Page 43 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

“As red as the day is long.”

“Really?” Dante held up one hand in front of his face as if he could look hard enough and see it for himself.

Aurora bit her lip. “People with red auras are very physical. Sexual. Grounded in the here and now. They believe in what they can taste and feel and see. They’re stubborn. They think they know how the world works. They’re passionate yet practical. Successful.”

Dante found himself clearing his throat. “Well. I guess that sounds about right.”

“The aura reading didn’t count as my turn for the observation game.”

“Okay. Your turn then.” Dante shrugged, seemingly casual, but his heart rate had definitely picked up.

Now it was Aurora’s turn to lean back in her chair. Dante refused to shift in his seat. “You’re a natural caretaker. But you’re uncomfortable with that idea because you view yourself as a survivor, selfish even. But you’re not. The furthest thing from it, actually. You protect the people you care about. Even nurture them. You’re good at it. It comes naturally to you. But it also comes naturally to you to be a dick. Top dog.”

Dante laughed. “You flatter me.”

Aurora cocked her head to one side. “You don’t like Gio. You two were never best friends, but now you can barely stand to be in the same room as him.”

“Do you blame me? He has your heart, after all.”

* * *

At Dante’s bold words, Aurora practically jerked in her seat. But why was she so surprised. Of course he’d think that. She’d never taken Dante’s proposal seriously, to fuck Gio out of her system by using him. She hadn’t ever thought that would be possible. She’d just been hungry for Dante himself. But now, looking into Dante’s deep blue eyes, remembering his intensity when he’d fucked her across the desk as he’d been on the phone with Gio, she realized that Dante still thought that’s why she’d been with him over the last few weeks.

She didn’t want to deliberately mislead Dante, but considering her main reason for starting anything with him, in addition to her desire of course, had involved being pregnant with a child he didn’t want, Aurora wasn’t sure she should relieve him of the misconception yet. She certainly wasn’t ready to tell him she thought she was falling in love with him.

“It was your idea, Dante.” She spoke in a soft tone.

He looked away from her, then.

Sometimes she just didn’t understand him. He cared about her, she was sure of it. But she still had absolutely no idea how he’d react to her having his kid. Oh, she was sure that she could trust him not to force her into anything she didn’t want. And despite what he’d said about not wanting kids, she was sure she could count on him for financial support. But she wasn’t sure he’d still want to be with her. What if he wanted to end things? What if he simply said thanks, but no thanks, and wished her luck? She wasn’t sure her fragile, hormonal heart could take it. She’d grown used to his affection for her. Depended on it. Needed it.

She didn’t know what to do!

But maybe if she introduced Dante to her mother, her mother could help her decide.

“Dante, do you want to meet my mother?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“Really?”

Aurora cleared her throat. “It’s not a big deal. She’s a casual person.”

“Sure. I just thought you wanted this thing between us to be more… secret than that.”

Well, she had. At the beginning. But now she was all tangled up, totally confused, had no idea which way was up. And she needed to call in the big guns. “I’ve met Michelle.” She shrugged. “You should meet my mother. Unless you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous to meet a practicing witch…”

Aurora rolled her eyes. “I’m not going through this with you again. My mother is not a witch.”

“You only say that because if she’s a witch then you have to admit you’re a witch too.”

Aurora bit back her smile. “If I was a witch, I would have cast an expulsion charm against you a long time ago.”

“Ah, that was back when you didn’t like me. I’m not so worried about that these days.”

But he was worried, she thought. She saw it in his eyes, his lingering unease about her feelings for Gio. Oh, Dante, she thought, if you only knew. I love you. I love our child.

I just want you to love the both of us too.

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