by Joss Wood
Alex liked being right and he couldn’t blame her because he liked it, too. He smelled the mint on her breath and forced himself not to lean forward and have a taste. Man, this week was going to be a drag if he couldn’t touch or taste her.
Daniel leaned back and linked his hands across his stomach. If he kept them there, maybe he wouldn’t give in to the urge to scoop her up, haul her outside and lower her to the sun bed on the porch. Excitement pooled in his groin at the thought of stripping her down until only the sun, his fingers and his mouth were touching her soft, fragrant skin...
Pull your head out of the bedroom, Clayton.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. He darted a look at the small strip of bare flesh he could see above the band of her jeans. Nobody would ever suspect that she was pregnant.
“Fine, actually. I haven’t had any morning sickness or cravings for weird food.” She smiled as she answered him, banging the heel of her foot against the leg of the desk. “And... Yay... I still fit into all my clothes, which is a definite plus.”
Alex picked up a glass paperweight from the desk, turned it over and lifted her eyebrows. She carefully replaced it and when she looked at him again, her eyes were bright with astonishment. “That’s Baccarat crystal and super expensive.”
Daniel didn’t care if it was a solid-gold nugget. He wanted to talk about her and the baby growing inside her. “Have you seen a doctor?”
Alex nodded. “I visited the clinic and had a blood test to confirm I was pregnant. I was prescribed some vitamins, given a handful of pamphlets to read through and was recommended a couple of books. I need to visit an ob-gyn when I get back and have an ultrasound scan. That way the doctor will get a better idea of my due date. It’s also to check that the baby is growing as it should.”
Daniel leaned forward, opened his online calendar and sent her an expectant look. “When is the appointment?”
“Do you want to come with me?”
She sounded surprised. “When are you going to realize that you’re not alone, Lex? That we are in this together?”
Alex rattled off the date and time and Daniel tapped the it into his calendar. He was determined to be the exact opposite of his father—and his mother—who’d missed every milestone of his life, from his birth to football games to graduation.
Alex sent him a grateful look. “Thanks. Knowing you will be there will make me feel less—” she hesitated before completing her sentence “—alone. I’ve never missed my mom more than I have in the past few weeks and I dare not even think about Sarah. If I do, I won’t stop crying.”
Daniel placed his hand on her knee, his skin several shades darker than hers. He started to stroke back and forth, and then reminded himself that he was touching her in comfort, not for pleasure. “Your mom and dad died when you were pretty young. Do you remember them?”
Alex wrinkled her nose. “A little. But I’m not sure if my memories are my own or because I heard so many stories about them. I can’t tell what’s real or what’s been planted.”
“Does it matter, if they are good memories?” He didn’t have any good memories of his mom, of his early life. He’d been so damn busy trying to survive, to get through the day, the week, until he could next visit The Silver C and his grandmother. On the ranch, under that big blue Texas sky, riding and exploring, he could let go, find a little peace.
Alex touched her stomach with her fingertips. “I just wish she was here.”
Daniel squeezed her knee, choosing to express his sympathy through touch rather than words. Then he removed his hand because there was only so much temptation he could take.
“Have you eaten? There’s a fruit salad in the fridge. Or I can make you pancakes. And bacon.”
Alex’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You cook?”
“Yes, smarty-pants, I can cook. In fact, I intend to catch and then cook our lunch.”
Alex gestured to the ocean beyond the open windows. “I’m impressed. Maybe you should get to it, because the fish might not be in a cooperative mood. I haven’t seen any fishing rods lying around.”
“They are in the storage shed, along with fins, goggles and a Jet Ski. And a spear gun, which I’m going to use.”
“Marvelous idea.” Alex looked deeply skeptical at his abilities to provide her with food. She smirked. “If you come back empty-handed, I suppose we can always have peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches.”
“Oh, you of little faith.” Daniel heard the ping indicating that he had a new email and leaned forward to check the screen. He read the subject line and released an annoyed groan.
“Problem? Can I peek?” she asked. He nodded, her legs tangling with his bare ones as she leaned forward to look at the screen. He smiled at her squint.
“Do you need glasses to read, Lex?”
“Bite me.” Lex cheerfully responded before frowning. “‘Please date me.’” She read out the subject line for an email. There were more, some more direct than others. “‘I’m your soul mate. I think I may be in love with you. I have really big...’” Alex’s laughing eyes met his. “Did you register for a dating site or something? Or place an ad for a date on some skanky message board?”
Daniel glared at her. “No, that’s the response from that article Grandmother made me do to promote the auction, and what it’s like being one of the state’s most eligible bachelors.”
Alex giggled. “Oh my. This one says she’s a bit of a nymphomaniac. How on earth did they get your email address?”
“They printed the ranch’s website address. The public can email the ranch through the website. As they did.” He gestured to the screen and grimaced. “Repeatedly.”
Alex peered at the screen again. “Hey, this one is from a guy. The subject line mentions that the two of you have a mutual acquaintance.”
“Not interested.” Daniel leaned forward, highlighted all the offending emails and deleted them in one swift move. There was only one woman he wanted, and she was sitting next to him, driving him insane.
Daniel closed the lid of the laptop and stood up. Putting his hands on Alex’s hips, he gently lifted her off the desk. But after placing her on her feet, he didn’t—couldn’t—let her go. How could he? She smelled like expensive soap and sunscreen, and her upturned mouth looked soft and inviting. Too much temptation—he had to kiss her, taste her. It had been so damn long.
Daniel threaded his fingers through her soft, upswept hair and held the back of her head as he covered her lips with his, keeping his kiss gentle, exploratory. It would be so easy to fall into heat and passion, but he didn’t want to scare her. He just wanted to kiss her in the sunlight, skim her body with his fingers, be with her in this moment with only the blue sea and the hot sun as witnesses.
She tasted like coffee and spearmint and sexy woman, a combination that made his head swim. Daniel skimmed her rib cage, brushed his knuckles over her waist and laid his palm possessively over her stomach, his hand almost covering her from hip to hip. Pulling his head back, he looked down and emotion tightened his throat.
He pushed the words out. “Somewhere in there is my baby.”
Alex’s big smile was a kick to his heart. She lifted her hand and pushed back that annoying curl that always fell down his forehead. “I hope our baby has your beautiful eyes.”
“I hope he has yours,” Daniel whispered back. “You are so lovely, Lex.”
“You’re not too bad yourself, cowboy,” Alex murmured, her lips moving against his. Daniel sucked in his breath as her breasts pushed into his chest. Then Alex pulled away and Daniel felt her arms tightening around his neck as her nose burrowed into the side of his throat. He barely heard her words, but somehow they still lodged in his soul. “Having a baby is scary, Dan.”
“I know, sweetheart. But I’m here with you, for you.”
Alex pulled back and he noticed the brilliant sheen in her eyes.
He cradled her face and tipped his head to the side. “Why the tears, Lex?”
“If you are going to leave me, Dan, do it now. Before it hurts too much.”
Leave her? His child? No chance. “I’m not going anywhere, Lex. I promise.”
Alex forced a laugh before stepping back to wipe her eyes with the heels of her hands. She sent him a smile that was part embarrassment, part fear. “Ignore me. That’s just hormones.”
He nodded to give her an out, to allow her to walk away with her pride intact, but he knew that outburst had nothing to do with pregnancy hormones and everything to do with her fear of him disappointing her. Again.
Didn’t she know that he would give her everything he was able to? His time, his support, his money, all his effort. Except his heart. He wouldn’t give her that roughed-up organ. He liked it right where it was, thank you very much.
* * *
Daniel was either a very competent fisherman or the lady fish simply flung themselves onto his spear, thrilled to be caught by such a luscious merman. Alex was convinced the latter was true because they’d been eating from the ocean a lot lately, including tonight’s dinner of a lobster salad. She could easily imagine the below-the-waves conversation:
Yes, Daniel, of course I will sacrifice myself for your eating pleasure.
No, take me.
He’s mine to die for.
“What are you smiling about?” Daniel asked.
“I’m imagining a lady lobster’s last words,” Alex confessed, sitting down in the chair he pulled out for her. She was a modern girl, living a modern life, but she never tired of being the recipient of his gentlemanly manners.
“You are very weird,” Daniel commented as he took his seat to the right of her. He reached for the bottle of white wine in the middle of the table and twisted the bottle to show her the label. “I found this in the cellar. It’s nonalcoholic. Would you like some?”
“Drinking nonalcoholic wine is like drinking coffee with no caffeine,” Alex grumbled.
Ignoring her, Daniel merely lifted a brow. Alex pushed her crystal wine goblet toward him. “Oh okay, then.”
His mouth twitched as he poured the wine. Or, more accurately, grape juice. Alex gestured to the food. “Thank you for preparing dinner again. You’re spoiling me. It’s going to be difficult going back to Houston and having to look after myself. I’ve been living in the lap of luxury at the Lone Wolf and now here, with you. Real life is going to be a bit of a shock.”
Daniel handed her a glass of wine and lifted his beer bottle in a silent toast. Alex sipped her wine—not too shabby, as it tasted like a decent chardonnay—and watched him in the low light, courtesy of the single candle between them and the firepits dotted around the pool. She sighed. How could she not look at him? They were on a private island in the Caribbean, her surroundings were absolutely exquisite, but still they paled in comparison to Daniel.
Graceful but masculine, mysterious and sexy with a thick layer of smart. His body was a masterpiece, and she could literally gaze at that face forever. She craved to hear his laughter fill the air, his lips drawing patterns on her skin. She wanted him. She would for the rest of her life.
And that was why she’d mentioned Houston, spoke about life after Galloway Cove. Because she needed a reminder that having Daniel in her life on a full-time basis was impossible. Deep down she knew this, and she couldn’t allow herself to be seduced by a hot man who cooked for her.
She wasn’t that weak.
Okay, she was, but wasn’t identifying the problem the first step to finding the solution?
Daniel, bless him, helped her pull herself together by changing the topic to one she expected. “Tell me about your job offer.”
She could talk about work—it was a nice, neutral topic of conversation. “Mike and I joined the company I still work for shortly after we left college. He left about six months ago to start his own business. He’s asked me to join him—”
“This is in PR?”
Alex wrinkled her nose. “We don’t handle public relations in a traditional sense. I specialize in creating social media strategies that best display and promote a brand or a company’s image in the digital space.”
Daniel grimaced. “Sounds like hell.”
She flashed him a quick smile. “It would to someone who has absolutely no social media presence.”
Daniel smiled at her and her stomach flipped over. “You stalking me, Slade?”
She’d never admit that in a thousand years. “I cyberstalk lots of people. But you should be embarrassed that your grandmother is very active on social media and you are not.”
“Yet I’m not embarrassed.” Daniel reached for the lobster salad and the serving utensil. He spooned food onto the plate in front of Alex before dishing up his own food.
“And this guy, Mike, wants to give you a partnership,” Daniel asked, returning to the subject at hand. “Why would he do that?”
Alex forked up some lobster and groaned when the creamy sweetness hit her taste buds. Midchew, a thought hit her and she gripped Daniel’s arm, her nails digging into the exposed muscle beneath his rolled up shirt sleeve.
“Problem?”
“I don’t know if I should be eating shellfish,” Alex said, pulling a face. “I think I read something about it not being safe for pregnant women.”
Surely that was an old wives’ tale. How could she be expected to walk away from all that bright, tasty, luscious salad? Resisting Daniel was hard enough, and now life was throwing another temptation in her way? Two words.
So unfair.
“I checked and it’s safe to eat during pregnancy as long as its fresh and properly cooked. I caught and cooked it, and it’s fine.” Daniel waved his fork at her plate. “Eat.”
Alex felt touched that he’d checked. It had been a long time since she felt protected, cosseted, fussed over. It was a nice feeling but dangerous. She couldn’t allow herself to get used to being the center of any man’s attention. Especially since that attention, along with love and respect and commitment, had the tendency to vaporize.
“You were telling me about Houston,” Daniel prompted, leaning back and picking up his bottle of beer.
“Mike loves dealing with the clients—he’s a born salesman but he’s not so fond of overseeing the staff or paperwork. And the financial aspects of running a business. He’s offered me a full partnership if I take over that side of the business.”
Daniel looked out into the inky darkness. Alex followed his gaze and could just make out the boulders on the beach, the white bubbles of waves hitting the shoreline. “And you have to be in Houston to do that?”
Initially, Mike had suggested that she could spend the bulk of her time in Royal, commuting to Houston only a few days a month. Theirs was a web-based business and there was little that couldn’t be managed over email and by video calling. It was Alex who’d pushed to move to Houston, who’d felt the need to get away from Royal and a certain sexy cowboy.
Yeah, that plan had worked out so well.
“I think I should be in Houston,” Alex said, keeping her voice low.
Daniel took a few more bites of his dinner before pushing his food away. He used his thumb to trace the lines of the bamboo place mat. “What the hell happened to us, Lex?”
“We had sex and I got pregnant.”
Daniel ignored the sarcastic retort. “I mean...back then.”
To her, it was simple. He’d chosen The Silver C and Rose over her. What was there to discuss?
Daniel’s eyes met hers and she almost whimpered at the pain she saw in his depths. “I asked for a long-distance relationship when you went off to college. You told me that it had to be all or nothing. Why? Why did you insist that my leaving was the only way I could prove that I loved you?”
“Because I needed you—I needed someone—to choose me, to ma
ke being with me the most important thing they could do.”
Daniel sat up and linked his hands behind his head. “I needed to stay on The Silver C. I couldn’t leave, Lex.”
“No, you wouldn’t leave. Rose said no, and you just did her bidding. You didn’t fight for me, Daniel.”
Alex pushed back her chair and stood up, taking her nonalcoholic wine over to the edge of the pool. She sat down and dipped her bare feet into the sun-warmed water and stared out to sea. The rising moon was the silver blue of a fish scale, the flash of an angel’s wing. It was a night meant for passion, for making love in the sweet, fragrant air. It felt wrong to be opening old wounds under the light of a benevolent moon.
She heard Daniel crack open another bottle of beer and then he was sitting next to her, thigh to thigh, leg to leg, feet touching in the tepid water of the pool.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, Lex,” Daniel said in a raspy voice, and Alex heard the sincerity in it.
“I just wanted you to come to college with me, Dan. To be somewhere else with me, away from our grandparents and their disapproval and their stupid feud. I wanted to see who we could be when we didn’t have all of that hanging over us.”
“I couldn’t and wouldn’t leave, Alex. And it wasn’t because I didn’t want to.”
Alex pulled her thigh up onto the stone rim of the pool and pushed her hair off her forehead. Half facing him, she ran her hand down his arm until she found his fingers. His spread open in welcome and her hand was quickly enveloped by his. She took a breath, knowing that she shouldn’t ask a question she wasn’t completely sure she wanted the answer to. But she was going to anyway.
“Explain it to me, Dan, because I still can’t work it out.”
Daniel pulled her hand from his and leaned back, his hands behind him. He tipped his head up to look at the stars, and Alex knew that he was looking for his words. Instead of answering her question, he turned his head and swiped his lips across hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth. Alex instantly ignited, and she wound her arms around his neck, falling into his touch. How could he fire her up with just his mouth on hers, his big hand holding the back of her head, anchoring her to him?
