Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,60

was just messing with him. The truth was that she liked the more traditional names too… and it was so strange to be having this discussion with Abe, with the man she’d never thought would come back into her life. Now, if nothing went wrong with the pregnancy, he’d be part of her life forever.

ABE BROUGHT THE SUV TO A STOP IN FRONT of Sarah’s gate, waited until she used the remote she had on her keychain to open it, then drove in. When she pressed the remote a second time to keep the gate from closing behind his SUV, disappointment was a cold, hard lump of stone in his stomach.

“Thank you for dessert.” She unclipped her seat belt.

“Hold on.” His seat belt already undone, he pushed open his door and jogged around to her side to grab her waist and help her down. His SUV had to be a bit of a monster to comfortably fit his big body; it had a step you had to stand on to climb up and down. Abe didn’t need it, but Sarah did, and he didn’t want her to trip.

That’s a load of bullshit, Abe.

Sarah could handle his SUV. The truth was he hadn’t wanted to let her exit the vehicle and leave him, the night over. And he’d wanted to put his hands on her, hold her close. “There,” he managed to say, his hands lingering on her waist.

“Thanks.” Sarah slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder and made a small motion as if trying to step back.

Abe forced his fingers to open. “I’ll wait until you’re inside.”

She gave him a faint smile, an unspoken tension between them that hadn’t been present over the past couple of hours as they’d teased and played with one another. Something had happened on the drive home; he had no idea what. “You’ll call me? If you need anything? Otherwise I’ll be here to take you to the doctor at ten.”

Sarah separated out her house key from the other things on the fuzzy yellow ball of her keychain. “You really want to come to all the appointments?”

“Yeah, unless it’s something female where you don’t want me there.”

Laughing, the incredible woman who’d been his wife shook her head. “It’s all female, Abe.” She patted her belly. “I’ll call you. If you can’t come—”

“I’ll be there.” No matter what.

CHAPTER 21

ABE MADE SURE HE WAS ON TIME FOR SARAH’S return appointment with Dr. Snyder. Mostly the doctor just took Sarah’s vitals, ordered a few more blood tests to check she was healthy in terms of iron and other nutrients, then told her he’d call through a prescription for anything she needed once he had the results.

Abe had intended to pick her up, but she’d messaged for him to meet her at the doctor’s office. Appointment over, they stood in the underground parking area under the building, protected from the scorching heat of the LA sun. “You working today?” he asked, taking in the tailored navy-blue dress that screamed professional to him.

A nod. “One of my employees is retiring, so I need to find a replacement. It’s all interviews back-to-back.” She glanced at her watch. “First one’s in forty-five minutes.”

There was so much of Sarah’s life he’d missed out on, so much he didn’t know about this woman she’d become. “I guess you’d better head out in case you get delayed in traffic,” he said, even though he wanted to talk to her.

“Yes, it gets this hot and someone always loses it.” Sarah gave him an awkward smile as she slid into the driver’s seat, as if she couldn’t believe they’d been reduced to talking about LA traffic. It was a favorite topic of locals, but they’d been too much to each other for it to come to this.

Abe gripped the door before she could close it. “You free this coming Saturday?” His heart pounded like that of a teenage boy asking a girl out for the first time.

When Sarah said, “Yes, I think so,” he told himself not to celebrate prematurely.

Slipping on her sunglasses, she put her purse on the passenger seat. “Why?”

He curled his fingers over the red metal of her car door, the edge solid under his palm. “I have tickets to the symphony.”

“The symphony?” A smile that felt far more real, far more his Sarah. “Let me guess. No one else will go with you?”

He scowled. “Philistines.” In actuality, he hadn’t ever asked anyone else. He usually liked to go alone, lose himself