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He grins back. “You have a point there.” A frown follows. “Was I too rough?”
“No,” I tell him. “I wanted it that way.”
He leans forward and presses his lips to my forehead. “How did I get this lucky?”
“To score?” I tease him.
“I mean more than sex. How did I get so lucky to know you?” he says solemnly.
The words are on the tip of my tongue. How did I get so lucky too? But I can’t say them. Saying them aloud will mean acknowledging that something is going on between us, but I definitely do not want to go down that road.
Instead, I close the distance between us and kiss him. “That was a perfect evening.”
20
Alec
“Admit it, you’re going to miss me,” Ivy says, smiling in that cute way that makes me want to gather her in my arms.
“I will.” She’s been shadowing me for three days, and tomorrow, she’ll spend the day with Dylan, after which she’ll go back to her writing.
I say it casually, but there’s nothing casual about my feelings for her. These last four days of spending all day with Ivy have shown me that she’s not just the woman who is carrying my baby. She’s a lot more than that. Ivy is special and being with her is like having sunshine cast in my life every day.
Just looking at her is enough to make me smile. I love the way her laughter rings loud and how easy it is to be with her. Her company is devoid of mind games that many of the women I dated in the past played. It’s refreshing to be with a woman who says what is on her mind rather than what she thinks you want to hear.
“Has it been helpful?” I ask her.
“More than you can imagine. I understand now what my editor meant when she said that my hospital scenes ring false.” She makes a face, and I laugh. “I can’t wait to get back to writing.”
“I hope you’ll let me read what you come up with. I’d love to read your work,” I tell her.
“Maybe I will,” Ivy says with a smile that lights up her face. “It’s a little frightening showing your writing to another person.”
Before I can respond, my cell phone vibrates. It’s my mother. Probably calling to confirm that I’ll attend dinner with the family tonight. I excuse myself to Ivy before answering the call.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Hello, Alec,” she says. “I called to remind you that we’re having a family dinner tonight.”
I chuckle. “Since when do I need reminding?”
She laughs too, her cover blown. “And also, to ask you to bring Ivy along. We would love to get to know her better.”
Relief surges through me. My mother is a proud woman, and the fact that she wants to try again with Ivy makes me happy. They need each other, and they’ll always be in each other’s lives.
“I’ll ask, but I can’t promise anything.” We say goodbye, and I disconnect the call and turn to Ivy. “That was my mother. She asked me to invite you to dinner tonight.”
Ivy stares at me without speaking, and my stomach clenches. “I’m not sure if I want to go to dinner at your parents’ house. It’s not easy to forget that these are the same people who wanted to take my baby away from me.”
Just recalling that makes me mad all over again but getting angry is not useful at this point. We all need to move forward and not linger on the past.
“I understand why you don’t want to go, but please give them a chance,” I plead. “They made a mistake, and we all do, though definitely not in that magnitude.” I make a face, and Ivy laughs.
“Okay, I will, but only because you asked nicely,” she says.
Relief surges through me. Maybe this will be a new beginning for my parents and Ivy. I’d love them to get to know each other. I know they would be friends if they gave each other a chance.
Speaking of the baby reminds me that we are going for the next appointment in two days. “We’ll see our baby in two days,” I tell her, and she grins.
