Alpha Billionaire Series
Loving the One I Should Hate Chapter 32

GRANT

I pulled the car up to the valet stand in front of my building.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Carpenter."

I smiled and handed the key over to the valet. I opened Mandy's door and helped her from the car.

She looked around; confusion wrinkled that little spot between her eyebrows.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Where are we?"

"I brought you home," I said as I led her into the lobby.

The door security buzzed us though and I continued to lead her to the elevator. It was one of those double-gated affairs that had an operator because there were so many moving parts. The hazards of living in an old historic building, some of the more modern conveniences were not included in the restoration process.

"I meant my home. I'm sorry. I'm so tired, I didn't pay any attention to where you were driving."

"My home can be yours. All you need to do is say yes."

I unlocked the door to my apartment and let Mandy step through.

"Oh, Grant. It's all so beautiful." She walked straight across the living room with its vintage styling to the large picture window that had a view of the city.

I liked the views. This apartment had a decent one. But the only one I cared for anymore was standing in front of me. Mandy, my Mandy, all pregnant and beautiful. Perfect.

"I could never imagine living in a place like this. It looks like something out of a magazine. I'd be afraid to sit on the couch."

"Why?" To emphasize my point, I sat and crossed my ankles as I propped my feet on the coffee table.

"Oh my God, Grant, you shouldn't put your feet on the table!"

I laughed at her mortification. "It's perfectly acceptable."

"But that had to have cost a fortune."

"It probably did. But it's just furniture."

"Your concept of just furniture and mine are vastly different. I bet you didn't assemble anything in here yourself from a box."

"Not true, I have a cart in the bathroom from Ikea."

"Grant," my name was an admonition.

She sat next to me and leaned against me. I felt her sigh and lean in closer as if she were melting.

"This place is beautiful, but it's all wrong for a baby."

"I'll sell it and get a house with a yard big enough for a couple of kids and a couple of dogs. And we'll get one with a mother-in-law suite so your mother can be nearby." "You'd do that for me?"

"I will do anything for you. Getting a house like that is purely selfish because making you happy is now my only goal in life. Nothing else matters."

I looked into her face, so beautiful, so perfect for kissing. I didn't fight the siren call of her lips. They were soft, and she tasted of promise and the future. She let out a soft moan and I was lost.

I cupped her face and deepened the kiss, tangling my tongue with hers. It had been too long since I had kissed her properly, held her in my arms the way a man desired a woman.

She struggled to pull off her jacket, and then she unfastened the buttons of my shirt. Her hands were so warm as she skimmed my shirt off my shoulders and down my arms. I pulled the shirt the rest of the way off and got rid of the tee I wore underneath. I needed her to touch my skin.

I pulled her tunic up, we parted long enough for it to come over her head. I stopped when I saw the high waistband of her leggings caressing over her pregnant belly.

I splayed my hands over her, caressing the magic of her ability to grow my child.

"He's a boy," she said quietly as she watched my hands roam over her belly.

"We should name him after your brother," I said.

"I was hoping you would agree to that."

I leaned over and kissed the warm skin of her belly.

"You don't want to look too closely," she said, pulling her leggings back up after I pushed them down.

"Why not? You are so beautiful."

"I'm getting stretch marks, and it's not exactly a cute pregnant belly. I'm huge." She let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"I'll rub lotion on your stretch marks every night. You are beautiful, all of you. And stretch marks are part of the process. They aren't going to scare me away. Everyone has them." I stood and held my hand out to her. "Come."

She grabbed her tunic and held it in front of her as I walked across the living room to the back hall where my bedroom was.

The apartment wasn't excessively large. That wasn't an option in this building. I selected it for location, and the view. I had a bedroom and an office, and a showcase of a living room. That was plenty. Mandy was right, this wasn't an apartment to raise a family in. But it would be a great place for her mother. I may have promised to buy her a house with room for her mother, but it didn't mean I expected her mother to live there. We had time to work things out. But for now, this was home, especially now that I had Mandy in it, and I wanted her in my bed.

Once in my room, Mandy didn't seem shy about her stretch marks, and I didn't notice any of them. I had her, all of her. She was soft and warm, and so responsive. I helped her out of the rest of her clothes before stripping the rest of mine all the way down. She slid into my bed, under the covers, and I followed. The sheets were cool, but soon we would be warm. I pulled Mandy against my chest. I had almost forgotten how it felt to have her skin pressed to mine. I couldn't kiss her enough. I didn't have enough hands to touch all of her. I had intended a slow seduction, but my body was hungry. I needed her, all of her, and I wanted her immediately.

My lips trailed kisses over her eyes and down the face and neck. She dug her fingers into my shoulders and fisted her hands into my hair. Her hands roamed over me in as frenzied a fashion as I was touching her.

We were starving for each other and hadn't yet realized this wouldn't be our last time together. There was a panicked edge to how we touched as if this could be torn away from us at any second.

I placed kisses along her shoulder and grabbed a handful of her breast. She was everything I remembered and so much better.

Her fingers stroked over my arms and tickled along my ribs. Our legs twined together, and I revelled in the sensation of her touching me. She reached between us, and her fingers grazed the tip of my erection.

I pressed my hips toward her hand until she wrapped her fingers around me. Kissing her while she stroked me was as close to perfect as being inside her would be. I shifted so she could reach me better. I loved her hands on me. She squeezed and dragged her hand up and back down my shaft. I moaned against her mouth when she cupped my balls. I was so ready for her.

I lowered my head and sucked a nipple into my mouth. It hardened and grew longer than I had remembered, that was her body getting ready for the baby. It was sexy and felt like maybe I shouldn't have that toy, it wasn't for me. In a few months maybe, but for now, she gave her body to me, and I was going to enjoy every inch of it. She tightened her grasp on me as I licked and toyed with her nipples.

I pulled back and lowered a kiss on the top of her rounded belly. I couldn't press her back against the mattress and cover her body with mine. I loved this pregnant belly of hers, but it was presenting a conundrum.

"How's that knee of yours?" I asked.

"What about my knee?" It took her a moment to realize what I was asking. She sat up and looked at the bed. "Oh, right, um. My joints have been a little weird lately. I don't want to put pressure on that knee. Maybe if you get on the edge of the bed, I can keep this leg straight. Oh, this is so awkward, I have a wonky knee and this belly in the way."

"Not awkward at all. It's fun, I get to make love to you and try a few different things out. This is just the beginning."

Logistics worked out with me on the edge of the bed and Mandy over me, braced on one knee, and with her other foot placed on a stack of pillows on the floor. She sank down onto me and shuddered.

"Oh, Grant."

I knew exactly how she felt. This was perfect. I was physically home. Mandy was my refuge; she was where I belonged. She rocked her hips, a little unevenly from the position, but that didn't matter, what she did to my body felt perfect. My fingers bit into her hips and I drove up as she pushed down. She made the sexiest little mews of noise as we crashed together.

Her eyes flew wide and felt her muscles tense. She braced against my chest and I continued to thrust into her as she pulsed and sucked on me with her inner muscles. Inspired by her o****m, my own followed.

Mandy turned me inside out and had me seeing stars. She was magic and life and love. She blinked down at me, and a wide smile spread across her face. "I forgot how good you felt, how good you made me feel."

"I can't begin to tell you how much I have missed you." I hadn't forgotten a thing.

I helped her slide onto her hip and pull her leg over me.

"This is just going to be weird and awkward for a few months, isn't it?" she laughed.

I pulled her to me and kissed her again. "I'm sorry you thought it was awkward. You feel amazing. We will work it out."

"You didn't think about me being a beached whale, at all?"

I laughed, she had quite the imagination. "Not once did I think anything like that. You are naked and, in my bed, and that's pretty much all I could think of."

"Really? Cause that was fantastic, I don't want you to regret-"

"The only regret I have, Mandy, is not begging your forgiveness earlier. I wasted so much time." I wrapped my arms tighter around her. I needed to show her every moment of every day from that second onward how much she meant to me.