Page 24 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

Chapter Seven

“Food,” Aurora groaned into his neck where she’d buried her face. The aftershocks had gone, and all that was left was a full-bodied exhaustion. An absolute need for nourishment like she’d never known before. “Now.”

Dante chuckled and disentangled them, wincing as he pulled out of her. She immediately missed the heat of his skin against hers, but something kept her from pulling him toward her again.

He held out a hand to help her hop down from the counter.

“This food’s going to need some reheating. If you want you can wash up in my bathroom while I get the food ready. You remember where it is?”

He jerked his chin toward the stairs and the room that Aurora remembered very well.

Aurora nodded and shivered. She hadn’t realized the air had been so chilly in here until she was standing there completely naked, covered in a thin layer of sweat. “How’d you know I’d want a bath?”

He shrugged. “You’re practically swaying on your feet right now. Go relax upstairs and I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”

Aurora frowned, but she turned and walked up the stairs. This was really not how she’d thought this was going to go. She really thought she was going to get here, bang him, and leave. But he’d ordered them dinner? What the heck was his angle here? There was no way she was leaving without eating some of that food but he wasn’t wrong that she was basically dead on her feet. A bath would actually be really nice right about now.

She ignored his bedroom and the onslaught of memories it brought back and walked straight into his adjoining bathroom. She sighed. A claw foot tub. Perfect.

She ran the water into it, but couldn’t find any bubbles to add. She couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the well-stocked drawer of condoms he had. Fat lot of good that had done them.

Normally, she liked a piping hot bath. However, her OBGYN had warned her against that in her first trimester, so Aurora settled for a mildly warm one. Still, she had no complaints when she piled her hair in a messy bun and slipped into the warm water. Heaven.

She made quick work with the bar of soap on the ledge, reveling in the manly smell of it.

All clean, her eyes fluttered closed and she hovered somewhere between thoughts and dreams and memories, each muscle in her body slowly relaxing.

“Sweetheart.”

His voice had her eyes flinging open, but she didn’t tense back up. He stood in the doorway of the bathroom, barefoot and shirtless, his work slacks slung low over his hips. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a pained expression.

“You trying to invite me in?” He nodded toward her legs, one of which was drawn up, her foot planted on the edge of the tub. It had been a natural pose for Aurora to strike in the tub, but she could see now that it was alluring. She was opening herself for him.

The thought struck her like lightning. She pictured him crawling into the tub, slacks and all, the water spilling over the sides. Her core clenched around nothing, needing to be filled again. But a different hunger won out.

“Food,” she croaked again.

Dante threw his head back and laughed. “Fair enough, gorgeous. It’s all ready downstairs. I brought your clothes up.” He nodded toward a pile of folded clothes he’d set on the counter. “But you can find something in the closet if you want to get more comfortable.”

And then he was gone. Leaving her be. Aurora had been certain from the minute she’d seen him in the doorway that he was going to stay and watch her get out of the tub. But no, he gave her space. And had folded her clothes.

She wrinkled her nose at the new information. Weird. It somehow didn’t fit the playboy image she had of him in her head. Well, part of the reason she was here was to learn more about him, so she supposed it was important to approach things with an open mind.

She dried off and despite being terribly tempted to go through his clothes and pick out something to wear, slipped back into her clothes. She had to maintain some distance, after all.

She peeked at herself in the mirror and was surprised at what she saw. Besides the professional clothing, she looked like she could be a college girl hanging out at home after class. Her hair was piled up on top of her head, her makeup washed off from the bath. Her skin was flushed and slightly pink. And her eyes were… blurry? Relaxed? Happy?

Strange. Feeling vaguely suspicious of what her own reflection was telling her, Aurora headed downstairs. She was fairly certain she could eat an entire buffet right now. All-you-can-eat would lose money tonight.

She had laser vision as she bounced down the stairs and perched herself on the bar stool at the breakfast bar. Dante, bless him, had already loaded her plate with food and was just setting out a glass of ice water for her.

“I also have beer? Wine? A stiff whiskey to put the color back in your cheeks?” He surveyed her, cocking his head to one side. “Actually, strike that. The bath did that just fine.”

She met his gaze for a moment, and something electric passed between them before she deliberately tucked into her food. She waved her hand to show him that water was fine.

He leaned over the bar and watched her eat with a vaguely amazed look in his eye. “You look about 18 with your hair piled up like that and no makeup.”

She finally looked back up at him, swallowing what was in her mouth and taking a big gulp of water. “You wanna see some ID?”

---