Love You, Baby (Must Love Diamonds 3)

Concede gracefully?

“Just go cut the damn lawn before it rains.”

He glanced toward the darkening sky with a grin. “You’re not supposed to say that word.”

“Ian’s not here, so I can say whatever the hell I damn well please.” She spun around to go back into the house.

“All righty, then.”

Laughter tinged his words, and she clenched her jaw as she slammed the door. He was good. Damn good. He won no matter which way she responded. Well, then again, she did, too.

She wasn’t mad at him for pushing her buttons, more like desperate to ignore the desire threatening to override her good sense button. She’d never had a problem with willpower before, but with Merit being so damn nice and fun and sweet and helpful and sexy, she was beginning to doubt her ability to resist the urges that kept getting stronger whenever he was near.

Touch him.

Kiss him.

Wrap herself around him as he took her to the stars.

The mower roared to life out in the front of her house. She refused to allow herself to look out the window and instead turned to the remaining laundry piled on her couch.

As neat, folded stacks of shorts, T-shirts, underwear, and towels grew on the coffee table, she silently conceded it had been nice having Merit along today. After the initial shit with her brother, the three of them had chatted all through the rest of the morning. When Bryce hugged her goodbye, he’d whispered that he liked him. Coming from him, that was huge. And it meant a lot after the initial negative responses her whole family had voiced two nights ago when she told them she was pregnant again but not in a relationship. Again.

She’d felt like such a screw up when she hung up, so having him show up last night and again this morning had been nice. Beyond nice.

Mae folded a towel in half, then held it close as she let herself imagine, for just a moment, what it would be like to be a family with a man at her side.

With a man in her bed.

Merit, specifically.

Clearly, his mind wasn’t the only one permanently in the gutter these days. Sitting down on the couch, she leaned back and closed her eyes. And when she managed to stop remembering how good the sex had been those two and a half very long months ago, she thought about a few other things, too.

Ian would have a dad, the same as the baby. She’d have a partner to help around the house, to share the parenting and other decisions with, and an adult to talk to at the end of a long work day. Even someone to snuggle up to in bed when they were both too tired to do anything more than kiss each other goodnight sounded nice.

The four of them would eat dinner together at the table, and watch movies on the couch, and have family game night. And when the kids were asleep, and she and Merit weren’t too tired, they’d do their best to be quiet as they made love—though he had proved to be exceptional at making her scream.

Her cheeks warmed at that specific memory. She closed her eyes, and a second later, the full reality of Ian being gone until tomorrow afternoon sent a tidal wave of heat crashing through her. They wouldn’t have to be quiet. They’d have all night. And she wouldn’t have to make him sneak out before dawn.

She got to her feet and went to peer out the patio doors as the low roar of the lawnmower moved from the front to the back. After a long, lustful minute of watching his ass as he walked back and forth across the lawn, she wanted nothing more than to call him inside and strip off his clothes.

Instead, she returned to the couch to scoop up her phone as she perched her butt on the edge of the cushions and brought up her best friend’s number. After thumbing the little green phone circle, she held the phone to her ear and bounced her knee while chewing on her nail. Someone needed to talk some sense into her.

Honor answered on the third ring. “Hey, Mae, I have—”

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“Tell me it’s a bad idea,” she interrupted.

“What’s a bad idea?”

“Just say it.”

“Nope.” Rustling sounded in the background. “Gotta tell me first.”

“Merit’s here cutting my grass.”

She heard a strangled noise and then muted coughing.