They drove the rest of the way in a silence weighted with the desire that had been present all night. Parking the Pathfinder in her driveway, Michael gave her a tender, lingering kiss.
“I’d like to stay with you tonight, Susan.”
Her heart was pounding so hard she could feel it.
“I’d like that, too.”
“You’re sure?” His eyes met hers in the intimate darkness of the Pathfinder.
Reaching across the console, Susan slid her hand along his leg. “Absolutely sure.”
Forgive me, my babies, if this is wrong, but I love your daddy so much....
SETH WAS NOT in a good mood when he stopped by Susan’s on Sunday. Neither his mood nor his task was improved by the fact that Michael had spent Friday night right there at Susan’s house. Or that he hadn’t spent Saturday night there, as well.
One thing Seth knew. He didn’t want to be there now. Didn’t really want to be anywhere in particular, if the truth be known, but most especially not there.
Still, he’d promised Michael he’d cover for him. As much as he disagreed with what Michael and Susan were doing, he felt for the guy.
Susan’s disappointed look when she opened the door to see him standing there almost made Seth forget that he felt anything for Michael but a very real need to punch his lights out.
“Michael got called away. He sent me instead.”
His message grew even more distasteful when his sister calmly accepted Michael’s desertion. Nodding, she motioned silently for him to come inside. No questions asked.
“He had to fly to Denver—some business he’d left unfinished that can’t wait as long as he’d hoped,” he explained anyway. At least that was what Michael had said when his call had awakened Seth from a sound sleep that morning. Seth wanted to believe him.
“The landscapers,” Susan said, padding back to the kitchen in her stocking feet. She was wearing sweats again, and a blue flowered T-shirt. “I was just making a coffee cake. You want some?”
“Sure.” He wasn’t really hungry, but what the hell. “I promised Michael I’d help you with the nursery.”
“You don’t have to do that, I can han—”
“You can handle it, I know, sis,” Seth said, taking her by the shoulders. “But I want to help, okay?”
Susan nodded.
“I think I made a big mistake,” she confessed later, as they sat in the empty bedroom, looking at the paint swatches and wallpaper books he was holding up.
“I could’ve told you that.”
“No.” She shook her head, glanced up at him. “I mean, I really made a mistake.”
Seth?
?s heart gave a jolt. “You mean you don’t want the babies?”
“No!” She caressed her slight belly possessively. “I want them more than I even knew.” She looked away, then said softly, “But I think I also want Michael to be their father.”
“Thank God.” Seth couldn’t help himself. “You’ve finally come to your senses.”
“You don’t understand, Seth.” Her expression was guilty as hell. And horrified, too. “I think I always wanted him to be a father to my baby—babies, I think I lied to him, Seth. That I lied to me. And I’m scared to death that I tried to trap him with all that talk about no responsibility.”
“You don’t know if you meant to trap him or not?”
Susan just shook her head again, those damn tears back in her eyes. He’d seen his sister cry more in the past three months than in her entire life.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the definition of entrapment to knowingly plan to trick someone into doing something he wouldn’t ordinarily do?”