Leila had the guts.
Was he forcing her into this?
No, James decided as dessert was served. For he respected Leila and cared for her and he was doing this for the sake of their child.
Still, a night with his family meant that any seeds of doubt as to what he was doing to Leila got a very thorough soaking.
He wanted out of there; he wanted back to his sham of a relationship with Leila because it felt a lot better than his parents’ home.
Even before his hastily drained coffee cup had hit the china saucer James was standing.
‘We’re going to go.’
‘Already...’
‘Leila gets tired,’ James said.
‘Don’t use me as an excuse again,’ Leila warned as they drove back to the hotel, but James ignored her and so she said it again when they were back in their suite.
‘I said, don’t use me or the baby as an excuse, just because your father is a vile...’
‘Oh, please,’ James interrupted, ‘surely there has to be at least one perk to having a pregnant fiancée, and if it means I get out of dinner with my family early, I’m going to use it.’
‘Oh, so that’s the only perk, is it?’
‘Well, it’s certainly not...’ James stopped but not in time, and Leila soon worked out what he’d been about to say.
‘So much for dating me,’ Leila said. ‘So much for taking our time.’
She huffed off to the bathroom and removed her make-up and when she came out James had undressed and was in bed.
She pulled back the sheet and climbed in and lay there bristling.
‘Sorry about that,’ James said. ‘They just bring out the bastard in me.’
‘I get it,’ Leila said, because her own family didn’t exactly bring out the princess in her.
She really did get it.
Leila thought back to the night when everything had come to a head, how she’d run to a foreign land.
To him.
He pulled her into his arms and she lay there. He kissed the top of her head and Leila couldn’t tell him that she’d never been happier in her life. That she’d never been sadder too. That she’d never felt more than she did right now.
‘Are they always so critical?’ Leila asked.
‘Always,’ James said. ‘That’s actually them on a good day.’
‘Your mother doesn’t say much,’ Leila commented.
‘When would she get a chance? I want away from them, Leila, but I keep getting dragged back in.’ James closed his eyes but not to go to sleep. They were all nagging for it to be a Chatsfield wedding, given that James had made it such a public proposal.
The most annoying part for James as he lay there was that he’d dragged himself back into it this time.
For one reason.
Make that two.
She felt his tension also and she wanted it gone. She remembered her own and how he had soothed hers away that one night. She was truly scared though to give that part of herself to him again. To call his name out, to admit to loving him, which she had come to realise she truly did. Despite herself.
He already had her heart forever.
Leila would just prefer for him not to know it.
She could never forget what he had done for her though, and Leila wanted to do something for him.
Leila remembered removing the condom and kissing him intimately, and how it had driven him right to the edge and then he’d taken her.
She could do that without giving him her love.
‘Er, Leila...’ James said as her hand moved down his stomach and then she felt him beneath her fingers.
He felt like the red velvet panties, as soft and as forbidden as they were. Yet, this was alive and it grew to her touch. She started to kiss down his chest as her head moved down his stomach and James lay there frowning. ‘Leila, you’re not asleep, are you?’
‘No,’ Leila laughed, and he felt her breath and it stirred him.
‘You’re not having a rude dream that I’m going to have to somehow explain in the morning?’ James checked, and she laughed again as she shook her head and started to kiss the softest skin.
Leila liked how he grew; she liked, too, that when she took to her knees, his hand sought to touch her but she removed it. She licked him as she had that night until he was hard and aching for more pressure. He had to have been, for when her lips went over him and she took him in, he moaned at the temporary relief her mouth gave. Temporary because the hand on her head urged her to take him deeper and then with brief apology he removed it.
Leila reached for his hand and led it back to her head, not just because she liked the guidance but it was safer there, for she wanted him to touch her too.
It had been for him, yet it was turning her on in a way she chose to deny.
Her face was as hot as her sex as his thighs tensed with the effort of not thrusting.