The Baby Contract

CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN

Bran

I’d heard Anne return home and wanted to rush to her, but instead, I let her go to her room on her own. I followed her up the stairs, watching in the shadows as she took in the flowers and the clothes.

She opened the envelope with the check. At first, she appeared shocked, but then it was like a sadness came over her.

She sank to the bed.

Oh fuck. Did I do something wrong?

Unable to hold back any longer, I stepped into the doorway, leaning against the door jamb. “What do you think?”

She stared at me. So much emotion crossed her face, but I couldn’t decipher what it meant.

“Anne?” I quirked a brow and stepped into her room, worried that I’d just fucked everything up or had done something to hurt her. “Are you alright?”

“What is all this?” she managed to ask, sounding emotionally overwrought. Was it from the pregnancy? Had something happened at lunch? Or was it me?

“You don’t like it?”

“I agreed to this deal for a year, at which time I’d get paid. We’re only a few months in.”

I nodded toward the bed seeking permission to join her.

She nodded back, and I sat down next to her. Not too close because I couldn’t read her mood, but still close enough that I could inhale her sweet scent, sweeter than even the flowers filling the room.

“I felt you deserved all this.”

I wanted to tell her how much more she’d given me than I’d asked for, but the fear that she didn’t feel the same about me lingered. This was an arrangement for her. My cowardice had me saying, “You’ve more than lived up to your side of the deal.”

She flinched. “And the check?”

“I wanted you to know that I trusted you.”

She turned to me, and I noticed tears in her eyes. Jesus fuck, was it me making her cry?

“You’ve been a perfect surrogate,” I said worried I’d overstepped my bounds.

She turned away and for the first time in my life I wished I was a mind reader so I could know what she was thinking and feeling.

“Thank you for doing this for me,” she said softly.

I tentatively reached out and pressed my hand over her belly where my child…our child grew.

“Do you really think this child is all you’re going to want in life?” she asked.

I looked into her eyes trying to understand what she meant. Finally, I said, “No. But right now, it’s all I’ve got. All any of us have is right here, right now.”

Why was I such a coward? Why couldn’t I tell her what was really going on in my heart? I wanted here and now and tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that until forever.

I gently caressed her back. “Right here and right now it’s just us, Anne.”

I studied her, hoping she’d take what I was offering at this moment. She leaned in, her lips pressing against mine. My heart soared. I tugged her closer as I slanted my mouth and took the kiss deeper. I moaned. She moaned. While we got along better now, sometimes when we spoke, we were at odds. But during sex, our bodies communicated perfectly. It was like magic.

She must have known it too, as she didn’t say anything as I lay her back on the bed and undressed her. Her hands roamed over my body, helping me undress and then touching as much of me as she could reach. Her touch was like a balm on my soul.

“There’s a lot I have to give,” I murmured against her throat as my confidence grew.