Wanted: Father for Her Baby: Keeping Baby Secret / Five Brothers and a Baby / Expecting Brand's Baby

“Thank you for going to Memphis to be there when…I’m sorry I was so rough on you yesterday. I couldn’t see beyond my own hurt to—”

“It’s okay, Slim. Honest. I didn’t mind being your whipping boy, if it helped you. God knows I’m not able to do much else to help.”

“That’s not true. Your being here helps.”

He didn’t respond for several minutes.

“Frank?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Just wishing I was already in Maysville with you. I’d really like to hold you in my arms right now.”

“Me, too. I sure could use a hug.”

“Give me about forty-five minutes and I’ll hug the life out of you.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Damn right it is.”

Kate had made herself scarce after telling Leenie she thought she’d go into town for dinner and a movie. “I need a break, if you think you’ll be okay here alone until Frank gets back.” She hadn’t fooled Leenie for a minute. Kate had left so that Leenie and Frank could be alone. But now that she heard Frank’s car pulling up in the driveway, Leenie wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone with him. She was so needy right now, so desperate to be held and comforted. What if Frank’s actions were rooted in his desire to take care of her? She didn’t want him being kind to her. She wanted him to love her.

Bracing her shoulders and willing herself to be calm, she opened the front door and waited for him. The moment she saw him, her stomach did a wicked flip-flop and sexual awareness zinged along her nerve endings. Their gazes met and held for an instant and then Frank was there, grabbing her and pulling her into his arms as he walked her backward into the house. Using his foot, he slammed the door shut. He clutched the back of Leenie’s head, his big fingers spearing into her hair. She gasped half a second before his mouth came down on hers.

He ate at her mouth, his hunger desperately obvious. She wrapped her arms around him and returned his kiss with equal fury. Rational thought ceased to exist. For her. And she suspected for him, too. They wanted each other. Needed each other.

Help me make the world go away was her last coherent thought before she tore at the buttons on Frank’s shirt. He released her only long enough to shrug off his jacket, then he shoved her backward and onto the sofa. She all but ripped off his shirt and buttons flew everywhere. They shared kiss after passionate kiss as he yanked her sweater over her head and hurriedly removed her bra. She gazed up at him when he came down over her. He blocked out the rest of the world. Life itself began and ended with Frank Latimer and with this moment out of time.

When his mouth took hold of her breast to suckle and tease, Leenie bucked up against him. His hands dipped under her to lift her hips so that she felt his pulsating erection pressing into her mound. She slid her hand between them and cupped his sex.

“I wanted to make slow sweet love to you,” he told her in a hungry, whispered rush of words. “But I don’t know if I can wait.”

“I don’t want slow and sweet.” She rubbed herself provocatively against him, naked breasts to hairy naked chest. “I need it fast and dirty.”

Her slacks landed on the floor, followed quickly by his. Her panties flew through the air and perched on a nearby lampshade. His briefs sailed off and onto the coffee table, atop a copy of Psychiatry Today.

His tongue lunged into her mouth just as he hoisted her hips upward to meet his hard, conquering thrust. He hammered into her. She went wild. Blind to everything except Frank. Deaf to everything except the beating of their hearts. Speechless, their only sounds those of grunts and groans and moans of powerful pleasure.

As they went at each other, hot, hungry passion ruling their actions, they toppled off the sofa and onto the floor. Frank rolled her over and placed her on top of him. She rode him at a frenetic pace until she came. Her climax hit her like a tidal wave. Fierce and overwhelming, wiping her out completely. Just as she cried with release, he took the dominant position and with one final stab sent himself over the edge. Growling ferociously, he jetted inside her, not giving a damn that he’d forgotten all about using a condom.

While ripples of the sexual aftermath glided through their bodies, Frank and Leenie lay in the living room floor and held each other. Naked, sated, tension drained from their bodies, he touched her tenderly as she caressed him. Those unbearably sweet moments after the loving prolonged their escape from harsh reality.

Leenie cuddled close. Frank cocooned her in his big, strong arms. She felt safe and protected. And loved.

Please, God, even if he doesn’t love me, let me hold on to that hope for a little while, just as I’m clinging to the precious hope that You will keep Andrew safe.

Frank kissed her temple. “Should we talk?”

“No. Not now. Later.”

He stood, then held out his hand to her. She rose to her feet and together they gathered up their scattered clothing and walked arm-in-arm into Leenie’s bedroom.

“How long did Kate say she’d be gone?” Frank asked.

“Long enough for an early dinner and a movie.”

He tossed his clothes on a nearby chair. She did the same.

Frank led her to the bed. She went with him willingly.

She needed Frank as she’d never needed him before, as she’d never needed another human being. Only he could share her every thought, her every feeling. He offered her solace and sweet moments of forgetfulness. Apart, their fears and worries were more than either could bear. But together, holding on to each other for dear life, they could manage to survive a few more hours…a few more days.

Chapter Seven

Leenie awakened early the next morning and for a few seconds remembered nothing except the pleasure she had experienced with Frank. He hadn’t stayed the night in her bed. After they’d made love for a second time, they had showered together, fixed sandwiches together and talked about Andrew. Being able to share this horrific experience with Andrew’s father somehow comforted her in a way she had never dreamed it could. Although there had been no promises exchanged, no words of love spoken between them, Leenie truly believed that Frank cared about her. And about Andrew. Perhaps Kate had been right. Was it possible that Frank loved her and just didn’t know it?

After slipping into her thick velour robe, Leenie ventured into the hallway. Silence permeated the house at this early hour. Perhaps Kate and Frank were both still asleep, after all it was only half past five and still dark outside. Wintertime dark. As she made her way into the kitchen, a chill racked her body. Was it a sense of foreboding or simply the chilliness of the house? She’d turn up the thermostat after she set the coffeemaker.

If only Frank had stayed in bed with her all night. Even without sex, it would have been such a comfort to have him within arm’s reach, to have been able to reach out and feel his strong presence beside her. How many times had she longed for him during her pregnancy?

Expecting the kitchen to be empty, Leenie gasped when she opened the door and found Frank sitting at the table reading the morning newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee.

“Morning.” He glanced up at her and smiled.

She returned his smile, even if it was somewhat tentative and uncertain. “Good morning.” She had no idea what last night had meant to him. Had it been nothing more than sex? Just a way to relieve the unbearable tension?

“Sleep well?” he asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact I did.” She looked away from him and toward the coffeemaker on the counter. “Coffee. Wonderful. I could use a shot of caffeine.”

When Frank didn’t respond, she walked past him, lifted a mug from the mug rack and poured a cup of black coffee. “Is Kate still asleep?” she asked, her back to Frank.

“As far as I know. She’s still in her room.” Frank set his coffee mug on the table.

“She stayed out pretty late last night, didn’t she? She probably didn’t get to sleep until well past eleven.”

“Closer to midnight,” Frank said. “She and I stayed up for a while and talked about things.”

“About Andrew?”

“About the feds’ case involving the infant abduction ring. Kate is more than just a little interested in it, maybe even a little obsessed. I’ve never seen her quite so involved in a Dundee assignment. She’s taking your situation personally, almost as if—”

“As if she understands what it’s like to have a child kidnapped?”

Frank closed the newspaper, folded it in half and laid it aside, then looked at Leenie as she pulled out a chair and sat across from him. “Kate is a complex lady. She’s warm and friendly, but she never allows anyone to get too close.” Frank chuckled. “I can’t fault her on that, can I?”

“Maybe her relating to my predicament is nothing more than her having an empathic heart. She seems like a very kind person. I liked her when we first met last winter.” Leenie took a sip of coffee, then placed her mug on the table. “Tell me, Frank, why is it that you won’t allow anyone to get too close to you? I know your marriage ended in divorce, but—”

“I made a fool of myself over Rita.”