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“That is properly amazing,” he declared, sitting back, a grin on his face.

“It’s also kind of weird.” Lucy pulled her top down and sat up.

“Well, yeah. But good weird.”

Lucy laughed. “Agreed.”

She yawned. “I think I’ll call it a night.”

“Me too. Thank you for a fantastic Christmas preparation day.”

“It was my absolute pleasure,” said Lucy.

She went to get up and accepted the hand he held out to her, allowing him to help her up.

She found herself standing rather closer to him than she’d anticipated and felt a little lightheaded. She placed a hand on his chest to steady herself. Gosh, he was firm.

“Sorry,” she said, slowly removing her hand from his body. She looked up and their eyes met. Lucy’s breath caught in her throat. There was nothing she could do to break away from his gaze. She was trapped in it. Powerless to resist as his hand moved up and ran down her cheek, making her legs feel like they were going to give way. She felt his arms move to her waist. Firm as he held her in place.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice husky.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just felt a little dizzy for a moment.”

“But it’s better now?” His eyes moved down momentarily to her lips, before returning to meet hers.

“Yeah . . . all . . . better.”

They stood, locked together.

“Lucy, do you want me to kiss you?” Dylan finally asked softly, his eyes not moving from her lips.

Lucy swallowed, not daring herself to speak.

“Lucy . . . if you want this, you’re going to have to ask for it. I’m not a mind reader.”

How on earth was she supposed to resist this? His hands on her, his smell filling her . . .

Lucy’s heart was thumping wildly in her chest and her whole body felt like it was covered in goosebumps.

“I want this,” she whispered, and the next moment, his lips were on hers, tentative at first, probing for her response, but, as soon as he received Lucy’s affirmation in the little groan she let slip as she returned his kiss, he pulled her closer, and his attentions became more intense, desperate, as they both gave in.

Dylan broke their kiss and Lucy immediately felt the loss, and went to meet his lips again, making him smile. “Let’s move this to somewhere more comfortable,” he suggested, running his hands down her arms and making her shiver. He went to sweep her up in his arms.

Lucy stepped back slightly. “You’ll break your back,” she protested.

Dylan laughed and pulled her back against his chest. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he growled into her hair. “I bench twice your weight.”

He picked her up easily, and she wrapped her legs around him.

“See. Easy,” he declared as he carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter 21

Dylan had left her bed when Lucy woke up to her alarm the next morning. She groaned at the thought of getting up and having to deal with the mess she’d managed to make of things. Those stupid pregnancy hormones. Just look what they’d done! She and Dylan had been doing so well, getting along together. They’d actually been able to become friends, and she really believed there was a chance that there was potential for them to do a good job co-parenting their baby together. But all that depended on them remaining friends, or at least on good terms with each other, and how were they supposed to do that when in a week or a month Dylan got bored with her, like he presumably did all the women he slept with and swiftly moved on from? The few times she’d seen him with one of his conquests, she’d never seen him with the same woman twice. Was she then just supposed to forget that she had feelings for him? Forget the thoughts her traitorous mind was suddenly having about how maybe she could be the one to tame him and make him fall in love with her? That was never going to happen. She didn’t think she’d known him to have a relationship that lasted beyond a fortnight before, and it was a long-standing joke between him and Michael that Dylan was a notorious bachelor. Was he really going to change overnight for her just because she was carrying his child?

Actually, knowing Dylan the way she now did, and having received one marriage proposal from him already, she knew that he probably would at least attempt to settle down with her to provide a proper family life for their baby. Especially because of how his own childhood had been. But she didn’t want that. She didn’t want someone who only wanted her because she happened to be the mother of his child. That wasn’t a relationship she was interested in being in. She didn’t even think it would be good for their child to have his or her parents together like that, and it certainly wouldn’t be good for her. She wanted someone who loved her back if she was going to be with someone at all.

No, she knew that the best hope she and Dylan had of being able to co-parent together effectively was for them to not have done what they had the previous night.