Page 93 of The Agent
But he stayed rock still, closing his eyes for a long moment. “That sounds so good.” Then he opened them, and his face softened with relief. “I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was just now, waiting to hear what you would say. Because if you’d said no, I would have had a hell of a time figuring out how to change your mind.”
“I have no doubt you would have come up with a plan,” Natalie said. “Are you going to kiss me or not?”
He frowned as his gaze skimmed over her face. “I’ll kiss you after we’ve gotten some ice on your cheek. I don’t want to hurt you.”
But she saw the heat in his eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with my lips.” She gave a little tug on the back of his neck.
“You make a valid point,” he said and lowered his mouth to hers. What began as an achingly gentle touch grew avid when Natalie traced his lips with her tongue. He threaded his fingers into her hair and pulled her head back so he could press searing kisses against her throat and collarbone. He ran his mouth back up to her ear and spoke beside it so his breath tickled her skin. “If I wasn’t worried that Leland and Chief Borland were going to walk through that door at any minute, I would peel your clothes off one piece at a time and make love to you right here on this couch.”
“Maybe if we skipped the striptease, we could manage it,” Natalie said, hunger coiling in her belly.
He huffed out a laugh. “You are my soul mate, but I was thinking about that nice big bathtub of yours. We could scrub the stink of this place off each other real slow with lots of slippery soap. Then I’d float you up over my lap and we could do an encore of the piano bench.”
Natalie’s inner muscles rippled at the memory of Tully thrusting up inside her. “I know exactly which part of you I’m going to wash first.”
Epilogue
Ten months later
The pastor sprinkled water over little Kirk Olson’s head, making the baby’s mouth open in a perfect circle of surprise. Regina smiled proudly when her son didn’t burst into wails of complaint. Natalie was the one who had to blink back tears as the pastor pronounced a blessing on the beaming mother and her white-gowned baby.
She looked at the circle of people around the baptismal font and more tears welled up. Everyone here had pitched in to help Regina and her baby. Alastair had done battle with Dobs Van Houten’s army of lawyers to win Regina sole custody of Kirk and bar Dobs from ever approaching his son without Regina’s permission. It seemed unlikely that Dobs would get out of prison for several decades anyway, despite the reams of paperwork his lawyers continued to generate. Tully had made sure the case against Dobs was airtight.
Derek had set up a special sort of trust for the substantial settlement Regina had received in the divorce. He’d fixed it so she could draw on the income for Kirk’s benefit but never have to touch what she called the dirty money.
Dawn and Leland had opened their home to Regina until she’d felt comfortable living on her own. Alice, Dawn, and Natalie had thrown a baby shower for the first-time mother at Natalie’s house.
It truly took a village.
After the ceremony was over, everyone strolled to the back of the church to congratulate Regina and wait for the limousines Tully had arranged to take them to the restaurant for a celebratory dinner.
“That is one good baby,” Tully said as they stood in a circle. “Not a peep out of him, even when he got wet.”
“He’s pretty calm,” Regina said modestly before she turned to Natalie. “Since you’re the godmother, would you hold him for a minute? I need to talk with the pastor about something.”
“Of course.” Natalie cradled the wide-eyed baby in her arms, smiling down at him. Regina had temporarily moved into the apartment over the salon once Deion found a place in the city, so Natalie often stopped by after work to play with Kirk and give Regina a break. Natalie had been honored beyond words when Regina asked her to be the little boy’s godmother.
She glanced up to find Tully watching her with a wide grin. He looked magnificent in his charcoal-gray suit, white shirt, and red tie ... and tooled leather boots, of course. He’d taken special care dressing for the baptism, which she’d found so sweet. Of course, she couldn’t wait to peel all that custom tailoring off him later to uncover his gorgeous muscles.
“You’re a natural,” he said, giving her a secret, warm look.
“As you pointed out, he’s an easy baby.” She swayed back and forth when Kirk started to fuss and he settled down again.
“I love the simplicity of this church,” Tully said, his gaze scanning the space. “What do you think of it?”
Natalie looked around at the white-painted walls and soaring wooden arches. The focal point was the wall of stone that rose behind the altar, decorated with a large but plain wooden cross. Since the location had been Regina’s choice, Natalie hadn’t focused on the church itself, just the pastor and the ceremony. “It’s very peaceful. Why?”
“Just curious.” Tully seemed strangely keyed up.
Maybe it was because they’d made a life-changing decision two days before. Natalie had been curled up against Tully on the sectional in her living area, drinking a Manhattan and watching the fire flickering in the gas fireplace when he had said, “What would you think of adopting? I know it’s a big decision but I’ve been thinking that maybe—”
Natalie’s heart had nearly exploded with joy at the thought of being a parent with Tully. She’d been hoping he would come around to the idea sooner rather than later, but she hadn’t wanted to push him. “Yes! Let’s do it!”
“Really? No reservations?” His face lit with happiness, but then his expression turned serious again. “If we want to adopt, we should probably get married. I know neither of us planned on that but I’m kind of old-fashioned about starting a family.”
“You’re kidding, right?” At that point, Natalie had put her glass down so fast the alcohol sloshed all over the table. She climbed onto his lap so she could look him right in the eyes. “If I’m going to be the mother of your children, you had better marry me.”
Then she had shown him in every way she could how much she wanted to be his wife.
