Page 48 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

“Come on, kid, you can do it,” Dante jumped in. “You’re made of words. Hell, you’ve never been speech-less before.”

Aurora and Michelle grimaced at one another over Dante’s bad joke, but Michelle instantly sobered. “Can I think about it?”

“Of course.”

Dante knew when it was time to change the subject for Michelle. He knew when she chewed her lip, nervousness was rising in her belly. “You still wanting to go to that sleepover tonight?” he asked, half hoping that she’d say no.

“Yeah,” she answered absently, still obviously thinking over the idea of making a speech about Von Willebrand’s in front of a bunch of adults.

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I know I said it was a good idea before but—”

“No, no. You were right,” Michelle agreed. “I like Teya. And she’s never invited me to anything before, so I think I should probably go.”

* * *

When they arrived home, Aurora wordlessly followed Michelle into her room and sat on the little girl’s bed, making suggestions about what to pack. She could tell Michelle was a little nervous about her first sleepover with her new friend Teya. Dante had told Aurora that most of Michelle’s friends were other kids from the hospital who were dealing with blood disorders. Which was cool, but she was just starting to make some public school friends as well.

Aurora was doing her best to stuff an oversized sleeping bag into an undersized backpack when Dante came back to the bedroom to find them.

“Time to go,” he said.

“Mind if I wait for you here?” Aurora asked, one hand on her stomach. “I’m a little tired.”

“You feeling alright?” Dante asked her, his eyes narrowing on the hand on her belly.

Aurora immediately dropped her hand. “Oh. Yes. Just a little tired is all.”

Michelle held her hands out for a hug and Aurora wrapped her right up.

* * *

When Dante returned from dropping Michelle off at the sleepover, it was to find Aurora, heels kicked off, curled up on his living room couch.

He watched the soft rise and fall of her chest. Her hair was the messiest he’d ever seen it, the silky strands tangled over the throw pillow. She wore a casual green dress, a little boxy and made of t-shirt material. She’d been doing that more often lately, he’d noticed. Dressing casually on the weekends.

It made his mouth water. And it thrilled him. He felt like he was somehow bridging the gap between the two versions of her. The stiff and formal work version of her and the passionate, wild home version of her. On the weekends she was in the middle. Relaxed and casual and so stunning it almost hurt to look at her.

It was getting out of hand, he had to admit. His feelings for her. He’d thought that indulging in her would quench the thirst he felt for her. But if anything, it had increased it. The tastes he was getting never seemed as if they would be enough.

He didn’t think she was necessarily using him to forget Gio anymore, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t have feelings for him. Even so, he sensed how things had changed between them. Just as Aurora was inside him, he’d found a place inside her. She enjoyed him in an elemental way, both in bed and out.

Unable to stand the distance between them a moment longer, he stepped closer to where she slept on the couch. As if she felt his eyes on her, she stirred, the long, golden column of her neck exposed against the early evening light.

Her eyes came open, blinking slowly, as if she were trying to figure out exactly who he was.

“Oh. Hi.”

He cocked his head to one side, unable and unwilling to fight against the wave of tenderness that rose up inside him.

* * *

“I’m glad you’re back,” Aurora said as she struggled against the fatigue that weighed her down. Something about this stage of pregnancy had her dragging. She’d actually fallen asleep at her desk chair the other day. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You look cute all fuzzy from sleep.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Normally you’re gorgeous, flawless. But you’ve got lines from the pillow on your cheek, your eyes are all heavy, your hair’s all messy and you just look cute.”

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