Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,107
so she could offer her delighted congratulations.
Thea returned her heartfelt hug with gentle arms. Her joy in being married to David was incandescent, the way the two kept touching their fingers to each other’s a silent statement of togetherness. In between, David exchanged back-slapping hugs with his family members and bandmates, his grin so deep that it might well carve permanent grooves in his cheeks.
Sarah sniffed again.
Sighing, Abe handed her a pristine handkerchief. “I bought it for the waterworks.”
She elbowed him. “Shuddup.”
He pressed a kiss to her curls. “Softie.”
Sarah melted.
She’d felt a bittersweet joy at Molly and Fox’s wedding, happy for the other couple but sad that she and Abe had broken. This time she could almost imagine walking down the aisle all over again with the only man who had ever owned her heart.
It scared her in a beautiful way.
CHAPTER 36
AFTER THE HAPPY ROMANCE OF BALI—AND the relatively low-key response when news of the pregnancy first broke—it was a shock to return home to endless paparazzi cameras and judgmental articles that implied Sarah had “lured” Abe back, then “trapped” him. Sarah knew she shouldn’t read those articles, but she wasn’t superhuman. Sometimes she couldn’t help herself.
“Do you feel trapped?” she asked Abe sharply one morning while they were still in bed.
Yawning, he opened one eye. “What?”
“By the fact I’m pregnant.” Sarah glared at him.
He groaned and reached over to close a hand over her thigh under the sheet. That thigh was naked because she somehow always ended up naked around Abe. She’d pulled the sheet up over her breasts and tucked it under her arms, but beneath it she was as bare as the day she’d been born.
“Abe, stop stroking my thigh and answer the question.”
“I am answering it.” He scowled at her. “Why the fuck would I feel trapped when I get to wake up to you every morning?”
Sarah’s lower lip quivered.
“Aw, shit.” Rising up into a seated position against the headboard, he ran a hand over her hair before tugging her gently toward his chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to growl at you.”
Sarah snuggled up to his chest, not even sure why she was crying. His answer had been wonderful, romantic. “I’m so pregnant!” she wailed.
“Definitely.” Abe sounded like he was smiling.
She thumped a fist against his chest. “Stop laughing.”
Chuckling openly now, he wrapped both arms around her. “I can’t help it. You’re finally doing the hormonal pregnant-woman thing.” Pushing one hand into her hair, he tugged up her head and kissed away her tears before coaxing her into a slow, deep kiss. “Good morning, beautiful.”
Feeling all wrung out and yet oddly happy, Sarah smiled. “Good morning, gorgeous.” She petted his pecs, sighed over just how pretty he was.
“Um, thanks?”
She frowned. “What?”
“I don’t know if I like being described as pretty. Noah’s pretty. I’m ruggedly handsome.”
Sarah hadn’t realized she’d said the words aloud, but now she smiled and pressed a kiss to the closest part of his chest. “Pretty Abe.”
“If you weren’t pregnant…” His threat lost all force when he kissed her, the tenderness of the touch making her eyes tear up all over again.
“Sweetheart.” Expression darkening, Abe shook his head. “For the record and so you don’t ever have to think about it again: I don’t feel trapped. Far from it. Fuck, Sarah, I want to trap you. Forever. I want my ring back on your finger and I want to wear yours and I want the world to know you’re mine.”
Shock froze her tears, turned her breathless. “Did you just…”
“Ask you to marry me again?” Abe nodded. “I was planning to wait until you were more sure of me, but I don’t ever want you to worry about why I’m here. I’m here because I want to be here.”
Rubbing at her eyes, Sarah sat back on her haunches.
Abe’s eyes went immediately to her nude breasts.
She blushed and picked up the edge of the sheet to shield herself, not because she didn’t love the way Abe looked at her but because she wanted to talk… Yet she didn’t know what to say. That was when she realized that the fear that had hit her before Bali was still there, a wary shadow she couldn’t quite shake, a shadow formed of a lifetime of pain and neglect and loss.
Deep inside, where she tried not to look, she was so afraid this was all a mirage that would disappear if she reached out and tried to claim even more happiness for herself and their baby.