Bachelor Mother (12 page)

Bubba waited in the shadows until Joel made his first big move, pressing Mel down into the depths of the sofa and climbing on top of her.

Not much for the subtle approach.
Bubba found his jaw was aching with the effort to keep himself from crying out. He couldn’t stand to see her violated. How would she ever be able to raise the child, remembering this creep and this night?

His bare feet making no sound on the plush carpet, Bubba glided slowly toward the chair on the edge of the living room and sank into it. He set the apple down on the small table next to the chair and took a bite out of his sandwich. Even though it felt like clay in his throat, he forced himself to chew and swallow.

He’d give this bastard
exactly
  thirty seconds before putting his plan into effect.

* * *

Mel kept her eyes shut as Joel lowered her to the couch. His hands were making quick forays down her sides and she knew any minute he would zoom in on her breasts. He had the subtlety of a tomcat and just about as much finesse.

Why did she keep thinking about Bubba? Each time Joel kissed her, touched her, her mind kept flashing back to the night she’d spent in Bubba’s arms. He’d taken so much time with her, urged her along slowly. With Joel it was exactly as it had been with Phillip. He didn’t give – he took, taking his own pleasure selfishly. She could've been one of those rubber dolls advertised in the backs of men’s magazines for all she meant to him.

It’s wrong. It’s the wrong way to conceive a child and you know it.
Though Joel would be furious with her, she had to stop him. She couldn’t do this to herself no matter how badly she wanted a baby.

And why do I have the strangest sensation – almost as if Bubba knows exactly what’s happening to me?
They were extremely close but had never been psychic. She opened her eyes as Joel’s hand mashed her breast and then drew in a sharp breath.

Bubba knew exactly what was happening to her because he sat not more than fifteen feet away, chewing on a sandwich and calmly watching. When her body went rigid, Joel raised his head.

“Melanie, loosen up. How am I supposed to enjoy this if you – ” He stopped talking as he noticed the direction of her gaze. Then he looked over her shoulder and saw Bubba.

Joel levered himself off her in a flash, adjusting his pants and tucking in his crisp white evening shirt. “What's the meaning of this!”

Bubba waved what was left of his sandwich in the air in a supremely casual gesture. “You two just go right ahead. Don’t let me bother you.”

“Who
are
  you, and just what are you doing in that chair?” Joel demanded furiously.

Bubba popped open his can of soda and took a long swallow.

Joel turned furious eyes on Melanie. “Who is this man!”

“He’s my… he’s my neigh – ” To her horror, she couldn’t make the words come out of her mouth. She was torn between a desire to laugh and cry – or maybe she’d do both.

“I’m her husband.” Bubba put the soda can down on the end table and burped softly. “Melanie humors me sometimes by bringing home different men.” He smiled at Joel as if they were discussing batting averages. “I’m sure you get my drift.”

Melanie watched, fascinated, as a muscle in Joel’s jaw began to work furiously. She’d only read about that in books. She’d never really seen it. Her desire to laugh was steadily winning out over her impulse to cry.

“Speechless?” Bubba took a huge, crunching bite out of his apple, chewed it, then swallowed. “You shouldn’t be, not a man of your obviously sophisticated tastes.”

“You should have told me!” Joel said, his dark gaze on her, furious.

Mel shrugged. “Most guys don’t seem to care.”

“Now both of you settle down and make believe I’m not here.” Bubba took another noisy bite out of his apple. As if on cue, Henry sauntered into the living room and jumped into his lap, affectionately nuzzling the hand that held the apple.

“You’re sick!” Joel exploded, turning on Melanie. “Alicia didn’t tell me anything about this or I never would've asked you out!”

Mel was beginning to enjoy herself. “But Alicia told me you were a pretty wild and crazy guy.” She put her arm around his neck, tried to pull him closer. “Anyway, it’s easy. Like Bubba said, just pretend he isn’t here.”

“Mel’s right. Just don’t even look at Henry and me and we’ll all be happy as – ”

“How can you live with such a… a…” Joel was sputtering now, his face a dull shade of red.

“A pervert like me?” Bubba supplied cheerfully. “You’ve got to understand something pretty basic to Mel’s personality, Raoul.”

“The name is
Joel
,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Like I said, Joe, the thing you’ve got to understand is that, well, basically Mel is one hell of a good sport.”

“You’re both
sick! Sick!
” Joel grabbed his suit jacket. He stormed toward the door and fumbled with the lock.

“Hey, Noel, thanks for taking Mel out to dinner. I don’t really care that much for French food.”

His answer was the sound of the door slamming shut.

They were silent as they heard the sound of a revving engine, then the squeal of angrily burning rubber as the Porsche shot out the driveway.

After another moment of silence, Bubba offered Mel his can of soda.

“Do you want some, to get rid of the aftertaste?”

She sighed. “I was going to ask him to leave. I knew it wasn’t working.”

“Just consider what I did a favor.”

She looked away from him, her hair swinging to cover the side of her face.

“Okay, Mel, what are you thinking?

“I just… I’m back to square one.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” He picked Henry up and set him down gently on the carpet.

She stared at him. “Bubba, we’ve had this discussion before. You know how I feel about this.”

“I do.” He got up from his chair and walked over to her. “You made yourself very clear.” He stood looking down at her.

“So you can see why – ”

“I can see why I’m going to have to take this particular decision out of your hands.” With one swift movement he swung her up over his shoulder and began to walk toward the stairs.

“This is not funny. Put me down.”

He swatted her fanny lightly. “Better me than Raoul. At least I fix you breakfast once in a while.”

“Bubba, I don’t want – ”

“I don’t want you sleeping with some idiot just to get pregnant. My God, what would you have done with Noel’s child? He probably would've demanded nouvelle cuisine the moment he popped out.”

Despite her firm resolve, she started to laugh. He set her down on her bedroom floor and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Okay. You’ve got me, Mel. Now you can have your wicked way with me.”

“Oh, please, Bubba. Lock the door when you leave.”

She turned, kicked off her heels, picked them up and began walking toward her closet. When she felt strong arms encircle her waist, she let out a sharp gasp of protest. Before she knew what was happening, Bubba had her gently pinned to her mattress, his body warm and hard against hers.

“I’m not going to ask again nicely.” He kissed her cheek and she squirmed beneath him. “I happen to know you’re fertile as a turtle this weekend so I’m going to take it from there.”

“Who told you?”

“I have my methods. Are you going to take your clothes off or am I going to have to ravish you?”

He’s doing this to be nice to you. To make up for Joel.
She couldn’t let Bubba father a child out of sympathy for her. That would be as wrong as that fiasco on the couch earlier.

It’s more than that and you know it. You care for him. You –
  She stopped her train of thought before it progressed any further.

You’re afraid. Afraid of the way he makes you feel. Afraid because no other man has ever made you feel so deeply and completely vulnerable.

She must have had doubt in her eyes, because his facial expression slowly changed as he looked down at her. His eyes softened and concern etched his face.

“Mel? Is something wrong?”

When she didn’t answer, he said softly, “I’m sorry. If you really don’t want me to – ”

She had to tell him the truth. Putting a finger across his lips, she whispered, “It’s just that sometimes I’m afraid.”

“Afraid? Of me? Why?” He was genuinely incredulous.

“Afraid of the way you make me feel.” There. She’d said it. It was out in the open now.

“I’m going to let you in on a big secret, Mel.” He lowered his head and softly kissed her cheek. “It works both ways.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“
Really?”

“Do you want a signed confession or what?”

She smiled slowly, her eyes never leaving his face. A deep satisfaction, a certainty that she was doing the right thing, filled her. Bubba was the man who would father her child. “I’ll take my clothes off now.”

He got off the bed and drew her to her feet. “Now that’s the type of bedroom talk I like to hear.”

She reached behind her for the zipper of her dress.

“Let me.”

The cool air hit her skin as Bubba slowly lowered the zipper, kissing her back as he bared it to his touch.

“You smell good.”

“It’s French perfume.”

“You wasted something like that on a jerk like – ”

She turned in his arms and put her finger to his lips again. “I don’t ever want his name mentioned in this house.”

“You’ve got a deal.”

He undressed her slowly, teasing, caressing. When he unfastened her lacy bra, Mel glanced over at the bedside lamp. “Bubba, couldn’t we – ”

“I want to see you this time. Please, Mel.”

She lowered her eyes to the carpet, slowly slid her bra straps over her bare arms, then dropped the lacy garment on the carpet.

“Come here, gorgeous.” He caught her hand, pulled her against him and started to kiss her.

His touch seemed to burn away Joel’s and she welcomed the feeling. As he kissed her, Bubba walked her slowly toward the bed until she felt the back of her knees against the mattress. He eased her down on it then covered her body with the warmth of his own.

He had most of his clothing off when Mel’s cell rang.

Mel struggled up, convinced Joel had called Alicia and her friend was trying to reach her for an explanation. “Bubba, I – ”

He covered her mouth with a kiss, at the same time reaching for her phone and turning it off.

* * *

Much later in the evening, his arms wrapped snuggly around Mel’s soft body, Bubba smiled contentedly. It was early Saturday morning. He didn’t plan on returning home until Monday. If things went as planned, Mel would get pregnant.

After they’d made love, he’d turned off the light. Her bedroom was like a warm, dark cocoon, their own private, sensual world.

“Raoul.” Her voice came out a soft whisper then she started to laugh the laugh he loved. It seemed to come straight out of her body, starting at her toes. He felt her turn her mouth against his chest to stifle the sound. “Oh, Bubba, how could you?”

“It was him or me,” he said, his voice gravelly with mock exhaustion. “I had to fight dirty.”

“The look on his face when you waved that sandwich.”

“Pretty inspired.” He kissed her forehead.

“What would you have done – ” she started to laugh again “ – what would you have done if he’d said okay?”

He smiled. “I’d have brought out my secret weapon. I would have insisted Henry join in.”

She shrieked with laughter, burying her face in the pillow. He rolled over on his side, taking her into his arms and hugging her against his body. When she stopped laughing, he kissed her softly.

“Get some sleep. I’ve got the alarm set for eight.”

“Don’t you want to sleep in? It’s Saturday.”

“I plan on waking you up and ravishing you. We’re on a schedule this weekend, Mel. These things take careful planning. You can’t leave anything to chance.”

She was laughing again.

“You didn’t make any other plans for this weekend, did you?”

“No. Just Raoul.”

“You’re booked solid now. Stop laughing and get some sleep. I have great plans for you.”

She snuggled against him, tucking her head underneath his chin and sighing contentedly. “Good night, Raoul.”

He pinched her bottom and she yelped.

“So you and Joel didn’t hit it off, huh?” Alicia was busily folding sweaters and rearranging them in an oak and glass display case near the register.

“Did he tell you that?” Mel couldn’t imagine Joel telling
anyone
  the truth about what had happened that night.

“No. He just said you weren’t quite what he expected.”

Mel bit her lip and turned on the vacuum. It was Monday morning, twenty minutes before they opened. Bubba had gone back home before she woke up but he’d left her a note on the pillow.

I expect to see a rainbow next time. Bubba.

Alicia had brought in croissants and two coffees but Mel had explained she’d already had breakfast – poached egg, a piece of fruit and a slice of whole-grain bread. She’d decided not to take any chances, just in case.

After Mel finished vacuuming, Alicia started in again.

“So there’s this guy I know, Fred, who’d be just perfect.”

“I don’t need anyone.”

“Mel, we have to start thinking ahead. Time is running out and – ”

“I found someone else.” This wasn’t totally a lie.

“Who?”

Mel had no qualms about lying this time. She didn’t want Alicia calling Bubba, making a pest of herself. She also didn’t want to talk about him constantly with her, even if she was a good friend. And she wanted to respect Bubba’s privacy.

“I went out Saturday night. To a party.”

“Whose house? Where? Do I know him?”

She shook her head. “Friends of my sisters. There was this very sweet man there and I explained my predicament to him. He was glad to help me out.”

“That’s terrific! Does he live around here?”

“Nope. He left Sunday.” She thought quickly. “He lives in Alaska. He’s working on the pipeline.” That ought to discourage even Alicia.