AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is the way we’re doing it.”
“I don’t see a line item for moving into my house.”
“Sorry. I’m going to be living apart from you before that happens.” She waggled her hand where the engagement ring sat. “The breakup and all.”
“I don’t see why we have to break up.” He felt his brow furrow while hers lifted.
“Because this isn’t real. I’ve orchestrated engagements before. I’ve even dealt with unplanned pregnancies. Couples don’t usually argue with my sound and reliable suggestion to announce a split.” She bit her lip. “Mostly.”
Mostly.
He wondered if that meant some of the couples she’d walked through the valley of the shadow of matrimony fell in love for real and unraveled her precious plans. That wasn’t their case, but he could see the discomfort in her expression.
He set the paper aside and walked toward her until she plastered her back against the fridge and lifted her chin to take him in. There wasn’t anything quite like her delicate features contrasted with all that strength and sass. She was a drug.
His palm on her stomach, he crowded her until his body was pressed against hers. “This. Is real.”
“I know,” she said just above a whisper. “But the engagement isn’t.”
“There’s no reason to dismantle it yet. We could say we’re waiting to marry until after you have the baby.”
She gave him a slow nod, her eyes averting. “Is that what you want?”
Yes. Because he knew what he didn’t want. He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t want to miss a single moment of the pregnancy. That was only one of the reasons he wanted her to move in. He wanted to watch over her, but he also wanted to be with her.
“How about this for a proposal?” he asked, pleased when she turned her head, and her lips were dangerously close to his. “Move into my house. Have my baby. Wear this ring.”
“And then what?”
“We have time to decide the what, Penelope.” He palmed her soft cheek and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “In the meantime, I want you in my house. In my bed. In my world.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Let me. Allow yourself to let me. You don’t have to have a rigid plan for your own life, Pen. Live on the edge.” He gave her a lazy grin. “It’s fun here.”
She licked her lips and before she could argue, he covered them with a kiss. Deflecting? Possibly. Where they were concerned, there was one surefire way to get them back on track and that was in the bedroom.
“You promised me dinner,” she breathed, but her fists clung to him.
He was aware of the time, more aware of her pending hunger than his hardening manhood. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” Her eyebrows bent in the sincerest apology. “How about after dinner?”
“You have to ask?” He shook his head, still marveling over how off-kilter this woman could throw him. “Dinner. Get changed.”
Her beaming smile made him almost as happy as having her underneath him. She bounced out of the kitchen and down the hallway and Zach took another look at the paper in front of him.
He grabbed a pen from a nearby drawer and drew a line through “announce end of engagement.”
