work for a while, eventually they would explode in her face, just like every other relationship she’d been in.
Historically, men looked at her appearance and assumed one of two things.
They figured that she was some kind of manic pixie dream girl who would help them find themselves. Or, more often, they assumed that she was a kinky sex fiend who’d be down for everything and anything and not be bothered by days gone by without communication as long as the sex was on point.
Becka wasn’t about to play prop to a man, and she might like sex, but she had more respect for herself than to be some guy’s one A.M. booty call while he was trying to date other women. As a result, every single time she’d tried to actually date someone, it had gone down in flames sooner rather than later.
Like mother, like daughter.
She straightened her spine, but she couldn’t look at him. If she met those gray-blue eyes, she was a goner. “It’s been fun. Really fun. But let’s leave this on a high note. I want to be a fond memory, something that will never get a chance to lose its shine.”
His bitter laugh made her stomach drop. “Sounds like you already have the narrative set.”
Better me setting the narrative than playing supporting role in someone else’s. “I do.” She forced her hand to turn the doorknob and open the door, because if she didn’t move right then, she’d go back to him and let him spin whatever pretty fantasy until she actually believed it. It wasn’t the truth. She knew that, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it. “Have a nice life, Aaron.”
Becka walked out the door without looking back.
CHAPTER THREE (#u801ee42b-4df1-546b-b266-8b04eb18765e)
Twelve weeks later
“THAT ABOUT SUMS it up. The new account didn’t request anything fancy, but we’d be assholes if we left them exposed. Better to just go the extra mile.” Aaron slid the file across the table to his business partner, Cameron O’Clery. “You want to handle this one, or should I?” Their security business focused heavily on all things tech related, and this new account was no different. Once they got the initial cybersecurity laid down, they would maintain it for as long as their retainer was paid, but it took time to figure out exactly what the client needed—and often enough, it wasn’t what the client thought they needed.
Cameron flipped through it. “You usually don’t ask me—you just dole out the clients.”
Aaron tensed, but it was the truth. He tended to be the client-facing part of the company, and he picked and chose which ones he passed to Cameron because Cameron...wasn’t particularly patient with people he considered too stupid to live. Unfortunately for any prospective business-client relationships, Cameron found ninety percent of the world too stupid to live. Some clients could handle his attitude because he was the best cybersecurity expert in the city, and some couldn’t. Part of Aaron’s job was figuring that out. “We’re partners.”
“Never said we weren’t.” Cameron sat back and laced his fingers behind his head. He was a big fucker, his white T-shirt stretched tight against his dark skin. He narrowed brown eyes at Aaron. “You’re off your game—have been for weeks. I didn’t ask, but if it’s going to affect the job, maybe it’s time to.”
“It’s nothing.” Just a blue-haired woman he couldn’t seem to scrub from his mind. He hadn’t tracked Becka down after she’d left so abruptly because she couldn’t have been clearer in wanting nothing to do with him. If he was smart, he would have left what happened between them in that room behind as easily as she had.
But she haunted his dreams.
He kept waking up and reaching for her, only to find himself alone in bed. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense. It had been sex—outstanding, earth-shattering sex, but sex. A single fuck shouldn’t screw with his mind so effectively.
“Doesn’t look like nothing to me.” Cameron held his hands up. “Not my business. Just handle your shit, Aaron. I can take this client.”
He thought about the timid man who had signed the contract earlier that day and sat back. “Nah, I got it. This guy needs a softer touch.”
“Shit. Take it.” Cameron slid the file back to him with a disgusted look on his face. “I’ve got to tie up a few loose ends with the last one. She came back wanting changes despite the job being done. Nothing I can’t handle, but it’s a pain in the ass.”
“Always is.” Aaron grabbed the file and rose. “Let me know if you need an assist.”
“I don’t.” Cameron frowned. “Though I think we might need to expand the team to include someone to handle paperwork and all that shit. It’s taking too much time from the jobs themselves, and you know how I feel about paperwork.”
“The same way you feel about most things.” He hated it.
Cameron nodded. “I’ll post a job opening. Figure they can man the phones and the main email account to field and file prospective clients. Frees you up to focus on the jobs and stop handling me.”
Considering Aaron didn’t know who they would hire who was capable of handling Cameron, he just nodded. It was a problem for another day. First, he had to arrange a secondary meeting with the new client and bring them up to date with the prospective client list sitting in his inbox. Throwing a new person into the mix without them being caught up was a recipe for disaster.
That said, it would be nice to delegate some of the more tedious tasks. “Sounds like a plan.”
He headed out of the room. They owned the entire floor of this building, but they really only utilized their respective offices, a boardroom and a waiting room that was more neglected than anything else.
Their cybersecurity company was small, but both he and Cameron preferred it that way. With the reputation they’d spent years building, they could handpick their clients and charge top dollar for their services. But the demand seemed to be increasing lately, which meant they’d have to hire that secretary—and potentially add a cybersecurity specialist or two to their team—sooner, rather than later.
Aaron stopped in the hallway and tried to picture what the waiting room would look like with someone at the desk livening up the place. He preferred to take his meetings with clients off-site, and Cameron preferred not to take them at all. Aaron shook his head. If the secretary stayed on for more than a week, it’d be a fucking miracle.
His phone started ringing as he strode into his office. He cursed and fished it out of his pocket. An unfamiliar number scrolled across the screen. Aaron took a breath and put his professional persona on. “Aaron Livingston.”
“Hey, Aaron.”
Three months later, he’d still recognize Becka’s voice anywhere. He walked back to his office, shut his door, and moved around his desk to sit down. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.” He realized how that must sound and grimaced. “But I’m glad you called.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to call.” Her voice went thick as if she was...holding back tears? “Funny story. Remember when the condom broke? Well, apparently the pill isn’t one hundred percent foolproof because, surprise, I’m pregnant.”
He waited for the words to rearrange themselves into an order that made sense. They stayed stubbornly in place. “What?”
“Pregnant. With your kid.” She cleared her throat. “I, ah, I wasn’t going to keep it, but I chickened out at the last second, and it turns out I want this baby. I’m sorry. I swear to God I didn’t know this would happen, and I don’t expect anything from you. It’s not your problem—it’s mine. I just... I thought you should know.”
A baby.
His baby.
With Becka.
He closed his eyes and tried to focus. She thought he would wash his hands of this. Aaron had questions—a whole hell of a lot of questions—but he didn’t honestly believe that Becka had tricked him into getting her pregnant. She sounded upset and scared, and the fact she’d let that slip through what he surmised were impressive shields meant she was exponentially more freaked out. How long have you been sitting on this knowledge, scared and alone?
He wasn’t about to let her shoulder it by herself. That child was half his, and if she was keeping it, he would be in the baby’s life. End of story.
That decided, he opened his eyes, plan in place. “Where are you?”
“What? I’m at home.”
“Text me the address.”
She hesitated, and he could almost see her arguing with herself about having him in her house. Well, too fucking bad. Whether she liked it or not, Aaron was in her life, and he wasn’t going anywhere. They had a future in common, one way or another. Finally, Becka sighed. “Okay.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon.” He hung up and stared at his phone.
His life had just taken a hard right turn. He had no fucking idea how he was going to keep it from going off the rails entirely. One step at a time. Talk to Becka in person. Be calm. Reassure her. Get her to see things your way.
Shouldn’t be too difficult. Right?
* * *
Becka nearly paced a hole in her floor waiting for Aaron to show up. She should have realized he was going to demand to see her face-to-face when she called, but part of her had honestly thought he’d be relieved not to be asked to do anything. Isn’t that what most guys wanted in a shitty situation like this? To be absolved of all responsibility so they could go on with their lives unscathed while the woman was left to clean up the mess they’d created together?
You were projecting and you damn well know it. She caught herself wringing her hands and cursed. “I can do better than this. It’s just a baby.”
A baby she hadn’t signed up for.
She touched her stomach gingerly. There were none of the symptoms movies had told her to expect—aside from being extra exhausted all the time—but her doctor had confirmed there was, in fact, a baby growing inside her. A freaking baby.
She didn’t know how to be a mom. Lucy was the nurturer. The planner. The one who took care of everyone around her and was universally loved as a result. Becka had too much of their mother in her. She was too selfish, too bitchy, just too much across the board. Up until she made the call to keep the baby, she’d been sure she didn’t want kids at all—better to let the sins of the past lie and not tempt fate. Lucy always told her there was no reason to think they’d end up like their parents, but Becka didn’t believe her any more now than she had as a kid.
The buzzer sounded, and she jumped half out of her skin. “Shit.” Aaron was here. There was no time to think of a new, better plan. There was nothing left to do but buzz him up.
Thirty seconds later, she opened the door and froze. How had she forgotten how magnetic he was? His broad shoulders took up the space of her narrow door frame, and he wore a suit that probably cost as much as a couple months of her rent. Becka belatedly realized she was blocking the entrance and stepped back, letting him into her apartment.
He looked around, and she could almost see the thoughts rolling through his head. Shabby place. Secondhand furniture. A hole in the drywall from where she’d accidentally kicked it in when she fell out of a headstand a year ago. It was clean, but she was barely there long enough to sleep between teaching classes at Allie’s gym, Transcend, and her second job as a personal trainer at an upscale facility downtown. She’d never seen a reason to spiff up the place when that money could be spent in better places.
Now, she kind of wished she’d told Aaron to meet her somewhere else so he wouldn’t have seen this.
He turned as she shut the door and gave her an equally thorough examination. His gaze landed on her flat stomach and then rose to her face. “You’re not facing this alone.”
It was tempting to throw herself at his feet and beg him to hold her until this whole thing went away. Fear ate at the edges of her mind, and there was no easy answer to combat it. Hell, there were no answers at all.
But Becka had spent all her adult life fighting to stand on her own. She wasn’t about to compromise that now for a man who was essentially a stranger. She lifted her chin. “Easy for you to say. I’m the one incubating the kid, and I’m going to be the one solely responsible for its needs.”
“In this...apartment.” The way he said the last word translated to hovel.
She glared. “There’s nothing wrong with my apartment.”
“You have a hole in your wall.” He stalked around her kitchen. “Water damage on the floor.” The living room. “The rugs are worn down to nothing.” Aaron almost sounded like he was talking to himself instead of her. “If you don’t have money to repair this place, you sure as fuck don’t have money to give our baby everything he or she needs.”
She wanted to tell him she didn’t need him at all, that she’d find a way, but the hard reality was that Aaron had money and Becka didn’t. She made a comfortable living for herself, but she didn’t need much to get by in the grand scheme of things.
A baby changed that.
She turned away and wrapped her arms around herself. You can compromise. Try it—just this once. “I’m willing to negotiate some kind of...child support or something. If that’s something you’re comfortable with.” She wasn’t comfortable with it, but she’d suck up her pride and get over herself if it meant he could help her meet the baby’s needs.
“No.”
