CHASING TROUBLE

She stared at his dimly lit face, looking for a sign that he was joking. He lay stretched out on the bed, arms folded above his head, his gorgeous face expressionless, but she sensed him soaking in her shock, waiting for her to get herself together. It was an expression that made her hackles rise.

Shifting her entire body round to face him, she folded her arms tightly around her chest, afraid he would see the ferocious thudding of her heart. “You think we should get married?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head again. “What on earth for?”

“For Charlie. For all of us.” He rolled onto his side and propped himself up on his elbow. “Being away from you this week made me realize how much I need you both in my life. I want us to be a family, Care,”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

How she wished the strings of her heart didn’t tug so hard at this. “You’ve changed your tune.”

“I didn’t know how much being a father would change my perspective on life. I want a real family for our son. Don’t you want that for him too?”

She’d wanted that once, she thought with a deep wrench. She’d ached for it. Her early pregnancy had been spent clinging to the futile hope that Nicholas would come back to her. And now he was offering her the one thing she’d always longed for from him and all she could think was that he hadn’t cared until he’d learned about their son.

“Since when do you need me in your life?” she asked.

“Since I came back,” His gaze didn’t falter. “I thought we’d both moved on but what we’ve shared tonight is proof that what we had is still alive.”

Her pelvis clenched and blood thickened to remember exactly what they’d just shared and she pressed her thighs tightly together, doing everything she could not to allow all the internal sensations show on her face. “Is that what tonight was about?” she asked as evenly as she could. “A seduction to remind me how good we are together? To soften me up with sex so I’m more open to the idea of marriage?”

“Partly.”

She closed her eyes at the sting of his admission and turned away from him.

“But you can’t deny the chemistry between us has been getting stronger,” he added into the silence. “What we just shared was going to happen and it will happen again whether you agree to marry me or not.”

“Your ego is as big as ever,” she said shakily.

The mattress dipped. Tingles raced up her spine, breath catching as she felt him close the gap between them. When he placed his hands on her shoulders and pressed a kiss on the arch of her neck she had to clench her teeth to stop a moan escaping.

“Not my ego,” he murmured into her hair, pressing his chest into her back. “The truth. And I know you feel it too.”

Nicholas cupped a weighty breast and rubbed his thumb over a nipple that hardened at his touch. “See?” he whispered. “Already you want me again. There is not a minute when I’m with you when I don’t fantasize about us being together like this.”

She caught hold of the hand manipulating flesh that had always been so sensitive to his touch. Her fingers dug into his skin and stilled as if in hesitation before lacing through his.

“This is just sex,” she said with a sigh.

“Good sex. Great sex. Just as we had before. Remember how it was? We can have that again…. And again,”

She yanked his hand off her breast and shuffled away from him. “If we were so good together, why did you walk away?”

He chose his words carefully, “I was worried about you and I didn’t want to hurt you. You were so worried about your job and your career. I felt like I was going to ruin it if I stayed. Besides, I know you moved on. I know you were with Glen Asher,”

Caroline shook her head. So he’d known, she thought.” It barely lasted… And I wasn’t with him… Like… Like this,”

He didn’t need to be told what that meant, and for some reason the urge to have her only to himself was stronger than ever. He closed the gap she’d created and put his hands on her hips. “We can make it work. We can be a real family and give Charlie the love and stability he deserves,”

She was silent for a long time but he took comfort that she didn’t pull away from him again, but the sound of their son crying made her do it, and before he could offer to go check on Charlie, she was already off the bed. Knowing she’d taken the opportunity to leave the room, Nicholas got off the bed and opened the door to step onto the balcony. He needed air. Fingers tight around the balustrade, he rolled the tension from his neck. He waited until the tight knots deep in his guts had loosened before returning to Caroline’s room.

The knots loosened some more to see his son sitting on the bed, wide awake. A huge beam spread over Charlie’s face to see him. Nicholas met Caroline’s eyes.

She shrugged ruefully. “He’s not used to sleeping in new places.”

Charlie held his arms out for him. Nicholas slid under the bedsheets and pulled his son to him. If Caroline still wanted him to leave she’d have to ask again. But she didn’t ask. She slipped under the sheets next to him and smiled to see their son bouncing on Nicholas’ chest.

“He loves you,” she observed, her wistful gaze alternating between his face and their son’s.

“I like to think so.”

“He does.”

Lightly-so lightly it felt like a feather brushing against him-she ran a finger over his forehead then turned her attention to their son, whose cheek she kissed. Her shoulders rose before she let out a long sigh and lay down.

Pulling the covers over her shoulders, she said, “You can stay the night here,”

His chest had filled with too much emotion for him to say anything stronger than, “Hmmmmm,”

The sad amusement in her eyes filled his chest even more. “Don’t let him stay awake too long otherwise we’ll have a grumpy baby tomorrow.”

He swallowed the boulder lodged in his throat and nodded. “Understood.”