gets worse.”
Victoria started to correct the redhead, to tell her that Dylan wasn’t their baby. Then she stopped herself. It was just too hard to explain.
So she smiled instead. “We will.”
“Your baby’s very cute.”
Dylan gurgled and blew a raspberry on cue.
“Thanks.”
Jordan’s mother shifted her attention to Connor. “He’s going to have his mother’s goldy-brown eyes and his father’s dimples.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” Connor said politely.
Victoria could’ve kissed him for silently standing by her decision to say as little as possible.
Victoria had laughed with Suzy in the past when complete strangers had told short, blonde, bubbly Suzy how much the newborn Dylan looked like her—not realizing he didn’t possess any of Suzy’s DNA. Now the memory made her ache with loneliness.
“I’d better find Jordan before he wrecks the place.” The redhead scanned the surroundings until she found her son. “Or lands in the pond with the goldfish!” She gave them a rueful smile. “I made the mistake of having only one—so when he doesn’t have a friend, guess who has to play with him?” She thrust a thumb at her chest. “Me. Don’t do what I did. Make sure you have another kid to keep yours company.”
Victoria fidgeted, uncomfortably hot at the too-tempting idea of creating a baby with Connor. Thankfully, Jordan’s mother didn’t seem to expect a reply; she simply wiggled her fingers at Dylan before vanishing in Jordan’s wake.
After what seemed an age Victoria couldn’t bear the tingling silence any longer. Unable to help herself, she turned her head. And instantly wished she’d resisted the lure.
Connor was staring at her with predatory speculation, and the normally cool eyes simmered with heat.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Victoria pulled herself together. It was up to her to defuse this sexual tension, and as rapidly as possible.
She chose to do so with humor. “Poor Jordan. What on earth is his mother going to tell his girlfriends one day?”
Connor flung his head back and laughed. And the strange, heavy ache below her heart expanded, filling her with a yearning she’d never expected.
The day ended all too soon.
After securing Dylan in the backseat, Connor held the Maserati’s passenger door open for Victoria. And found himself staring at her legs with all the frustrated hunger of a university student eager for his first lay.
They were nice legs. Encased in opaque winter stockings, they were shapely, too. So why the hell hadn’t he noticed them before?
Probably because he’d never seen them. She usually wore black trousers, or long skirts in neutral colors. Black, navy or gray. She never wore a denim skirt that rode up.
Like now.
But he shouldn’t feel this … desperate … about stroking them.
She cleared her throat. “You can shut the door.”
Caught.
“Sorry.” He shook his head sheepishly. “Don’t know what I was thinking.”
She gave him an old-fashioned look. He shrugged and decided to try for some damage control. He didn’t need her knowing how she’d tied him into damned Gordian knots. “So I’ve always been a bit of a leg man—blame a male’s basic instincts.”
“Control those instincts.” But she laughed, flushing a little. “You’ve spent too long around the animals today, I think.”
“Perhaps,” he conceded.
If she only knew how much testosterone her spontaneous smile and slender body had unleashed, she’d be running for the hills—with him in hot pursuit.
He closed the door with a snap and strode around to the driver’s side.
A stolen sideways glance revealed that despite Dylan’s inquisitive fingers her hair was still sleek. Yet sometime during the day she’d lost the faint tension that always seemed to cling to her. It must be the fact that a smile had never been far from her lips.
It wasn’t something she did often enough.
He fired up the Maserati and pulled out onto the road. “Tired?” he asked as he stopped for a red light.
“Exhausted.”
He pushed the gearshift into neutral and turned his head. “At least I’m not alone in that.”
The smile she gave him caused his groin to tighten.
“But it was worth it,” she said. “Thanks. It was a great idea.”
Connor told himself to keep it light. “Zoos were created for adults.”
She tilted her head. “Why do you say that?”
“Didn’t you notice the amount of newborns and young babies? All those parents have been waiting years to legitimately get back into a zoo, bitterly regretting the day they told their parents that thirteen made them too cool for kiddie outings.”
She laughed.
Then she ruined his pleasure by pointing out, “The lights have changed.”
“Thanks.” Connor put the car into gear and accelerated smoothly away.
“You could be right.