Dare to Hold (Dare to Love 4)

“Is that breakfast?” He pointed to a pink smoothie she drank from a straw.

She nodded. “Protein. It’s good for me.”

“And the baby. I didn’t forget.” One of her many complications. He pushed the reality away.

A light blush stained her cheeks. “Right. So you understand why we shouldn’t draw out this awkward morning-after thing any longer.”

He raised an eyebrow. So she really was eager to get rid of him, and it rankled. “No breakfast?” he asked, teasing her.

“Sorry. Nothing but healthy shakes, and I really need to get my day going so…” She gestured toward the front of her apartment.

He strode toward her, leaning one hip against the kitchen counter. “About last night.” He slid one hand behind her neck in a possessive hold.

“

What about it?” she asked, voice shaking. She didn’t know what to expect from him, but he affected her. Her body and voice couldn’t lie about that.

“It was great,” he told her honestly. “You were great.” He touched his nose to hers in a soft gesture, one he knew was at odds with the man he was in the bedroom. But she brought this side out in him too. Something else to ponder, as nobody ever had before. “So thank you.”

“Oh. You’re welcome.” She blushed harder. “I mean … never mind.” She waved a shaking hand through the air.

There it was. Cute again. He shook his head, remembering his cool, icy, sophisticated ex-wife. So. Not. Cute.

He grinned at a flustered Meg. “I know what you meant.”

“Oh,” Meg said softly, and she slid her tongue across her lip in that nervous gesture he found so endearing.

This morning it reminded him of the things they hadn’t done together. His mouth on her pussy. Her lips on his cock. Yeah, there was a lot left undone. And he wasn’t just talking about sex, though that had been a good start. It would make it that much more difficult for her to keep him at arm’s length now that she knew what he did. Together they were explosive.

How they came together? That would be the next step. One that would determine just what they could mean to each other outside of the bedroom.

He pulled back and rose to his full height. “Take care of yourself.” Knowing she’d say no and get defensive, he didn’t ask her for anything. Offer her dinner. Ask her questions. Nothing.

Keep her frustrated and guessing. Missing him, if he was lucky. That was his game plan, and he was looking forward to the challenge. Because he fully expected Meg to make him work for her. And after last night, he was okay with that.

* * *

Meg wasn’t sure how she made it through the rest of the weekend. She was jumpy and nervous. She kept checking her phone, hoping, expecting to hear from Scott. She didn’t. Apparently he was a man of his word. One night meant just that.

Wasn’t that what she’d wanted? Why was she so … hurt, then, over his silence?

Monday at school dragged. The kids were extra cranky, little Billy Miller spilled paint on Lilah Devlin’s shoes, one kid had a fever, and by the time the day ended, Meg was so grateful she wanted to cry. Tomorrow she had an appointment with the principal to tell him she was pregnant. She was due in early September, when school would just have restarted for the new year, and he’d need to plan ahead. She didn’t think being unmarried and pregnant would be an issue, but she was nervous anyway because she worked in a private school, and that meant she was subject to the school board’s decisions, and she had no doubt the principal would share her new status with them.

On Wednesday, she was having dinner with Olivia. Dylan was out of town on business, and the other woman wanted to compare pregnancy notes. Since Olivia was due two months later than Meg, they had that in common. She hoped it wasn’t awkward that Olivia was Scott’s sister.

Because there was no way she could hide her reaction if somehow his name came up. Just thinking about him set her on fire. She hadn’t washed her sheets because she liked the musky smell of him, and them, that lingered. She’d like to say it was the sex she couldn’t get out of her head, but it was more than that. The little things. How he’d jumped out to open the car door. How he’d leaned in and brushed his nose against hers when he was saying good-bye. And how he’d thanked her, as if her sleeping with him was something special and meant something to him.

When was the last time she’d been treated well? When the person she’d been with had put her first? She shook her head hard, the answer too painful to contemplate. True, Scott had been nice, but he wasn’t anything to her but a one-night stand. His silence merely reinforced that. Meanwhile, she had a busy week, a full life, and she had to remember that she did not need a man to make her complete.

* * *

At the end of a long week, Scott met his brother Tyler at the gym of the Thunder football stadium. The whole family gravitated here, to the everlasting irritation of their father, who had given them all free gym passes at his luxury hotel downtown. Scott, like the others, didn’t want much to do with the old man. In fact, his becoming a cop had been a big F.U. to his dad and his offer to work in his hotel business. Scott couldn’t be in business with a man he didn’t respect, and from the minute he’d realized the truth about his father’s cheating and other family, any respect he’d hung on to for a man who was rarely around when he was growing up had disappeared.

His grandparents had left each kid a trust fund, and money hadn’t been an issue. He was luckier than most in that he could do what he wanted in life. So he’d gravitated toward law enforcement because there were rules, laws, and things were black and white. He knew what to expect. He’d never envisioned feeling constrained by those same rules, because after the personal upheaval his father had caused, his career choice had made sense to him at the time. Unfortunately, those restrictions chafed, and he was miserable.

He and Tyler worked out in silence for over an hour, then showered and were finishing up in the locker room. As it was March, the team wasn’t around, and they pretty much had the place to themselves.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Tyler said. “Couldn’t do it the other night. Mel’s is too crowded. And you were too busy looking at that brunette. What did you say her name was?”