His Hush-Hush Baby - Holly Rayner Page 0,33

longer existed.

Lifting her hands, she pressed her palms against his cheeks. His eyes widened, and she noted the hesitation there.

Maybe it was what did it for her: the hesitation. Unlike what she’d thought when she stormed into his apartment, he wasn’t hell-bent at taking whatever he wanted at any cost.

Instead, he was cautious. Tentative.

And it made her fall for him all over again.

Closing the space between them, she crushed her lips to his. Kai froze, and her heart dropped as she realized she’d made a mistake.

Before she could draw away, though, he reciprocated. Hands in her hair. Lips sweeping like wildfire against hers. She pressed her body to his, reveling in the comfort of his strong chest.

Kai moved and pressed her back to a wall. His lips didn’t slow down for a second. They skipped her jaw, nipped at an earlobe, then returned to her mouth to hungrily devour her lips once more.

Her head spun, and her knees weakened. It was her fantasy come to life. The worries and cautions were still there, but they were smaller. That rational voice had been shushed by primal and romantic needs.

“I missed this,” Kai whispered against her lips.

“Take me to your bedroom,” she said, gasping.

He let out a guttural moan and dragged his teeth down the sensitive part of her throat. Diane dropped her head against the wall, closed her eyes, and trembled with need for him.

He lifted her like it was nothing and carried her through the apartment and into his bedroom. They collapsed on the bed, tangled together in desperation.

Tomorrow she could think things through. Tomorrow she could be rational again.

But right now wasn’t tomorrow. Which meant, even though it was only for a short time, she was off the hook.

Chapter 15

Diane

What did I do?

Diane lay still in bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. Next to her, Kai slept soundly. The soft murmur of his breathing filled the room and tugged at her heartstrings.

While they’d been lost in each other's arms, it had been so easy to forget that he was no good for her. Even lying there, then, warm and comfy in his bed, she could make herself forget it.

And if she stayed right where she was, she could wake up in the morning and feel the same way. He would pull her into his arms and make all the worries and fears go away. Or, at the very least, seem inconsequential.

She closed her eyes, willing the hollow ache in her chest to disappear. But of course, it didn’t. She knew better than to expect miracles.

Carefully, so as not to wake him, she slipped from the bed and padded to the bathroom down the hall. The light from the one attached to the master bath would probably wake Kai.

Flipping the switch, she caught a glimpse of her sad eyes in the mirror before she looked away, unable to bear the sight of herself right then.

Turning on the sink, she splashed water on her face and took a moment. What she wanted the most was to go right back in there and snuggle up against Kai’s chest.

If he’d noticed she had put on some weight, he said nothing. Likely, he thought it was due to stress and maybe even missing him.

Not pregnancy. That probably didn’t even register as a possibility to him.

“Ugh.” She clutched her stomach.

The morning sickness had been progressively getting better, and she hadn’t vomited in days. Looked like that was about to change.

She barely made it to the toilet before everything she’d eaten in the last six hours came up. She hurled several times, dry-heaving even when there was nothing left in her stomach.

Exhausted from the convulsions, she sank against the wall and closed her eyes. This wasn’t typical morning sickness. She was disgusted.

With herself.

A knock on the closed door made her jerk.

“Diane?” Kai called. “Are you okay?”

Her breath caught in her throat. “Yes. I’m fine. I just ate something bad.”

“Oh, no. I’ll get you something to calm your stomach.”

“It’s fine.” She braced her hand against the wall and pushed herself to standing. “I’m fine.”

Such lies.

“There’s some medicine in the master bath,” he said, going on as if he hadn’t heard her. “I’ll get it.”

She listened to him walk down the hall, then rinsed her mouth out with water and ran her fingers through her bed head. A clock on the wall said it was almost two in the morning.

Kai would be the kind of person to keep a clock in the bathroom. He was that focused