Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,66

to a pressing need. We can discuss your methods of winning me over later.”

“I have a better idea. We can do both at the same time.”

She arched a brow. “Do you want to talk while I pee?”

“I was thinking along the lines of demonstrating my best approach in the shower.” He waggled his brows. “We haven’t made love in there yet.”

46

Edna

Sunday morning sex was the best. It was lazy, unhurried, and after all that exercise, breakfast tasted much better.

“This is the best omlet I ever had.” She scooped up the last of the mushroom and onion filling that had fallen out with a piece of bread. “And you said that you are a poor cook.”

Rufsur’s smile was the epitome of male satisfaction. The guy loved taking care of her. “I only know how to make a few things, but I make them well.”

Edna wiped her mouth with a paper towel. “You apply yourself to everything you do, which I find admirable. You don’t half-ass anything.”

Rufsur put a hand over his bare chest. “Edna, did you just say half-ass? I’m so proud of you.”

He was hilarious. “I’m not as prim and proper as I look.”

“Oh, I know, my delightful hellcat.” He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “So we’ve established that you love my body, my lovemaking, my cooking, and my dimply smiles. Did I win you over already? Or do I still have to prove myself?”

Damn. That was a trick question.

The truth was that he had and then some. She was falling in love with him, or maybe had already fallen, but he was leaving in the evening, and she would have to wait another two weeks before she could see him again.

In theory, the arrangement sounded doable, but it was damn difficult, and they still hadn’t a solution in sight. As long as she didn’t admit her feelings for him, she could at least pretend that they weren’t as strong, and that she could survive on his bi-monthly visits.

“I’m waiting.” He tapped his fingers on his impressive biceps.

“You don’t have to prove a thing to me. I like everything about you.”

Rufsur looked disappointed. “I was hoping for more, but I’m a patient man.”

He was also an honest man who deserved the same from her. “I wish I could just open my heart to you. But I’m afraid to do that before figuring out a way to make it work. How about that coaching that you promised? How would you handle Kian?”

“Kian is easy. All you have to do is tug at his heartstrings, and he will give you what you want.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

Rufsur rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Tell him that you love me and can’t live without me, and that a federation is the only way we can be together.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “That wasn’t what you wanted to say.”

“Did you probe me?”

“I wouldn’t do that without asking your permission. But I don’t need to do that to figure out when you are being evasive. I don’t think you’ve ever lied to me, but you don’t always say what’s really on your mind.”

“I do most of the time.”

She waved a hand. “And that’s why it’s so obvious to me when you don’t.”

“I didn’t say what I’ve been thinking because you’re not going to like it.”

“Try me.”

“Remember our last conversation from two weeks ago?”

Edna swallowed. “You said that you wanted to have a child with me. I thought that you’d changed your mind about that.”

“Did you?”

“Don’t answer my question with one of your own.”

“Fine.” He let out a breath. “I did, and I didn’t. I realized that I don’t want to be a long-distance father. The two-week separation from you proved that it’s too difficult. I thought that twice-a-month visits could sustain me, but I was wrong. I want to have a life with you, and I want us to raise our child or children together. But it occurred to me that pregnancy could put pressure on Kian to give the federation serious thought. He wouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.”

What Rufsur hadn’t said in his emotional speech was that he loved her. Not that it would have made a difference, but shouldn’t that come before talking about raising children together?

Except, she hadn’t told him that she loved him either, and the same kind of thoughts had been swirling through her head as well.

In a way, it made sense. She would have welcomed a pregnancy even