“Me.” It sounded so simple. But it was far from it. His mouth at her ear, he whispered, “And when you look in the future, and you have me, what do you see?” He felt her swallow and saw her suck in her l
ips, and he figured she was gathering the courage to answer, to give him the truth. When she hesitated, he coaxed, “Tell me, sweetheart.”
“I see a house with a white picket fence and a table full of kids.”
Jesus Christ. He was wrong when he thought she didn’t ask for much. Hell, she wanted it all. “A tableful?” he croaked.
At his response, she stiffened in his arms and tried to pull away, but he held tight. He cleared his throat and asked, “How big a table?”
His fear must have shown through to her, and apparently he’d pissed her off. At least, he hoped her response was just a pissed off jab to get back at him.
“A big table. Big enough to seat eight people.”
“Christ, babe, you—” He swallowed. “You sayin’ you want six kids?”
“Yup.” She threw the response at him like a challenge.
Jesus Christ, six kids. “You serious?”
“Yup.” There it was again, that short, chopped-off word, bitten out the way only Crystal could do it.
“How about the standard two?”
“Nope. Six.”
“Three?”
“Nope.”
“Four?” How the hell did he just end up negotiating the number of kids he’d give her? Had he lost his fucking mind? When she stayed quiet, as if she was considering his offer of four, he panicked and backed away, his arms sliding from her. She whirled, her eyes searching his as he stepped back, his hand running over his face. At the look on her face, he knew he’d better fucking say something because he could tell she was about to bolt. “I suppose you want girls?” He shook his head, not waiting for her response. “I’m a boy producer.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Yeah. I can. Cause God wouldn’t be so cruel as to give a guy like me girls. Hell, not after the way I’ve…” he broke off, shaking his head.
“Relax, Wolf. I don’t want girls. What would a tom-boy like me want with girls? I’m not exactly the girly type.”
A half grin pulled at the corner of his mouth. “You can be. I’ve seen your girly bedroom. I’ve seen your sexy lingerie, and on occasion I’ve seen you all dolled up. The other girls have got nothing on you, babe.”
That got a smile from her, but she didn’t respond, just slid her hands in her back pockets and looked off into the distance.
“Boys, huh?”
She nodded, still not looking at him.
His phone went off. Her eyes came to his as he pulled it from his pocket and put it to his ear. “Yeah?” His eyes flicked to the horizon as he listened and then replied, “Right.”
When he disconnected, she was still watching him. Waiting. Expecting.
Shit.
“I have to go. But I want to finish this conversation. Okay?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
He moved to her and took her in his arm. Dipping his head he locked eyes with her. “I’m not saying no. I just…I just need time to figure some shit out.”
She nodded. “Sure.” There it was, that word again. She sounded agreeable, but he could feel her pulling away on the inside.