His Pretend Baby Read online

  “Damn, Josie, so tight, so good,” he said.

  She arched her back to press more of her pussy into the front of him. And she moaned when he moved his hands under her arms and began physically lifting her up and slamming her back down on his penis as if she weighed nothing.

  “This is just the beginning,” he growled. “The things I’m going to do to you tonight, Josie.”

  Unbearable pleasure rippled inside of her vagina, signaling a much larger tidal wave on the horizon. “Oh, God, oh, God,” she said. “Mr. Prescott…”

  But then he suddenly stopped again and his hands slid down to still her bucking hips. “Call me Beau,” he said.

  “What?” she panted.

  “From now on I want you to call me Beau. Not Mr. Prescott, not Beau Prescott. I want you to call me Beau.”

  “But you said—”

  “I don’t care what I said before. Call me Beau.” Technically, he was issuing her yet another command, but there was a plaintive note in his voice. Like he was begging her to call him by his given name.

  As if to confirm her assessment, he began moving her on top of him again, his pumping action wild and frenzied. “Call me, Beau, darlin’,” he said, his voice sandpapered with raw desired. “Call me Beau.”

  “Beau,” she cried out as a volcano of pleasure began to erupt inside of her. “Beau!”

  She wrapped her arms tight around his neck and keened, “Oh, God, Beau!”

  The orgasm ripped through, hot and pulsing like electric magma, turning her body into a pool of quivering jelly.

  But Beau wouldn’t stop his assault on her senses. He kept bringing her hips down on his with relentless force until he came, too, with a gruff bark of triumph.

  “Josie,” he said, with a happy sigh. “Josie.”

  They held each other. Josie straddled across his lap, Beau’s arms wrapped around her like a cocoon, just the two of them, in pure bliss, their baggage dropped, their individual problems on hold. The world stopped spinning and put itself on pause, just for them. And for a moment everything was perfect and pure.

  “Josie,” he said, sounding happier than she’d ever heard him. “Josie, I—”

  The sound of the doorbell popped their perfect little bubble.

  And Beau’s face fell. “Don’t answer it,” he said, drawing her closer and kissing her neck.

  “I have to answer it,” she said. “It’s probably Sam. She’s forever leaving her purse behind.”

  She scrambled off his lap and pulled on her jeans, hoping to God she didn’t smell too obviously of the mind-blowing sex she’d just had.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said as she left the room.

  “What happened to ‘Whatever you say, Mr. Prescott’?” he called after her.

  “I thought you wanted me to call you Beau now!” she called back, letting the kitchen door swing shut behind her.

  She was still giggling when she opened the door…

  …and found Colin Fairgood, standing on the doorstep.

  18

  Colin Fairgood was still tall, but he was no longer skinny. Long, lean muscle had thickened out his entire body and even his face, which used to be somewhat gaunt, was now more sculpted and defined. It all made for one very arresting picture, especially when you threw in the blue eyes glittering with determination under his white Stetson.

  But still she said, “Colin?” just to make sure this perfect specimen was the same guy she used to walk to the comic book store with every Wednesday.

  But then he said, “Holy shit, Jo-Jo, it really is you!” before letting loose that same big, old Colin grin and pulling her into his now very strong arms. “I had nearly given up on trying to find you. I can’t believe you were here all this time!”

  She pulled away from him. “You were trying to find me?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I Googled your name last month and found a news story about what that fucker you call an ex-husband tried to do to you. I flew straight out to Atlanta to find you, but by that time it was too late. You’d already moved and nobody could tell me where you went.”

  “Are you serious?” She really couldn’t imagine a blond country star at Colin’s level wandering around her old suburb, asking her mostly black neighbors if they knew where she’d gone.

  “Dead serious,” he answered. “And you wouldn’t have believed my face when I called my mama up this morning and she mentioned Mindy had seen you in the grocery store, and that you were working for Beau Prescott now. I didn’t think it could be true.”

  She cringed inwardly. If he was this incredulous about her being Beau’s maid, how would he react if he found out what else she was getting paid to do for Beau? “Well, I’m really happy to see you,” she said. “I can’t believe you came all this way.”

  His eyes ran over her. “Are you okay?” he asked, cupping his hands around her shoulders.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “And I’m sorry I got you worried.”

  “Don’t apologize to me,” he said angrily. “I’m so mad at myself for letting you fall out of touch like that. And over a stupid wedding invitation. Played right into that fucker’s hands. And now you’re working for Beau, which means you must be really hard up for money.”

  “It’s really not that bad,” she started.

  But he shook his head. “Don’t try to sugar coat it for me, Jo-Jo. I know you’d rather crawl over broken glass than work for Beau Prescott. Why didn’t you call me? If it was money you needed, I would have bailed you out.”

  She opened her mouth to answer, but he smacked himself on the forehead. “What am I saying? Of course you couldn’t call me. You didn’t have my number.” He took her by the hand. “But that’s okay, I’m here now, and I’ve got my limo outside. Let’s go.”

  He started to lead her out the door, but she dug her heels into the ground. “Colin, I can’t just leave.”

  “Why not?”

  She shook her head at him. “Because I work here.”

  “Tell Beau to find another housekeeper.”

  “I can’t just—” She stopped and lowered her voice. “I’m not supposed to be telling anybody this, because I signed a confidentiality agreement, but Beau’s blind and he’s not taking his rehabilitation seriously. So he doesn’t just need me to cook and clean, he need needs me.”

  Colin squinted at her as if she had gone crazy. “This is Beau we’re talking about, right? Beau Prescott? Made both of our lives miserable in high school? The one you swore you’d never talk to again after he announced in front of the whole school that he’d tricked you into getting with him—”

  She held up her hand to stop the barrage of unkind Beau Prescott statistics. “I know, Col, but he’s still a human being, a blind human being now.”

  Colin scanned the foyer, his eyes suspicious. “So he has you at his beck and call every day. Doesn’t even give you any time off?”

  “I get time off,” she said, wondering how she had suddenly been put in the weird position of defending Beau Prescott against her oldest friend.

  “When?” he asked, obviously not believing her.

  “I get Friday and Saturday nights off,” she said, realizing only now how stingy that must sound to someone who didn’t know about the real deal she and Beau had struck.

  Colin’s mouth twisted into a sardonic frown. “You’re right, Jo-Jo. The man’s a real saint. He gives you two whole nights off a week.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small business card, handing it to her. “How about meeting me after you get off tonight then. I’m staying at the Birmingham Grand. We could grab a drink and a bite to eat at their bar.”

  She glanced down at the heavily embossed card from Birmingham’s most expensive hotel. “The Grand, really? Wow.” She grinned up at him. “You and your fiddle have come a long way.”

  He grinned back. “Whoever thought I’d get this far, right?”

  Now her smile turned softer. “I did. I always knew you had it in you to do amazing th
ings.”

  But what was meant as a hearty congratulations on her part became something much more dramatic when he took her hand and clasped it like a prayer in between his. “Then let me help you,” he said. “I know you’ve had a tough time of it since we last saw each other, but you’re better than working for Beau Prescott.”

  “Josie,” Beau suddenly yelled out from the kitchen. “What’s taking you so long?”

  Colin looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen door. “That him?” he asked. Then before she could answer. “I think I’m going to go reintroduce myself.”

  But she shook her head frantically and stopped him from coming inside the house with two hands on his chest. “No, Colin. Not like this. I’m so happy to see you again, but I have to get back to work, so I need you to go now. Please.”

  He shook his head. “But this conversation ain’t over.”

  She was now full on straining to keep Colin from moving forward. Man, he was a lot stronger than the skinny kid she’d grown up with. “I’ll meet you later on, I promise. But now isn’t the time or the place.”

  Colin immediately stepped back as if he’d merely been waiting for her to promise to come see him. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight. But if I don’t hear from you by eight, don’t think I’m not coming back here. I worked too hard to find you.” He took her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers. “And we have a lot to talk about.”

  “Josie!” Beau called again, before she could answer.

  She took her hand back from Colin. “See you tonight,” she said, before closing the door in his face.

  She would never say she was glad Beau was blind, but she was happy she didn’t have to try to hide how nonplussed she was by Colin’s sudden reappearance, because she didn’t think she would have been able to if she tried.

  It had transitioned from dusk to night while she’d been going back and forth with Colin at the door, but Beau was now standing by the kitchen table, his ever-present sunglasses covering his eyes.

  “What took you so long?” he asked.

  And she stood there, trying to decide how much to tell him.

  19

  She shouldn’t have told him anything, she thought to herself less than an hour later. She had tried to play off Colin’s coming by the house as a fun coincidence, keeping her voice light when she told him he was in town and decided to look her up.

  But Beau had crooked his head to the side and asked, “Is he in town for a concert?”

  “I’m not sure,” she answered, though she suspected he wasn’t. “I would think that would be the most likely case.”

  “Yeah, you were always a little naïve where Fairgood was concerned,” he said.

  “The main point is he asked me to catch up over dinner later on. He’s staying at the Birmingham Grand.”

  Beau went still. “He asked you to meet him at his hotel?”

  “Not in his room or anything. In the bar. We’re just grabbing something to eat.”

  Beau gave her a humorless smile. “That sounds fine to me.”

  “Really?” she said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. It wasn’t like Beau to acquiesce this easily.

  “Sure,” he answered. “I’m looking forward to catching up with Fairgood. In fact, we can go now if you want to. Just give me a few minutes to get changed.”

  Josie’s face fell, but she hadn’t been able to come up with a response that would get her out of the house and keep him from coming with her. And that was how she ended up at a table for three in the Birmingham Grand’s main bar and restaurant with Beau, waiting for one of the biggest country stars in America to meet them.

  To Colin’s credit, he played it cool when he’d come downstairs to find Beau playing third wheel. He only paused for a second before dropping into the half-circle booth beside her.

  “Hey, Josie,” he said. “See you decided to bring a guest along with you.” His eyes then landed on Beau. “Sorry to hear about your accident, man. Saw the replay on SportsCenter. That take down was brutal. And losing your sight on top of that. I don't even know how you're managing right now."

  Something ticked in Beau's jaw but he kept his voice calm and casual when he responded, "I'm managing just fine, thanks."

  Colin lazily signaled a waiter for three beers. "ESPN must have called it wrong then,” he said. “They had a doctor on there saying your career was over and your eyesight wasn't ever coming back."

  Another dangerous pause before Beau said, "Wouldn't be the first time they got something wrong."

  And Josie threw Colin a look that clearly conveyed, Stop it. Stop it now!

  But Colin either didn't see her censorious look or was determined to get into it with Beau, because he said. "I mean, yeah they've gotten a few things wrong. Like when they called the Suns to go beyond the playoffs last year, but I ain't never seen them say a player's career was finished when it wasn't."

  Before Beau could answer, Josie jumped in. "Well, Mr. Prescott's doing better than expected under the circumstances. Can we change the subject now?"

  But Colin lifted his eyebrows at her. "Mr. Prescott, is it?"

  Beau frowned in her direction. "I told you to call me by my first name," he said to Josie.

  Colin leaned forward then, with more viciousness than she remembered his eyes containing. "Thing is, she shouldn't be calling you anything. I don't know how you convinced her to come back to Alabama and play nursemaid for you, but I can clearly see you're taking advantage of her."

  "He's not," Josie said. "I came back to Alabama on my own to live in my grandma’s old trailer because I didn't have anywhere else to stay. And I got lucky, because I needed a job and Beau's mama needed somebody to help Beau out."

  Colin's eyes stayed on Beau. "So you got your mama to do your dirty work?"

  "No," Josie said. "He had no idea she hired me. In fact he was mad when he found out she did."

  "Really, Jo-Jo? Because Beau don't seem all that broken up about it,” Colin said.

  "That's because Jo-Jo and I came to a mutually satisfactory understanding."

  "A mutually satisfactory understanding," Colin repeated, his eyes narrowing.

  "Yep." Beau drew the word out, letting all sorts of innuendo creep into it.

  Colin cut his eyes at Josie. "What kind of understanding?"

  "As much as I love talking about my job during my non-working hours, I'd really like to change the subject now," she said.

  "Alright,” Beau said. “Let’s talk about Fairgood. What made you come down from Nashville? I assume you’re in town for one of your little concerts.”

  Her eyes flew to Colin to see if he was offended. But he stayed cool and collected, at least on the outside.

  “Nah, this visit is all about pleasure, Prescott. But next month I’ve got one of my sold-out concerts scheduled at Suns Stadium in Los Angeles. Hey, ain’t that where you used to play?”

  Josie’s mouth fell open and she was about to chastise Colin for going there, but Beau just smirked and said, “Someone big is letting you open up for them? Good for you, Fairgood.” Then before Colin could correct him, he slid out of the booth and stood up. “Josie, I need to take care of some business in the men’s room. Do you mind taking me?”

  Josie was so stunned he actually asked her for help that it took her a second to respond. “Oh, of course. No problem,” she said.

  She took his arm and led him just around the corner to the bar’s single-person bathroom. “Do you want me to go in with you?” she asked. “Show you where the toilet is?”

  Beau palmed the wall carefully, as if to make to sure there was one there. “No, we can stay out here.”

  “What do mean ‘we’?”

  Her back hit the wall and the next thing she knew, Beau was kissing her with a ferocity that both excited and scared her.

  “Beau, we can’t,” she said, looking sideways. They were mostly hidden behind the brick wall separating the bathrooms from the main dining and bar area. But if anyone walked
around the corner… “Not here.”

  She tried to wriggle away, but he caught her hands and pinned them to the wall on either side of her. “The deal was any time, any place I wanted you,” he reminded her, his voice husky in her ear. “And I want you. Right now. Right here.”

  She was about to remind him it was her night off, when he pressed his pelvis into the triangle between her legs. It felt so good, she almost forgot where she was for a minute, especially when he let go of one of her hands and slipped two of his fingers into the waist band of her leggings and massaged her clit.

  “Beau…” she half-protested, half-moaned.

  “Ssshh, darlin’,” he said. “I’m going to make you come so hard. Just let it happen.”

  He moved his fingers further down and suddenly they were invading her tunnel and filling her in a way that was both delicious and terrifying because of where they were.

  She tried to do the right thing. “Beau we can’t. We shouldn’t,” she said.

  But this only made him press his large body into hers, effectively pinning her against the wall. “Just let it happen,” he said again.

  He pressed the ball of his hand into her womanhood and her clit vibrated with pleasure, causing her formerly protesting body to go limp. She let her head fall against his shoulder, helpless against his sensual attack.

  “Beau,” she moaned, a little too loudly.

  “Yes, that’s it, darlin’.” He let go of her hands and bent down to kiss her. “Let that bastard know you belong to me,” he said between kisses.

  It took a few moments for his words to sink through her sensual fog, but when they did, she went stiff. “Wait, this is about Colin?”

  Instead of answering, he leaned forward and tried to capture her mouth again, but she twisted her face away. “Stop,” she said, tugging on the hand inside her pants. “Just stop!”

  * * *

  Beau had fucked up. He knew that without a doubt as soon as she asked if this was about Fairgood.