The Boy Toy - Nicola Marsh Page 0,58
up on her dream of ever conceiving.
During her marriage, she’d had an inordinate amount of sex, because procreating had been so important to Avi. He’d wanted to create his own people to show the world how damn powerful he was, and when she’d failed, he’d gone elsewhere for his baby making.
So in what crazy world did she have sex with a guy a decade younger than her a handful of times and make a baby?
“You’re distracted,” he said, trailing a finger down her naked torso, from her breasts to her belly button. “Hope I didn’t disappoint.”
“You know exactly how good you are.” She rolled onto her side to face him, the afterglow of amazing sex and two orgasms fading as she looked into his startling blue eyes and wondered if their child would have the same unique color.
“Guys have big egos, and we like to be stroked.”
“We’re still talking about egos, right?”
He chuckled, idly caressing her hip in languorous strokes that made her skin pebble. “I was freaking out about the audition when I saw you earlier today, but even in my nervous funk, all I could think about was how it’s been two weeks since we’ve been together and how badly I wanted to spend some time with you again.”
“Wow, that’s the longest thing you’ve ever said to me.” She rested her hand against his chest, savoring the crisp hair beneath her palm. “But yeah, I kind of missed you too.”
“High praise indeed,” he said, his familiar lopsided smile doing weird things to her insides. Or was that their baby already wreaking havoc? “So why didn’t you call?”
“I’ve been busy.”
It sounded like the lame excuse it was.
“Your mom still trying to marry you off to that Indian dude?”
“Yeah, we actually had lunch today.”
His hand stilled, and a tiny dent appeared between his brows. “The three of you, together?”
“Relax, it’s not like it sounds.” She reached out, her fingertip smoothing away his frown. “Mom’s constantly going on about Manny, so I thought by her seeing there’s no spark between us, she might back off.”
“Is that what happened?”
“No, so I told her about you to make sure she got the message.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You told her about me?”
“Yeah.”
His smile returned, part bashful, part proud. “I guess we really are dating, then.”
“Something like that.”
Would that make it easier for her mom to accept her pregnancy? Doubtful. Being of Indian descent and an unwed mother did not make for a happy baby shower. Kushi would love her grandchild, Samira had no doubt about that, but after their discussion regarding the aunties and how the Indian community had rallied around her after her dad died, would they ostracize Kushi all over again?
Their judgment wouldn’t affect Samira all that much; she wouldn’t be around . . . That was the moment reality set in.
Her baby had a father.
An Aussie father.
Who resided in Australia.
Would Rory be amenable to her taking the child to live halfway across the world and thus cutting down his access to minimal?
“What’s wrong?” His frown had returned, deeper than ever. “Is there something you’re not telling me about this Manny guy? Do you have feelings for him?”
“No, absolutely not.” She shook her head. “We’re friends, that’s it. But I’ve got a lot on my mind, what with Pia leaving me in charge of the center for a few weeks while she takes some time off to be with her husband.”
Another complication in this fraught scenario. Pia loved her like a sister, but how would her cousin feel about her conceiving so easily when she’d been trying for years and it still hadn’t happened?
Samira had been gutted to learn about Avi’s impending fatherhood all those years ago, and she knew deep down his cheating hadn’t devastated her as much as the fact that the other woman was having the baby she craved so much.
She knew Pia loved her, but infertility wore a person down, and hearing Samira’s news would be a sucker punch. Pia was the most logical, methodical person she knew, and for her cousin to resort to alternative therapies like crystals meant she was desperate. Samira needed her support to get through this pregnancy, but it might appear callous, like she was rubbing Pia’s nose in her fertility.
“Is everything okay with her?”
“Yeah, she’s trying to have a baby.”
Crap, why did she blurt that out? Then again, it gave her a chance to study Rory carefully for a reaction. A wrinkle of a nose, a screwed-up face, any sign he didn’t