She dragged his name out so long, it practically took a minute to say it.
Brushing her hair off her cheek, he kissed her forehead. Her eyelid. Her temple, her jaw. “Why have you been avoiding me?”
“That’s what we agreed to do. That’s what we need to do.”
But even as she spoke, her arms were twining around his neck. “And you haven’t exactly been coming on to me. You’re more concerned about the baby than me.”
Breathing deeply, he tugged her closer. He’d been an idiot to think he could just give her up. “That’s just not true. I’ve been going crazy wanting you, and I thought at least if we were friends, I could look out for you, still be in your life.” All his thinking, all his logic of the past three weeks, seemed stupid and irrelevant now.
Damien tugged the neckline of her dress down an inch so he could see her impressive cleavage. Nuzzling there, he heard her sigh. “Tell me again why we can’t keep doing what we were doing in Punta Cana?”
“Because I’m having a baby and I need to get my life sorted out. I need to find a place to live, make sure my job is secure, find day care. I need to figure out how I’m going to pay for two-thousand-dollar pieces of baby furniture of if there are less expensive but equally safe alternatives.”
He kept kissing, moving from right to left, tasting her sweet flesh. “Anything else?”
“Ben showed up at my apartment wanting to get back together.”
That gave him pause. He hovered over her chest and asked carefully, “And did you say yes or no?”
“Of course I said no! After what he did, and after what you and I shared...and how could you think I would be letting you kiss me right now if I’d got back together with Ben?”
“Just making sure.” He resumed his movements, this time sliding his tongue under the rim of her bra. She tasted absolutely delicious. And he really liked the way she had phrased that...after what you and I shared.
He felt the same way. It had been something special. Was something special. Could continue to be that way.
“So Ben took a hike?”
“Well, not exactly.” When he stopped and lifted his head, she pushed him back down to her breast. “He wants to be in the baby’s life. It’s all very awkward right now. Which is why you and I can’t do this.”
“Any other reasons we can’t do this?” Damien peeled back one cup of the bra and flicked his tongue over her nipple.
Her words were breathless. “You’re not over losing Jess. You said yourself you can’t be in a relationship, and you certainly don’t want me with all my baggage.”
The things she said all made sense. None of the reasoning had changed. She was pregnant. He was an emotional mess.
But none of it mattered. It really didn’t.
He would figure out the future later. Right now he just knew he needed to have Mandy in his life.
When he pulled her nipple into his mouth and sucked, she gasped. “So, aren’t you going to stop?”
He shook his head and spoke over her flesh. “No.”
“Really, Damien, it’s the middle of the day. We’re in your office...”
She did have a point. He let go, brushing his lips back and forth on her shiny nipple one last time. “So have dinner with me tonight.”
“I have a fitting for my bridesmaid dress tonight. Caroline’s wedding is in three weeks.”
“Lunch tomorrow, then.”
“I have an appointment for my ultrasound on my lunch hour.”
Fixing her bra back over her breast, he asked, “Where?”
“At the Downtown Women’s Health Clinic—Broadway and Prince Street—at one o’clock.”
“Dinner tomorrow night, then? We’ll celebrate your healthy baby.”
