Her heart compressed when his expression stayed guarded. Had he decided she was too much work?
“Last night, you weren’t sure that I was genuinely concerned about you and the baby. Now you want to marry me?”
Shame flushed her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I’ve been accusing you of not letting anyone get close, but I was just as bad. I used your words to convince myself I was better off alone. I forgot to pay attention to what you did.”
“And what did I do that changed your mind?”
“You didn’t want to be a father, but you followed me to Otter Tail because you wanted to take responsibility. You came back when Jen asked you to, even though you didn’t want to. Then…last night at the hospital.”
She fumbled in her pocket for the room key and held it up. “And this. You took care of me that night. And you kept this.”
His cheeks reddened. “How did you get my wallet?”
“You left it in my apartment.”
“And you looked through it.”
“I’m glad I did. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known.”
“What do you think you know, Sierra?”
“That I might mean something to you. You kept the key.”
“And that’s what made you propose to me?”
“No. I love you. I want to be with you. And I’m willing to wait for you to figure out how you feel. I finally paid attention to what you did instead of what you said.”
“I don’t know if I can be the person you want,” he said, his voice gruff.
Her throat filled and her heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it. “You already are, Nick. You’re exactly the person I want.” Her legs trembled, and she held his hand tightly. “Will you please say yes?” she begged. “So I can get up?”
He put his hands on her waist and lifted her almost off her feet. When he set her down, he didn’t let her go. “Tell me again why you want to marry me.”
“I love you, Nick. I want you in my life forever. And in our child’s life.”
She touched his face. “I know it’s hard for you to trust me. I’ve had trouble trusting you, too, but I’m going to be completely open with you from now on.” She swallowed. “You’ll need to be patient with me, but I want you to know me. I want to let you see every corner of my heart. I need you, Nick, and not just for the baby. For me. I love you.”
The silence trembled between them. Then Nick cupped her face. His fingers brushed her cheeks, wiping away the tears.
“I’ve never been in love before, Sierra. It took me a long time to figure it out. Longer to accept it. But I love you. And I love our baby.” He caressed her belly gently, then bent to kiss it.
“You’re making me sweat here,” she said, holding his wrists. “How long are you going to torture me, Boone?”
Finally, he smiled. “I’ll marry you, Sierra, and I’ll love you forever.”
She grabbed his left hand and slipped on the metal nut she’d found in her briefcase. “There. Now it’s official. You won’t be able to weasel out of it.”
“As if I’d try.” He rubbed his thumb over the small circle of metal, then brought it to his mouth and kissed it. “You’re everything to me.”
“Oh, Nick.” She threw herself into his arms. “I love you with all my heart. All my soul. Every part of me.”
He held her gently as he kissed her. His mouth was soft on hers, but a river of desire ran through her. She opened her mouth to him, clutched his head in her hands. “Kiss me like you mean it, Nick. Like I’ve wanted you to kiss me.”
“The baby,” he murmured, brushing his lips across her cheek and down her throat. “I don’t want to hurt the baby.”
“Kissing me won’t hurt the baby.” She closed her eyes and savored the rightness of his mouth on her at last. Of his hands clutching her as if he would never let go.
Nick trailed his hand down her back, up her sides, over her abdomen. Lingered there. “I want you so much, Sierra.” He kissed her neck again. “I want to taste you. Kiss every inch of you.” He let his mouth trail lower, to the V of her shirt. “I want to watch you when I touch you, when you come apart with me. I want to hear you say my name when I’m inside you.”
“Oh, my God. Nick.” She was panting, her heart galloping, her body singing with need for him. “Yes. That’s what I want, too.” She slid her hands to his face, held him as she leaned her forehead against his. “But we can’t. It’s too soon. The doctor told me to take it easy.” Her face heated as she looked at him again. “She didn’t say anything about sex, but I’m sure she wouldn’t consider that taking it easy.”
“Hmm.” He trailed his mouth down her neck, lingered over the sensitive hollow above her collarbone. “We’ll have to be creative, then.” He tugged at her damp shirt. “We should get these wet clothes off you. I don’t want you to get a chill.”
She was so hot she was afraid she might burst into flames. “Chills would be bad. But I’m not sure getting naked is—”
“I love that you’re afraid you can’t control yourself.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I guess I’ll have to be the strong one.”
As he kissed her again, he murmured against her mouth, “How long do we have to wait?”
“We’ll ask the doctor when we see her next week,” she said, catching her breath as he nibbled her lower lip.
“That’s a long time.” He nuzzled beneath her ear. “In the meantime, looking is okay, right? And touching?” He tugged gently at her earlobe. “Because I really need to touch you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
HE UNBUTTONED HER SHIRT slowly, his fingers spreading the material inch by torturous inch, kissing the skin he revealed as he went. By the time he reached the last button and pressed his mouth to her abdomen, she was trembling. She tried to rip the shirt over her head, but he stopped her.
“Let me.”
He drew it up slowly, kissing each rib, making her skin jump and burn. After he finally tossed it aside, she put her hands over her breasts. “Ugly bra,” she managed to say. “There are no sexy maternity bras.”
“You think I care what your bra looks like?” He pried her hands away and trailed his finger along the edge of one cup, down into the valley between them, up the edge of the other.
Shivers ran from her breasts down her abdomen, pooled between her legs. “Nick,” she whispered, sliding her hands beneath the polo. He gently pulled them away.
“Not yet.” He leaned forward and pressed his mouth between her breasts. His erection slid against her abdomen, and she leaned into him. “I have my list of fantasies I want to get through.”
“Maybe we can share fantasies,” she said, rubbing against him.
He lifted his head and his eyes glittered. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “That sounds like lots of fun. But not this first time. This time, it’s all about you.”
“That’s not fair.”
“That’s my final offer. Take it or leave it. And first on my list are these sensitive breasts.” He cupped both of them in his hands and rubbed his mouth over them. Even through the heavy bra, it made her legs weaken, and she stumbled against him. He drew her onto the bed.
“Since you’re self-conscious about this, let’s get rid of it,” he said, unhooking the bra and drawing it down her arms. He propped himself on one elbow and gazed at her. “You’re so beautiful.” He traced the blue veins that had become so prominent. “Is this because you’re pregnant?”
“Yes.” She watched his hands, shivering, desire building inside her.
“Sexy,” he said, kissing one of the veins. “Mine.”
“Yours,” she whispered. He bent and touched his tongue to one nipple, and she cried out.
He froze. “Was that too hard? Did I hurt you?” His breath was warm against the moisture left by his mouth, and she shook her head.
“No,” she managed to say. “It’s good. Please. Again.”
His erection swelled even more against her thigh. He gently suckled, and she began to throb. She
could think of nothing but the pleasure building inside her, focus only on what Nick’s mouth and hands were doing. When he touched her other nipple at the same time, tension began to coil inside her, and she cried out again. “Nick! Stop! I can’t… I’m going to…”
“You’re going to what?” he said, swirling his tongue around her, then sucking again. “Tell me,” he murmured when she whimpered. “What’s going to happen if I don’t stop?”
“I’m going to come,” she said in a rush. She was so close. She ached for release, wanted him to touch her. She couldn’t bear it if he stopped.
“My God,” he said. His voice was hoarse. He licked her once more, touched her again, and her climax rolled over her, making her cry out. She clasped his head to her breast until she collapsed, still quivering, against him.
He held her tightly, his mouth pressed to her hair, murmuring soothing words. His erection was hot beneath her, and desire began building again. “That was amazing,” she whispered. She tugged his shirt up and brushed her mouth over his chest. His skin burned her mouth, and she pressed tiny sucking kisses over his chest and his rock-hard abdomen.
He sucked in a breath sharply, then eased away from her. “Sierra.” He kissed her as he cupped her breast, and she arched helplessly against his palm. “It was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” He nibbled at her lower lip, then soothed it with his tongue, and she shifted restlessly next to him. “Let’s do it again.”
“No. It’s your turn.” She reached for the waistband of his jeans, but he drew her hands away.
“I’m not nearly done with you.” He sat up and pulled off her jeans, and she felt a flash of self-consciousness again. She wasn’t the slim woman he’d seen the last time they’d made love. “I want to look at you.” He put both hands on her abdomen, and she shivered. He trailed his fingers over her, as if memorizing her shape. Her size.
“This is beautiful.” His hands swept in graceful arcs over her, moving slowly, as if trying to absorb her through his fingers. “I feel as if I’m touching our baby.”
The baby moved, as if responding to her father’s voice. “Can you feel that?” Sierra shifted his hand to the right spot.
“Yes.” He sat up and leaned over her. “Do it again,” he whispered, and her heart trembled as she realized he was talking to the baby.
The baby kicked again, and he smiled. “You know who your daddy is, don’t you?”
“Nick.” Sierra swallowed tears as he bent to kiss her abdomen. “How could you ever think you didn’t know how to love me? Or our baby?”
“I didn’t, until you taught me,” he murmured, his hand resting possessively on the swell of her abdomen. “I watched you, and you showed me how.”
She sat and reached for him. “I’ve wanted this for so long. Wanted you. I’m sorry I was afraid to take a chance. Afraid to trust you.”
“We both made mistakes.” He drew her close, kissed her, touched her gently. Almost reverently. He smiled against her mouth. “I made a lot more than you, though.”
“You’re making up for it now.” She tugged at his shirt. “And you have way too many clothes on. I’m naked in all my fat pregnantness, and you still have all your clothes on.”
“I love your pregnantness.” He smoothed his hand over her belly again, then tugged on her panties. “I want to see the rest of you.”
“You first,” she said, holding on to them.
He watched her as he stripped off his shirt and tossed it to the side, then his jeans. His erection swelled the front of his boxers. “Your turn,” he whispered.
She’d been self-conscious about her body. About Nick seeing her this way. But the love in his eyes, the heat, gave her the courage to strip the cotton bikini panties down her legs. She sat in front of him, completely bare. Exposed.
A muscle twitched in his jaw as he gazed at her. He touched the dark red hair at the juncture of her thighs, and she sucked in a breath. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I want to touch you everywhere, Sierra. Kiss you everywhere. And next week I’m going to make love with you until neither of us can move.”
He shoved his boxers down his legs, then eased her onto the bed when she reached for him. She buried her face in his chest, rubbed her cheek against the soft hair there, and inhaled his scent.
He feathered his hand over the bruises on her stomach. “Do they hurt a lot?”
“They’re not too bad. You’re making me forget all about them.” He slid his hands over her belly again, and when he bent to kiss the bruises, she was suddenly self-conscious. She felt enormous and awkward. Not sexy.
“It must be weird to make love to a pregnant woman.” She swallowed as she looked at his dark hair against the pale skin of her belly.
“It will be different.” He kissed her again. “But I can’t wait. I love you, Sierra. I want to make love with you. I want to know every bit of you. I want to watch you change as you get bigger and bigger with my baby. I love your curves. Your sensitive breasts. Your belly, protecting our child.”
“You’re going to make me cry,” she said, burrowing her fingers into his hair, holding him against her. Against their baby. “You’ve made me so happy.”
“Is that right?” He slipped his fingers lower, stroking her. “I’d rather make you scream.”
NICK DIDN’T WANT TO MOVE. He was afraid it was a dream, and he didn’t want to wake up. Then Sierra turned her head and whispered, “I love you, Nick.” Her breath tickled his ear, and he twitched. Turning his head, he found her mouth and kissed her, a long, slow exploration of her taste and the textures of her mouth.
“I love you, too,” he murmured against her lips. “When can we get married?”
“It takes at least a year to plan a wedding,” she said, kissing his chin. “Usually more.”
“A year!” He jerked away from her. “I’m not waiting a year. The kid will be walking by them. Hell, in a year, he could be my best man.”
“That’s a great idea. We could put him in a tiny tux, with little patent leather shoes.”
He rose up on one elbow. “A year? Tiny tuxes? You’re kidding me, right? Tell me you’re joking.”
“Maybe we should wait until he has a brother or sister. Then they could both be in the wedding.”
He heard her giggling, and he flopped back down. “I never knew you had this evil streak,” he said.
“I never knew you were so gullible.” She nipped at his neck. “This is going to be fun.”
He pulled her close to him again. His heart melted at the sight of her twinkling eyes and laughing face. She was his life. His wife, as soon as he could make it happen. “You’re forgetting that I have a secret weapon.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“I know your secrets.” He lifted her up and took her breast in his mouth. “I know how to make you helpless in seconds,” he said, smiling when she squirmed against him.
“You’re using my weakness against me,” she said.
“What weakness is that?” He laid her on her side and kissed her again. He would never get tired of kissing her.
“You, Nick.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re my weakness.”
He smiled, touching her nose with his. “You’re my weakness, too. So I guess we’re even.”
As they held each other’s gaze, his heart expanded until it felt too big for his chest. This incredible woman loved him. Wanted to marry him. She was having his child.
They were going to have a perfect life.
EPILOGUE
Christmas Day
SIERRA STOPPED ON THE walkway to admire Jen and Walker’s new house, and Nick slipped his arm around her waist. “It’s beautiful. A masterpiece.”
“We’ve always worked well together.” She smiled at two-month-old Max, sleeping in the crook of his father’s arm. “There’s the proof. The most perfect baby in the world.”
“You’re right, of course, but don’t say that to Maddie and Quinn. Grace might overhear you.”
<
br /> “It’ll be our secret.” Sierra kissed her husband and felt the familiar desire rise inside her.
Then the front door opened. “Get in here, you two,” Jen called. “No making out on the lawn.”
Laughing, they hurried inside out of the cold. Maddie and Quinn were already there, and so were Sam and Delaney and their two kids. Jen cooed over Max and held out her arms. “May I hold him?” She patted her own huge belly and grinned. “I have to practice.”
“Sure.” Nick handed him over, and Sierra smiled at the reluctance on his face.
“You’re going to have to put him down sometime,” she whispered. “Sooner or later, he’s going to want to crawl. Then walk.”
“We’re discussing that,” Nick said. “He thinks he’d like to be carried everywhere.”
Smiling, she pressed a kiss to Nick’s mouth. He couldn’t bear to be away from his son. The feeling, she was pretty sure, was mutual. Max waved his arms and legs and grinned his huge, sloppy grin whenever he saw his father.
Nick was already planning the employee nursery for when she came back to work.
They dropped off their bottles of wine in the kitchen, where Jen was arranging hors d’oeuvres on plates. “Everyone’s in the family room,” she said, waving them forward. “Walker will get you a drink.”
Jen and Walker’s two sons were playing video games, along with Sam and Delaney’s nephew Leo. Rennie, their niece, was sitting on the floor with Grace, handing her toys. Grace would toss them away, giggling, and Rennie would bring them back for her.
Maddie leaned forward on the couch to smile at the two children. “She likes you, Rennie.”
“I like her, too,” the girl assured Maddie. “Her hair is just like mine.”
“It is.” Maddie smoothed down her daughter’s bright red hair, which stood up on her head. She looked like a little red dandelion.
“You’re going to have to get one of those for Rennie, Delaney,” Sierra said, watching the two children as she dropped onto a couch.
Delaney leaned against Sam. “Eight months,” she said. “Then Rennie will have her own baby to play with.”
For Baby and Me Page 20
