Playing Pretend: A Single Dad Secret Baby Romance Read online

  “Thank you, Delainne.” Kissing her tenderly, my chest constricted at how easy this all seemed to be. This passion play we were putting on for my parents wasn’t all pretend, at least. Taking Delainne’s hand, I led her back into the grand ballroom just as the DJ was firing up his next set. Prickles attacked my spine as I glanced around at my entire family and a good amount of people I didn’t know.

  My parents sat at one of the tables at the edge of the dance floor, and I clenched my jaw hard at the sight of them. Watching me with glittering, eager eyes, my mom smiled broadly, and a scowl threatened to overtake my expression. Slowly but surely, everyone else noticed us as the songs died and silence reigned, and I shirked the discomfort forcefully from my shoulders.

  Clammy palms stuck to each other like glue, and sweat beaded my back and the nape of my neck as I led Delainne to the middle of the empty floor. At no point did my mind muster the thought that I had to do anything theatrical, and I took a stabilizing breath before stopping to turn to her. In the brightly lit room, her long bone structure and freckles gave her grey eyes depth. Expectancy buzzed just above my head, palpable enough that it rippled down my body in thick waves, but I ignored it with every ounce of willpower I possessed.

  “Delainne…” Her eyes rimmed red, and I paused as I momentarily forgot what I was going to say. It wasn’t like I’d practiced or anything, after all. “One day soon, I hope we’ll be the ones at the head table. We’ve been though a lot, you and me, and I…”

  It seemed so stupid, saying that, and I smiled secretly as Delainne’s lip twitched upward. The truth was, though, that we had been through some shit together, and she gave me a bare tilt of her head before I cleared my throat roughly. Sinking down to one knee, I fished in my pocket for her mother’s engagement ring as shocked gasps and isolated cheers converged on us.

  “Marry me, so we can go through so much more- together.” Everyone waited on bated breath as Delainne’s face nearly split in two from her grin, but I nearly suffocated. I never expected this to feel so real- so impending- and my heart beat furiously in a bid to crash through my ribs. Sniffling delicately, she nodded hastily before a half-laugh, half-shallow, gasping cry burst from her.

  “Yes!” Delainne squeaked like a mouse, but her answer echoed through the huge hall. Sliding her ring safely back onto her finger, I leaped to my feet to sweep her into my arms with a relieved laugh. Cheers and whoops and clapping fell on deaf ears as I twirled her around, and I smashed my lips on hers when her feet finally touched the floor again. Trembling fingers threaded through my hair, and she held me harder as her kiss stole my breath.

  “Your dad will probably kill me if he ever finds out about it.” Giggling almost hysterically, Delainne tugged my hair sharply, but gently, as she leaned back. Her eyes were wide, glazed over, and sparkling with happiness that I knew was genuine. “How does it feel to be engaged to a man you met two weeks ago?”

  My whisper earned me a fierce blush, and I grinned like a madman as excitement and thrill overloaded my system. Pushing me back, Delainne poked me in the chest weakly, but she didn’t make it far before our moment came crashing down around us. The scene around us was chaos, filtering into our bubble, and apprehension drenched her expression the second we spotted my mother practically sprinting across the dance floor.

  “I knew it! I just knew that Eric had someone special in his life. Mother’s intuition is never wrong, you know.” An uncomfortable laugh burst from my chest, and I held Delainne tighter to me when my mom tried to grab her. Her shrill voice gyrated against my ears, and my body thrummed with the need to run away and hide in the coat closet. For a fraction of a second, my mom looked absolutely miffed that I wouldn’t let her crush my new fiancée, but I pursed my lips at her slight glare before she started ignoring me. “So, tell me- how did you two meet? I’ve been bugging Eric for years to bring you around, you know. I’m so glad you’ve stuck around- you know, since he’s a single dad. I admire that you’re not letting Maggie get in the way-“

  “I beg your pardon!” Shock jerked my muscles at the thundering exclamation, and it took me a moment to realize that it came from Delainne. She’d never spoken with so much emotion or so loudly before, and every single eye in the place landed on her.

  Delainne was fucking livid, and it showed all over her face. Clenching her hands by her sides, she got in my mom’s personal space in a display of confident righteousness that knocked the air from my lungs.

  “Maggie is an amazing little girl with more talent and brains than any other little girl. She would never be a burden or a strain on my relationship with Eric- for that matter, I like her more than I like him sometimes. If you bothered to get your information first hand instead of through gossip, you’d know that. How dare you assume that I’m not as committed to Maggie as I am to Eric!” Surprise rocketed through me that Delainne kept up the charade when she was so obviously pissed off. Jutting her chin, she turned her back on my mom to storm out towards the balcony, and I watched her physically ripple with rage.

  Seconds passed before I really registered why Delainne had blown up like that, and I shot my mom a scathing glare before Casey ran after her.

  Delainne

  “I am so, so sorry- I- I can’t apologize enough- I never meant to-“ Casey smiled sympathetically as she patted my knee, and I bit on my lower lip hard to stop it wobbling. All my effort did was rattle my teeth, and tears welled in my eyes as embarrassment rampaged through my chest. Eric or Teagen hadn’t found us yet, and I wrung my fingers as shame clung to my ribs and throat like tar.

  “It’s okay- it’s not like you ruined the reception or anything. If nothing else, it’s more memorable, and that doesn’t mean it’s a negative thing, Delainne.” Her smile widened, and I gulped harshly to ward off the cotton that collected under my tongue. “She had it coming. All of the important stuff was done- the dance, the cake- it wasn’t bad timing at all.”

  “Why- why would she say that? Why would she think that?” I knew that maybe Casey wasn’t the best person to ask, but I didn’t want to move- didn’t want to force my legs to work properly. Eventually, Eric would find me; the grounds were only so big, and most of it was a lake. Sighing heavily, Casey leaned back on the gorgeous, wooden swing on which we sat, and the thing didn’t so much as peep as it rocked gently.

  “I assume Eric told you that they lived with him the first few months of Maggie’s life, right?” Nodding, I pursed my lips tightly as I reached to wipe my eyes, and expectation pocked my skin. “She went into crazy grandma mode, and she was really hurt when Eric kicked them out. I remember it because Teagen and I had just started dating, and she tried to give me the sob story because I didn’t know the situation. Sasha was great, by everything I’ve heard about her, but she was never more than a hookup. As mean as it may seem, Maggie was an unwanted accident. If Eric was any less the man he is, he probably would’ve given her up when Sasha died.”

  “That doesn’t explain why she’d think that Maggie would get- get in the way…” Stumbling over the phrase, I scrunched up my face as disgust roiled in my belly. “He’s not an only child, so why would she do this to him?”

  “She doesn’t matter enough to answer that, Delainne.” Emerging from behind a privacy trellis that he’d been eavesdropping from, Eric strode confidently down the gravel path. My heart lodged in my throat, and I ducked my head as disgrace leaked from my eyelids. “She’s my mom, and I love her, but I don’t want her in my life or my daughter’s life. That back there is exactly the reason why- because she says offensive shit, and I’m pretty certain she knows it’s offensive.”

  “It’ll be okay, Delainne. And don’t worry about making a scene. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Patting my knee one last time, Casey shot me a solid smile before standing up to glance around. The sun had sunk low in the sky, and a smidgen of relief smeared across my chest. At the very least, just as she’d said, the reception was nearing its end, so nothing had really been ruined.

  Leaving E
ric and I in still silence, Casey disappeared behind the wall, and her footfall faded into nothing. He stared at me, and I held my breath before he closed the short distance between us to hold out his hand. Reaching for him, I soaked up the comfort he offered when he pulled me to his chest to wrap me in security.

  “Do you want to leave now, or in the morning? We still have the hotel room for the night, and Maggie’s not expecting us until the afternoon.”

  “… I don’t think I can ever face any of those people ever again- I’m so mortified with myself.” If Eric took that for any sort of answer, he didn’t act on it, and I inhaled a shuddering, shallow breath. “I just- I couldn’t let her say that, Eric.”

  “I know, sweetheart. Casey was right, you know- you did nothing wrong back there. My mom was out of line, and you weren’t wrong for taking it the way you did. You understand what it’s like to not have a mother.” My heart squeezed painfully, and Eric slowly twisted to guide me back towards the venue. Somewhere, I knew the walk was short, but it didn’t fill me with energy to get it done quickly. “You know- I kicked my parents out and transferred because my mother tried to put Maggie in a daycare when she was six months old without my knowledge or permission.”

  “What?” Grunting in acknowledgment, Eric frowned deeply as horror struck my chest. In the midst of all this beauty, our experiences with our parents were dark blotches that had no place. Tightening my grip on his lapel, I clung to his side as my words failed me.

  “It didn’t make sense to me because that’s why my mom was there- to help me take care of her while I was at work. She justified it by saying daycare or school is pretty much my only chance to meeting a woman because I couldn’t date with a baby. Even my dad told her not to do it, and when she tried, he told me straight out. My mom told me to my face that she was glad Sasha died so Maggie could have a better person for a mother. She’d never even met Sasha- we’d only had a few conversations about her when my mom would ask me about what I did state-side.”

  “Why does she care about your romantic relationships so much?” Pausing our journey with the hotel in view, Eric turned to hold my shoulders firmly. There was no hatred in his eyes when they met mine- only resignation and disgust and dislike for the woman that had brought him into this world.

  “Delainne, she cares because it’s something she can stick her fucking nose into. It’s a problematic area of my life, and she thinks she can fix it- she’s delusional. I know it’s shocking and painful, but I’ve been dealing with this since before I turned 18 and enlisted. The way she acts is one of the reasons I decided to do so in the first place. You’re hurting, and I understand why you feel this way, but for me- it’s nothing more than a dull ache.”

  That resonated deep in my soul, and I hiccupped as I glanced around cautiously. Stepping closer to him, I gulped harshly as I gathered every scrap of courage I could muster.

  “I was a mistake, too, you know.” Eric’s expression hardened into stone, and icy prickles rippled just underneath my skin. Crossing my arms tightly over my chest, I tore my eyes off his face to stare at his perfectly starched lapel. The orbs ached fiercely, and I gulped harshly before attempting to speak again. “My mom was diagnosed with cancer before she got pregnant with me, and my dad pressured her. She already decided to decline treatment- her cancer was very aggressive, and her estimated time left was less than five years. On his wedding night to my step-mom, my dad got drunk and told me that my mom only had me so my dad wouldn’t be alone. I told you- my mom and I didn’t have a good relationship… because she knew before I was even conceived that she was going to die.”

  “… Your mother was dead when you were born… oh, Delainne.” Sniffling harshly, I nodded a sharp jerk of my head, and Eric squeezed my shoulders with bruising force. The heat- the weight of the conversation- the pain of these things that I could never tell anyone was suffocating, and I hoovered up a shallow breath through flared nostrils. Forcing my pained eyes up, I cracked a watery smile at the thick redness around his own.

  “The doctor’s said that my stem-cells are the reason she made it 8 years, but she was so sick all the time that she could barely get up. She had lung cancer that metastasized to her brain and liver, but it was very agonizing. I don’t remember a lot about her, honestly, and I don’t really want to know more. What she did- it’s singlehandedly the most loving and vile thing a person can do. So… I guess… I can’t stand idly by and let anyone sugarcoat what it means to love a little girl… because- I was that little girl… just like Maggie… The only difference is that my mom knew she was going to die, and Sasha didn’t.”

  “That’s so much worse than just having a creep for a step-brother, Delainne.” Eric’s voice wobbled dangerously, and I nibbled my bottom lip as he leaned back on his heels to blow out a scorching breath. “God- I need a drink after that. We should both have a drink after that.”

  “I’m not old enough.” He screwed his face at my pointed declaration, and I sighed heavily before reaching to run my hands through my hair. “I want Maggie to have everything that she deserves, Eric. I want her to grow up with a mother figure that loves her and doesn’t see her as an obligation. My dad said it was a miracle that I wasn’t messed up.”

  “… You know what I think, Delainne?” Just like I’m sure he felt about his mother, I felt the same about mine, and Eric cleared his throat roughly. My chest throbbed dully, and a ghost of a smile tilted my lips when he forcibly shook his shoulders of the weight that crushed us. “I think that what happens in that hotel room, stays in that hotel room. One drink- no more. I won’t push you if you refuse, but I sure as shit want something.”

  Delainne

  “Tell me a funny story.” My brows shot up at the request, and I glanced down as Eric drew listless, feathery circles on my breast. Sweat slicked my skin, gluing us together as it slowly dried, and I inhaled deeply as he tilted his head to meet my gaze. “Tell me about your private education. What sort of crazy stuff happened?”

  “Well, there was only one time I was involved-“ Smiling at the memory of it, I exhaled a gust of a sigh while Eric watched me with an intensity that bordered on glaring. “I left class to go to the bathroom, and there were these girls in there smoking. We weren’t friends, but we said ‘hey’ to each other and went about our business. I used the stall nearest to the door, and when I flushed, they were also flushing their cigarettes in the one closest to the window. But- apparently, they did it a lot because the toilet backed up. I heard them questioning what to do while I was washing my hands, but I didn’t pay much attention to it because it was not my business.”

  “Like, two seconds later, and these three girls were huddled in a stall that’s overflowing when the pipes in the wall made this ominous gurgling sound. One of the girls poked her head out of the stall, looking at me like ‘you’re gunna keep your mouth shut, right’ and I was like… duh- I don’t want any trouble. But as soon as she disappeared behind the partition, the toilet exploded.” I couldn’t help giggling at the residual disgust and discomfort from three years back that still filled my chest. “I was far enough away that I didn’t get sprayed or anything, but these girls were just drenched. They started screaming and crying, covered in dirty water and cigarette butts that had backed up the toilet. The floor was flooding, and I hopped up on the sink while watching them freak out.”

  “The hall monitor guy rushed into the bathroom, and he saw me huddled on the sink and these girls sloshing through waste water. They’d got cigarette butts and stuff in their hair- soaking their clothes- everything- it was bad. I was so grossed out that I refused to move, and the water was a good inch deep at this point. So, the hall monitor guy carried me out of the bathroom- it was sort of a sunken room, with two steps, because it was an older building and the bathrooms were in the basement. Anyway- he didn’t even try to go back for the other girls. School got shut down for the day, since it was a Thursday, and we didn’t go in the next day. So- that’s the story. The girls got expelled and their paren
ts all got really hefty fines.”

  “That’s disgusting.” Chuckling around his words, Eric nuzzled my breast as I nodded in agreement, and he sighed loudly. “When I was in high school, I think the worst thing that happened was some kid that was always bullied pranked the football team by giving them pastries he filled with cum.”

  “With what!” My stomach flipped dangerously, but Eric only shrugged awkwardly before propping himself on his elbow. Covering my mouth in horror, I watched him grin through wide eyes. “Never mind! I don’t want to know-“

  Eric’s boisterous laugh burned my cheeks, and I covered my face to peek through my fingers. Climbing on top of me, he pried my palms away to hold them on either side of my head, and my heart thundered hard from the sudden change in atmosphere. Blue eyes glittered merrily, and he ducked to kiss me hard. Stealing my breath, he nestled between my legs to grind his flaccid length against my folds.

  “Lay down on your back.” A throaty groan answered my whisper, and Eric rolled easily across the king-sized bed. My nerves tingled with excitement, and I shirked all conversation and everything that happened in the past two hours as I straddled him. Bracing my palms on his hard pectorals, I sucked my bottom lip while my fingers explored the ridges of his chest. His muscles shifted under taut, tanned skin, and I ground my core against his length with sloppy rolls of my hips.

  “Are you gunna fuck me this time, Delainne?” Growling out the taunt, Eric gripped my waist to stabilize my movements, and I nodded with a moan. Tossing my head back as shivers of pleasure raced up my spine, I closed my eyes to savor the feeling of him. Coarse hairs burned my thighs and calves, and his neat thatch of curls just above his dick teased my clit with each rock of my hips.