The Playboy's Baby: A BWWM Pregnancy Romance (12 page)

Chapter 7

It had been a few days since Rafe confessed his love for her. Things between them hadn’t felt as if it had changed but Cheryl could tell – by the look from her fellow assistants and secretaries – that it had. Sara had even pulled her aside one day to ask her if the rumors were true. Was she seeing Rafe?

Of course the answer was “No.” She still couldn’t bear to ruin his marriage or her career.

“I’m leaving my wife,” Rafe suddenly burst out when they were both alone in the office one night.

These moments were getting more and more frequent as the case went on. The once airtight case was now getting more and more complicated. The prosecution was beginning to unveil some hidden cards in their sleeves and the judge was allowing them, which frustrated Patrick and Rafe to no end.

This was another one of those long nights. Rafe had left Cheryl alone at the office for a couple hours to visit the police station and talk with the arresting officers and detectives about the evidence. He got back with a smile on his face despite bringing bad news from the police station.

Cheryl was at her desk, typing up some notes for the summation when Rafe walked in with the announcement. “I found something that you’re going to – wait, what?” Her eyes finally left the computer screen and looked over at Rafe. “What are you talking about?”

“I made the decision when I was driving back. I’m leaving my wife. The marriage is no good. I’m barely home as it is and we both know that Stacey and I aren’t any good for each other.”

“I didn’t think that divorce was an option for your family…” Cheryl stated. She felt a pang in her heart. His decision was one that she wanted to hear, but she couldn’t help but feel like it was too good to be true.

“My parents have always had a marriage of convenience. It’s like a business arrangement for them but I don’t believe in that.” He scoffed. “Call me idealistic.” He set some papers down on the desk. “This case has made me realize how good you and I are together. Come on. We can’t throw that away.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she said. “You plan on leaving your wife for me.”

“You make it sound so romantic. So rom-com.” He grinned and feigned a British accent. “Does that make me Hugh Grant?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she said. She stood up from behind her desk and leaned forward. “Hugh Grant is too squeaky clean for you. No…” She walked around her desk to get closer to him. “No, you’re more like Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient.”

He shrugged. “I’m sorry to say that I’ve never seen it. Actually,” he said with a pause. “I’m not so sorry. I’ve never seen it before. Probably because I want to hold onto my man card.”

Cheryl stood next to him – so close that her arm brushed up against his as they stood side by side as then leaned against her desk. “Too bad. You really should. There are some incredibly passionate scenes in there. The even made me fall for his adulterous character.”            

“Should I be taking notes?”

She shrugged playfully, and then looked into his eyes. “No. No, you’ve already got me, after all.”

“Tell me you love me,” he said. In one smooth move, he was suddenly in front of her. He had his hands on the desk, on either side of her. He leaned in and brushed his cheek against hers. “Tell me you love me and I’ll leave my wife for you. I’ll tell her tonight.” She could feel his hot breath tickling her ear. “I’ll leave the house and the marriage and never look back. I don’t care about what my father says. If he threatens me by giving my partnership to someone else, fine. I don’t need him.”

By now, his whole body was rubbing up against hers. One of his legs was in between hers, parting her legs gently. Her breast pressed against his chest. She could feel his heartbeat getting faster. Or was that hers.

“You already know,” she said. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t force those words out. “You already know I do. If you leave your wife, I’ll tell you.”

She didn’t want to make the situation into a cheap power play but she didn’t want to get burned either. It wasn’t easy for her to love someone so deeply and she didn’t want to risk saying it aloud, knowing that she couldn’t take it back. Something special happens when you say those three tiny words for the first time. There’s a connection between your heart and your mind and a connection between yours and your significant other’s heart as well. Her previous boyfriends had taken advantage of that and she didn’t want that to happen here.

His lips brushed against her cheek. She could feel her palms start to sweat in anticipation. He kissed her soft skin, then taking her ear lobe between his lips and sucking softly. His head moved further down, kissing her neck with more vigor.

“Stop,” she whispered, out of breath. She hadn’t noticed she was holding her breath the entire time.

He pulled away. His eyes scanned her face, trying to read a reaction. “I’m sorry. I—"

“No, don’t apologize,” she said. Her hands found their way to his chest. She tried to keep him at a distance but in reality, she didn’t know if she just wanted to feel his pecks through his shirt. A smile appeared on her face, surprising her and Rafe. “I—"

She touched his chest and moved down to his abdomen. She could feel the definition of his abs through his white shirt. Her eyes had moved with her hands, and were now moving past them to his belt and further down. He got excited under her gaze. The sight of it made her pull back.

“We can’t,” she said. Her eyes shot up to his, expecting an almost animal desire to be written all over his face but it wasn’t there. His features were soft. His eyes still looked worried for her reaction. Of course. He was a good man – after all – and he loved her.

“You know I’d never force you to do something that you wouldn’t want to do,” he said.

Cheryl cleared her throat and nodded. “Yeah, I know. I just—" She stopped and looked around, not being able to look him in the eye. “It’s not that I don’t want to, I just know that we shouldn’t.”

He chuckled. “Then I’ll wait until we can.” He took a step back. His hand brushed her leg as it moved away from the desk. She wanted to pull his hand toward her and guide it in between her legs but she resisted the urge. Who was having the animal attraction now? She scolded herself in her head and tried to regain her composure.

“Oh!” she suddenly gasped. “I almost forgot. I have something – err, I found something for you.”

“Oh? Is it a new coffee place because apparently the one across the street closes at 8 pm. What’s the point of that? What’s the point of not offering people coffee during the hours when they need it the most?”

She laughed. “No, it’s about the case. While you were gone, we got the reports back from the lab. You’re going to want to see this.” She handed him a brown file folder. “And the prosecution will need to see it, too.”

*   *   *

Rafe opened the front door and stepped into the foyer of his home. He kicked off his oxfords and nudged them over to the side – away from the normal traffic path – with his socked feet and then sat down with his briefcase next to them. He threw his coat down on the couch, revealing his candy cane striped suspenders.

They were his favorite and Stacey’s most hated item in their house, which may be a part of why he loved them so much. He loosened his black tie while listening for a noise. Any noise. The house was silent but he had remembered seeing her car in the garage only moments earlier.

“Stacey?” he called out.

“Oh,” he heard from the kitchen.

There was a clanging of dishes and a
clop, clop
as she skittered across the kitchen into the living room. She was dressed for the night. Her robe had fallen open and underneath she wore a black, lace teddy – with a pair of black pumps.

“You’re home!” She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back and leaned to the side, trying to get a view of the kitchen to see if anyone was with her in there. “I have news! I have news!” she squealed.

The kitchen appeared to be empty.

“What news?” he asked, straightening up.

“I’m pregnant!”

Rafe stared at her, his eyes wide with surprise and his heart down on the ground, underneath her black pumps. “What?”

“I’m pregnant! I made an appointment with the doctor the other day because I’m late – I wasn’t worried or anything, at least not too much. I had been late before. Anyway, I called the doctor and he said that I’m pregnant! So I met with my gyno so that she could tell me for real and she confirmed it!” As she continued with her story, the speed of her voice hastened. “Aren’t you excited, baby?! We’re going to have – well – we’re going to have a baby!”

“When was the last time we even had sex?” he sputtered.

“Oh, weeks ago. I don’t even… Oh! Our anniversary! Remember?”

“Oh…yeah.” He found himself disappointed at the fact that she was right. This might actually be his baby.

“You don’t look so excited.” Her shoulders drooped.

“Sorry. Yeah. I’m—" He searched his mind for words. Any words. “So excited.” She cocked her head to the side, not convinced. He grabbed her and hugged her again. “Really!” he said. “So excited. I can’t even. I don’t even know what to say. It’s just a shock, is all.”

*   *   *

“Why do you look so happy?” Sara asked, leaning against the doorframe of Cheryl’s office.

The black dress that she chose to wear today must have been painted on because Cheryl couldn’t see how she could ever squeeze into something so form fitting. It stopped at her mid-thigh and was synched around her waist with a thick belt. It had a faux, contrasting mock blouse which was almost flesh colored. At first glance, it almost seemed as if Sara was wearing a pencil skirt and an open vest with nothing on underneath until you actually stopped to look at her. The flattering square neckline revealed her ample bosom. Decorative buttons walked down the center of the bodice. Even Cheryl couldn’t take her eyes off of Sara’s breasts when she first saw her standing there.

“Do you shop at hotsecretaries.com or something?” Cheryl asked. “Jesus.” She looked down at her attire: black pencil skirt, form fitting white turtleneck, and black boots.

Sara let out a loud belly laugh and walked into her office. She shut the door behind her. “You like it? The tag called this a wiggle dress but there isn’t really much wiggle room in it.” She bit her lip as Cheryl looked up from her self-assessment. “We should go shopping together, yes?”

Cheryl shrugged. “I’d love to, but I’m probably going to start showing soon and I can only imagine what that particular dress is going to look like on a pregnant woman.”

“It’s all about how you wear the clothes, not necessarily what you wear.” She walked up to the desk and bent over, leaning her elbows against the edge of the desk. She gazed into Cheryl’s eyes and smiled. “You going to tell me what’s making you so happy now?”

Cheryl felt her cheeks turn hot. “I need to get back to work.”

“When you ignore me like that, it usually means that it has to do with a man.” She motioned toward Cheryl’s small baby bump with a nod. “Is it the baby daddy?”

“He said he wants to be a part of our lives. He even said that he’d leave—" She stopped.

“Leave?” Sara said. She stood up straight. “Leave…town? Leave…you with a nice car? Leave…his…wife?”

Cheryl scolded herself for letting that slip. “He’s in a loveless marriage, after all. They’re only married because she’s the woman that his father chose for him.”

“Like an arranged marriage?”

“Sort of. Only this was just for appearances and status. Their marriage has nothing to do with love or emotion.”

“You believe him?”

Cheryl reluctantly nodded her head.

“Well, then,” Sara said. “I’m going to put in for a long lunch break and I think you should too.”

“Why?”

“Why what?” asked a deep voice from the door. The girls looked toward the doorway and watched as Rafe walked in with Oswald.

“I want to take Cheryl shopping,” Sara said. “You’ll cover for us, right?”

“Special occasion?” Rafe asked.

“Don’t be jealous but apparently our little girl has a man in her life.”

Rafe’s eyes turned to Cheryl. They had a mischievous twinkle that made Cheryl smile, but also nervous at the same time. “Oh, really?” he said. He was obviously trying to hold back a bigger smile. “Who is he?”

“Just some guy,” Cheryl said. “No one special.”

“Oh, don’t downplay it, girl,” Sara interrupted. “I’ve never seen you so happy before. You’re positively glowing!”

“She is a lovely sight today, isn’t she?” Rafe said. He eyes were set on her. Cheryl suddenly realized that he hadn’t given Sara and her body paint dress a second glance. His eyes were only set on her. “I hope he’s good for you. How is he in bed?”

Sara giggled.

Cheryl could feel her cheeks turn red hot. “You shouldn’t ask a woman a question like that,” she sputtered.

“You shouldn’t be getting together with a lukewarm lover. You deserve better than that,” he replied.

“Eh,” Cheryl said. She tried to hold back a smile as well.

Sara turned to her, which made her turn her back to Rafe. “You wouldn’t be glowing if he was just a lukewarm lover,” she said.