Page 7 of Maybe My Baby

“I see.”

“You don’t approve?”

“That’s not what I said. If anything, I admire you for knowing yourself that well.”

“You give me too much credit, Sunshine. Anyway, I came here on a whim and met an old guy who had a shop down by the railroad tracks. A single-story concrete block building that had been there since the 1950s. He made furniture. Beautiful museum-quality stuff. I badgered him to give me a job, and he did.”

“Doing what?”

“At first, he paid me minimum wage to do grunt work. But eventually, he started teaching me the trade. I loved it. The smells and the tactile pleasure of working with wood. Once he trusted me, I became his apprentice.”

“And now here you are. With a waiting list a mile long.”

“Job security, right?” He kissed the top of her head.

For the first time in several days, Ginny felt normal. Which meant she felt other things, too. Like a surge of need for the man who held her close.

She nuzzled her face in his soft cotton shirt. “We could adjourn to my bedroom,” she said. “If you’re in the mood.”

Now he laughed out loud. He shifted her to an upright position and kissed her lightly, his eyes glinting with sensual intent. “I’ve told you, Ginny. Men arealwaysin the mood.”

“Right. Got it.”

His amusement faded by the time they made it to the bedroom. Now they were both in a hurry, stripping down as they eyed each other hungrily.

Ginny’s bed was far smaller than Donovan’s, though it was here he had first made love to her. When they were naked, she crooked her finger. “It’s been too long. You’ve been neglecting me.”

“A thousand apologies,” he panted as he tumbled them both onto the mattress and leaned over her on one elbow. “God, you’re beautiful.” He buried his face between her breasts and drove her wild with tiny nips of his teeth.

She hung on to his powerful shoulders, her fingernails digging in as he slid his hand between her legs and stroked her. His body was honed and tough—accustomed to hard physical labor. She tested the flat plane of his belly with her palm, caressed the erect length of his sex.

Donovan was beautiful, too. He was comfortable in his own skin. Ginny envied him that. She had always wanted to be something she wasn’t—tall, tanned, bosomy.

Instead, she was pale and freckled and medium everything. She got lost in the crowd in high school and college. Though she wasn’t shy now, she certainly had been back then. Opening her ice cream shop had given her confidence and taught her to interact with the public.

Donovan waved a hand in front of her face. “No zoning out during sex,” he said. “Where did you go?”

She smiled wistfully. “I was just thinking how gorgeous you are and how lucky I am.”

He rolled his eyes. “Everybody in town knows I’m the lucky one,” he muttered. “I get to sleep with the ice cream lady.”

When he paused what he was doing and stared down at her, she almost panicked. Could he tell? Could he see a difference in her body? Was it written on her face? Suddenly, she wanted to pull the sheet over them, even though the room was warm.

Donovan was perceptive, always had been since the moment they met. A slight frown furrowed his brow. “Ginny. I feel like I’ve lost you. We don’t have to do this if you’re not feeling okay.”

Her eyes filled with tears. Stupid hormonal tears. “I’m great,” she whispered.

She didn’t think he was convinced, but he didn’t challenge her. He shifted to one side only long enough to retrieve a condom and roll it on. Then he came back to her and settled between her thighs.

“I could take you like this a dozen times a day and it wouldn’t be enough,” he said. The somber expression in his eyes told her he wasn’t joking.

“Me, too,” she said. “You make me happy, Donovan. I never knew I could feel this way about a man. I never have before.”

Perhaps she should regret her honesty, but her lover groaned and surged inside her. “Good,” he said. “Let’s keep it that way.”

Ginny had always heard pregnant women were insatiable. Perhaps it was true. She came twice, the orgasms like lightning strikes, and then her arousal built a third time, sweeter and even more satisfying.

When Donovan shuddered in her arms and buried his face in her neck, she held him tightly as if she could prevent the future from unraveling in a disaster of epic proportions.

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