Wasted Vows Read online

  “You will have sex with me on Sunday,” he insisted. Then his voice lowered to a demanding whisper. “You will wrap your pretty lips around my cock and you will suck me off with your talented mouth until I shoot my load down the back of your throat.”

  I scraped my chair back. “No.” I loved my bakery, but given the choice between my dreams and my integrity? “I’m leaving, you sick bastard.” I marched towards the door, bumping past servers and half-drunk college students.

  “Then you’ll go bankrupt, you fat fucking bitch,” he shouted after me.

  “As long as I don’t have to sleep with you, I don’t care,” I yelled right back. The entire restaurant fell silent this time. All of them turned and stared at Matthew. His cheeks went bright red. Now, I’d really pissed him off and my rash mouth had gotten me into trouble again. There was no telling what he was capable of and he had the strength of the Minneapolis Police Department behind him.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  I stormed out of the restaurant and into the snow. The tiny victory made my pulse race even though I knew there’d be hell to pay. I’d been wrong to turn to him. And if I’d been wrong about that, then maybe I’d been wrong about a lot of other things too.

  I got in my car and drove to his house. He’d given me his address after the night we’d spent together, in case I ever needed anything. In case of emergency. Well, this was a damn emergency.

  I slammed the car door behind me and sprinted up the stairs of his porch. I banged on the door at least twenty times, until the next door neighbors lights switched on.

  “All right, I’m coming! Is there a fire?” Gabe yelled from inside. His heavy footsteps approached the door. It creaked open to reveal him. “Allegra? What are you —?”

  I flew into his arms and wrapped myself around him. He was warm and I’d probably freeze him with the snow on my coat, but he didn’t seem to care.

  He breathed me in, then kissed my lips softly. “God, I’ve missed you. I was worried. Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” I said, peppering his face with kisses. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I ended it. I’m sorry I doubted you for a second.”

  “Allegra —”

  But I didn’t let him finish his sentence for the second time. I slammed the door shut with my heel and stripped off my clothes, right there in the hall.

  His words died in his throat. “Allegra,” he said, huskier this time. He pulled at the button on his jeans, adjusted his hardening erection beneath them. “Are you sure?”

  “Shut up and fuck me,” I replied, ripping my shirt off, pulling the lace of my bra down just enough that my breasts bounced free.

  He groaned and dropped his pants, releasing his cock.

  I kicked off my shoes, shimmied out of my pants and panties. Then I placed my palms on his chest and walked him backwards into his living room. I tipped him onto the couch, then climbed on top of him.

  I rubbed my wet pussy along his shaft, stroking my clit and moaning from the pleasure slicing through my core.

  “Yes,” he growled. “Fuck, that’s amazing.”

  I leaned forward to shove his cock inside me, but he caught my nipple between his lips. He captured it with his teeth and sucked it deep inside his wet mouth.

  I groaned and rocked back and forth, sliding over the surface of his cock. I reached between my legs, grabbed him and positioned him so I could slide down and envelop him to the hilt in one smooth, perfect stroke.

  “Fuck,” he groaned. “Oh yes, Allegra.”

  I arched my back and rode him, sliding up and down as slow as I could stand. Sensual. I bucked my hips, then angled myself forward so that my clit rubbed against the skin just below his abs. I groaned, eyes rolling back in my head.

  “You’re gonna come for me, aren’t you?” he grunted.

  “Only if you help,” I moaned as I grabbed his hand and placed his thumb over my swollen clit. Then I increased the pace as he stroked me at just the right pressure and speed. I rode him hard, taking myself to the edge.

  As I shattered into a million pieces from the intensity of my release, I screamed his name and then fell forward on top of him. Gabe captured my mouth in a searing kiss that branded me with its tenderness as he continued to move inside me. An almost broken kind of vulnerability of himself. Of this.

  Of us.

  I wanted more of him. I wanted all of him forever. I didn’t let the possessive thought bother me. There was only this moment.

  “Alle-gra,” he gasped, unable to get my name out in one breath. He swelled inside me and closed his eyes, fingers digging into my hips, pressing himself deeper, lifting me up and down, making me fuck him at the pace he liked.

  It was fast. It was hard. A growl tore from his throat and his cock pulsed inside me, squirting deep again, filling me. Filling the hole deep inside me that I’d harbored since my first memory.

  That sent me over the edge for the second time. I clenched around him, again and again, and he groaned a final time, thrusting deep.

  “Oh God,” I whispered as I rested my head on his chest. “Thank you,” I said. “I needed that.”

  He gave a weak laugh and stroked the naked, sweat-covered skin on my back. “I’m happy to help.”

  Tomorrow, I’d tell him what happened. Now, I needed to feel safe. Needed Gabe’s strong arms tight around me, touching my skin. His warmth protecting my battered and bruised heart.

  We fell asleep together.

  Chapter 20

  I drove back to the bakery the next morning after another round, this time in the shower.

  Gabe hadn’t taken no for an answer. He’d woken me up with kisses, walked me through to the bathroom, then pinned me to the shower wall and taken me from behind until I came again.

  I had to get back to the bakery though. I had to feed Codsworth, check what the police were up to. There wasn’t that much to do, now that they’d shut me down, but I was still in a pretty fantastic mood. It’d felt so good to tell Matthew to get lost and it’d felt even better to be with Gabe all night.

  I parked out front and walked inside, checking my phone. I had several missed calls.

  I scrolled through them, frowning. One from Kelly, but that was to be expected. I’d been pretty quiet lately and didn’t much feel like chatting since the bakery had closed.

  But there were others, more from the unknown number. And a whole host of voice messages. I pressed the phone to my ear and listened.

  “Stupid whore. You think you’re special. You’re a fat-assed, poor, piece of shit, you’re nothing and he’s slumming. He loves slumming,” the woman screamed into the receiver. “Makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But he’ll be back. Back uptown and in my bed. Where he belongs.” This time she didn’t sound as drunk.

  I deleted the other messages without listening to them. What was the point and what the hell was she talking about? Franklin wasn’t Summit Avenue, but my business and home were in a safe and respectable part of town.

  The bakery was quiet, no cops there today at least, and Codsworth was upstairs on the sofa. He hopped down and padded into the kitchenette for his breakfast.

  “Well, Codsworth, it looks like we might have to move soon. Seems like the bakery’s gonna be shut for good,” I pouted as I ruffled the fur behind his left ear with my fingertips, trying to come to terms with the end of my dreams. Not knowing what I’d do with myself. Not knowing if I had it in me to start over with another baking gig.

  I poured some of the kibble into his bowl and placed it on the linoleum, beside his water bowl.

  “At least, we’re alive. That’s the good part. When life gives you lemons, you just gotta —”

  The doorbell tinkled downstairs. Someone had come into the bakery.

  I probably should’ve locked the door, but I hardly expected anyone to walk in when the sign practically shouted ‘closed’.

  I petted Codsworth, then hurried out the kitchen and down the stairs into the bakery. “Hello? Anyone there?”

  N
o answer. The hair rose on the back of my neck. What if Matthew had truly lost his fucking mind and come to rape me? I grasped a knife from the drawer in the kitchen and held it at the ready.

  “Matthew, this isn’t funny,” I shouted. “I’m going to call the cops right now if you don’t come out.”

  “Who’s Matthew?” a woman replied, calling out from the front room.

  I dropped the knife on the counter and walked through to the front of the store, a frown spreading across my face.

  A heavily pregnant woman stood beside the glass counter, looking at it. There were no cupcakes out today, but I’d make her one for free if she was hungry. She was pregnant.

  “I’m really sorry, but we’re closed,” I said, pointing to the sign on the door. “Would you like me to make you something? No charge.”

  She was dressed to the nines in Michael Kors, a Tiffany charm bracelet around her wrist and several carats of diamonds in each delicate ear lobe. “No, thank you.” She ran her hand over the counter, a look of disdain on her face.

  I wriggled my nose. “I’m confused. Can I help you with something?”

  “Who’s Matthew? One of your fuck buddies?”

  I gasped and took a step back. “Excuse me?”

  The auburn-haired woman speared me with her gaze. Even pregnant, she was skinnier than me. Willowy. And drop-dead stunning. Oozing with class and money. “You heard me. Is he one of your fuck buddies?”

  “Miss, that’s really none of your business.” I frowned at her. I wasn’t good at dealing with pregnant women. Kinda reminded me of the whole infertility thing. I’d heard about raging hormones causing mood swings but, really? “Do you need me to call you a cab?”

  “No, I’m right where I want to be,” she said as she brushed her perfect French manicure over the freckled bridge of her nose. She sighed and popped a hip. Almost like she was shoving her fetus in my face. Did she know something about my health issues?

  “Who are you?”

  “Seriously?” she scoffed. “Are you really that stupid?”

  My heart pumped and finally shot blood into my brain. Her voice… Her voice. Wait a second … I touched my hand to the phone in my pocket.

  “That’s right. I’ve been calling you lately.” She smiled. A glorious smile with perfect white teeth and lush red lips with one fatal flaw. It didn’t even come close to reaching her huge brown eyes. “My name’s Faith. And I’m the mother of Gabe’s unborn child.”

  “What?!”

  Shock almost brought me to my knees, jolting through me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Like I’d been holding a lightning rod when the electricity shot through the sky.

  She stuck out her hand to shake mine. “It’s nice to meet you, home wrecker.”

  Chapter 21

  Ally

  I stared at Faith’s hand like it had sprouted fangs and was about to strike at any second.

  “I take it you’re not going to shake my hand?” she asked as she flicked that glorious red mane back behind her rigid shoulders. “Typical. You’re just the latest in a long line of Gabe’s sluts. Rudeness goes with the territory when it comes to your kind because he’s never been good at keeping it in his pants. This isn’t my first confrontation.”

  “What?”

  Faith withdrew her tapered hand and placed it on her heavily pregnant abdomen, drawing attention to it. I stared at the shape of her belly button beneath the too-tight blouse. Her breasts spilled out of the cups of her bra, poking past the silk of her shirt to create an ample mound of cleavage. But her display was lost on me because my mind held only thoughts of Gabe’s unborn baby inside my bakery. Inside her.

  “Are you addled or were you raised by a pack of wolves? Don’t you have questions? Tears? A tantrum to throw?” Faith swayed over to one of the chairs and lowered herself into it, clearly annoyed that she hadn’t created more drama. She grimaced and shifted her weight. “It’s too bad you couldn’t afford comfier cushions. There’s potential here, but right now this place is really classless.”

  Insulting my bakery and pregnant with my boyfriend’s child? Wait, Gabe wasn’t technically my boyfriend. He was …

  I shook my head to clear it. “You’re pregnant with Gabe’s child,” I whispered what had been rattling around in my head. Then my heart shattered into a million pieces.

  “You’re a slow learner,” Faith observed. “Gabe and I have known each other since we were children and loved each other just as long. You’re a cheap piece of ass to him. Flat on her back with another woman’s man who just happens to be pregnant with his son.”

  Gabe’s son.

  “You’re together?” I gripped at my head, trying to hold my brain inside my skull because it felt like it might explode. How did I let something like this happen to me again? There had to have been signs that I missed. I should have stuck to the plan, focused on the failing bakery. If I had, then maybe I wouldn’t be staring at the apparent love of Gabe’s life.

  I choked out a laugh then swallowed it. Hard. The lump in my throat was full with my unshed tears. “What do you want, Faith?”

  “That should be glaringly obvious. I’m starting to think you’re not very bright. Did you even go to college?”

  As she spoke, she stroked her belly again, then skewered me with a scorching hot glare that could have melted the skin from my face had it contained laser energy. My mind reeled, darting around the truth. Evading the inevitable. Gabe had impregnated this woman and neglected to tell me about it.

  A woman who could actually get pregnant.

  Was this what he wanted? Was this why he’d kept himself so closed off? He’d never really spoken about his past and I’d been an assuming idiot. Now, I realized I knew nothing about Gabe’s family. Outside of our flaming chemistry, I didn’t really know Gabe at all.

  “I have no idea what you want. I have no idea about anything right now,” I murmured. Standing. Staring.

  Immobile.

  This morning, everything had been perfect. I’d made love to the man of my dreams. A fireman. Then, I drove home with a mind overflowing with creative ideas on how I could save my bakery. A new hopeful outlook on my entire life.

  Faith was silent, sitting there in the cold with her fox-lined jacket across her shoulders and those massive breasts heaving. She had a small frame, so they had to be fake. She reeked of money and class and privilege. I wondered what else was artificial besides her chest and her smile.

  I tore my gaze away from her and stared out the window at the snow-lined sidewalk. Not much foot traffic at this time of day and it was cold too. “What do you want?” I asked again in a much firmer tone.

  “I want you to stay the hell away from Gabe. Actually, I want the ground to open up and swallow you whole,” she purred, twirling her fingers as if she held a magic wand that would encompass the entire bakery and make me disappear in a poof of evil smoke. “But … I’ll settle for you ceasing all contact.”

  I wanted to agree instantly. Not because she deserved it with her jealous, possessive attitude and callous demeanor. She couldn’t possibly think that I knew about her baby’s existence and had slept with Gabe anyway?

  “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  Had I said that out loud? They were the only words I could choke out.

  “Why? Did you really think you were special enough to get more than a couple nights from him?” She placed a hand over her mouth and stifled a giggle. “Get real, sweetheart, look at you. You’re a cheap piece of white trash who samples too many of your own cupcakes.”

  My heart pounded in my ears so hard, I could feel my own eardrums. Nausea bubbled up.

  “You need to leave,” I stammered.

  “Not before I get that promise from you.”

  “No!” I snapped. The shock floated away for a blissful second, but then I found only nasty jealousy seething beneath it. He’d made love to this woman and given her his child. Something I’d never be able to do. He’d known her for years and
he loved her.

  Her. Not me.

  Pregnant. It was so fucking final.

  “Then I’m afraid I can’t leave yet,” she replied, squishing back against the chair. Wiggling her perfectly small ass. “Go fetch me a pillow, will you? My back’s having a spasm.” Faith flashed me a grin that was whiter than cream cheese frosting.

  “I suggest —” The words died on my tongue.

  Gabe blew through the front door like the fires of hell nipped at his boot clad heels. The bell tinkled overhead, destroying my chance at a perfect retort. His smile flickered and then he frowned as he looked from me to Faith.

  She gave a merry wave. “Hey, handsome. Just thought I’d pay your harlot a visit. Glad you could join us.”

  “What are you doing here?” Gabe growled at her. He stared as if he couldn’t believe Faith actually sat in the chair of my bakery spewing her venom.

  “Can’t you see? I’m going to have a cupcake and chat about our son.” She stroked her belly with both hands now. That seemed to be her favorite pastime. Apart from blowing the remaining shards of my normal life sky high.

  “Allegra —” he started, but I held up a hand to stop him.

  “So that’s the whore’s name?” Faith interjected, the words like honey on her foul lips. “It suits her. Allegra. Are you sure you’re not a stripper?”

  “Faith,” Gabe snapped. “Shut up.”

  “Aren’t we touchy,” she murmured, then winked at me like we were best friends. I’d never been in the ring with a woman who could insult and manipulate like Mike Tyson boxed.

  “I can’t believe you’ve done this,” Gabe spat at Faith, then turned his panic filled eyes in my direction. Pleading. “You have to hear me out, Allegra. You don’t understand.”

  “I think I understand just fine,” I countered, then looked at Faith. Her smug expression bordered on wicked. She licked her lush lips and jumped back into the conversation.

  “No, sweetie, she understands perfectly. I explained everything to her and I didn’t spare any details. I’m the mother of your unborn son and heir. Oh, and don’t let me forget the most important part. Allegra’s a home wrecker.” She beamed at him.