Carnal Christmas-epub (4 page)

When Hake had sunk fully into her, he rested his forehead on hers, his ribs heaving with the force of his breaths. “This has been a long time coming, hasn’t it, Ariel Jane?”

At her little nod, he pressed kisses to her cheeks, and then her eyes and the side of her nose, and then finally her lips. As he explored her mouth, he slid his hands under her shoulders and began to fuck her with easy rolls of his hips that made his loosened jeans ride lower on his ass.

They both moaned again, and another flush of arousal washed over Brent’s skin, making him press a hand to his aching cock in sympathy with Hake. He remembered exactly how exciting it had been to slide into that strong, beautiful body for the first time and he almost envied Hake this moment of discovery.

“So beautiful,” Hake groaned, nuzzling Ariel’s cheek and getting nuzzled in return.

The affectionate exchange stirred up conflicting feelings in Brent. Suddenly Hake’s claiming of his reciprocal fucking rights seemed rife with significance, and his handling of Ariel every bit as possessive as Joe’s. How that could unnerve and reassure him at the same time was a mystery.

Wondering how Mandy was handling it, he glanced over to find her curled up into the chair with her folded knees resting against one overstuffed arm, her coat still in her arms. Not surprisingly, she looked completely relaxed as she watched the couple on the bed with an expression he’d almost call
beatific
.

Not a word he’d used many times in his life. That Mona Lisa smile curving her lips strengthened his sense that something momentous was happening. He’d thought she was up to something when he saw her in their truck, but he’d assumed it was the gang-bang scenario. When would he learn not to assume anything, especially with these two?

Testing the waters, he did a little finger-crooking of his own and waggled his brows at her. Mandy just shook her head and smiled. “I’m watching this time.”

“You can indulge your voyeurism kink from right here.”

She shook her head again. “It’s not the same.”

Giving up for the moment, Brent returned most of his attention to the show on the bed, getting increasingly turned on as Hake’s fucking grew progressively more intense. Ariel stared up at him, her face growing flushed, her breathing labored, and Hake scooted his elbows forward to cup her skull in his hands and feast on her open mouth. Then he broke away with a gasp and started pounding her in a driving rhythm that had her wailing and scratching at Brent’s arm in seconds. As she came unglued under him, Hake got considerably more vocal himself, moaning with every panting breath and riding her so wildly his jeans crept halfway down his straining thighs.

Brent had never been into his cousin but he had to admit it was goddam hot to see him cut loose this way with Ariel.

“Jesus,” he whispered, so turned on he could hardly breathe. He flicked another glance Mandy’s way, and then Joe’s. One of them had better be ready to fuck the minute Hake finished with Ariel or he was going to die of frustration.

The minute arrived a heartbeat later when Hake growled and then threw back his head with a shout, his eyes screwed shut in tortured pleasure as he jerked repeatedly against Ariel.

“That’s it,” Joe muttered, his face darkly flushed and hungry. Letting go of Ariel’s limp wrist, he sprang off the bed and was on Mandy in a flash, kicking the ottoman aside, scooping her up and plopping her onto edge of the mattress beside Ariel’s outstretched arms.

Mandy didn’t try to resist, nor did she do anything to help. She simply watched him with veiled eyes as he snatched the coat from her arms and tossed it on the floor, then grasped the hem of her long red sweater and pulled it off over her head, creating a staticky halo of her straight blond hair. After he’d relieved her of her bra with practiced fingers, he urged her down onto her back and crouched to pull off her ankle boots and socks.

“I hope you’re ready, Mandy-girl,” he said roughly, still crouching as he reached up to pull down her stretchy black pants, “’cause I can’t…wait to…”

Brent, whose attention had been caught by Mandy’s breasts—were they always that plump and veiny?—tore his eyes away to look at Joe, whose movements had slowed along with his words. He was frozen in place, his fists still clutching the elastic around her thighs as he stared at her.

Following the line of his gaze, Brent looked at Mandy’s flat belly…where a small bump now protruded. He blinked once and looked again, thinking he was seeing things, but the bump was still there. Either she was working on a spare tire or… “Holy fuck.”

“What?” Ariel roused from her stupor and craned her head to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

Mandy rose up onto her elbows and looked at each of them. Then her Mona Lisa smile reappeared. “Merry Christmas—we’re pregnant. And Hake is definitely not the father.”

Holy fuck
didn’t even begin to cover Joe’s reaction. He was struck dumb, crouching in front of a half-naked woman while the world spun off its axis and gripping her half-off pants like they were the only thing that kept him from flying into space.

“Nobody leaves this room,” Hake proclaimed. “Except you,” he added, dropping a kiss on Ariel’s open mouth. He pushed off her to stand, hiking his jeans up on the way, and then took her hand and tugged her up too. “Go on in there and clean up a little, sweetheart.”

With another kiss and a rub of her back, he nudged her toward the open door of the master bath. Still wide-eyed and blinking, she looked around as if she’d just realized she was the only one naked and disappeared into the bathroom without a word.

After the door closed behind her, Hake put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes on Mandy. “You really thought this was the right time?”

She shrugged, keeping an eye on Joe. “It was the time that presented itself. What about Ariel?”

Sighing, Hake rubbed his chin and then said, “Give her a minute and then go in there with her if she doesn’t come out. You two need to talk.”

“We do. Uh, Joe…” Mandy dropped her smiling gaze to his hands. “Want to give those a yank back up this direction and then hand me my sweater?”

Joe looked at his hands, and then at her pretty shaved pussy. And then at her bump, which had sent his hard-on into hiding for the foreseeable future. “Gladly.”

After he’d tugged her pants up, he passed her the sweater and then put the bed between them, getting as far away from her as he could without leaving the room. He stared out the window, seeing nothing but a whiteout that had gone blue-gray with the approaching evening and hearing a hundred unspoken questions he didn’t want the answers to.

Anxiety tightened his muscles, constricting his breathing and sending subtle tremors through his bones.

Hake is definitely not the father.

The statement was a like a wrecking ball inside his head, knocking down everything he’d finally begun to believe as it swung back and forth, reshaping the landscape of his life until he no longer recognized it. Reshaping his future.

“I don’t know whether to say congratulations or I’m sorry,” Brent said somewhere behind him.

“Congratulations, most definitely,” Mandy assured him. “I’m thrilled.”

Joe looked over his shoulder in time to see Brent sweep her into a hug. “Then I’m thrilled for you, sweet cheeks,” he told her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

“How in the hell can you be thrilled?” Joe demanded.

She smiled at him serenely over Brent’s shoulder. “How can I not be? A baby is a gift.”

“A
gift
?” He laughed humorlessly. “You call a year of sleepless nights and a lifetime of worry a gift?”

“Yes, I do,” she said promptly, untangling herself from Brent’s arms to face Joe. “There are people who’d give anything to have those problems if they came with a child of their own.”

He could feel the nails being driven into his coffin. “Mandy, you’re forty-five! Do you realize how old you’ll be—”

“Joe!” Brent barked.

“I’m well aware of what’s at stake here, Josiah,” she said over him, her voice shot through with steel, “and I don’t believe this gift is—”

“Mandy,” Hake cut in, a low warning in his voice. “See to Ariel. I’ll handle Joe.”

Giving Joe one last hard look, she went to the bathroom and tapped lightly on the door. “Ariel, I’m coming in,” she said as she turned the handle.

“What the fuck, Joe?” Brent said quietly after she’d gone in.

Hake gestured at the bedroom door. “Let’s take this somewhere else.”

Leading the way down the hall with an aggressive stride, Joe tossed over his shoulder, “What the fuck,
me
? What about you, Brent? You can’t tell me you’re happy about this. You either,” he added with a fierce look at Hake as he ushered him into the living room.

“I don’t know how I feel about it yet,” Brent replied, his voice even, his eyes flashing fire, “but I know
you’re
scared out of your fucking mind. I also know it doesn’t give you a free pass to act like an ass to Mandy.”

“Why am I the only one who’s willing to ask the hard questions?” Joe demanded. “Why is she still carrying this baby? It can’t be good for her at her age, and the chances of it having Down syndrome are—”

“Nil,” Hake said mildly. “Just have a seat and we’ll talk about the hard questions, all right?”

Joe’s stomach contracted at the idea, but he was the one who’d brought it up so he had to tough it out. He was just about to sit in one of the recliners when Brent grabbed him by the arm and steered him toward the couch. Joe could have given him hell but he already had enough conflict to deal with and the warmth of Brent’s palm felt good, so he dropped to the couch as directed. When Brent sat close enough to feel the heat radiating off him, Joe’s skin prickled. He hadn’t realized how chilled he was.

Hake chose the easy chair by the Christmas tree, which Ariel had plugged in first thing this morning. She and Brent had put up the artificial fir last night, and decorated it with strings of multicolored lights and garland and an assortment of ornaments AJ had saved from her parents’ house. Watching had stirred up too many memories for him, so Joe had left them to it and gone out to the shed to work on her present.

“You asked about Down syndrome,” Hake said, bracing his elbows on his knees. “We’ve already checked for all the common chromosomal abnormalities, and as far as the doctors can tell, the baby is perfectly normal and healthy. So is Mandy. They don’t anticipate any problems with the pregnancy.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Joe said, meaning every word of it, “but I still don’t get it. What do you and Mandy expect to happen here? Are you looking for our blessing? A promise of child support? Because if it’s money you need, I’ll write you a check right now.”

Brent rolled his eyes. “Oh, for crying out loud.”

“No, it’s okay,” Hake said. “They’re valid questions and he has a right to the answers.”

Suddenly unable to take his overly civilized attitude any longer, Joe jumped up and started pacing the carpet on the other side of the oak coffee table. “Why aren’t you pissed? Your wife is having another man’s baby, for God’s sake!”

“Where do you want me to start?” Hake countered. “First off, there’s no point in getting pissed because it was an accident. You guys took the appropriate precautions and it happened anyway. That’s life. Some things are just meant to be, and apparently this baby is one of them.”

“And you’re sure it’s not yours?” Joe knew Hake never used a condom because his sperm count was low enough for Ryan’s conception to qualify as a miracle, but if one miracle could happen, so could another.

“The paternity test confirmed it’s not. If you guys want to know which of you is the father, you’ll have to take your own paternity tests.”

Fuck, and there was that word again—
father
. Despite all his precautions, he might very well be a father in just a few short months. Again. He might not have to be there for this one’s late-night feedings or teething or ear infections, for its tumbles down front steps or spills from bikes—or, God forbid—pickup-versus-semi accidents, but he would still be responsible for bringing another vulnerable life into this chaotic world. And he would have to live with whatever happened to it.

“The fact is,” Hake continued, “I’d love any child of Mandy’s, whether it was mine or not. It’s not like she went out and cheated on me—we were all in that room together, making love
together
, so it might as well be mine. Knowing that it’s the child of a man I love, no matter which of you it is, makes that baby very special to me.”

And the hits just kept coming.

Joe drew a breath with great difficulty, feeling as though a cavern was opening up in his chest while the walls closed in around him, squeezing him in between.

Brent cleared his throat and said, “You gotta know I feel the same way, Hake, and always have. I’d do anything for you and Mandy, and that baby, too. I don’t care whose it is.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Hake told him gravely, “because Mandy wants Ariel to have the baby.”

When Mandy knocked and then walked right in, AJ couldn’t quite bring herself to regret foregoing locks on the bathroom doors. She was sitting on the bath mat by the tub, with one of the big yellow bath sheets wrapped around her, weeping as silently as she could and wanting someone to share her misery with. Mandy was the one she would have chosen, even if she and Hake
were
at the root of that misery.

She leaned her head back against the wall and swallowed her sobs long enough to choke out, “I’m sorry!”

“Oh, Ariel.” Mandy sat down beside her and pulled AJ into her arms, kissing her wet temple. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like this.”

AJ abandoned the fight to be silent, sobbing her selfish heart out as she absorbed what Mandy’s pregnancy would mean to
her
. Dammit, she’d known better than to get her hopes up, and she’d tried her best, but the minute Hake made love to her, she’d blithely let go of her reservations. She’d
felt
loved when he touched her, like he was making her as much his and Mandy’s as she was Brent’s and Joe’s, and it had been the most amazing Christmas present she could have received—until it became the biggest letdown of all time.