Claiming Them by Rosa Mink
Chapter 5
Rylee
The sight on the ultrasound machine makes my breath stall. It’s been so long since I’ve looked at one of these and they’ve definitely gotten better since I was pregnant with Tyler. The gel is still cold but it’s worth it to see this, hear the baby’s heart beating strongly.
“You’re measuring right at seventeen weeks,” Diane says giving me a smile as she finishes. “How did Tyler take the news of his surprise sibling?” she adds printing out several photos after wiping my stomach clean.
“I haven’t told him yet,” I admit sitting up, pulling my top back down. “I wanted to wait until the risk went down. Plus, he’s not really talking to me all that much right now.”
“Why’s that?” Diane asks, turning back to me with concern. She’s been my lady doctor for years now. Knows all about the hectic years I spent shuffling my kid from here to there, that I put him first, so the question isn’t that shocking.
“He’s angry that Mark and I are separated. I moved out a little over two months ago,” I add, knowing the rest of Mark’s friends are about to learn that as well. “The divorce papers are in for the judge’s signature. I couldn’t live smothered any longer. You know what Julia’s like, and Mark and I haven’t had a relationship in years.”
“I’d say that baby says differently,” Diane returned. “Unless it’s not Mark’s. We can do more genetic testing if you want with the amnio if you’re worried about anything.”
“No, it’s Mark’s biologically. He found me in the shower one night when he was worked up over his assistant and it happened. Five minutes later, he was out the door and a little over a month later as I was about to leave, I had a positive pregnancy test. He doesn’t know either.”
“Mark’s taken up with his assistant?” Diane asks and I nod. “Are you going to tell him?”
“I don’t know. I was about to but then he started talking about how everyone had talked about us when we got pregnant with Tyler, and he didn’t want people thinking that’s what happened with him and Kristen because neither of them wanted kids or more kids. I’m not letting Julia rule over me again. She hasn’t had any say in the divorce and she won’t have any say with this baby. I don’t need Mark’s support. The agreement we signed leaves me with plenty of money. Right now, all I want to think about is this baby growing, it being happy and healthy, and looking for maybe a little place of our own.”
“We’ll have the results of the amnio in about a week that will certainly give you more information on the healthy part. Until then, take care of yourself, physically and mentally. I normally wouldn’t agree about keeping the father in the dark but honestly, it sounds like it’s healthier for you so just keep up what you’re doing and let the rest come when it’s supposed to. I thought you were simply happy about the new baby, but it’s the new life you’re making that’s putting a little glow in your eyes, isn’t it?”
Diane’s question made me grin. It was definitely more than the baby making me smile lately.
In the last month, my entire world had shifted. All thanks to my hunky tattooed neighbor. I wake up in the middle of the night, his name on my lips, my body aching for him, his touch.
It embarrassed me in ways. Didn’t matter that I was alone in my bed when it happened. I shouldn’t want him the way I do. Shouldn’t want his hands on me, his beard scraping against my thighs while he licked me in ways, I haven’t been touched in over ten years.
He’s too young for me. Thirty to my thirty-five and it just doesn’t make sense why he’d want me. Then again, it doesn’t make sense why he’s spent so much time with me lately either.
There hadn’t been a day I haven’t seen him since that night I bawled into his chest. He just held me, letting me get it out. Then mopped up my face and took me home. The kiss he pressed to my forehead sent tingles all the way through me, made me ache for more.
Now, we have dinner together almost nightly. The times when we haven’t was because he was working late for a client at his tattoo shop. He’d come home late and stop at my door with a sweet dessert, ask me what I’d done and what I planned to do the next day. It was always the same answers. I walked around, browsed through some shops, and came home. I’ve had lunch with Tyler a couple times, but he’s still angry, barely spoken to me.
Luca knew when that happened somehow without me having to tell him. I’d open my door and he’d move into my place, pressing a kiss to my forehead, his hand holding the back of my head. It was so sweet that I wanted to cry each time he did it.
“Yeah, I’m in an apartment right now but I’m looking at houses to move into. I’ve been debating about getting a puppy so by the time the baby gets here it’d be older. I’ve never been allowed to have one before, but I can just see the new baby and it playing. I want a home with this one, not just a house.”
“The only thing I’ll say is don’t overdo it. Hire a trainer to help if you decide to get one but do what’s going to make you happy first and foremost,” Diane suggested, and I kept it in mind as I headed out into the sunshine.
The more I thought about it, the more getting a puppy sounded like a good idea. Maybe it would distract me from thinking about Luca so much. He consumed me and my thoughts daily.
I turned the car in the direction of the animal shelter, ready to do it. A few blocks away from it, a sign caught my attention and without thinking, I turned into the lot.
I shouldn’t be here. I should go get a dog. But what I really want is a man.
More specifically, I want the man inside that shop that makes me tingle and takes my breath away.
We could have a night of fun and it’d be fine surely. I mean, I’ve caught his eyes on my ass several times, so it’s not like I’m pulling something from thin air here. He wants me and I want him—desperately.
The door gives a little ding when I move into the shop, glancing around the waiting area in shock. There are a few people in it but that’s not what surprises me. No, it’s the inside of this place. The walls are full of incredible artwork, gorgeous photos of tattoos. It’s completely different from Luca’s bare walls at his apartment.
“Can I help you?” a guy asks moving up behind the desk.
“Is Luca in?” I question, not letting myself wimp out on this.
“Who’s asking?” he returns but I grin seeing Luca pop out of a room down a little hallway. There are several chairs and areas to our left beyond the waiting area, a little screen blocking the view, and I wonder where he was.
“Hey mama,” Luca says, making me grin but I can’t help it. He started calling me that after his sisters cornered him at the apartment and refused to leave without meeting me. His sister Olivia is a doll, and I may have overstepped, telling her to not let some guy she was complaining about treat her like shit.
That had me admitting to having Tyler. Olivia just laughed, telling me I sounded just like their mama, and since then, I’ve been mama. It makes my nipples hard though to hear it come from Luca’s mouth.
Thank god I wore one of my padded bras today. The little scrapes of lace ones were too small, this one had a little more give but I’d definitely need to get some new ones soon.
“Oh, you know her?” the guy behind the desk says looking between us.
“Yeah, this one you can tell I’m here anytime,” Luca states before taking my hand, guiding me around the desk and down the hallway.
I smile seeing the room he came out of wasn’t some private studio space but his office. The buzzing goes silent when he shuts the door behind us and I swallow hard, seeing the heat in his eyes deepen. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your day…”
“Fuck, Rylee, you can interrupt my day whenever you want. I love having you here in my space. Want to have a lot more of it and you, mama,” he adds, and I know I wasn’t wrong. He wants me and I’m going to let him have me.
“Luca.” His name comes out on a moan when his lips take mine in a long, hot kiss. His hands lift me up as they dig into my ass and I wrap my legs around him, unable to stand the space between us.
“That’s right, rub that hungry pussy against my dick,” he grunts into my ear as he pulls his lips from mine. “You’re the one that’s made it hard the last two months. It’s time you took care of the ache you caused, mama.”
“Two months?” The words tumble out and I stare up at him in confusion.
“Saw your sweet ass moving in next door and if you hadn’t stayed in all night, I’d have taken and fucked you against it that night. I’m glad I didn’t now because I’d have run you off, but now, I’m hoping you’ll stay despite me being a mouthy fucker that wants nothing more than to bury my dick inside you and never take it out.”
“You shouldn’t say things like that, Luca. This…sex we can do, but that’s all it can be,” I warn. My breath leaves my body for a minute when he pulls us away from the wall, storming back to his desk and drops me on the top of it—gently.
He sits down in his chair, his hands on either side of me, holding my hips as he pushes in close to the desk making it impossible for me to get away. “What the fuck do you mean all this can be is sex? I know your kid’s been an ass and has you upset, Rylee, but my family fucking loves you. If I hadn’t threatened my sisters with every secret, I’ve got on them, you’d be fighting to get five minutes peace from my mama’s constant question of when I’m putting a ring on your finger.
“The attraction here is insane. It’s taken every bit of control I have to last this long without burying myself inside you. I did it because I wanted you to see that this isn’t just sex to me, sweetheart. I want you. I want you in my life for good. I know that means your kid being in my life, and I can deal with that, doesn’t mean I don’t want to teach him a lesson about disrespecting his mama or my girl.”
His words warm me and make me want more but it’s just not possible. No matter how much I want it as well. “Luca…I’m thirty-five.”
“So? You think I care one way or the other what your age is? I’ve never been one of those guys that’s been anxious as shit to have a kid, but with you, I could see it, want it. If you don’t then I’m fine with it, Rylee, but I’d be willing to do whatever it took to give you a baby if you wanted it. I’ve been the man of my family for a long time. Our father took off when Olivia was a baby, not wanting the responsibility any longer. I take care of them, and I can take care of you.”
His words make my head almost explode. I want it so badly, but he has to know the truth, know why it’s not possible. I just hate having to tell him before getting a real taste of him.
“I’m pregnant,” I admit, holding his gaze.
