Page 43 of Date The Billionaire

“What? What are you talking about, Laney?” Jake came to stand in front of me, his eyes wild with confusion. “Are you... are you pregnant?”

“I am,” I responded, watching him for his reaction. I didn’t have to wait long because he’d picked me up before I finished speaking and twirled me around.

“Jake, dear God, don’t swing pregnant ladies around like that. It was bad enough watching her puke all over the place on live television, I don’t want to see it in person!” Good old curmudgeonly Mrs. Mallory.

“A baby. My god! A baby. Should we cancel the trip, Laney? Maybe you should stay here.” He looked panicked, but I put a hand to his cheek to get his attention.

“It’ll be fine. I know how to take care of me and junior here. I’ve been to the doctor to find out what I need to do. I just hope your private plane can hold enough water.”

“Laney, wow. A baby.” He settled down and looked at my stomach. “A baby.”

He looked stunned, probably as much as I did when I realized it was true. We’d planned to wait another year or two, but now was just as good. It was what fate had decided for us and we’d learned not to fight against fate too hard. It had brought us together.

Much later, a long flight later, we were in one of the last remaining hotels on the island and looking out at the destruction around us. “It’s just so sad, Jake. How are they going to recover from this?”

“I’m working on it. The government has all but abandoned them, but we’re here and others are coming. We’ll make it right again.”

I could see campfires out in the distance belonging to people trying to cook evening meals on the hills they’d run to in order to escape the floods and hadn’t left yet. Jake took me in his arms, his hands finding my belly as he did so.

“Don’t get too stressed, my love. I know you want to help, but you have more than just you to worry about now.” He tucked me against the front of his body delicately, lovingly.

“I just want to go and buy a department store and plunk it down in the square there to give away.” I could see the square still littered with debris and the ocean in the distance.

“If that’s what you want to do, babe, I’ll call my PA in the morning, get him started. Now that we can see exactly what’s needed here, we can get started.” He pulled me to the bed, and I followed, the exhaustion of a day of travel and then witnessing all of this was taking its toll on me.

I was asleep before I knew it, wrapped in Jake’s protective arms. I’d spent a year learning him, loving him, and now I didn’t know what I’d do without him. Falling asleep with him was as natural as breathing now. At first, sleeping next to someone had taken some getting used to, but now I couldn’t sleep if he wasn’t near.

The sun had gone down when I woke up and Jake was behind me, his hands wandering over my back. I felt him hard and thick at my bottom and smiled. Even now, he wanted me. Maybe even as much as I wanted him.

I moved against him to tell him to go deeper, further, and his lips were soon at the back of my neck, doing that thing to me that only he could do. Just a certain spot that he could nip at, bite, or kiss and I was jelly. But only his.

His hand came up to cup a breast, swollen with my new pregnancy, and his soft heat soothed the ache away just as he made a new ache, the ache of desire when his fingers grasped my nipple gently. His touch was different, far gentler than was normal for him, and he was generally quite gentle with me. Except for those times we got lost in a little roughness. I smiled and held my hand over his, letting him know I wanted more, harder.

“I love you, Laney Mallory.” He nuzzled the words into my hair before he went back to kissing that spot.

“I love you, Jake Mallory.” I pushed my bottom back into him, knowing he loved it.

I wanted to turn into his arms, but this was one of those lazy sessions, those times when you made excruciatingly slow love, and it was perfect. His fingers went down my side, the tingle of skin against skin made me glad I’d gone to sleep naked.

I loved to have my husband touch me and he did it so well. I sighed, content and full of desire as his fingers slid down my thigh, before his fingers were between them, exploring me. I put my right thigh over his, to make room for his wandering fingers. He found the spot he knew I liked the best and started a slow tantalizing circle that soon had me panting.

I concentrated on his fingers, on the sparks he created within me. He left me breathless as his lips found that spot and I let myself go with him.

“Jake, you’re so good, baby.”

I didn’t know what I meant, but he didn’t care, he just kept circling, teasing, as I shook in his arms, slow and easy, a soft pinpoint of pleasure. I sighed through it just as softly, letting it pulse through me, a sweetly erotic moment.

“I love hearing you sigh like that. I love feeling you shuddering in my arms.” He whispered it at that spot. That one spot that only he had ever found.

“Jake...” I sighed, turning to kiss him, not done at all. I could never get enough of this man.

I might have never known him. I might have ignored Mrs. Mallory’s hints about her available grandson. I’d thought she was just trying to get the man out of her basement, I’d had no idea of the gift she was trying to give us both.

He needed to shave but I didn’t mind as I found his jawline and cupped it, our tongues meeting as his hands pulled me close. I wouldn’t have known what this felt like, to wake up to sex with this incredible man now far more than just my lover. I looked into green eyes when he pulled away and smiled at him.

“Are you worried about the baby?” I asked him as he hesitated, his need clear, but worry clouded his face.

“A little. I know it won’t hurt the little thing, but, well, I can’t help but worry, can I? You are the love of my life and I have a feeling this little gift we’re about to get is going to create even more love. I have to protect you both, you know?” His fingers stroked my cheek and I smiled again.