Page 58 of The Billionaire's Baby
"Call it a challenge." He draws himself up to his full height and his wide shoulders seem to block out the rest of the room, "One I don’t intend to lose."
19
2ndnight since they met
Arpad
What the hell had I been thinking, throwing all those clues out at her? The last thing I need is for her to be suspicious about my intentions.
I turn over on my side in the bed… The big bed, in which I am sleeping alone. She’d opted to take the couch in the living room…and I hadn’t offered her the bed. Damn it, I should have, but she’d made me so mad, I’d stalked out of the kitchen and headed here. And she hadn’t followed. I’d heard her retreat to the living room, then the light had gone out a little later.
And she hadn’t taken any covers or pillows, either. How the hell is she sleeping without something to keep her warm?
The wind slams into the windows and the panes rattle. It hadn’t rained much yet…but clearly, the storm had hit not far off. Another gust hits the chalet and the entire structure seems to rock. I sit up, shove off my covers, then swing my legs onto the floor and stand up. I stalk into the living room. The fire I'd started earlier has died down and the room is freezing. I cross over to her huddled form on the couch.
She’s in a fetal position, her arms around a cushion, another cushion under her head. She pulled on her now-dry clothes from the wash, including her socks, and it looks like she tried to use the robe as a blanket, so there’s that. As I watch, she shivers, then pulls her knees closer to her chest.
The wind howls outside and she mutters something under her breath. I freeze, hold my breath as she subsides into slumber again. The light from the window dances across her face, highlighting the hollows under her cheekbones. She really is skinny, except for her tits, of course. My fingers tingle. As if she senses my gaze, she moves onto her back and the cushion falls from her grasp.
There’s a flash of lightning, then the roll of thunder in the distance. Rain begins to pelt the windows, contrasting with the silence in the room. The fact that I’ve been standing here in my underwear staring down at her…for at least ten minutes now. Shit. I drag my fingers through my hair.What the hell is wrong with me?Why can’t I seem to keep away from her? Awake or asleep, she holds so much power over me… If she only knew.
Her chest rises and falls, and her body twitches. Her breathing deepens. I turn to leave, then turn back to her. My feet thud on the wooden floor and cold seeps into my skin. Fuck this. No way, can I leave her here in this unheated room, and without anything to keep her warm. I place my arms under her and scoop her up. She stirs, murmurs something I don’t catch, then curls into my chest and falls asleep again. Warmth pools in my chest. My belly tightens. She’s so damn light…so tiny… When she’s awake, her persona is so prickly, so full of fire, I often forget she’s half my size in weight...and barely comes to the level of my chest.
To think, she’s been on her own since she turned eighteen… And forged her success in a business that is notoriously dominated by men… And macho men, at that. I shake my head. The woman has a spine of steel. Something like pride grips me. Hell, she is a fighter, a worthy opponent, the possible mother of my child.
I stumble, then right myself, glance down at her features. She doesn’t stir.
Why the hell do my thoughts always head in the direction of her possible pregnancy? Why does the thought of having a family not seem like such a stretch suddenly? Everything I want is here in my arms… All I have to do is reach out and grasp it. Except, she wouldn’t see it that way, would she?
She is hellbent on having this kid by herself. What is that about anyway? She is only twenty-nine… There is more than enough time for her to meet someone and— I tighten my grasp on her, and she stirs. I pause, wait until she settles, then walk with her in my arms into the bedroom. I place her on my side of the bed, then slip in beside her and pull the covers up over both of us.
The sweet scent of her crowds me and my cock throbs. I glance toward her, take in her parted lips, her flushed features and know this was a bad idea. Hell, I’m the one who threw down the gauntlet, and told her I’d wait until she begged me before I took her. I intend to stick to my promise. Doesn’t mean I have to keep away from her though, right?
I apply enough pressure on her shoulder to turn her over to her side, then I tug her close and spoon her.
20
Karina
Heat curls around me, sinks into my skin. I curve my back, thrust closer into the warmth. Mmm. So comfortable. I rub my cheek against the pillow, twine my fingers around his…his? I snap my eyes open, and find that, indeed, I have my fingers entangled with thicker, longer, darker digits… Which are attached to an arm that’s thick and veiny, with dark hair that peppers the skin. I gulp, angle my body, only to realize the heat at my back is courtesy of the long, broad body that presses flush into me. I wiggle my butt and something stabs between my asscheeks. I swallow. I know that length. Am intimately acquainted with the girth, the thickness, the way that width of his had impaled me and brought me to fulfillment. My core clenches and moisture trickles down from between my thighs. Gah, I only have to think about how he’d taken me and I am melting…melting.
I try to move and find I’m pinned down by his thick arm that rests on the curve of my hip. His fingers are splayed across my stomach…across my naked stomach, for my shirt has helpfully ridden up to give him access. Just as my channel had expanded to sheath his cock.
Gah, get your mind out of the gutter, woman. Though you can’t blame me for where my thoughts are straying, considering alphahole, here, is wrapped around me tighter than a boa constrictor around its prey. Not that I am prey, or that he is a snake. Okay, maybe he is… Especially that thing between his legs, which is one massive python. Ugh… That’s it. I need to get out of this bed. I thrust one foot out of the blanket and the cold instantly grabs me. I shiver, push another foot out, try to slide out from under his arm, when his grasp tightens about me.
"Where are you going?"
His voice rumbles across my back.
I shiver… This time, from that chafing, gnawing sensation that curls in my belly.
"I…ah…have to pee."
"Liar." He hauls me against his large chest, settles me with my head tucked under his chin, his arms wrapped around me again. The contours of his body follow my curves, with his knees folded up against the back of mine. If there is heaven on this earth, surely, it is here, next to him, surrounded by his scent, wrapped up in his presence, which pins me down, and against him— No, that’s his massive forearms, which he’s wrapped around me. I wiggle my butt and am rewarded by the throb of the part of him that’s very much awake and happy to be nestled in the valley between my butt cheeks.
"Umm, Ari?"
"Hmm?"
