His Son, Her Secret(30)

She hadn't allowed herself to miss this when he'd been gone. She hadn't  had the time to think back to the days when Byron would make love to  her and it would take her away from everything-the stress of the  late-night job, the tension at home, the fact that she was sleeping with  the enemy.

But now that she had him back, she turned those memories loose. They  wove themselves around her, mingling with how Byron was gripping her  hips, how he was thrusting in with hard, sure strokes. "Leona," he  groaned over and over again. "My Leona."

"Yes, yes," was the only sound she could make. The noise hissed out of  her with every thrust as Byron took her again and again. She was his-she  always had been and she saw clearly now that she always would be.

She couldn't see him, but she could feel every single thing he was  doing to her. The way his fingers dug into her skin, pulling her back  into him. The way he filled her over and over, pushing her to the brink  of orgasm without letting her fall down the other side. The grunting  noises that built in pitch until he was nearly shouting her name.

Then he relinquished his hold on her hips and fell forward onto her.  His teeth scraped along her back but that feeling was quickly blotted  out as he reached around and pressed against the hot little button of  her sex. "Come for me," he ordered, thrusting and pressing and nibbling  until the tension in her body finally, finally snapped. Her muscles  tightened almost to the point of pain as she screamed her orgasm into  the bed.

"Oh, God," Byron grunted, slamming his hips against her twice more before freezing. "Oh, babe."

The orgasm left her completely wrung out and panting. Byron collapsed onto her, his chest hot against her back.

"I want to see you," she said in a shaky voice.

The blindfold was pulled away. Even though the candlelight was dim, she  still blinked. Then Byron slid off and pulled her into his arms.  "Wasn't too much, was it?" he murmured into her hair.

"Just right," she replied, curling against him and tracing small  circles against his chest. Now that the orgasm and anticipation and  massage had all run together, she was having trouble keeping her eyes  open. They lay there for a few moments, the only sounds in the room the  beating of their hearts and the occasional pop of a candle burning.

He'd put her first. He'd taken care of her, just like he'd said he  would. He hadn't run screaming earlier when Percy melted down.

Maybe...maybe this would work. Maybe she could marry him and they could  be a family and he would love her. Maybe she should allow herself to  hope that she'd get everything she ever wanted.

And then he spoke and ruined it.

"If only you'd been honest with me from the start," he said with a  heavy sigh, "it could have been like this for the past year. We would  have found a way to make it work."

The insult was worse than any slap in the face. "If I'd been honest?"

She was up and moving, off the bed and out the door before he could blink. "Leona? Hey-Leona!"

But she was already out of the room, heading down the hall. "If you  hadn't left, Byron, maybe we could have made it work," she said, knowing  he was right behind her. "But you keep making this all my fault, and  I'm not going to take it anymore. You're always going to hold that over  my head like a sword, aren't you? Because God forbid I try to make up  for my mistakes. God forbid we try to get past it. I'll always be the  Harper who lied to you, won't I?" With that, she slammed the door to her  room and locked the lock.

"For God's sake, Leona," he growled from the other side of the door.  The door handle jiggled. "Damn it, Leona!" No doubt he thought that,  because he'd bought the house he could walk right into any room he  chose.

"It's fine. I'm fine. Thank you for the massage. Good night, Byron."

"I'm not done with you yet," she heard him say on the other side of  the door. "But we can talk in the morning. Get some sleep."

No, of course he wasn't done with her.

Yet.

But he would be. Sooner or later, he would be.





Fifteen

When Leona's phone rang, she was juggling an extremely fussy child, a  fever-relieving liquid, some electrolyte solution, her wallet and...a  pregnancy test.                       
       
           



       

She was late. Byron hadn't asked about her "schedule" since she'd moved  into the house, but she was officially, seriously Late with a capital  L.

She glanced at her phone and saw that it was Byron. For the past few  days, he'd been trying to apologize to her, but she wasn't listening.  She sent the call to voice mail, where it could join all the other  messages he'd left her.

Percy kicked it up to eleven and began to howl. The other people in  line were giving her dirty looks, as if she'd made the baby cry on  purpose. Ugh. She needed to get him home.

She paid for her stuff, ignoring the clerk's smirk between her, the  pregnancy test and the screaming child, and then got Percy buckled into  the car. At least they were only a few minutes from home, she thought as  she got stuck at a light. Percy was not a happy camper back there.  "Baby, it's okay," she tried to say in a soothing voice over the  screaming. "We'll go home and watch Grover and have something to drink,  okay?"

Percy screamed even louder.

Leona made it home in record time. Somehow, she got the baby and her  things out of the car on the first shot. "Poor baby," she soothed,  setting everything down just inside the door. "Let's get you into some  comfy jammies."

Percy let her change him. At some point, he quieted down. His eyelids  began to drift shut. Leona felt his head-warm, but not dangerously hot.  "Poor baby," she whispered again, settling into the glider to nurse him.  He wasn't feeling good and now he'd exhausted himself with all the  crying. If she got lucky, he'd fall asleep for a long time. And if she  wasn't lucky, well-he'd be up in an hour, screaming because his ears  hurt.

From deep inside the house, she heard her phone chime again. If she'd  had the damn thing on her, she would have glared at it. There was no way  in heck she was going to jostle Percy just to check her messages.

After five minutes, Percy was out. All that screaming, she thought as  she lowered him into the crib. She'd have to wait until he woke up again  before she'd be able to dose him.

Closing his door behind her, she hurried downstairs. She knew she  couldn't keep ignoring her phone-especially not if it were Mr. Lutefisk,  wanting an update on the restaurant project.

But she desperately wanted to take the pregnancy test now, before Byron  got home. She needed to know. The past month she'd spent forcibly not  thinking about the chance that she was pregnant again? Those days were  gone. Suddenly, she needed to know right now.

After all, she reasoned as she hurried to the bathroom, it was only a  few more days until Saturday-the official end of the two-week trial run  of living with Byron. He'd promised he'd ask her to marry him after  those scant fourteen days and she still had no idea what she'd say. They  were barely speaking. Percy was thriving, though, and watching Byron  and the baby together made her wonder why she was fighting this so hard.

And then Byron would attempt another apology that always seemed to hit  upon the fact that she hadn't told him about her father and she was mad  all over again.

But if there were other factors at play, she wanted to know before she  told him yes or no. If she were pregnant again, she would have to say  yes. They would have to work harder to be a family, even if they  couldn't love each other like they used to.

She carefully peed on the little stick and set it aside, then washed  her hands. The instructions said she had to wait five minutes. After all  this time, five minutes felt like way too long.

She got her phone. Sure enough, Mr. Lutefisk had called. She had to  tell him that she might not be on the job tomorrow, if Percy didn't  miraculously recover.

She called her boss while pacing the length of the first floor. She  informed him of the situation and paused in front of the room that was  now known as her office. She hung up and just stared at the space.

Her office. If she wanted to start her own design business.

Maybe after she got this job finished and things were settled with  Byron, she'd strike out on her own. If she were expecting again, working  from home might be just the thing. After all, she'd been completely in  charge of this restaurant design. She had what it took to be her own  boss now. And that prospect was thrilling.

But...that would mean she'd agreed to stay with Byron. Marry him.

Not necessarily, she thought. She could always hang out a shingle  somewhere else. Sure, the rent for an office would put a strain on her  finances, but she wouldn't be dependent on Byron.

She checked the time. Close enough to five minutes had passed. She hurried back to the bathroom and grabbed the stick.