The Cowboy's Baby(46)

The first night they slept together was the best he’d ever experienced. That night and every night thereafter, she came to his bed without the slightest hesitation, and while the press of her curvaceous form against his was a reward in and of itself, for Daniel, the bigger reward was that she felt comfortable enough to sleep with him at all.

Esme had finally let down her guard and stopped being afraid of pressing imaginary boundaries. For him, it was if the sun had emerged from a cloud. She laughed more freely now – her smiles were warmer, and for the first time since she’d conceived, she was unafraid to talk about the baby.

She didn’t call it her own yet – he knew that would take time. But now, hesitantly, she expressed her vision for the child. He might learn snippets of his father’s business as well as the more physical side of things, to ensure he was well rounded. It might be a good idea for him to attend a public school, just to ensure that he wasn’t sequestered – that he thought with a level head and didn’t take advantage of his privilege.

For the first few days, she looked to him with each suggestion she made as if she were afraid he might bite her head off – shout at her, or turn her from the manor. But in truth, Daniel soaked up every word she said hungrily. He’d been contemplating raising the baby alone for far too long to scorn any advice she might give. He needed it – and to hear it from her lips brought him far more joy than trepidation.

After a few days, she grew less tentative, more outspoken. Of course, she still asked rather than demanded, and listened closely to everything he might say- that was Esme’s way- but as her trepidation began to fade away, Daniel started to see the three of them – himself, her, and the baby, as a family. The family he’d always wanted.

And then, reality hurtled into their lives with the force of a charging steer.

On a Saturday morning, Daniel was woken by the sound of a car door slamming outside. He was immediately alert and irate. He hadn’t been informed that he would have any visitors, and he certainly hadn’t made any business plans. After a quick – quiet – check with his head of security, he pressed a soft kiss to Esme’s cheek as she slumbered, before throwing on a robe to descend the stairs.

He was ready to inform the paparazzi to leave his premises before he sued the ever loving daylights out of them, but when he opened the door, a completely unexpected sight met his gaze.

It was Alyssa.

She was dressed in a black dress that was extremely inappropriate for daytime, but highlighted all her best features – the curves and valleys of her body – her inky dark hair spilling over her shoulders as she advanced toward him on stiletto heels.

“Daniel…you don’t know how happy I am to see you.” Her brown eyes glinted with an indiscernible emotion the moment before she threw her arms around him, catching him off guard. “You’re all I’ve been able to think of for the past few months. Literally, nothing else has crossed my mind.”

When she lifted her mouth to his, the taste was sour in his mouth, and he quickly pulled away, as if it burned. Alyssa, however, continued as if nothing were wrong. “Honey, I’m sorry I left. I was angry…but you have to understand, you gave me no choice. The baby…all these changes…I was overwhelmed.”

“And…now you’re not.” He eyed her with no little amount of skepticism, still in disbelief that she had just waltzed back into the manor after all this time.

“Well…I’ve gotten used to the idea of us having a baby together. Maybe you were right…maybe we do need to jump-start our little family.” Her smile was heart wrenchingly sincere – almost exactly as she had looked when they’d first gotten together – when she’d been carefree and genuine. “I came back because I wanted to apologize, Daniel. I blew up, and I left when you and the baby needed me most. Now, I want to make that right.”

Daniel’s mind was immediately a whirl with complete shock at her words. This, from the woman who’d told him she never wanted a baby in the first place? Who’d fought him through the entire surrogacy process?

It was like night and day.

He took a deep breath, wondering how the hell he was going to handle this. “Alyssa…” He spoke lowly, his blue gaze pained. “Things are different now.” Was it terrible that her words swayed him slightly? That he believed the sincerity in her gaze and remembered that she had, indeed, contributed her genes to the child they’d created together.

Now, she wanted to take on the motherly role – to provide for her own child. He should have been rejoicing, and yet all he could think of was Esme’s sleeping form upstairs. Alyssa sauntered over to him, cupping his face so he looked down at her breathtaking visage. “I know you must have been lonely, baby. And I don’t care about anything that happened while I was gone. Let’s just start over – you me and the baby. It will be amazing…what you’ve always longed for, right?”