Scott couldn’t remember the last time he took a nap in the afternoon. But after making Natalie regret her “past your prime” comment, he collapsed alongside her, feeling every one of those thirty-three years.
He fell asleep with her still half under him. But by time he woke, they’d switched positions and she had her head propped up on her chin, watching him.
“Twice in two days that I get to watch you sleep,” she said with a smile. “That must be some kind of record.”
He stretched a little, letting his hand slide over her bare bottom. Hey, he was a guy. He’d cop a feel whenever he could.
He patted her lightly on the ass and smiled. “I guess you just put me to sleep.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Now who is issuing challenges?”
He laughed and tucked her under his arm. “Not me. I know better. You’ll kill me.” Realizing the duvet was still at the bottom of the bed where they’d kicked it, he asked, “You cold?”
She looked at him incredulously. “You’re kidding, right? Lying next to you is like being wrapped in an electric blanket. It’s practically a fire hazard!”
He laughed and grinned. “Lying next to you makes me hot.” His eyes scanned her body and all the teasingleft his voice. “You’re so incredible. I don’t know how I got so lucky.”
Her expression grew serious and kind of sad. “I’d hardly call it lucky, Scott. Your connection with me hasn’t exactly made your life easy—and it’s only going to get worse. It would have been a lot better for you if I’d never bumped into you in that bar.”
He pushed back a little to look at her, but she was drawing circles on his chest with the kind of intensity that made him think she was avoiding his gaze.
He took her chin and forced her gaze to his. “How can you say that?”
“Easy. All I’ve brought is deception and destruction into your life.”
“Did you forget about this?” His hand found the soft curve of her stomach. “We’re having a baby, Nat. And I think that’s pretty incredible. Not to mention that if it weren’t for you I probably wouldn’t be here, and I also wouldn’t have found out the truth about my own father.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
He’d meant to fill her in on his conversation with the senator earlier, but he’d been distracted by that T-shirt. “I talked to the senator. He told me that my dad knew the whole time that I wasn’t his biologically. He knew and loved me anyway.”
She smiled so broadly it lit up her whole face; the warmth was contagious. “That’s wonderful, Scott. I’m so happy for you. I know how much it bothered you to think he’d been deceived. What happened?”
He filled her in on what the senator had told him.
“You are lucky to have not one but two fathers who loved you,” she said. “But I’m not surprised. You are eminently lovable.”
So was she, and maybe it was time he told her so. “We were both lucky,” he said.
Her brows drew together with confusion.
“You had two sets of parents who loved you, too. But I’m not surprised, either. You are eminently lovable yourself.”
She sucked in her breath with surprise, her eyes raking his face as she took in his meaning as if searching to see whether he was in earnest.
He was. “I love you, Natalie.”
“You do?”
She looked so incredulous he had to smile along with the nod. “I should have told you a long time ago, but I wasn’t sure you felt the same way, and I was too much of a coward. But I’d finally worked up the courage to tell you when I got back.”
“Is that what you said you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Mostly.” He paused. “I’d also planned to ask you to marry me. I carried the ring around with me for weeks. I even had it with me on the mission.”
He wasn’t sure whether the tears that filled her eyes were happiness or sadness. Maybe both. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
