Her Baby's Father

“There is nothing cheap about you.”

“I’m selling myself for a child.”

“You’re not. You’re sharing yourself with the world for a chance at your dream come true.”

She looked up at him, eyes wide, mouth trembling—and he couldn’t stop himself. He bent to her, touching her lips lightly with his own. She tasted even better than he’d thought she would. He plunged his fingers into her hair and tilted her head for better access, then took her mouth completely.

Reese blocked out the sun and the sea and the painful memories she’d dredged up. His mouth on hers was sweeter than her first taste of champagne at sixteen and more forbidden. But she longed for more.

His tongue thrust past her lips and teeth and probed the depths of her mouth. Sabrina had never in her life been so thoroughly kissed. She held tightly to his shoulders, covered by his shirt.

She remembered his back and those faded scars. His flesh not movie-star perfect but well-defined—real. Much like the man, a man with facets to be explored. She wanted to touch his skin. To caress each imperfection because it made him seem more human.

Sliding her hands down his back, she slipped them under his shirt. He was warmer than she’d have guessed. So warm. The little notch at the small of his back invited her touch and she fingered him gently. Letting her touch expand slowly, she sought out and soothed each brutalized piece of skin. Each part of his back that had been hurt seemingly long ago. She wondered how he’d been injured.

She knew he didn’t want to discuss his past. She would have to have been an idiot not to notice the way he kept the conversation away from himself and solely on her, despite his promises that they’d be friends this afternoon and forget about the article. He couldn’t forget. It was his job, she reminded herself.

While his mouth moved on hers, she knew it was more than a job to him. Desire pumped through her body. Her blood pooled at her center and her skin felt so sensitized, the slightest touch from Reese sent shock waves through her.

He pulled her closer. At last, she thought. He held her body flush to his and she reveled in it. In the firm, muscled flesh that cradled her softer curves. He was man and she was woman, and on this boat in this time they were the only two in the world.

It had been a long time since Sabrina had stood breast to chest with a man while he kissed her senseless. Too long. She wanted more.

He nibbled little kisses from her mouth to her neck and bit her gently there. Sabrina let herself go. Let herself experience Reese Howard as she’d longed to from the very first moment she saw him.

Weaving her fingers into his hair, she held him to her neck. Felt his own fingers slide under her shirt, then slowly up the front of her body. Feathering a caress along her midriff, then higher, fondling her breasts through the thin layer of her bra. The functional plain white cotton bra that she’d be embarrassed for him to see.

Oh, God, his touch felt so right, so perfect. She wanted more, she needed more. She needed it now.

She leaned into him, and his touch intensified. She slid her hands around to his chest. Rubbing his hard stomach and following the trail of hair that narrowed down his body, disappearing beneath his waistband.

She felt his arousal press the juncture of her thighs and rubbed her body against his. Luxuriating in being woman to his man. In being the elemental answer to his quest. In being the fulfillment of his base needs.

The boat rocked, jarring them apart. Reese grabbed her shoulders to steady her. But Sabrina didn’t want him to let go. Her blood was pounding so hard she felt like her heart would leap from her breast.

“That went further than I’d planned,” he said, rubbing his hand across his face and through his hair.

She couldn’t focus. She could only stare at his mouth. His full, sensual mouth, which she wanted back on her own. Now, she thought.

“It did?” she asked. Her voice was low and raspy, sounding weird to her own ears.

He nodded.

Sabrina thought maybe he was playing with her but realized that their situation was delicate. He could only make the first move for so long. He could only be the aggressor for so long before she’d have to make a decision.

“I…”

“It’s okay. I know it went too far.”

He gathered up her things and led her to the side of the boat. Sabrina stared at the lonely empty slip next to his—a vacant space waiting to be filled. She thought about her life. About her cold, lonely apartment with its sparse furniture. She remembered her childhood home. The pictures and antique furniture. The Irish linens her mother had collected and her father’s classic cars. Her family had had more than the emptiness that plagued her. Her parents had shared intimacy, a life, everything.

And this was her last chance.

After she had the child, she wouldn’t be able to have a man in her life. Wouldn’t be able to make love to a man, sleep with him through the night and wake up to make love again. She’d been celibate a long, long time and that choice had been a smart one.

A girl doesn’t forget having to make a tough decision at a young age or the circumstances that led to that decision. But she was a woman now. With a woman’s needs and a woman’s desires.

She looked into Reese’s eyes. Into his darker-than-midnight eyes that made her breath catch in her throat. Into his dark gaze that peeled away layers she’d never let anyone reveal—and she made her decision. Tonight she would be woman to his man.

“Reese?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to go. I don’t think our embrace went far enough.”

In response, he pulled her back into his arms, and Sabrina rested there, hearing his strong heartbeat under her cheek and feeling his strength around her. This was the right decision, she thought. Please, let this be a smart decision.

Sabrina’s apartment looked much like the woman herself, sophisticated and understated. Yet like Sabrina it also held the air of emptiness. A certain sense of expectancy wafted through the open doors. The rooms, which were functional but not lived-in, made his heart ache, even though he’d vowed no woman would ever breach the stone wall behind which he hid his emotions. And he questioned what he was doing here.

The silence felt as heavy as the secrets between them. He had his. They involved more than the scars she’d seen on his back. He knew she had her own secrets, too.

It was evident from the way she’d reacted to the mother and child earlier this afternoon. But those things didn’t matter right now. She closed the door quietly behind her. Her wind-blown hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders. Her blouse was rumpled from where he’d had his hands under it earlier, and her long legs were encased in jeans. Blood pooled at the center of his body and his arousal strained against his denim jeans.

He hadn’t felt this randy since he’d been a teenage boy experiencing women for the first time. He’d played the game, he reminded himself. He was a lady’s man. None of that mattered when faced with Sabrina. Her fresh innocence drew him in ways more experienced women hadn’t.

He wanted her in a way that he’d forgotten wanting could be. Sharp, intense and tinged with emotion. He ignored the emotion and focused on the pulse pounding through his body. Demanding he take her to bed. Demanding he mate with her in a primal way. Demanding he move now.

Her pants molded to her perfect thighs and shapely calves. Her lips were still swollen from his kisses but her eyes were clear. Though she wouldn’t change her mind, he needed her to say the words aloud.

“Are you sure you want to make love with me?” he asked for his conscience.

“Yes,” she said with no hesitation.

His body screamed, Yeah, baby, let’s go for it, but his mind cautioned him to warn her. She meant more to him than a causal romp. She was the kind of woman who deserved a devoted guy and a wedding. He wasn’t that man.

In the back of his mind was the thought that this wasn’t the wisest decision. He had to preserve a little distance between himself and Sabrina if he was going to write a decent article. But Sabrina smiled at him from under her lashes in a way that made him want to fall to his knees and crawl to her. She wasn’t like the women in his past. She was his dream woman come to life, and he knew he was going to have her.

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