WILDER: The Mountain Man's Babies Read online

  “Dean?” Her eyes go wide as she slips off her heels. “Hmmm. Like, James Dean? I can see that. Sexy, confident, smooth talker.”

  “So you’re saying I’m sexy?” I strike the slickest pose I’ve got, all profile, stroking my beard. She laughs.

  “Yes. You are sexy Dean Wilder.”

  “And you, Stella, who are you?”

  She swallows. “I’m Stella Saint Claire.”

  Now it’s my turn for my eyes to widen. “Saint Claire like the shipping company?”

  “That’s the one.” She licks her lips, clearly uncomfortable.

  “Damn, girl.”

  “It’s my family. Not me. I mean, I don’t want you to judge me. I know the name conjures up tons of money. But I support myself. I don’t do handouts, just so you know.”

  I step toward her, my hands on either side of her arms, steadying her. “Shh, baby, I’m not judging you.”

  She looks up at me, her eyes dark, and I realize she looks worn out. What have her last few months been like? I sure as hell am guessing she’d never imagine what mine have been.

  “It’s okay if you do. I never lead with my full name, my sister seems to love that detail about our life, but me, it never seemed to fit who I am.”

  “And who are you really, Stella?” I ask, cupping her face with one hand, wanting so badly to kiss her, make love to her, enjoy this night for what it is. An absolute gift.

  She sighs, her cheek resting against my palm, and I feel like I could hold her like this forever, looking in her eyes and trying to unravel her. Learn everything about her. She has spun me up in ways no one ever has before.

  How did I ever consider not showing up here today?

  “I’m a little over my head, to be honest,” she admits.

  “With me, or with everything?”

  She laughs softly and answers indirectly. “Everything. I start a new job in a few days, but that isn’t all of it.”

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “What else?” I ask, kissing the lobe of her ear, inhaling her soft rose scented shampoo, pushing back the hair from her neck and kissing her there too. Wanting to kiss her everywhere.

  “I’m pregnant, Dean Wilder. With your baby.”

  The words take my breath away.

  She’s pregnant?

  I swallow my shock. “A baby?” I ask, trying to understand. I know one plus one makes three but I already have two at home.

  Tears are in her eyes, crashing down her cheeks. A flurry of fear spilling over her face. “I don’t know what happened but my pill… it didn’t work and you’re the only person I’ve been with in over a year or more. And.”

  She stops talking then, squeezing her eyes shut, shaking her head, and instead of asking another thing, I pick her up and carry her to the bed. Setting her down I wrap my arms around her as she cries against my chest.

  “Sorry I’m crying,” she hiccups, before another onslaught of tears escapes, my shirt soaked in her emotions.

  “Baby, shhh, it’s okay, you can cry, it’s okay.” I smooth her hair, trying to find the words that will help her right now. But if she’s overwhelmed and scared, telling her about the twins right now won’t help anything.

  “I’m three months along,” she whispers, wiping her eyes, but her face still against my chest. I run my hand over her back, resting it on her thigh, pulling her closer still. “And I’m keeping it. I want the baby. I just… I don’t know you. And it wasn’t the plan.”

  “What was the plan?” Maybe if I know her big picture I can try and see how our lives might fit together. I mean, damn, I already know I want her. Need her. She is the mother of my child, dammit, she is mine. But she doesn’t seem to know that yet.

  “I didn’t have a grand plan. I’m an interior designer, which is good, I can do that anywhere. And I travel a lot for work. And I have a new job.”

  “Well, you can have a job and be a mother,” I tell her. But even as I say it I know having a job, while I have a job that keeps me planted firmly on the mountain, not to mention Briar and Finn–it’s a lot to squeeze in.

  “I have to work, take care of the baby.”

  “Well, Stella, I work, you know. I’ll take care of you.”

  She looks up at me. “Just like, quit my job? Wilder... I really care about my career.”

  “I understand that. So do I.”

  “What do you do?” she asks, sitting up, tucking her legs under her.

  I sit up in the bed too, remembering she is a woman, and women need to make plans. Hash it all out. I can do that. Sure, I wanted to get straight to the fucking, but damn, she dropped a hell of a lot of news in my lap.

  “I build houses.”

  She nods. “That’s good, right. Stable?”

  I grin, slowly. “It’s stable. You worried about the baby being taken care of?”

  “Of course. My sister says I’m an idiot. That I should have married some douche canoe of an investment banker and not ruined my life by hooking up with a stranger. But I never wanted the investment banker.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Well, the night we were together, I wanted you.”

  I clench my jaw, knowing there is always a but.

  “You live in Idaho, would you be willing to move? I mean.” She shakes her head. “This is crazy talk. I mean, Wilder, maybe you don’t even want this baby.”

  My eyes narrow, and I pull her to me, instinctively. Desperately. I pull her to my lap and let her sit there, not letting her go.

  I can help her.

  Damn, I can be a hell of a lot more for her, too.

  “I want this baby. And I want you. Now.”

  I kiss her then, a primal need deep inside me crying out as I make love to her sweet little mouth. Her lips part, my tongue finds hers and I hold her close.

  She moans against me, my cock straining against my jeans, hungry and as needy as I am.

  “Wilder,” she sighs against me, our lips bruised and still going back for more. “I need you.”

  She slides down the bed, unbuttoning my jeans as she moves. She frees my cock and her eyes go dark, starved and ready for supper. Her hand wraps around my length, stroking me until I am under her complete control.

  It doesn’t take long.

  Her mouth is on me, and I’d say, no, let me take care of you first, but damn, after one second of her perfect mouth wrapped around my cock, I know this is what I need.

  I swear I’m about to fucking cry, as I sink into the bed beneath her touch. These past months have been so long, so fucking hard, and being here with Stella makes me think that maybe it won’t always feel so difficult, so impossible.

  She takes me deep into her throat, my cock pulsing against her, and runs her hands over my balls, holding them as they tighten from her sucking, from the growing release that is about to shoot forth.

  “Oh, Stella,” I groan, my come filling her mouth, and I look at her bent over me, swallowing my seed, taking all of me, already full of me.

  She is the mother of my child, my baby is deep within her womb and dammit I said I wasn’t going to cry, but fuck. Right now, I can’t help but lose control.

  Chapter Ten

  With Wilder’s salty come in my mouth, the fear I’ve held onto for three months disappears. And after he comes, and after I swallow, I look up at him and see a tear fall down his cheek.

  A single tear that doesn’t say anything besides the one thing that matters: He’s in this with me.

  I crawl back into his lap; his hard cock still in my hand, because for some reason the last thing I want, is to let go.

  Smiling I say, “You’re sensitive too.” I let go of his raging cock, and wipe the tear from his cheek.

  His eyes close, as if embarrassed, but when he opens them there is no shame, only care, concern. Loyalty.

  “You are too, Stella. You are all torn up about what happens next, but the good thing is, we have plenty of time before the baby is born to figure that all out.”
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  I nod, and maybe I don’t exactly believe him, but I’m not in the mood to argue.

  “It’s been a long day,” I tell him.

  Wilder coughs, his still hard cock in plain sight, his brows furrow, but he isn’t pushing for what I know he wants. He thinks I’m ready for bed, poor gentleman. He moves to put himself away, but I take his hand, lace my fingers through his.

  “No, Wilder. It’s been a long day and I would love a bath. With you. This room has a huge Jacuzzi tub made for two.”

  He grins, eyes raised. “Thank god, woman.”

  I laugh, and then let him strip me down to nothing as we run the bath.

  His torso is so sculpted, strong, his back covered in muscles. He says he builds houses, and now I can see he works with his hands.

  “You look so beautiful,” he tells me, once my clothes are shed.

  I appreciate that he likes the way my body was made, the curve of my waist and hips, the smallness of my breasts, that it is all attractive to him.

  He cups my breasts like he did last time we were together and my nipples harden under his touch, loving the way I feel precious and tender under the palm of his hand.

  My tummy is still mostly flat, but there is an undeniable bump already forming.

  “My sister tells me to watch my calories, that I shouldn’t be showing so soon, but I don’t care what she says. I’m growing a person and will eat whatever I damn well please.”

  “Damn straight,” he says, smiling. “I like that. Your confidence, you’ve been working on it then?”

  “I have, as a matter of fact.” I laugh, covering my face, suddenly embarrassed. “I’ve been working on a lot of things, actually.”

  “Oh yeah?” he asks, stepping into the full tub, reaching for my hand.

  “Mmmmmm.”

  “Tell me, baby, tell me what you’ve been working on.”

  He rests his back against the tub and I slip in on top of him, wanting to straddle him again, be close to him.

  “I bought a dildo after we met.”

  He whistles. “Damn, did not expect that.”

  I shrug, gathering bubbles from the Jacuzzi and covering my breasts with them. “I wanted to make sure the next time we fucked you’d fit.”

  He groans, and I literally feel his cock against my pussy, as if growing from my simple sentence.

  “Are you for real, baby?”

  “Yes,” I tell him honestly. “I bought a big dildo and got it all lubed up, and thought about you. About your fingers in my pussy, fucking me. I’d get so horny, and the only way I could escape my agony was to push the big dildo in my pussy, and ride it like I was riding you.”

  His hands are on my ass, touching my skin like he owns me and tonight he does.

  “And did you like that? Did you like that dildo in your creamy cunt?” he asks.

  “It was alright,” I tell him, my mouth inches from his. “But it wasn’t as good as your cock, Wilder. Nothing could satisfy me like that.”

  I kiss him, our mouths made for one another, and all my fear and anxiety fly away as our bodies melt together. I lift my ass as he guides himself in me, and I ease my body against him.

  Moaning, I’m filled with him, his cock deep inside me and I run my hand through my hair, unable to think straight, only able to feel bright bursts of pleasure exploding inside me, covering me with a thousand sensations.

  Most of all, I feel complete. Maybe I can make a little family with this man, a life with him. Our baby and the two of us and nothing more and nothing less. Maybe that is enough, maybe that is everything.

  I rock against him, tears stinging my eyes, pleasure rushing over me, hormones surging through my veins.

  I can do this.

  We can do this.

  It’s a lot more than I wanted to be handling, but with him helping me care for our child, maybe it could be amazing.

  Our foreheads rest against one another, his hand on the base of my neck, keeping me close, and in his hands, I feel his shelter. I sink into this feeling because tomorrow I will leave Spokane.

  Maybe we can make this work, somehow, but the pieces won’t be put in place in one night.

  Tomorrow I’m going home, to the doctors, then to start my new job.

  “Don’t cry, baby,” he tells me, coming in me as I come in him.

  “They’re happy tears,” I tell him, panting as my pussy walls tighten, expand, fill.

  I don’t know what is going to happen with the two of us… but for now, we have tonight.

  Chapter Eleven

  I wake with Stella in my arms, and I kiss her forehead as she stirs.

  “Morning, baby,” I tell her. She opens her eyes, a sleepy smile on her face. She nestles closer, and all I can think is that I’ve got to tell her about my family.

  “You snore.” She kisses my chest, before jumping up. “And I’ve gotta pee.”

  She scoots off to the bathroom and I run my hands over my face. I’ve gotta get it together. Stella deserves a full picture of my life, what I have to offer her.

  What being with me means.

  I pick up the phone and place an order with room service. When she comes back in she looks wide-awake, no early morning grogginess that I am usually battling.

  Dammit. Speaking of early morning, I need to check in with Harper.

  Grabbing my phone I send a quick text asking how the kids are. We finally got good cell service out there in the woods, and it’s nowhere near as off the grid as it was a year ago. Rosie and Harper insisted they need reception in case of an emergency.

  “Who are you texting at seven am?” Stella asks, rooting around her suitcase and pulling on a tank top and panties.

  “Oh, uh, a friend.”

  “A friend?” Stella turns and smirks. “That’s sorta vague, isn’t it?”

  I sit up in the bed, not wanting to tell her like this. “Look, if I tell you, it’s gonna change things between us. And I don’t want that to happen.”

  She purses her lips, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Are you with someone else?”

  “What?” I scoff. “No, Stella, no. Not even close.”

  “Then who were you texting? Who is this friend?”

  “Her name is Harper, she lives up the mountain from me.”

  “I’m not trying to sound all intense, and honestly, you can see whoever you want. It’s just I need to know. I need to know so I can plan for my future.”

  “Everything I told you last night I meant. I mean.”

  “Can I read the text then?”

  “You want my phone?” I lift it up, handing it to her. “I don’t care if you read every email I ever sent. Damn, baby.”

  “Now you think I’m all intense.” She waves her hands in front of herself. “I’m sorry. I’m being crazy.”

  I push the phone toward her, wanting her to know I have nothing to hide. “You aren’t crazy. Just read what I sent.”

  Stella takes my phone, pulls open my messages.

  Out loud she reads, “Just checking on the twins. Briar sleep okay? She’s pretty particular. Finn okay? I’ll be home this afternoon. You’re a godsend....” She looks up at me scowling. “What the hell does that mean?”

  I exhale, raising my hands in defeat. Losing a game I never wanted to play with her. “It means I have twins. Briar and Finn.”

  “What?” She looks back at the phone. “What do you mean you have twins? Like twin puppies or twin goldfish?”

  I shake my head. “Twin babies. Briar and Finn are six month old human beings.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Stella looks back at the texts, disbelief written on her face and I hate that I’ve upset her.

  Just then, the phone pings, a text received. Stella looks at the screen, raises an eye, doesn’t even read the message. “It’s her. Your wife or whomever.” She throws the phone at me.

  I grab it, reading the text.

  Harper: The babies are fine. They slept well. Hope things went well with Stella. Jaxon s
aid to call if you need anything.

  I hand her the phone. “Jaxon is Harper’s husband. They took the babies last night so I could come here. So I could see you.”

  She reads the message, still confused so I try and fill in the gaps.

  I explain the accident, how my brother and his wife died, how overnight I became the guardian of two of the sweetest babies on the planet.

  I try to say it without getting choked up, and damn, Harper and Rosie were fucking right. I needed a night away because these past months have rocked my world.

  And so has Stella.

  Meeting her technically made me a father, but in other ways, the twins made me a dad. And I don’t want to apologize for them, for the way they inevitably change the way our life might be.

  “This is a lot to process, Wilder.” Stella sits on the edge of the bed, and as she does, there’s a knock at the door — room service.

  Once the coffee and French toast and fresh fruit are delivered, and the staff person is gone, I take Stella’s hand. “Look, we still have all morning together. Can we have breakfast in bed and try to see how we can move forward?”

  Stella runs her hands through her hair. “I don’t know, Wilder. Being a mother to one baby is scary enough… I don’t see how you and I can work; taking on all of that responsibility is more than I can handle.”

  My jaw tenses, I don’t want to get angry, but Stella doesn’t seem to understand that Briar and Finn aren’t just a responsibility. They are my family. The same way our baby is.

  “Stella, I don’t want to fight, but dammit, if you want me, it’s a whole fucking package.”

  “I just need to think this all through. It’s too much to process all at once. I think I should take some time and figure some things out.”

  I snort. I didn’t have time to process either. Sometimes life is more complicated than we ever expected, doesn’t mean we just get to pack up and head out because it’s hard.

  No.

  When things are hard that’s when you give it all you’ve got. When you stay. Like Jaxon’s family has done. Like Buck’s family has done.

  “Just like that, you’re done with this conversation, done with me?” I ask.