Deceived 6 - Ultimate Deception (6 page)

“Has the doctor decided if he’s going to induce Chloe if she doesn’t go into labor by Saturday?” Nina’s voice broke through the quiet.

I opened my eyes. “He doesn’t want to make that call until he sees her.” I drained my glass and set it on the coffee table “It’ll depend on how their vitals are, her and Victoria’s.”

Nina leaned forward and filled my glass again. She sipped on hers as she leaned back. She seemed closer than she had when we’d first sat down, but it was a big couch so there was still plenty of space between us.

“You’re such a good man, Patrick,” Nina said.

She leaned towards me and I suddenly realized that I could see her nipples through her tank top. She wasn’t wearing a bra. I looked away and gulped down half of my wine. The fire seemed too bright, the room too warm. I blinked my eyes, finding it hard to focus. I must’ve been more tired than I’d thought.

“It has to be difficult.” Nina’s voice was even closer than before. “A man like you has needs, especially with all this tension. You shouldn’t have to relieve them all by yourself.”

When I drained my glass, seriously hoping that Nina wasn’t doing what I thought she was doing, her hand appeared on my knee and I stared at it, unsure what I should do. It slid higher until it was on my thigh. I turned my head and Nina’s face was just an inch from mine, but her features were swimming.

Since when had two glasses of wine been enough to make me light-headed?

I knew that was an important question, but I couldn’t seem to hold on to it. Then my hand was on something firm and round and I realized that Nina had put my hand on her breast.

Oh, shit, this was bad. I told myself to do something, but I couldn’t quite figure out what that something was supposed to be.

“Let me take care of you, Patrick.”

She leaned towards me and her mouth pressed against mine.

Fuck
.

The moment her tongue tried to slip into my mouth, adrenaline flooded into my system, breaking through the haze that was holding my logical thoughts hostage. I leaned back, putting my hands on her shoulders. I didn’t want to be rude, but no way was this kind of thing ever going to happen. I firmly pushed her back.

“Nina, no.”

Her face flushed and, for a moment, I thought I saw anger in her eyes, but then she blinked and I figured that it must have been a trick of the light. She put her hands over her face.

“Oh, shit, Patrick I’m so sorry.”

I stood, wobbled, then righted myself. “Look, I think Chloe and I have overstayed our welcome. I’ll make some calls tonight and we’ll go to a hotel first thing in the morning.”

Nina jumped to her feet as well. She seemed steadier than me. “No, no. I’m sorry, really. I had too much wine and I’ve just been watching you with her and seeing how nice you are and...” She crossed her arms. “Dammit!”

“It’s all right,” I reassured her as I backed away. I didn’t want a repeat performance or for her to get the wrong idea. “It’ll be better if we go.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Chloe’s not supposed to be up and around, and she’ll want to know why you’re leaving.” She gave me a pleading look. “This would upset her so badly.”

Nina was right. I had to admit it. If I told Chloe we were going to a hotel, she’d want to know why. She’d end up angry at one or both of us, no matter how much alcohol was involved, and while she had every right to be angry, it wouldn’t be good for the baby. I set my jaw and said, “We’ll stay.” I left before she could say anything else. This was going to make the next couple days awkward as hell.

When I got back to our room, Chloe was still asleep, but that was for the best. I planned on telling her after the baby was born, but I wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret if she saw my face right now. I stretched out next to her, but my head was too busy for me to sleep. I’d been telling the truth when I’d told her before that she and Victoria were my home, but at the moment, I couldn’t help but wish that we were in our penthouse, curled up in bed, talking about the last minute things we needed to do before our little girl arrived.

Chloe shifted in her sleep and I moved to accommodate her. My stomach flipped and a sharp pain went through my head.

Fuck
.

I scrambled out of bed as quickly as I dared and ran for the bathroom. I shoved the door closed and barely made it to the toilet before my dinner made a second appearance. I knelt there, sweat pouring down my face, my head pounding, and wondered when I’d stopped being able to hold my liquor. In the past, I could easily have two glasses of wine at lunch and still be okay to drive home, but tonight, I felt like I’d been out all night doing shots.

It hadn’t been that strong, I knew that. Nina had been drinking as much as I had. I frowned. When I thought about it, I’d actually only seen her sipping on half a glass. Another wave of nausea hit and I hunched forward, waiting for it to pass. As I wiped my face with a shaking hand, the thought hit me. Maybe there’d been something else in my drink.

I didn’t really want to consider it, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Nina had put something into the wine. If she had, the question became, why? And, even more importantly, was my family in danger?

Chapter 6

Chloe

The first thing I realized when I woke up was that the ache that had been sitting at the base of my skull since the accident was gone. The spikes of pain had gotten less frequent and less intense, but there was a dull throbbing that had been there almost non-stop. When I opened my eyes this time, however, there was no pain. I still felt a bit shaky, like the kind that happens when you’ve been in pain and it goes away and the relief is almost too much.

I tentatively moved my head, waiting for the pain to return, but it didn’t. I wasn’t foolish enough to think this meant I’d be off bed-rest now, but I was at least feeling much better about going in to labor at the end of the week. It seemed like Patrick and I had been staying at Nina’s house for an eternity, and even though Patrick reassured me that my pregnancy was progressing normally, I worried nonetheless about how I’d be able to handle having a baby when my body was still obviously healing. This was the first time I’d been awake when I didn’t feel like I had to force myself to stay that way. A couple more days of resting like this and I’d be good to go.

I started to push myself up to a sitting position when I realized that I wasn’t alone in bed. The clock on the end table said it was nearly nine o’clock in the morning, but Patrick was stretched out next to me, sound asleep. I leaned on my elbow, smiling as I felt Victoria move to accommodate the shift. It wasn’t often that I was awake and Patrick wasn’t. I loved seeing him like this, his entire body relaxed, his face looking years younger. I’d been out of it over the past several days, but even in that state, I’d recognized the worry lines on my husband’s handsome face. I didn’t see those now, only the line of his strong jaw, the curve of his lips.

I let my gaze wander further. He’d taken a shower before falling asleep. I could see two very obvious clues. His dark curls were still damp and he was wearing only a towel. As I ran my eyes over his chest and then down that fine trail of curls that disappeared under the fluffy white towel, I felt a warmth spreading through me.

He made one of those sleepy sounds that only I got to hear and rolled towards me. The movement caused the towel to shift, baring one muscular thigh. My stomach clenched. I wanted him. More than almost anything, I wanted to push him onto his back, climb on top of him and...

I sighed. We’d known that our sex life was going to be curbed a bit the closer I got to my due date, but I hadn’t been expecting a total cut-off. We’d actually discussed with my OB back home what would be safe and had pretty much planned on oral sex being our main source of release for a while. Even that wouldn’t be a good idea now, I knew.

However...I grinned. Just because the options were limited didn’t mean they were completely non-existent.

I moved as carefully as possible, both to make sure I wasn’t jostling anything that didn’t need to be jostled, but also so that I didn’t accidentally wake Patrick. I wanted that moment to be special.

Once I was comfortable, I reached out and ran my fingers across his cheekbones, then down to his mouth. I loved his mouth. The feel of it against mine. The butterfly kisses against my skin. How his lips would draw my nipples into that wet heat. The deep kisses between my legs.

The muscles in his jaw twitched, but he didn’t show any signs of waking up. I continued my exploration, sliding my hand down his chest, palm flat now as I enjoyed the firm muscles. His nipples hardened when I touched them and I couldn’t resist lowering my head to flick my tongue across the closest one.

I heard a low moan and knew that he was starting to wake up. I moved my hand lower, running it down over his toned abs. He hissed as my hand slid beneath the towel and wrapped around the soft flesh there. I could feel his stomach muscles tensing as I began to stroke him and knew he was awake. His cock swelled in my hand as I looked up at his face.

“Chloe?” He seemed almost as disoriented as I’d been waking up in the hospital.

“Good morning.” I gave him a grin.

He was fully erect now and I moved my hand in the steady, smooth strokes that I knew he liked. This wasn’t about teasing him or even about getting him hard so we could have sex. It was all about him.

“What are you...I...what...”

“Babe, if you don’t know what a hand-job is by now, we have a problem.” I leaned down as far as I dared and brushed my lips against his temple before returning to the half-sitting position I’d put myself in.

“You’re supposed to be resting.” He managed to get a full sentence out, but I could see his body fighting against his concern.

“I feel great,” I said. “Besides, this isn’t exactly strenuous.”

He opened his mouth as if he was going to argue and I twisted my hand as I reached the top of his cock and all that came out was a groan. I knew he wanted to keep protesting, but he was too far gone. I knew his body as well as my own and he was close to coming. It had been too long since he’d had some form of release.

“I want this,” I assured him. “I want to feel you come in my hand. Come for me, babe.”

His entire body stiffened and his cock pulsed in my hand. Warm liquid spilled over my fingers as I kept working his hard flesh until he was done. I removed my hand, untying the towel as I went so I could wipe my hand off as well as leave it open enough that I could enjoy the view.

When he opened his eyes, his pupils were dilated, leaving just a thin sliver of gray around black. He sat up and cupped my face in his hands. His mouth was gentle on mine and I could feel the struggle to restrain himself. I knew he wanted to be rough, to claim my mouth, plunder it with his tongue, and I wanted it, too. The only thing I wanted more than him, however, was the little girl who chose that moment to remind me of her presence by delivering a sharp kick to my bladder.

I made a noise and he pulled back. “Are you okay?”

I chuckled. “Bathroom break.”

Patrick laughed and climbed out of the bed. He grabbed a pair of boxer shorts and pulled them on as he came around to help me up. As we slowly made our way into the bathroom, he spoke.

“When all of this is done, I’m going to fuck you until you can’t see straight and then make love to you until you pass out.”

I squeezed his hand. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

The end of the week couldn’t come fast enough.

Chapter 7

Patrick

For the first time since that horrible night, I’d actually felt relaxed. I’d been happy and relieved when Chloe had woken up from her coma, but relaxed hadn’t really been in the cards. And then I’d woken up to my beautiful wife giving me a hand-job, something that would’ve thrilled me at any point, but was even better now because I knew it meant that she was feeling good. I’d protested, unable to completely push away the worry until she’d done that thing I loved and all the fight had gone out of me.

We’d gotten back into the bed after cleaning up and she’d started asking questions about what was happening back home. I’d filled her in on some of the gossip, but then her stomach had started growling. That was my cue to head down to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

It being a Sunday morning, I wasn’t surprised that Nina wasn’t in the kitchen. She seemed like the type who liked to sleep late. I frowned as I saw the wine glasses in the sink. I’d forgotten about last night.

As I went about getting some toast made, I thought more about what had happened. Two glasses of wine. Feeling light-headed and dizzy. Nina kissing me. Throwing up. The headache. Being weak and shaky while I showered and then essentially passing out next to Chloe. It wasn’t until I saw the bottle of wine, still a quarter of the way full, in the trash that I remembered having thought that Nina had put something into my drink.

I lifted the bottle and sniffed at the contents, but it just smelled like wine that had been sitting out all night. That didn’t surprise me. Even if it was spiked with something, it couldn’t have been that obvious because I would’ve smelled it or tasted it last night.

The toaster popped up the perfectly cooked pieces of bread and I dropped the bottle, heading for the sink to wash my hands. I couldn’t be thinking this way. It had to have been something I’d eaten yesterday. A combination of fatigue, stress and food poisoning could have accounted for the symptoms.

I stubbornly held on to that thought as I took breakfast back to the guest room. Chloe’s smile greeted me as I entered and I pushed my dark thoughts aside.

For the first time since we’d arrived at Nina’s, Chloe didn’t immediately fall asleep after eating. Instead, we cuddled in the bed, enjoying the feel of being able to hold each other. I wanted her, yes. Damn, I wanted her. I wanted to bury myself deep inside of her and feel that deep connection that a man feels when he’s bonded with the woman he loves. But I’d missed this just as much, if not more. I didn’t know if it was a psychological thing or not, but she even felt less fragile than she had yesterday.