Riding the Storm - Brenda Jackson [55]
He loved her, he thought in wonder, as he leaned down and murmured her name against her cheek. “Mind if I stay the night?”
He felt her smile against his lips. “Umm, I would be highly disappointed if you didn’t,” she said softly.
He chuckled. “In that case, I’ll stay.” He pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her, needing the taste of her again. Moments later, he slowly pulled back and flicked his gaze over her features. Heat immediately surged through his groin. If he didn’t get out bed, he would be making love to her all over again, and she needed her rest.
“I’ll turn off the lights,” he whispered.
“All right, but hurry back.”
He grinned as he eased out of bed and slipped into his jeans. And just think he’d assumed that she needed her rest. He glanced at the huge plant that sat in the corner. It was just where he’d wanted it, in her bedroom so she could think of him whenever she saw it.
As he walked out of the bedroom, the image of Jayla’s sexy smile when she’d told him to hurry back filled his mind and made him want to do just as she’d requested. When he got to the living room, he leaned down to turn off the lamp near the sofa and his gaze caught sight of a letter lying on the coffee table. It was a letter from a fertility clinic.
Without thinking that he didn’t have any right to do so, he picked up the letter and read it. A few seconds later, he sank down on her sofa, not believing what he had just read. He felt stunned. Confused. Jayla had sought out the services of a fertility clinic to get artificially inseminated with some stranger’s sperm? Why?
He reread the letter, thinking there must be a mistake but again the contents were the same. She was scheduled to have a physical tomorrow—which actually was today— and then, when it was determined her body would be most fertile, she would go in to have the procedure done.
“You were supposed to hurry back.”
Storm stood when Jayla walked out of the bedroom. When she saw the letter in his hand, she quickly crossed the room and snatched it from him. “You had no right to read that, Storm.”
He just stared at her as every muscle in his body vibrated. Confusion gave way to anger. “Then how about you telling me what this is all about.”
She glared at him. “It’s private and personal and doesn’t concern you.”
“Doesn’t concern me? Like hell, it doesn’t. If it concerns you, then it concerns me. Are you actually considering having your body inseminated with some man’s sperm?”
Jayla tipped her head back; her anger clashed with his. He’d made it sound as if what she planned to do was something filthy and degrading. “It’s not what I’m considering doing, it’s what I will be doing. I made the decision months ago.”
Taken back by Jayla’s statement, he wiped a hand down his face as if doing so would erase his anger. When he looked over at her, she was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. A thought suddenly popped into his head. “Wait a minute. Is this the project you’ve been so excited about lately?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head, not believing the conversation they were having. “I understand the need for that procedure in certain situations, but not with you. Why would you even consider doing such a thing, Jayla?”
Her eyes were consumed with fire. “Because I want a baby that’s why! I want a baby more than anything.”
Storm was shocked by that revelation. She had once mentioned she wanted to have kids, but she had never given him the idea that she’d been obsessed with having one. “And you want a child to the point where you would actually consider having a baby from someone you don’t know?”
“Yes. In fact, I prefer it that way. I want a baby and not the baby’s father. I don’t want a man coming in my life trying to run things.”
“Run things how?”
“Like telling me how to live my life, forcing the issue of whether I can have a career outside of my home, a man who’d try to control me and keep a tight