Page 64 of Calamity Rayne Knocked Up

It didn’t get any better when he was inside of me. They just kept leaking. I was mortified, but Hale—the pervert—loved it. The harder I came, the more they leaked. I should have known a man who loved to make me squirt would get a kick out of this. Give him enough time, and he’d have me operating like afull-fledged waterpark.

I left the smokehouse damp, shivering, and needing a shower. Hale arrogantly whistled his way back to the woodpile and swung the ax with more pluck and vigor then he had when I found him.

Slinking into the house like a mangey coyote, I tried to sneak upstairs unnoticed.

“Momma!” Elara called, racing over to show me her scribbled drawing of what looked like it might be a pumpkin. It was round and orange.

“Nice work, Peanut.”

“You look flushed, Rayne,” my mother said as she crocheted a blanket she’d been working on for the new baby. “I remember when I was pregnant with you. Your father and I couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

“Mom!Ew!”

“What? That shed might not have windows, but I have ears.”

My humiliation was complete. “I’m going to shower and erase my memories from the last hour.” I skulked up the stairs.

The following day, everyone was settled in. Remington was sneaking work, which meant he was calling me every five minutes, which frustrated Hale to no end. I received more thanenough impatient looks but he said nothing. My mother made things worse by always asking who was calling me. I ignored her, because everyone else knew it was Remington every time.

Naomi commented repeatedly about how needy Remy could be, which also didn’t help matters. But to be fair, they didn’t realize this was a hot-button issue between me and Hale.

As long as I played down the situation and didn’t appear stressed by my bossy father-in-law’s neediness, the situation was managed. But Hale still got frustrated.

“Just go over there,” Hale eventually said. “But be back by five. We have that dinner tonight, and we’re leaving at six.”

Shock of shock, Hale was very persnickety about being on time. “It’s fine. I can just—” My phone buzzed again.

“Just go, Rayne.”

I hesitated, not wanting to make this a thing, but going over there would put an end to the incessant calls sooner so we could get on with our peaceful holiday. “Are you sure?”

When my phone buzzed yet again, he narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”

With Miles out of the office visiting his own family andmost of the staff gone at headquarters, there was only me, so it made sense that Remington would hit me up more than usual. As soon as I arrived at Remington’s, Odette greeted me with a smile and a cocktail in her bejeweled hand.

“Rayne, I wasn’t expecting you. I was just making a salad for lunch. Do you want to eat with us?”

“Sure.” Odette was always sweet and stayed quietly in the background. When Remington paid attention to her, their chemistry was adorable.

As soon as Remington saw me, he looked befuddled. He was clearly surprised by my presence since he hadn’t instructed me to come to him. Yet, there I was, ready to serve his needs for the sake of peace. He also overlooked that I was giving up a day with my family to help him—on a day that I hadclearlyscheduled for personal time.

“Meyers, we need to go through the proposal from Landry and compare it with the rundown we received from PCK. I want you to dig up everything you can find on both CEOs.Everything. Figure out their wives’ names, who their mistresses are, how they voted in the last election, what allergies theirchildren have, where they golf, and anything else of use. Leave no stone unturned.”

This was the drill whenever Remington prepared a buyout. Most times, his victims didn’t even foresee selling their companies. But Remington had a way of zeroing in on people’s pressure points until they viewed him as an ally and confidant. In the end, he always looked like a savior and got exactly what he wanted.

“Sure.”

I was elbow-deep in notes when Odette brought my salad to the dim study.

“You know,” she said, setting my plate beside the open laptop. “It might not be my place to say this, but you could tell him no.”

I laughed. “Have you tried that?”

“I do every day. At least twice. He’s a demanding man, but it’s good for him to feel challenged. The more he gets his way, the more demanding he becomes. It’s healthy for him to face denial from time to time.”

“Well, he only has me for another hour because I have my own demanding man waiting at home.”

She patted my shoulder and left me to my work.

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