Madison had been quiet and I’d been a little surprised at her lack of argument, or even comment, since we’d left the office. However, once I’d pushed in her chair and taken my own seat, she arched a brow and narrowed her eyes at me. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the rumbling of her own stomach.
I laughed and she shook her head ruefully. “Food first, then we’ll talk,” I told her. After we put in our orders I asked her about teaching and she lit up, talking about her class with incredible enthusiasm. She obviously loved what she did and i
t was clear that her inner beauty was equal to the physical.
Once we finished eating and the food was cleared away, I leaned in and set my clasped hands on the table, watching her closely.
“Why do you want to get pregnant?” I asked.
Madison looked away and her eyes became sad and dreamy at the same time. “I’ve always wanted to be a mom. I became a teacher because I love kids. And every day, I watch other people’s children grow. I mold their minds, see them learn about the people they want to be. Then they go home to Mom and Dad.” She blinked a few times before looking at me. “I want someone to come home to me. I want to raise them, love them, be there for them.”
I reached across the table and took one of her hands. “I get that, baby. I really do. But, why now? Do you really want to do it alone?”
Madison’s hands flew into the air. “Because I’m tired of waiting!” She leaned her elbows on the table, narrowly missing my hand which was still stretched out. Then she rubbed her temples. “I’m twenty-nine. My biological clock is screaming, and I swear, I can literally feel my eggs drying up, Ethan.”
She looked so frustrated and so passionate over what she was saying, I didn’t want to laugh. But, a small chuckle popped out.
“You’re still young, lips. Why not wait for the right guy?”
Madison glared death rays at me and I really, really wished I could take the laugh back. “Men are assholes. I haven’t even come close to finding Mr. Right. My dating history reads like a book on what not to do.” She shook her head dejectedly, but her eyes held steel determination. “I’m done. I’m ready to move on, even if it means doing it alone.”
I sat back and tapped a finger against my lips, considering my next words carefully. After a moment, I crossed my arms and stared at her, not bothering to hide the hunger I was feeling, or my own determination.
Wordlessly, I threw some money on the table, then stood and held out my hand. She took it and I helped her up, lacing our fingers together. I led her outside but didn’t continue to the valet just yet. I took her to the side of the door, into a shadowy corner and backed her up to the brick wall.
“I can’t be your doctor, Madison.”
Her shoulders fell, and she sighed. “So, you’re not going to get me pregnant?”
“Oh, I’m definitely going to knock you up, lips,” I told her with a wicked smile. I placed my palms on both sides of her head and leaned in until our mouths were a whisper apart. “But, we’re going to do it the old-fashioned way.”
Chapter Six
Madison
I blinked. Blinked again even harder. Then shook my head like that’d help me make sense out of what Ethan had just said. It wasn’t going to work—I didn’t think anything could accomplish that miraculous feat since my brain couldn’t quite wrap itself around his announcement that he wanted to impregnate me the “old-fashioned way.” The suggestion was flat-out mind-blowing...especially considering how hard the decision to visit a fertility specialist had been for me.
It’d felt like giving up on any hope of meeting Mr. Right because even if I did, how could I be Miss Right for him when I was already pregnant with another man’s baby—despite the fact that it’d be by a man I’d never met before. Or at least it would be if I moved ahead with artificial insemination. But apparently, that’d require finding a different doctor since Ethan seemed unwilling to accept me as a patient. Was it because I’d been more than willing to hop into his bed the night we’d met?
Sure, I’d gone home with him after less than five minutes of conversation and had sex with him. Lots and lots of hot, steamy, and oh-so satisfying sex. And maybe I’d kind of, sort of imagined what our babies would look like while I’d day dreamed a bit back in his office. But did having a one-night stand mean I deserved to lose my opportunity to become a mother? Um…hello? Moms had sex too. Obviously. How else would they get pregnant in the first place? Assuming they did it the old-fashioned way.
And now I’d circled back to what’d thrown me into a mental tizzy in the first place. Ethan’s offer to get me pregnant the “old-fashioned way” meant having more hot, steamy, and oh-so satisfying sex with him. I’d be an idiot to not jump at the chance to get more of the mind-blowing orgasms he’d given me, but...
“This is no joking matter. This is a baby we’re talking about here. My baby.”
He closed the minuscule distance between our lips and brushed his against mine before pulling back a few inches. His dark eyes burned into mine as he said, “Do I really look like I’m joking about this, Madison? This isn’t just your baby we’re talking about. It would be my baby, too. Half of you. Half of me. It would be our baby.”
“Holy shit,” I breathed out. “You’re actually serious, aren’t you? You really want to give me a baby? Not as my doctor, but as the father of my child?”
His body pressed against mine, and I felt the hardness between his legs. “Babies are something I take very seriously. I never would’ve said what I did if I hadn’t meant it. I want kids too.”
“I—You—We—” I sputtered, unable to form full sentences. Male laughter drifted our way, and my head jerked up. Peering over his shoulder, I spotted a group of three guys walking past us. We were in the shadows so they couldn’t see us, but it still startled me. “This isn’t the kind of conversation we should be having in public. Inviting me over to your place for a casual night together while we’re in a bar surrounded by people is one thing.” A deep sound rumbled up from his chest, but I ignored it and continued, “But talking about making a life together needs privacy.”
“You’re right.” He took a step backwards, latched onto one of my arms, and tugged me towards the valet as he growled, “It’s a good thing my place isn’t too far since privacy sounds pretty fucking damn perfect to me right about now.”
When I’d made the suggestion, I was thinking more along the lines of somewhere neutral where we wouldn’t be overheard. “But—”
That was as far as I got before he handed the ticket over to the valet, yanked me against his chest, and crashed his mouth against mine. My lips parted in a startled gasp, and his tongue swept inside to tangle with mine. He devoured me, one hand at the back of my head holding my hair in a fist, until the valet pulled the car up to the curb. Then he shuffled me inside the car and roared away from the restaurant as soon as he got into his side.
The silence echoed around us during the drive, thick with a tension I was hesitant to break. The chemistry we’d had during the similar drive to his place from the bar the night we met was still there. But now there was the added knowledge of exactly how explosive sex was for us. But even more than that, his offer to give me a baby hung between us.
I wanted a baby more than anything—clearly, since I’d gone to see one of the best fertility specialists in the country. But did I want the added complication of knowing the father...intimately? Someone who might want to be a part of that baby’s life?
I glanced at Ethan from the side of my eye, taking in the confidence he oozed even while just driving. How insanely attractive he was. Like stop-on-the-street-and-stare sexy. With his medical degree, board certification, and stellar reputation in his field; he was also incredibly intelligent. Then there was the fact that he could’ve picked any kind of medicine to specialize in. He’d decided to help create families, which indicated a kindness that upped his hotness factor by a ton. If I was building a list of qualities I was looking for in sperm, he ticked each and every checkbox. The only catch was the method by which he was willing to give me his come—in bed, with a ton of orgasms, instead of in a clinical setting...without any orgasms.
By the time we got to his house, I was at least slightly less freaked out by his offer as I’d been when he’d made it. But I hadn’t quite come around to his way of thinking yet. It must’ve been clear to him by my silence and the expression on my face because he led me inside, got me settled on the couch in his living room, and sat down beside me. Taking my hands in his, he said, “I know that what
I proposed is highly unusual, but our situation is more than a little unique. You want a baby. I help give people babies. We’ve slept together already, and I want more of that.”
I’d really thought he’d just been looking for a one-night stand, so that was almost as shocking as the whole make-a-baby-with-me thing. “You do?”
“A fuck of a lot more,” he growled, his dark eyes burning with barely banked desire.
I couldn’t help but wish we’d met someplace other than a bar. At a time when I hadn’t already decided to give up on relationships and have a baby on my own. Maybe we would’ve become involved in a true relationship. One where we would’ve talked about having a baby together because we were committed to each other. Instead of being almost-strangers who knew a lot about each other’s bodies. And apparently craved each other with the way he was looking at me and talking about wanting me. It was a feeling I very much returned. “But is that a good enough reason for you to give me a baby?”
“You already wanted me to do that,” he replied with a smirk. “I have the paperwork back at my office to prove it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and added, “The old-fashioned way.”
“The process would not only be less stressful on your body; it would also come with as much pleasure as you want.” He brushed his lips against mine. “You’ve got my personal guarantee on that.”
I thought about the much-more-professional guarantee he offered to his fertility patients. “A money back one?”
“Good point.” He nodded approvingly. “Going the old-fashioned route would actually save you tens of thousands of dollars because you wouldn’t have all of the pre-pregnancy costs.” He tapped a finger on his lips for a moment, then a strange gleam entered his eyes. “And if my insurance plan is better than yours, we could even figure out a way to get you added to it so you’d save money there too.”