His teasing tone, combined with his serious expression, made her stomach flutter. She sighed, knowing they needed to get dressed and rejoin the family. “Fine,” she conceded, retrieving her dress and panties and dressing.
Before he unlocked the door, he bent down to kiss her one more time, his thumb running over the reddened marks along the crook of her neck where he’d lightly sucked and bitten.
She’d seen the red marks in the mirror while fixing her hair and took the scrunchie out again. Leaving it down seemed to be the best course of action. She didn’t want her sisters to tease Hugh about them.
“I can’t wait for you to be back on birth control,” he confessed. “It was too close this time.”
She stiffened at his words. After their talk about children, or her talk rather, since he hadn’t added any of his own thoughts on the subject, he was clearly letting her know he didn’t want to take chances again like they’d just done.
“You do remember you came inside me our first night together, right?” His eyes widened in shock and fear.
“We used condoms,” he denied.
“Not that one time in the middle of the night when you woke me up by slipping into me from behind.” His normally golden skin tone paled. “When I got up that morning, I felt it between my legs,” she finished steadily. Annoyed.
“I’m sorry. I…this…there’s no excuse for being that reckless.”
He was obviously beating himself up, which she had no intention of allowing to continue. “We both have responsibility for what happens in our bed, babe. Stop acting like you forced me to have sex without protection. It was only once. Don’t worry.”
“Did they do blood work at the hospital?”
“They did, but even blood tests usually require the woman to be pregnant for at least a week to show up positive. Seriously, it was once. Let it go. I’m not going to try to get pregnant when you clearly don’t want me to be.”
When his shoulders stiffened, and he didn’t offer any rebuttal, she sighed and unlocked the door herself before walking forward to the cabin. She sat opposite her sisters and their…dotinghusbands. She squeezed her eyes tight, refusing to allow herself to feel anything but pure joy for her sisters.
The brooding man at her back may not be everyone’s ideal boyfriend, but he sure as hell was hers, and she was willing to give him grace as he’d asked for and trust that they’d eventually find themselves in a mutually satisfying relationship.
32
When they got back to the main cabin, they sat where Rowan had before. In the same row of seats, not quite touching. Four sets of eyes were watching his and Rowan’s every move. He ignored them.
Rowan cleared her throat, earning Hugh’s attention. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I was thinking, Rave, that I would be better suited to set up the tables with Cormac if you don’t mind switching jobs.”
Hugh couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She was doing this for him. Totally for him. She’d known it would bother him and was trying to rectify the situation. He’d planned on trying to speak to her about it later. He’d been such a giant, jealous ass about that Murphy piece of shit in the past, he hadn’t been looking forward to broaching the subject.
“No problem. You’ve always been the Feng Shui guru of the three of us, and I love planning dinner menus. I should have put you on that in the first place. I’m not sure how I overlooked that.”
Hugh looked at Raven then, something in her tone caught his attention. She smirked at him with a ‘call me out if you’re braveenough’ look. Clearly his devious daughter-in-law had planned to goad him from the beginning with her job assignments. He narrowed his eyes at her, briefly acknowledging that her scheming had worked.
“Oh, well, thank you,” Rowan answered after sending a quick glance his way.
“Are you still planning on going to Nan’s apartment when we land?” River asked. “I want to go with you.”
“Me too,” Raven immediately chimed in.
It was obvious to him and the boys that the girls were going to have a hard time letting Rowan do things on her own for a while.
“You know, all of your stuff is still there,” Raven continued.
Hugh was watching Rowan intently, so he saw her glance in his direction quickly before answering.
“Oh, that’s perfect. I plan on staying there for a bit longer anyway.”
Like hell. She was moving intotheirapartment in the O Building. Immediately. He wanted to say something, but damn him, he couldn’t bring himself to address the living situation in front of everyone.
He took a deep breath as things deteriorated further. Raven and River sat up and looked at their sister like she’d just told them she was shaving her head and moving to Timbuktu. Bran and Patrick could tell their wives were becoming distressed, and they didn’t like it.
