Kings of California: Bargaining for King's Baby

“What makes you think I’m worried?”

She laughed and the sound of it sang through the otherwise quiet room. “Please. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

“Is that right?” Turning to face her, he went up on one elbow. “Then what am I thinking?” he said with a slight smile.

She stroked the tips of her fingers across the sheet covered distance separating them and Adam wished she were touching him.

“That’s easy. You’re worrying that you made a mistake by agreeing to this little bargain.”

He opened his mouth to argue, more because he hated knowing that she could read him so well than anything else, but she spoke up again.

“You’re worried that I’m building up romantic notions. Hoping you’ll fall in love with me.”

He frowned harder, because damn it, she was right. He had been worrying about that, too. But he wouldn’t admit it. “Wrong. I know you’re not doing anything that foolish.” At least, he hoped not. “After all, this was your idea.”

“True.” She smiled and rolled onto her stomach, coming closer to him. Close enough that he couldn’t keep himself from reaching one hand out to stroke the line of her spine, the curve of her bottom. And he wondered how in the hell she’d managed to get a tan all over.

Shaking his head to get rid of the image of her stretched out naked in the sun, Adam asked, “Why?”

“Why what?” She looked at him, her golden eyes shining in the darkness.

“Why’d you offer me this bargain? I mean, I know you want a baby. I understand that. What I want to know is why me?”

She stretched lazily, moving that tanned, toned body on the white silk sheets until blood vessels started popping in Adam’s brain.

“Easily enough explained, Adam,” she said, glancing at him. “You wanted the land, so that gave me some leverage….”

“Yes…” He wanted the rest of her reason.

“And, I’ve known you forever, Adam. I like you. I think you like me—”

He nodded. He did like Gina. He’d just never paid much attention to that fact over the years. She was younger than he was, so they hadn’t spent much time together when they were kids. Then, when they were grown, he’d had other priorities.

“—it seemed like the perfect answer to both of our problems.” She lifted one hand to him and stroked her palm across his chest. Adam sucked in a gulp of air at the heat that instantly shot through him. “And…I think the two of us will make a beautiful baby.”

A slice of something cold and dark cut through his mind at those words. He’d once made a vow to never have another child. To never open himself up to that kind of risk again. But this was different, he reasoned, so he pushed those thoughts into a corner of his mind. He’d made this bargain and he’d honor it. The child he and Gina made between them wouldn’t be a part of his life. He wouldn’t know it. Love it. Or lose it. In fact, best to not think about it at all.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and Adam cut her a look.

“About what?”

“Talking about the baby I want must make you remember your son.”

Adam froze. He felt his features tighten and everything in him go hard and still as glass. Memories jumped into his mind, but he refused to acknowledge them. He turned them off as easily as punching the remote button aimed at a television. He’d had a lot of practice.

He wasn’t open to talking about the son he’d lost five years before and they might as well get that straight right up front. “I don’t talk about him. Ever.”

Her eyes went soft in sympathy and Adam resented it. He didn’t need her feeling sorry for him.

“I understand.”

“You couldn’t possibly,” he told her.

A silent second or two passed before Gina said, “Fine, you’re right. I don’t understand. I hope I never learn the kind of pain you experienced and—”

He caught her hand in his and gave it a hard squeeze. Just enough to get her to stop talking. How the hell had they gotten onto the subject of his lost family anyway? Wasn’t their bargain supposed to be about sex, plain and simple? “What part of ‘I don’t talk about it’ didn’t you get?”

She pulled her hand free of his, pushed herself up on the bed and leaned in close to him. Staring into his eyes, it looked as though she were searching for something, some sign that there was warmth hidden somewhere inside him. Adam could have told her to not bother looking.

After a long moment, Gina leaned in even further and kissed him, briefly, softly. “I get it, Adam. The subject’s off-limits.”

“Good.”

“I don’t want to talk anyway.” Gina stroked his cheek with her palm and drew his head closer to hers.

“That’s good, too.” At her touch, his body heated and was instantly ready for her again. He’d been too long without a woman, that was all. He’d been a damn recluse for five years, with only the occasional, temporary woman to ease needs that couldn’t be denied any longer.

That explained why his response to Gina was so overwhelming. It was just biological, that was all. It wasn’t about her. It was about sex. Need.

And when she moved into him, he kept telling himself that, even as he inhaled her scent, drawing it deep inside him. Even as he twisted his hand into her hair, letting the silky feel of it slide over his skin. Even as he took her mouth and tasted the sweetness that was Gina alone.

He couldn’t—wouldn’t—allow anything else.

She tried to roll over in his arms, but he kept her on her stomach and shifted enough that he could trail kisses along the length of her spine. Such soft, honey-brown skin. Such long lines and rich curves. He heard her sigh and felt her tremble as his left hand swept down to stroke her bottom. He glanced at her, saw her eyes closed, her hands fisted in the bank of pillows.

“Adam…”

“We have all night, Gina,” he said and suddenly knew that he wanted every moment of the night. He wanted her over him, under him. He wanted to taste and explore every glorious inch of her and then he wanted to start all over again.

Fire erupted in his blood as she moved on the sheets and he knew he had to have her. No more thinking. No more worrying about tomorrow or the day after that. For now, he would waste no more time with her.

Flipping her over with a quick twist, he grinned when she smiled up at him and lifted her arms in welcome. He slid into her embrace, covering her body with his and when he entered her, she arched her hips to take him completely. To hold him deep inside her heat. And Adam closed his mind to everything but her.

They moved together in a rhythm that left them both breathless. Bodies sang, minds emptied and when the first flash of release slammed into Gina, Adam held on to her, watching her eyes, dazzled with pleasure as he surrendered himself to the glory waiting for him.

Seven

Thanks to Esperanza Sanchez, Adam’s longtime housekeeper, Gina was pretty sure she’d gained five pounds in four days. The older woman was so happy to see Adam married again, she hadn’t stopped cooking all week. And every time Gina tried to help out in the kitchen, straighten up the living room or even to dust, she was shooed out of the room and told to go spend time with her new husband.

Not as easy as it sounded.

Esperanza was determined to see that Gina felt at home. Even if Adam was a little less than welcoming. Staring into a full-length mirror in the bedroom she now shared with Adam, Gina wasn’t looking at her own reflection so much as at the gigantic bed behind her. That was the only place she felt as though Adam was glad to have her in his home.

“Happy to have me in his bed anyway,” she muttered and tried to find the bright spot in that statement. At least they shared passion. At least they connected occasionally. Even if it was only physically.

“Pitiful, Gina, just pitiful.” She shook her head, met her own gaze in the mirror and gave her reflection one last glance. Not exactly a femme fatale, she admitted. In her pink T-shirt, worn jeans and boots, she looked more like a ranch hand than a newlywed. Her long dark hair hung down her back in a single braid and her eyes looked huge in her face.

She’d had a lot of hopes for this bargain. Had counted on Adam being a little easier to maneuver than he was proving. Instead he seemed determined to keep to himself. To keep their relationship as superficial as possible, despite the fact that they were married and living together.