Page 18 of Hung Up on the Hacker

He dropped her clothes and began stripping his own.

The water was still only a few shades from scalding when he stepped into it. He lowered himself down on the opposite end of the tub, grateful the faucet apparatus had been mounted to the side instead of the end. Hadley’s legs brushed his as she levered herself up and began knee-walking up the length of his body. She was his every fantasy come to life as she braced her hands on his shoulders and positioned herself over his erection, those gloriously tempting breasts right on level with his mouth.

Banding one arm behind her back to draw her close, he curled his tongue around one tight peak. She arched into him on a groan of pleasure, sinking down, down, taking him in with aching slowness, until he was seated as deep as he could go. It was his turn to groan, gripping her hips as he thrust his own, trying for just a little more.

She moaned his name, took his mouth in a slow, searing kiss as she began to move, a slow, lazy ride that let him feel every quiver and pulse of her perfect, wet heat. She so often raced for the finish line, eager to leap off the cliff. But this was different. Tender. Deliberate. As if she wanted to commit every languid second to memory. And it was so damned good. The trust. The intimacy of having nothing between them. Thank God for pharmaceutical birth control.

Feeling her rhythm hitch, her pace quicken, he moved his hands to her breasts, kneading them exactly as he knew she liked. Her breath caught, her movements edging closer to frantic as she chased her release. He watched her ride him, felt her fingers clench his shoulders for purchase. She was a goddess like this, with her skin flushed and her lips swollen, eyes blurred with pleasure. Absolutely breathtaking.

A buzz gathered at the base of his spine. He wouldn’t last much longer. Reaching between them, he gently circled her clit, stroking and pressing until she cried out, her body spasming around him hard enough to spark his own release. His arms tightened around her as she fisted around him, and they both came in what felt like an endless wave.

Later, a long time later, she lay slumped against him, limp and sated, her face pressed against his throat. The water was cool, bordering on outright cold. He should get them out and dried off. Bundle her into bed. But he was still buried inside her heat, and he found himself reluctant to move and interrupt this moment of perfect post-coital bliss.

Turning his head, he kissed her shoulder.

Hadley hummed a sleepy note of acknowledgment.

“Feel better?”

She hummed again, burrowing closer.

Smiling to himself, he accepted the need for self sacrifice and maneuvered her off his lap until he could haul them both out of the tub. This was one of those times he was grateful she was such a little thing. He managed to step out without maiming himself and got them both more or less wrapped in towels. The rest of the bathroom cleanup could wait until morning. He needed to get his woman to bed.

Slipping out while Cash was on a conference call was dirty. Maybe not quite as dirty as distracting him with sex last night, so he’d forget to ask any questions. Hadley figured those would be the least of the things she’d need to apologize for before all this was over. And anyway, she’d left him a note instead of straight up disappearing. That ought to count for something. She’d even told him where she was going, if not why.

She’d woken to a text from Cayla saying she’d be at her office all morning if Hadley wanted to come by. There was no intimation that she’d be spilling secrets if Hadley chose otherwise, but Hadley was too afraid not to go. Besides, the nausea was back, and she wouldn’t be able to push Cash off again without giving him the truth. She couldn’t yet call it what it was. That would make this whole terrible situation that much more real. She wanted a little while longer before she was forced to face the music.

Feeling two steps away from unraveling, Hadley parked in front of the little house where Cayla ran her event planning business. Wiping clammy palms on her jeans, she stepped out of the car and made the gallows walk onto the porch. The door was unlocked. Sucking in a bracing breath, she opened it and went inside. The door opened into what was basically a small, open-concept living room, with a kitchenette tucked off to one side. A sideboard with business cards and wedding magazines sat against the wall of the entryway, and there were shelves displaying a variety of containers, probably as options for centerpieces. A large dining table with chairs occupied much of the space beside the front window. Half of one wall was covered with a marker board. Scrawled lists and post-it notes filled much of the smooth surface. It was a warm, cozy space, just like the woman who’d designed it.

“Cayla?”

“Back here!” She emerged from a short hallway that dog-legged off the main room, taking Hadley in at a glance. “You look terrible.”

Hadley grimaced. “Thanks.”

“I’ve got something that will help.” Crossing to the kitchenette, she tugged open the fridge and pulled out a pitcher. “I lived on this stuff for the first three or four months I was pregnant with Maddie. It’ll help with the morning sickness.”

The words hit Hadley like a brick. She’d said it out loud. Pregnant. Morning sickness.

Wheezing a little, she sank down into a chair at the table and dropped her head between her knees. “I kept hoping I’d wake up and it would all be a bad dream.”

The pitcher thunked on the table and the next chair dragged out. Cayla’s gentle hand fell to her shoulder. “I’m guessing this was not planned.”

The hysteria she’d been holding back since last night bubbled up in the form of a hyena’s laugh. “Planned? To get knocked up when my business has only barely stayed consistently in the black for eight months? When we’re still so damned new? No, this was definitely not planned.”

She could just imagine how Cash would approach planning a pregnancy. He’d research the hell out of it, have reams of data, and write some kind of computer program that would spit out the optimal time and position for impregnation. He’d have every detail figured out, down to the minute, because he was that thorough. Okay, that was unfair. It made him sound robotic and clinical, and he was anything but as a lover. But all those characteristics were why he was good at his job, why he was one of the most sought after assets in his field. And she’d so loved shaking him out of that rigidity, knowing she could make him forget it all. But she’d never wanted to do it like this.

All the fear and anger and frustration spilled out as she straightened. “This is going to ruin everything. I’m not ready for this. I don’t even know if I want kids.”

Cayla squeezed her shoulder and poured a glass of whatever was in the pitcher. “I can assure you, nobody’s ever ready, even when you do want kids and are actively trying. Nine months seems like forever and no time at all. But we’ll be here for you every step of the way, no matter what.”

Hadley sat back, stunned at the jump. Then it occurred to her that Tennessee was one of the states where women had no options or rights to bodily autonomy. Thank God she lived in Maryland and had choices. Not that choice made this any easier. “It was never supposed to get serious between us, and we sure as hell never talked about the possibility of kids.”

“Are you afraid he won’t stand by you?”

“No.” The denial was instant and absolutely certain. “I know he will. But I don’t want to trap him. I don’t want him to resent me. And I sure as fuck don’t want to end up in some kind of toxic replay of what my mother lived.”

Short of ending up out on the streets, Hadley couldn’t imagine a fate worse than that.

---