But, unable to resist that hypnotic voice, I stumbled over to him. He caught my hips between his hands, positioning me between his spread legs, and as he stared down into my face I struggled to catch my breath. And then the most wondrous thing happened.
I felt the sweetest, most delicate tingling in my belly.
‘Oh!’
His gaze sharpened. ‘What is it?’
‘I just felt...’
Raw, thick emotion arrested his face. ‘The baby?’
The hushed gravity of his voice, the depth of yearning in his voice, disarmed me.
‘According to all indications you should be experiencing the first movements of my child inside you,’ he rasped.
‘I thought I felt something...a flutter yesterday...but it hasn’t happened again—’ The fluttering came again, making me gasp. ‘Oh!’
His gaze dropped to my belly, and his hand slowly lowered to hover over the small bump. ‘I would very much like to touch you, Sadie,’ he said, his voice gravel rough.
Shakily fighting back hormonal tears, I nodded. He exhaled raggedly, his warm hand remaining on me for long moments, during which the fluttering was repeated twice more, each time drawing from him an awed gasp.
Stormy eyes rose to mine. ‘I said you looked beautiful. That wasn’t quite accurate. You look radiant.’ One hand rose to caress my cheek. ‘Your skin glows with exquisite vitality. I’ve never quite seen anything like it.’
‘It’s...it’s the pregnancy. Not me.’
‘Most women would wholeheartedly bask in such a compliment, but not you,’ he murmured, his gaze curiously flummoxed. ‘Are you so determined to topple my opinion of you?’ he rasped, a touch disgruntled.
‘Neo—’
‘Hush, pethi mou. Let us enjoy this moment,’ he suggested, his voice hypnotic.
We stood trapped in that intensely soul-stirring bubble until the ringing phone made us both jump. I hastily stepped back from the exposing moment.
Back to a reality where this pregnancy was the sole reason I had a ring on my finger and a place in Neo’s office.
Back to a place where the softening emotions that had been expanding over the past few weeks needed to be shoved back into a box marked delusional.
When he reached over to answer his phone I escaped, reciting every reason why resisting temptation and Neo was essential to my equilibrium.
When I returned, half an hour later, Neo’s laser-beam eyes focused on the frosted treat in my hand. ‘What’s that?’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘It’s a cupcake, Neo.’
‘I can see that. I meant that.’ He pointed his arrogant nose at the thin candle perched in the middle of the frosting.
‘It’s a candle. Which I’m going to light when I get to my desk and then blow out. Because it’s my birthday.’
He went pillar still. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said it’s my birthday today.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘If this is a ploy of some sort—’
‘You think I’d bother to lie about something you can find out in less than ten seconds?’
The fire and brimstone left his eyes immediately, leaving him looking curiously nonplussed.
‘Wow. So much for me thinking felicitations might be forthcoming,’ I said.