Unexpectedly Yours [Private Relations 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Earl looked at Jim with disgust and said, “So are you going to marry my daughter?”

  Wow, okay, Jim thought. Let’s cut right to the chase.

  “Elle and I decided that we were going to let that happen in its own time, sir. Right now, we’re both just focused on the baby.”

  Earl gave him a measured look and said, “A baby needs a father.”

  “Agreed, sir. I intend to be a father. We don’t have to be married for me to do that.”

  Earl turned his head toward Elle, giving her a hard stare, and said, “What were you thinking? You aren’t ready for a baby. You’re being stupid.”

  Seeing her eyes fill, Jim winced.

  Clearing her throat, Elle said, “Excuse me,” and moved quickly out of the room.

  Jim watched her leave, then heard a door open and close.

  Pinning Earl with a stare, he said, “Sir. I can appreciate that you’re unhappy with the situation. Feel free to be as angry as you’d like with me, but don’t do this to her. She was terrified to come here today to talk to you about this because she didn’t want to disappoint you.”

  “Wait a minute, I—” Earl said, blustering.

  Holding up a hand, Jim said, “We used protection and it failed. We both know we’re not ready for this, but neither of us liked the alternatives. Please, just cut her some slack. That’s all I’m asking for. She’s scared and needs your support.”

  “I just want what’s best for her,” Earl said with a frown.

  “Me too,” Jim said.

  A moment later, a tiny smirk on his face, Earl asked, “I don’t have to be nice to you though, right?”

  Jim said, “I’d appreciate it, but it’s not required.”

  “Fair enough. You’re going to stick around?” he asked, his bluster gone.

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” Earl grunted.

  Irene sat on the other love seat with a look of relief on her face. She mouthed “Thank you” at Jim.

  When Elle came out of the bathroom, her eyes were a little red. Jim immediately wanted to pull her into his arms. Earl beat him to it, getting out of his chair.

  “I’m sorry. Don’t cry, baby. Come here,” Earl said, pulling her into a hug.

  Elle stood there stiffly for a minute and then wrapped her arms around him. Jim heard Earl saying something. He really hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t make her cry again.

  For the next few hours they all sat in the living room as Elle and Irene discussed some of the practicalities of being a mother. Earl made grudging attempts at small talk, which was enough for Jim.

  By the time they were ready to leave, Earl was considerably more relaxed. He hugged Elle one last time and said, “I can’t believe I’m gonna be a grandpa.”

  Elle grinned and said, “Well, you are. It’s a done deal.”

  Jim got distracted when Irene hugged him to within an inch of his life and whispered, “Thank you, honey. I thought it was gonna get real ugly.”

  Hugging her back, he murmured, “Me too. Thanks for disarming him.”

  Irene beamed at him and then let him go to reach for Elle. Jim stood there awkwardly until Earl slapped him on the back and said, “You take care of my girl, Jim. Irene took my guns but I know where she hid them.”

  “Daddy!” Elle said. Looking at her mother, she said, “Mom. Pawn them.”

  A few minutes later, Irene and Earl both walked them to the door, waving to them as they got into the truck. Elle was silent until they had backed out of the driveway.

  “You must be the Earl whisperer, Jim. He was pissed when I got up, and hugged me when I came back. What did you say?”

  “I told him it was okay if he was angry at me, but that you needed his support,” Jim said, shrugging.

  “Thank you,” Elle said softly as she reached across the console to put her hand on his thigh.

  Clearing her throat, Elle said, “He even managed to make conversation with you this afternoon. All things considered, I think he might like you.”

  “How do you figure that? The only reason he agreed to be nice was because I told him he could feel free to hate me all he wanted.”

  Elle laughed, then said, “I can see how that would appeal to him. What about your family? You never really even mentioned how they reacted to the news.”

  “My mom congratulated me and asked the obligatory questions about you. I was kind of surprised by the nonreaction. Normally she’s opinionated about everything. It was strange, considering her normal behavior. I haven’t spoken to my father. You’ll meet them when they’re here in a couple weeks, right?”

  “It’s not like I could tell you no, Jim. Not after how ridiculously understanding you were about them showing up unannounced and this afternoon. What should I expect?”

  “Polite distance from my dad,” Jim said. “My mom, I don’t know. We’ll just say that she’s nothing at all like yours.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine,” Elle said.

  Jim wasn’t entirely sure. He’d expected a nonresponse from his father. He’d expected his mother to go through the roof. He’d received a calm response back asking the requisite questions. There hadn’t been any criticism at all. That worried him.

  Trying to put it out of his mind, he changed the subject, asking, “So, where to now?”

  “I don’t know. Back to LA?” Elle asked.

  “Could you give me a little more than that?” Jim asked, smirking.

  Elle stuck out her tongue at him and then said, “Well, let me see what’s going on tonight.”

  Pulling her phone out of her purse, she started to do a quick search when Jim asked, “Baseball? There’s a game tonight.”

  “I probably won’t ever say no to baseball.”

  “You just made my heart flutter, Elle,” Jim said, laughing. “Let me make a call.”

  Paging through his contacts, he found Kent’s name and dialed.

  When he picked up, Jim said, “Kent. Hey. Jim Conroy. How’s it going?”

  “Not too bad,” Kent said. “Same shit, different day. What’s up?”

  Laughing, Jim said, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, buddy. We need to catch up sometime soon. Can I ask a favor?”

  “Hmm. You can ask,” Kent said.

  “Were you planning on using your tickets for tonight’s game?”

  “Nah,” Kent said. “Shelby has me going to some god-awful ballet thing tonight.”

  Wincing, Jim said, “Ouch.”

  “No kidding. Fucking Swan Lake. Why? Did you want to use ’em?”

  “Yeah, if you don’t mind,” Jim said.

  “Stop on by and get them. If I go out I’ll put them in the mailbox,” Kent said.

  “Thanks, dude. I’ll call you sometime this week. We’ll get together and do dinner or something. You guys can meet my girlfriend, Elle.”

  There was a slight pause on the line before Kent said, “Clearly I have missed out on some things. I’ll check with Shelby and we’ll put something together.”

  “Thanks. I look forward to it. Talk to you soon.”

  “Later, buddy.”

  A moment later, he hung up the phone and said, “Tickets right above the dugout.”

  “Fancy seats,” Elle said, looking suitably impressed. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to enjoy it if I’m not in the nosebleeds.”

  “Of course you’ll enjoy it. There will be hot dogs and no beer,” Jim said, frowning. “Sorry. I didn’t even think of that.”

  “Excuse me,” Elle said, slightly offended. “You know I only drink wine from the box. Though, I guess I’m off that for a while.”

  “Yeah, I guess you are,” Jim said, smiling.

  * * * *

  Later that evening, Jim lay in bed, his body relaxed but his mind still racing. Despite the fact that the home team had been slaughtered, they’d had a great time at the game. They’d ended up heading back to Jim’s place at the end of the sixth inning, though. It had been 12–0 at that point. They’d bo
th been more than willing to leave early to beat traffic.

  Neither of them had been particularly sleepy when they’d gotten back to his place. They decided to lie outside in the large hammock he’d strung up in his backyard next to the pool. They’d lain there under the stars, talking and making love until the early hours of the morning. Around three they’d finally moved indoors to his bed.

  As Elle curled into his side, he acknowledged that they really had been making love. If he was being honest, he’d probably fallen in love with her that first night she’d come over to his house. It had only gotten deeper from there.

  He wanted to tell her, but she seemed to get a little skittish when he talked about feelings. She had a tendency to deflect or change the subject. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare her off. Especially now.

  Maybe it was just best to enjoy the moment, he thought to himself as he felt himself start to drift off. He really didn’t want to fuck things up by rushing any other facet of their already strange relationship.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Elle sat in her office going through last month’s food purchase receipts trying to decipher why they had been charged for forty pounds of beef tenderloin they hadn’t received, when Sara popped her head through the door.

  “Hey,” Sara asked, “why are you still here? Don’t you have a date?”

  Over the past couple of weeks Jim had been preparing to take time off from work for his parents’ visit, so he’d been working really long hours. They’d talked each day but hadn’t spent much time together. Elle was looking forward to rectifying that situation tonight.

  “Yeah. I’m about to leave now. I need to stop by the grocery store and pick up a couple of things, then I’ll head over to his place.”

  They had exchanged keys about a week ago, so she’d start on the meal. Hopefully it would be ready about the time he came home. She’d felt a little weird about just letting herself in, but he’d told her to head on over and relax.

  Sara raised her eyebrows and asked, “You’ve got a key?”

  Nodding, Elle said, “Yeah. I feel like he doesn’t like to spend time at my place because it’s so cramped. I really need to have a huge garage sale before the baby is born. Otherwise I won’t have space for a crib.”

  “Well, that’s as good of an excuse as any that you could come up with to stop Irene from buying swap meet junk for you,” Sara said.

  “If only I could come up with a reason for her to not buy shit for my yard.”

  Laughing Sara said, “I’m out of here. You need to get out, too. This is the last night you have with your man before his parents show up. Right?”

  “Yep,” Elle said, grinning. “He’s been working long hours too, so I haven’t seen very much of him lately. He’s probably about to get jumped the second he walks in the door. I planned lasagna because it tastes better the longer it sits.”

  Elle’s hormones had been going crazy. Her boobs were starting to get bigger and even more sensitive. She’d been hornier than she’d ever been in her entire life, too. Jim had been too busy the last couple of weeks to enjoy either of those developments.

  Sara grinned and asked, “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. The other night when you guys stopped by, some of the looks he was giving you were downright obscene! I almost had to cover my virgin eyes.”

  Snorting, Elle said, “Virgin?”

  Sara shot her a dirty look that dissolved into a grin immediately. Prior to her relationship with Deacon, Sara had a strict three-month limit, no-strings sex rule.

  Her face more serious now, Sara asked, “So have you told him you love him yet?”

  “Almost,” Elle said. “I was going to the other night and I chickened out.”

  “The man’s heart is in his eyes every single time he looks at you. He’ll not only say it back, but he’ll actually mean it too,” Sara said.

  “I hope so,” Elle said. “Maybe tonight. I don’t want to just blurt it out, though.”

  “Wuss.”

  “Totally,” Elle agreed with a smirk. “On that demoralizing note, I’m going to head out. Thanks.”

  “Enjoy your evening,” Sara said, laughing as she walked out of Elle’s office.

  Logging off her computer, Elle gathered her things and left for the day. On the way to the grocery store, she thought a little bit about what Sara had said. Maybe she should just say it. It’s not like they had done anything in a normal fashion so far. Why start now?

  Forty minutes later, Elle let herself into Jim’s house armed with lasagna fixings and her overnight bag. She set the groceries on the counter and took her bag upstairs to Jim’s room. She changed into a significantly lower cut top than the one that she’d worn to work and fiddled with her hair.

  Satisfied with the results, she moved downstairs and started to prep for the meal. What she’d learned about the food side of the catering business definitely influenced how she cooked at home. She gathered up her ingredients and portioned them out. Next, she chopped the onions, minced the garlic, and sliced the mushrooms. Opening the cans of crushed tomatoes, she set them aside.

  Poking through cabinets, she located a large sauté pan and a sauce pan. Setting them both on the stove, she turned the heat up to medium high. She put some olive oil in each one and waited for them to heat up.

  Splitting the onions, garlic, and mushrooms evenly between the two pans, she started to gently brown them. She dumped the tomatoes in the sauce pan and broke apart the small packages of veal and pork that she had purchase. After she had added that to the sauté pan, she seasoned both pans liberally with salt and black pepper. She added some red pepper flakes to the sauce pan and finally dumped in the tomatoes.

  Sighing woefully, Elle decided to forgo the usual slug of red wine in the sauce. She knew most of the alcohol cooked off but she didn’t want to take any chances. She had been reading pregnancy books for the last couple of weeks. She was off caffeine, most types of fish, booze of any kind, and a slew of other things.

  Elle let her mind wander as she finished putting the lasagna together. Just as she had covered it with foil and put it into the oven, she heard the beep of Jim’s alarm signaling his arrival. He was early, she thought with a grin.

  Walking over to the sink, she rinsed her hands and quickly dried them. As she set the towel down, he said, “There you are. Hey, beautiful.”

  Jim immediately wrapped his arms around her and said, “It’s been way too long. I’ve missed you.”

  She hugged him tightly and said, “No kidding. You’ve been insanely busy this last week or two.”

  Still holding her, he said, “Yeah. Taking two weeks off on short notice has been really rough. I don’t know what I’m going to do when the baby is born.”

  “We’ve still got some time to worry about that,” Elle said. “Glad to be off work?”

  “Not really,” Jim said. “I’m not thrilled about my parents visiting. The fact you’re here is definitely a plus, though.”

  He leaned down and gave her a light kiss on the lips. Needing far more than that, Elle wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged his head back down. He must have seen the desire in her eyes because he immediately groaned and crushed his mouth down on hers.

  Elle parted her lips and gave a sigh of pleasure when his tongue swept into her mouth. She pressed herself shamelessly against him now, trying to express how desperately she wanted him. Message received, she thought, as his hands tightened on her hips.

  He pressed his erection into the softness of her belly. Gentling the kiss and pulling back from her mouth, Jim asked, “How much time does whatever that is have?” He followed it up with a gesture to the oven.

  “It’s got about an hour. Lasagna,” Elle said, answering the unspoken question.

  “Oh, awesome. Thank you for making dinner, by the way,” Jim said as he tugged her gently toward the stairs.

  Elle gave him her best impression of an innocent look and asked, “Where are we going?”

  He gave
her a wide grin and said, “You know exactly where we’re going. Dinner will hold, right?”

  “It needs to come out of the oven in roughly fifty minutes but it can sit afterward.”

  “Come with me,” he said, once again tugging her gently toward the staircase.

  “Okay,” Elle said, grinning.

  As they made their way up the stairs, he conversationally said, “I’ve been thinking about burying my cock inside you all day.”

  “Just today? I’ve been going slowly insane all week,” Elle said, pouting.

  “Since you left on Sunday night, to be honest,” he said. As they walked through the bedroom door, he asked, “Did you touch yourself at all?”

  “Several times. It took the edge off, but what I really wanted was you there, filling me up.”

  She heard his slight intake of breath. A moment later he asked, “Would you show me?”

  “Only if I can have that afterward,” she said, gesturing toward the front of his slacks where his erection strained against his zipper.

  “I’m definitely gonna give it to you,” Jim said, smirking.

  Grinning, Elle said, “That seems fair then.”

  Reaching down to her waist, she pulled the top over her head and tossed it haphazardly on the floor. She watched as he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the cuffs of his dress shirt. Putting her arms behind her, she undid the clasp of her bra and slid it slowly down her arms.

  Jim immediately focused in on her breasts as soon as she’d bared them. Cupping them in her hands, she played with her tight nipples while he slowly worked at the buttons of his shirt. She pinched them between her fingers, moaning as she felt another flood of arousal between her thighs.

  “Fuck, Elle.”

  Releasing her breasts, she slid her hands down to her waistband and unbuttoned her jeans. After sliding them down her legs and kicking them away from her, she dipped her hand into the front of her panties. Slipping one finger in between her wet folds, she groaned at the intimate contact.

  “Take off your panties and lay back on the bed. I want to watch you play with your pussy,” Jim said roughly.

  Elle complied, sliding her panties down her thighs and stepping out of them. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she propped one leg up, leaving her completely exposed to his gaze.