“Do you want kids?” I asked quietly.
He hesitated before he answered quietly, “Yeah.”
“How many?”
This time, he didn’t hesitate. This time, he spoke like he knew exactly what he wanted.
“Don’t care. As long as they’re healthy, happy and I can provide a good life for them, I’ll keep goin’.”
I turned to him, looked at his beautiful profile and whispered, “I hope you find someone really fantastic, someone as beautiful as you who thinks you’re perfect, has a great laugh and you want to keep going with her.”
He glanced at me again and when he did he was smiling and his smile caught in my throat.
It was nearly as good as Tor’s.
“Baby, you just described you.”
“Shit,” I whispered and turned back forward, “I kind of did.”
He chuckled.
“Though I’m not fantastic, I’m cold and bad in bed,” I reminded him and he burst out laughing.
That caught in my throat too because it was also nearly as good as Tor’s.
He quit laughing but declared, “Babe, you made me laugh like that when we were together, I wouldn’t have let you pack my bags.”
Hmm.
“Good thing I did, considering I’m crazy,” I reminded him.
“I could handle crazy, you make me laugh and you can kiss like you kissed me tonight.”
I felt my eyes get wide and turned to look at him again. “Noc, are you flirting with a lunatic woman you think has multiple personalities, a gambling addiction and is pregnant with your child?”
He glanced at me before turning back to the road, his handsome face even more handsome with his smile. “Cora, if there’s anyone I can flirt with, I can flirt with the woman who’s pregnant with my child.”
I faced back forward, muttering, “I can’t argue with that.”
Noc chuckled again.
I finally (and belatedly wisely) fell silent.
It was Noc who next spoke.
“Which one is you?”
I closed my eyes.
Then I opened them and replied, “I guess both are me, Noc, in a way.”
“I prefer this you.”
Poor Cora. What an idiot.
“Everyone does,” I whispered.
“I could work with this you,” he muttered, again as if to himself.