The Pregnancy Contract (10 page)

Wade pretended to be mortally wounded that she would think he'd resorted to a packet. “Of course, I made it with my own fair hands,” he insisted. “What do you think?”

He watched as she lifted the fork to her mouth and tasted the rich mixture of beef and sauce. She chewed slowly before closing her eyes on a moan of pure pleasure. He swallowed. This evening wasn't going to get anymore comfortable any time soon. He'd better hunker down to weather it out.

“This is fantastic. And you really made it from scratch?” She gave another appreciative moan. “No wonder Dexie keeps you out of the kitchen. You're fierce competition.”

He felt his cheeks heat a little under the compliment. “She's got no fear of me treading on her toes. I have a few dishes I do well, that I enjoy preparing, but for the rest I'm quite happy to be fed by someone else.”

“Well, at least you'd never starve if you were on your own. I'm hopeless in the kitchen.”

“Maybe you just need someone to take the time to teach you,” he remarked.

For a minute she looked pensive. “I often wonder what my life would have been like if my mother had lived. Whether I'd have had the chance to learn things like cooking, keeping house properly. Dexie is so capable at everything but she doesn't tolerate fools. She's always been inclined to shoo me away when I've wanted to help her.”

Piper had been so much younger than him when she'd lost her mother. At least he'd still had memories to cling to when the going got tough. It couldn't have been easy for her—a distant father and older family retainers meant no loving arms to welcome her each and every day.

“Do you remember your mother?”

“Not really, just hints of things. Like the smell of her perfume or the sound of her laughter. Sometimes I wonder whether they're real or if they're just related to other things and people from when I was growing up. I know Dad loved
her dearly. Sometimes I wonder if he didn't die inside when he lost her.”

“It certainly can't be easy losing a partner.”

“You lost your mother, too. Do you remember her well?”

“Sure, and I count myself lucky for that if nothing else. Life was different when she was around. She made every day fun.”

His voice trailed into silence. The fun had irrevocably ceased when his mother had passed away suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition. Life after that had become very dark indeed, especially when the Family Court and Children's Services had become involved. He shook his head.

“Listen to us, we're supposed to be celebrating, not getting all maudlin.”

Piper smiled back at him, but he noticed her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. Wade devoted himself to ensuring the rest of the meal continued in a far lighter vein. It was important to him to chase the shadows away for her, for reasons that no longer involved his agenda for their evening.

T
hey'd cleared the table and put the plates in the dishwasher. Piper was amazed at how comfortable and domestic it all felt with just the two of them, alone. Wade had been fabulous company throughout the evening, showing a side of himself that she'd missed from their earlier months together—the months before she'd ruined everything by setting herself in total competition against her father for Wade's attention. She'd loved Wade with a passion that had frightened her at times with its intensity and she hadn't known how to handle it, or him. And to her shame, she'd resented anyone else who'd had a place in his heart.

She'd been so immature. She could have had them both, instead she'd ended up with neither. And now, she had Wade in a legal contract that had nothing to do with emotion or love.

Sometimes she wished she could simply turn back the clock and make better choices. But then she'd temper that with what she'd learned along her journey. It was a rite of
passage she'd had to,
needed
to, go through on her own to really learn what was important in life.

“Do you feel like a nightcap?” Wade asked as he straightened from loading the last of the plates in the dishwasher.

“What were you thinking?” she asked.

“How about a twenty-year-old tawny port?”

“Sounds lovely. In the library?”

“No, I was thinking about in my sitting room.”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “Your sitting room? I didn't know you had one.”

“When the property was signed over to me I did some remodeling of the guest suite upstairs.”

The guest suite. That had originally been her parents' suite until her mother's death, at which time her father had relocated farther down the hall.

“I'd like to see what you've done,” she said, even as anticipation mingled with unease curled in the pit of her stomach.

It was one thing having an intimate dinner together in neutral territory, but being in an area that was solely Wade's domain, that really was something else.

“Come on, then,” Wade said, holding the kitchen door open for her and gesturing for her to precede him.

They ascended the stairs together and as they walked the length of the landing that led to his suite, Piper felt her apprehension develop even further.

“Have a seat and make yourself comfortable,” he said as he opened the door for her.

Piper was taken aback the moment she stepped foot inside the door. The room wasn't as she'd expected. Somehow she'd imagined he'd have gone for dark, heavy furnishings, similar to what her father had done in his rooms. Yet there was a comfort and lightness about the room that made it instantly welcoming. Welcoming, and yet there was also something else. An ambience that suggested a very particular kind of
welcome. She sat down on one of the comfortable caramel-colored leather sofas arranged in front of the fireplace.

Even the air in the room suggested an atmosphere of sensuous luxury and well-being. Wade stepped forward and lit a series of candles that decorated the wide mantelpiece over the fireplace. Behind the antique fire screen, embers glowed warm and inviting in the grate. He added another log to the fire, sending a shower of sparks flying up the chimney.

“I had the fireplace redone and the chimney cleared when I took over these rooms. It seemed a great pity not to make the most of it, especially on cooler nights like this,” he said, dusting his hands lightly.

Piper moved to the end of the sofa, closer to the fireplace, and put out her hands to the warmth from the flames that were already licking the log. To her surprise her hands were trembling. She clenched them into fists and thrust them back into her lap. She was just here for a nightcap, so why was she so nervous? Behind her she heard the clink of crystal against crystal as Wade poured a measure of port into each of the glasses he'd had prepared on a tray.

She hadn't missed seeing them there as they'd entered the room, as if he'd known all along he'd be sharing a drink with her, here, tonight. She turned to face him, accepting the drink he'd poured her and fighting to ignore the quiver of awareness that sparked up her arm at the casual touch of his fingers against hers.

“Wade? Is there something else behind tonight? Something you're not telling me?”

“What makes you ask?” he answered, his gaze meeting hers unwaveringly.

“It's just…oh, I don't know. I just feel as if you have some kind of agenda going on here.”

“Agenda,” he repeated, as if testing the word on his tongue. “I suppose you could say that,” he admitted.

She froze as he shoved one hand deep into his trouser
pocket and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper. He handed it to her. Piper put her drink on a side table and took the paper, smoothing it out on the arm of the chair. Her eyes blurred a little as she attempted to read the words printed upon the sheet. She blinked and tried again. This time they made total sense.

She lifted her face to look at Wade who had seated himself opposite her on the matching sofa, his legs outstretched, his feet crossed at his ankles. He looked as relaxed and as comfortable as a man could get but she could see the lines of tension around his mouth and eyes. He was waiting for her to respond.

“So we're all systems go, then,” she said, her voice cracking on the words and making a total lie of her insouciant shot at delivery.

“Yes, we are.”

She waited for him to say something more but instead he just sat there, watching her. She felt her skin prickle under his regard, but it wasn't an uncomfortable sensation. More stimulating than unpleasant. She shifted on the sofa, trying to ease the tension building inside her. She should have known it would be futile. The movement made her thighs brush together, causing her inner muscles to involuntarily clench.

She swallowed and reached for her glass of port, taking a sip before putting the glass down again.

“And when do you suggest we begin to…?”

She couldn't bring herself to say the words. Not out loud. Wade, it transpired, had no such compunction.

“Make our baby?” he asked. “No harm in starting right now.”

She froze in her chair. “N-now?”

“What's the matter, Piper? Do you have any objections?”

He rose from his seat then settled his body down on the sofa next to hers. Instant heat emanated along her side. Heat
that spread across her shoulders as he draped one arm casually across the back of the sofa, behind her.

“No,” she denied, even though everything inside her screamed yes.

“Then you won't mind me doing this,” Wade said softly.

He lifted one hand and turned her face toward him, then moved forward to seal her lips with his in a smooth movement that spoke volumes as to his determination. His lips were gentle against hers, teasing, coaxing. Not the ravishment she'd expected. Inch by inch she felt her body relax. The man certainly knew how to kiss.

His fingers traced lightly along her jawline, before sliding behind her ear to cup her head.

“I've wanted to do this for days,” he groaned against her mouth.

She was lost for a reply. Part of her was insanely glad he'd been suffering the same desires as she had—with the emphasis on suffering. But the other part of her was in a state of chaos. She had known all along this day, or night, would come. But now it was here, she knew she was most definitely not ready. Oh, yes, on a physical level there was no question she was up for this. In fact it would be a relief to actually get down and dirty with him. But on an emotional level? She didn't know if she could come out of this without some serious harm.

Wade's lips began a new onslaught, this time down the fine cord of her neck. Oh, she thought—as fire raced through her, sending all her senses aflame and clouding the thoughts that tossed around in her mind—he remembered. Her neck had always been a major erogenous zone for her. Especially that part just behind—

“Oh!” she gasped as his lips found the tender skin behind her ear.

“You still like that?” he growled softly.

In response she let her head fall to the other side, exposing
her sensitive spot and giving him unobstructed access. He didn't let her down. He used his tongue and his lips in an alternating assault, while his hand lifted the edge of her top and his fingers traced a steady path to her breasts. She squirmed as he allowed his hand to linger on its journey, her body all but screaming out for his touch in other tender places.

“Let's get rid of this, shall we?” he said, now gripping the bottom of her top with both hands and beginning to pull it off for her.

She assisted as much as she was able, her breath catching in her throat as he paused and allowed his eyes to feast upon her naked breasts. The stark appreciation evident there sent a flood of heat to her core.

“And you,” she said, her voice shaking. “Let's get rid of yours as well, hmm?”

He helped her pull off the black sweater that had clung to his muscled shoulders and coasted over his upper torso. And what a torso. If a man could ever be described as beautiful, Wade was very definitely that man. While not bulked up with muscle, there was no denying the latent strength beneath his pale golden skin. A light smattering of hair sprinkled from the middle of his chest, before thinning out into a line that arrowed down to the waistband of his trousers.

She reached for his belt buckle and murmured a tiny sound of protest when he grabbed her hands in his. But the protest turned to a deep-throated sound of satisfaction when he pulled her to her feet and continued to undress her. Skimming the elastic-waisted yoga pants she'd worn down her legs, then removing the tiny scrap of sheer satin and lace panties with equal grace.

He even moved beautifully, she registered as she watched him undo his belt buckle and zipper and remove his pants and briefs in one smooth motion. Next came his socks and then he was standing there before her, male perfection in all its glory. Wade bent and gathered the soft cushions off the
sofas and cast them on the floor in front of the fireplace before guiding her down onto them.

She expected him to join her but he crossed the room and flicked a switch, turning off all the lights so that she was bathed only in the illumination of the fire and the golden glow cast by the candles above it. She stretched against the pillows and smiled as he walked back toward her.

Without saying a single word, he lay down beside her and began to touch, at first featherlight caresses designed to titillate and tease. And tease they did. She felt her nipples tighten into hard buds, felt moisture gather at the apex of her thighs. Felt her need for him, for his total possession, increase in steady increments until she was mindless for anything else.

And then he changed his tactics. He shifted his body over hers, stretching up her arms above her head and securing her wrists with one hand while supporting his weight with the other. The torture began with his tongue and his mouth, with the hot, heavy weight of his arousal against her body.

“Let me touch you,” she whispered. “I want to touch you.”

“Not yet. A man can only exert so much control, Piper, and I want this to be good for us both.”

The knowledge that he was holding on by a fine thread only ignited her more. She squirmed against him, feeling his erection at her entrance and wondering just how hard she'd have to push to drive him over the edge of control and into abandon. She didn't have to wonder for long. His entire body shuddered as she moved sinuously against him.

“You're not making it easy for me,” he said.

“I don't want it to be easy for you.” She smiled up at him. “I want you to feel everything just as much as I am.”

“Oh, believe me, I do.”

He caught her mouth with his and gave her a deep wet kiss that left her in no doubt as to how close he was to capitulating. She gave back as good as she got, taking his tongue into her
mouth and suckling it, using every trick she could to get him to give in. And then, oh, glory, he let go of her hands.

Immediately she reached out to touch him, to stroke his shoulders, his chest, to pull lightly at his nipples. He retaliated in kind, with his teeth and his tongue against her own, drawing her nipples, one then the other, into his mouth and releasing them, over and over. She drifted her hands lower, past his waist, to his hips and then, to his groin. His penis was hard and hot, a drop of moisture already pooling at its tip. She stroked him, holding him firmly in the grip of her fist, and felt him shudder against her again.

Piper let her legs fall open and guided him to her entrance, rubbing his blunt head against her moisture. His hand covered hers, positioning himself just inside her. His entire body shook as he waited there, his eyes, glittering chips of granite, meshed with hers. She lifted her hips and felt him slide a little farther within her. A tiny cry spilled from her lips. She surged against him again, wanting to take him deeper still—yet his hand over hers prevented it. How could he just stay there? She was desperate now. Desperate for his full possession.

“Wade, please?” she begged, her hips still riding him as much as he allowed.

“Yes,” he answered, the single syllable a raw sound on the air between them.

He took his hand away and she grabbed at his hips with both of hers, angling her pelvis and waiting for his full possession. When it came, it drove the air from her lungs and thought from her mind as her body clenched around him. His length surged within her, again and again, driving her to higher peaks with each thrust. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, sensation took over her body, starbursts of light danced behind her eyelids. Wave after wave of pleasure built inside her. Wave after wave that grew until her entire body exploded from sheer intensity. Expanding ripples of ecstasy undulated through her, finally easing in force until
her body fell back against the cushions filled with a delicious lassitude that invaded every cell in her body.