For One Night Only (26 page)

Kneeling suddenly, he helped her out of her panties as she rapidly shed her bra. Her firm breasts drew his attention immediately and his mouth fell on them hungrily, sucking at one as he caressed the other.
Bethany squirmed against him, loving what he was doing, but needing him inside her. Pushing him away gently, she opened her legs wide, allowing him to slip into the gap between them.

‘Beth, I am trying to be gentle with you,’ he said through gritted teeth as she rubbed her pelvis against him, trying to force him inside.

‘You can be gentle later,’ she said as she surprised him by dropping a hand down between them to grasp him firmly and slide the tip of his penis into her. She felt the deep rumble in his chest on her lips where they lay pressed against his throat. Turning her head, she bit gently into the firm skin of his shoulder, her hands clutching at his ass, showing him what she needed.

Ruben recovered his composure quickly, taking over. Her arms fell back onto the bed as she reveled in his possession of her body. Every time he thrust into her,
Bethany groaned her encouragement, vocalizing her need. She tried to stop him as he shifted position until she felt the flat of his hand against her nub. Raising her head, she looked down at the place their bodies joined and watched as his fingers drove her nearer and nearer to orgasm. She turned her head, biting into the arm supporting his weight, the muscles rigid with the tension.

‘Oh God, Beth…I love you…I love you so much,’ he groaned as she began to come. Her face contorted as she fought to keep her eyes on his, losing the battle ultimately as his own orgasm began, causing him to pound into her relentlessly.

He collapsed on top of her briefly, before trying to lift his weight off her.
Bethany pulled him down, hooking her ankles over his back to stop him moving away. She had missed the feel of him and was in no rush for it to end. He relaxed against her then, sliding his arms under her back to crush her to him.

‘Ruben,’ she whispered against his ear. ‘I forgot to tell you something.’ She felt him tense before raising his head to stare into her eyes.

‘What?’

‘I forgot to tell you I love you.’

* * * *

He awoke later as she tiptoed back from the bathroom. She slipped quietly into bed, obviously thinking he was still asleep.
Bethany almost jumped out of her skin as his warm arm slipped around her waist.

‘Ruben! You scared me,’ she exclaimed.

‘I am sorry, Beth,’ he said. ‘I can’t keep my hands off you.’

She groaned quietly as he caressed her breast with his large hand. Sliding slowly across the bed, he rubbed his erection against the cleft of her buttocks, demonstrating his need for her. She pushed back against him with an answering moan. Turning her over firmly, he kissed her.

‘You are amazing,’ he whispered against her mouth. He felt her answering smile against his lips.

His erection lay heavily in the valley between her legs and she writhed against it. Ruben had no intention of allowing her to take the lead this time. He lifted his body from her.
Bethany groaned as he broke the contact. He held her eyes as he smoothed his hand down over her abdomen to cup her exposed flesh. She grasped at the covers as he pushed a long finger into her. Ruben didn’t think he would ever get over the way she responded to him. Hoarsely, he groaned that her wetness excited him as he reached up to kiss her. She sucked his lip into her mouth, grazing her teeth over it.

‘I’ve never been this way with anyone else,’ she whispered brokenly, his incessant thrusting causing her voice to tremble.

He took the time to kiss every inch of her, acquainting himself with the newly ample curve of her hips and breasts. Sadness clutched at him as he trailed his lips over her stomach, wishing desperately he had been part of her pregnancy. He would have loved to watch her belly grow as his daughter came into being.

He consoled himself with the knowledge that there would be more children. Not yet…not until she was ready and their relationship was on solid ground again.

She seemed to sense his mood, smoothing a hand over his dark head. He smiled at her, concentrating instead on the bliss of being with her again. Moving up over her quickly, he slid into her easily, causing the breath to catch in her throat.

Watching every reaction move across her face, he thrust into her with slow, measured strokes. He needed to feel every sensation, hear every sound. The desire to fuse his body totally with hers drove him on as he lifted her legs around his waist to sink deeper into her. The first warning tightening of her pussy told him she was about to come almost before she knew, and he raised his eyes to watch as she bit down onto her lip before throwing her head back on a gasp. Her hands grabbed at him blindly, urging him further inside.

‘Beth,’ he rasped, every sensation coursing through him suddenly combining. He couldn’t move, buried deep inside her as the orgasm robbed him of control. Long moments passed before he became aware he was crushing her.

‘Don’t pull away,’ she whispered as he made to move. ‘Stay with me,’ she said sleepily, eyelids already getting heavy. Rolling slightly to the side, he smoothed the hair from her hot, sticky face as he watched her drift off to sleep. Pulling her closer, he draped himself around her body, sudden exhaustion taking him over.

He didn’t know what he’d ever done in life to get this lucky. His arms were full of the woman he was crazy about and he couldn’t imagine ever being happy again without her.

* * * *

Bethany
woke with a start…Tiana! Sitting up in bed in blind panic for a moment, her heartbeat returned to normal as she flopped back onto the pillows, closing her eyes as she remembered where she was and why the baby hadn’t woken her.

Realizing the reason she had been awake nearly all night wasn’t in bed anymore, she creaked open a reluctant eyelid and scanned the room. Spotting him on the balcony, she saw through the closed glass door that he was on the phone. He should have that thing surgically attached she thought, a little put out not to be woken by him, urgent with the need to have her again. She was getting greedy. He’d more than made up for the time they had spent apart.

She watched as he paced back and forth, hands gesturing wildly as he disagreed strongly with whoever was on the other end of the phone. Putting his nose against the glass, he peered into the room, smiling as he saw she was awake.
Bethany decided it was time he paid her a little more attention. Turning onto her side to lean on her elbow, she held the sheet across her breasts as she hooked a leg over it, exposing the curve of her hip. Still on the phone, he came to her immediately, standing at the foot of the bed and allowing his eyes to make a slow inventory of her body.

‘I don’t care,’ he shouted into the phone suddenly, winking at her to show he wasn’t as angry as he sounded. ‘I will be back this afternoon. You can reschedule the studio time for then.’ He snapped the phone shut quickly before laughing at his own audacity.
Bethany asked who he had been speaking to.

‘The record label,’ he grimaced. ‘They are so gonna sue my ass.’ Laughing at her shocked expression, he threw himself on the bed next to her, almost bouncing her out of it. So much for her attempt at early morning seduction.

Squinting at her watch, she elbowed him in the ribs when she saw the time. ‘It’s
six am
! Even Tiana doesn’t wake me up this early.’

‘Baby, I am sorry. It’s just I can’t wait to get back and see her.’

‘Same here—I miss her so much,’ Beth laughed.

‘Tiana.’ He said the name again, rolling it around on his tongue. It sounded so much better when spoken with his accent, Beth told him. ‘Tiana, Tiana, Tiana,’ he said, punctuating each one with kisses on her neck and shoulder. His hand began to wander over her skin until she reminded him that if he didn’t stop now they wouldn’t leave for ages and that she had a perfectly good bed at home.

‘You’re right,’ he said, leaping to his feet and grappling into his jeans with amazing efficiency considering his state of arousal.

Bethany
fell back against the pillows, the lump in her throat almost painful. His obvious delight at being a father elated her. Even during their time apart, she had known he still loved her. Ruben didn’t give his heart easily, but he’d given it to her and she knew it was for life.

Dropping to his knees at the side of the bed, he scanned her eyes, searching for the reason she was crying.
Bethany smiled, pulling him down for a kiss, showing him in the only way she could that she was in love and deliriously happy.

‘Come on Ruben,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘Let’s go get our baby.’

* * * *

Angie tailed the limo. Only the knowledge that Ruben was in the car stopped her from trying to ram it off the road. Eyes blinded by the early morning sun and her tears, and with thoughts screaming through her head, she had to focus hard to keep a grip on the rage building in her.

She had never again expected to feel the agony she had the night before when she’d seen them leave
Bethany’s house together, hand in hand. For one moment of blind panic, she’d thought Ruben was taking her home with him. When the limo had stopped outside a hotel, she had been confused, but grateful. Maybe it was just one night for old time’s sake?

Trying in vain to book a room herself, she’d been forced to return to her car, unwilling to find another hotel, as she wanted to remain close. The young girl she had seen in Ruben’s car had stayed at
Bethany’s house with a woman Angie had assumed was her mother, so the opportunity to break in and wreck the place had been lost. She’d had no choice but to wind down the seat and try to get comfortable.

From her position in the car, hidden in a dark corner of the hotel parking lot, she had lain for hours, eyes staring upward to where she thought they would be, while her mind taunted her with images of them together. Angie’s only hope had been that her vivid imagination was far more deviant than they could ever be.

Thankfully, they had left the hotel very early. Following them now, her tears dried as she watched the dawn break over Vegas—vowing silently that it would be the last morning she would ever spend as Ruben’s ‘other’ woman.

Chapter 24

Ruben felt as if everything he had done in his entire life had been in preparation for this very moment. Beth had just placed Tiana in his arms, and then stood back to watch him as he stared down at the sleeping infant with a mixture of fear, curiosity and awe. Looking to her for reassurance, he smiled through his tears.

‘Am I holding her right?’

Bethany
caressed his head. ‘You are doing fine.’

He hadn’t dared dream of this moment. All those months he had spent feeling totally alone and guilty over his deception, he had never thought things would work out so perfectly. The thought that he would have to leave soon threatened to darken the mood and he pushed it from his mind—knowing that the separation would only be temporary.
Bethany offered to take Tiana from him, but Ruben wasn’t ready to let her go. From the moment they had walked into the house he had been desperate to hold his daughter and had lurked in the background, afraid to approach the child who already meant so much to him.

Donna and her daughter had taken good care of the baby.
Bethany had hurried them out, sensing that he was keen to some spend time alone with his new ‘family’. He felt a little guilty, as they had woken the pair on their return to the house, but her sister seemed to understand.

Ruben had drawn Tyla to one side as they prepared to leave, thanking her solemnly for displaying wisdom beyond her years. Quite predictably, she’d gone beet red and shuffled awkwardly in front of him until her mother had come to the rescue.

Tiana started to fuss and wriggle in his arms before letting out a thin wail of protest at being held so gingerly. Reluctantly handing her over to
Bethany, he saw the bond between mother and child and felt a pang of jealousy. Tiana didn’t know who he was and had not liked being held by a stranger, he guessed. It was nobody’s fault but his own that his daughter didn’t know him yet and he swore silently that he would spend every waking moment making it up to her.

‘Are you okay?’ Beth’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. ‘Do you want to help me bathe her?’

His enthusiastic nod made her laugh, and he followed her to the bathroom. Watching her take care of their daughter made him proud.
What did he ever do right in his life to deserve such an amazing woman?
Surprising
Bethany, he reached forward to lift her face to his.