Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,59
hide. His entire body heated up, his smile slow and dangerous. He hadn’t been trying to tease her—he didn’t know how, not unless he had his hands on her. Clearly, however, he’d managed to do so by accident.
Why not capitalize on his success?
Taking a piece of apple, he dipped it in the sauce, then lifted it to the lush curves of her lips. He fucking loved Sarah’s lips. Back when she’d liked him, the things she’d done to him with that mouth… mercy. “Here.”
Her gaze lifted to hold his as her lips parted. She bit down on the first third, chewed. He waited, fed her the second bite… then the last. When her lips brushed his fingers on that final bite, he had to force himself to drop his hand. His damn cock might burst otherwise. His balls were already beyond all hope.
Then Sarah smiled again and he realized it was worth it.
Why in hell had he let this woman go? Talk about a lesson on the evils of alcohol and drugs. But of course it hadn’t only been the booze and the drugs. He’d been an asshole to her in his angry grief, but grief didn’t excuse how he’d acted. Nothing excused it.
Sarah wasn’t ugly in her own grief.
And that grief lived in her every second of every day, regardless of if she laughed; he understood that. He’d witnessed his mother’s devastation at Tessie’s death—he had some idea of what it did to a woman to lose her child. His father, too, had never recovered. Gregory Bellamy hadn’t been like Jeremy Vance, hadn’t just been able to forget his daughter and move on. He’d mourned her every day till he died.
Abe’s heart ached at the memory of the man who’d been his example of manhood, who’d taught him about honor and keeping your word and how to treat a woman. He’d have been so disappointed at Abe’s behavior toward Sarah—but Abe vowed to his father that he’d do better. This time around, he’d do it right.
He couldn’t control fate, couldn’t control what would happen during the pregnancy, but he could control his own actions: he’d make damn certain that Sarah was happy in every way he could make her. It wasn’t atonement, wasn’t redemption.
It was hope… and need… and love.
That last terrified him. Because there was a very big chance that he’d permanently snuffed out any possibility of getting Sarah to love him back. She’d given him that priceless gift once, and he’d thrown it back into her face. Abe wouldn’t blame her if she never trusted him again.
SARAH SAT IN THE PASSENGER SEAT OF ABE’S SUV, replete and content and with her skin tingling in that anticipatory way that said bone-melting pleasure hovered on the horizon. Sarah looked out the window at the slumbering lights of Los Angeles, swallowed. She and Abe, the sex had always been good. Phenomenal. That had never been their problem. And now…
Her hand opened over her abdomen.
“You good?”
She started, not having realized he was paying attention to her actions, he’d been so focused on driving. “Yes. I just suddenly remembered I’m pregnant.” Of course it was always there, the knowledge, but sometimes it faded into the background, and other times it burst right into the very front of her consciousness and took away her breath.
Abe nodded, his eyes on the road. “I wonder if it’ll be a boy or a girl.” A grin. “Can we fight over the names?”
Who was this wonderful man so excited about the journey they were to share?
She wanted him desperately.
Inhaling deep, then exhaling in a quiet release, she made herself look forward instead of at Abe. She had to be careful, so careful. Fear gripped her heart at the idea of falling for him again only to be rejected, to be left behind.
No, she couldn’t permit that to happen. Their relationship had to remain stable and friendly for the baby’s sake. Nothing more, nothing less. It didn’t matter how fiercely she was attracted to the man Abe had become. “We’ll definitely be fighting if you want a weird Hollywood-child name,” she said, trying to keep her tone light.
“Nope. I like girly names for girls and manly names for boys. Traditional as they come.”
She rolled her eyes, her lips twitching. “If we have a son, I’m buying him dolls as well as trucks, same for if we have a girl.”
“Fine with me. As long as their names are girly for a girl or manly for a boy.”