Page 55 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

Lazily, I trailed my finger through his chest hairs. A sigh of contented bliss escaped me. I was boneless.

One of his hands rested on my butt, the other twisted in my hair.

“You sound like the cat that got the canary,” he said.

“Mmm, no. Feathers are too much work. I’m the cat that got warm cream. Hmm. So much warm cream.”

Sterling choked as he laughed. “Cecelia, you have a dirty streak. You’re all sweet and innocent looking, but underneath it all, you are a vixen.”

“Does that bother you?”

He kept touching me, so I guessed not. His entire chest vibrated with his laugh. “Not at all.”

I stretched languorously and rubbed against his skin. “What can I say, you inspire me.”

He rolled me to the side and then sat up before placing a practically chaste kiss to my lips. “As long as it's something you keep as a treat just for me, it won’t bother me at all.”

I was limp as he vaulted from the bed. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to clean up, and then I have to get back. It told the nanny I wasn’t going to be out terribly late. It’s already ten.”

“I wish you could stay,” I complained.

“Maybe when this is all settled,” he said before he left the room.

I stayed in bed, my eyes closed, enjoying the lingering vibrations and thrums that still tingled across my skin and throughout my core. Sterling’s touch was masterful, memorable. I rolled over and propped my chin on my hands, watching him get dressed when he came back in.

“When will I see you again?” he asked.

“Are we talking about this, or do you want me to help you with the baby?”

“That’s a ridiculous question, Cecelia. Both.”

“We need to coordinate when Peggy is scheduled to be at your place, and when the nanny will be there, so our times don’t overlap.”

The bed dipped under him as he sat. He ran his hand over my hip and backside. A low hum sounded in his throat. “I have no doubt that you will figure it out. You have exceptional coordination skills.”

I crawled into his lap, straddling him. I tugged on his shirt collar and began fastening buttons for him. The fabric of his clothes rasped against my bare skin. As I dressed Sterling, his hands smoothed down my back and over my thighs.

“You are far too tempting to be doing this.” His fingers bit into my legs as his mouth claimed mine. The kiss reignited a desperate need deep in my core. I wanted this man so much.

With a moan that sounded pained, he lifted me from his lap and set me on my feet. “I really have to go. Be a good girl.”

He kissed me one last time, crushing me against him. I fell back into bed, pouting. I didn’t see him out. It wasn’t fair. I shouldn’t have to choose between him and my job. Especially now that he was no longer my client. Didn’t that remove any conflicts of interest?

I lay on my back staring at the ceiling. How was I going to do this? Everything would be so much easier if he would fall in love with me and sweep me off my feet. I could quit my job and move in with him and Georgie. He wouldn’t need a nanny, or some agency checking in to make sure Georgie was cared for, because I could take care of her. We could be like a little family.

It was a lovely daydream. But did a man like Sterling Alexander fall in love?

He accepted his responsibilities toward his orphaned niece, but that wasn’t the same thing. That was an obligation. I wasn’t his responsibility, so why would he keep me around?

I was a good time in bed. At least I hoped I was. I tried. His skills in bed were through the roof, and I was struggling to keep up, anything to keep his interest. No, a man like Sterling Alexander wasn’t going to fall in love with me and move me into his apartment to help him raise his ward.

He was going to be interested in me as a distraction and useful help when it came to Georgie. And if that was the best I could get out of him, well, then that’s what I was going to cling to.

With a groan of shattered illusions and reality seeping in, I got out of bed and crawled into the shower. I didn’t want to wash him off my skin, but I needed to get a grip. I was so far gone in love with the man that I didn’t care that I was only being useful to him. Useful in bed, useful in life.

If that’s what it took, I was going to be so useful, he would realize he couldn’t do without me, and that was kind of like love. Wasn’t it? We didn’t have to be in love for this to work out, right? One side emotion, the other practicality. As long as I could live with that, I could do this, right?

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