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Maybe, just maybe they could get past this.
Together.
“First time’s the charm, eh?”
It was her turn to gawk at him. “That is not the first thing that pops into your head after I tell you you’re going to be a father, is it?” When a grin popped up on James’ face, so smug and satisfied, she had to chuckle. “You’re insane. Do you know that?”
“Insane for you,” came the slick retort.
She blew out a breath. “Whatever I expected, it wasn’t this,” she confessed, eyes bright with amusement as she absorbed just how… happy he was at the news.
“Why?”
The simple question wasn’t so simple. “Because I thought you’d think it was Mark’s, or that I tried to trap you or something.”
He pursed his lips. “We need to work on your self-esteem.”
She snorted. “Whatever I think you’re going to say, I reckon I should plan for the exact opposite.”
“That probably works,” he said after a few seconds’ contemplation.
“You’re crazy insane,” she amended now. “I hope you realize that.” She shook her head at the excitement etched onto his face, and knew, point blank, that she would spend the rest of her life being grateful for that insanity.
“I do realize this, and who’s madder? Me, or you for loving me?”
Because her thoughts had been running on similar lines, she had to grin. Raising a hand, she curled her finger at him. “I think I deserve a kiss.”
James rubbed his chin. “On what grounds?”
She snickered. “On the grounds that I’ve had a rough couple of days, that the man I love, and father of my child, loves me back, and that said man also knows my knee has a true aim.”
His mouth dropped open and he cupped himself underneath the table. “You’d damage the family jewels?” he demanded, utterly aghast at her threat. “But they work! Why fix what isn’t broken?”
Laughter burst from her. “Kiss me, you nut.”
His grin was huge as he slid his chair back and rounded the table. When he bent down to kiss her, he shocked the hell out of her by swooping down and lifting her from her seat.
“I wanted a kiss not a lift,” she grouched sulkily, her lips pouting even as she tilted her head up, so she could look at him. Hannah refused to be in awe at the fact the damn man could carry her.
He had a big enough ego as it was.
“You get both tonight. It’s a buy-one-get-one offer.”
“Like you even know what one of those is.”
“Hey, I’ve seen them on the TV,” he replied.
She chuckled. “I’d pay to see you in a grocery store.”
“We can figure out a deal,” he teased as he carried her from the dining room and then, down a passageway which, she assumed, led to his bedroom.
It was pretty dark where they walked but she felt safe in his arms, and she knew that was exactly how she’d always felt. Safe. With him.
Any doubts were on her part. Never his. He’d never done anything other than be a true friend to her brother, to her family. To her. Everything else was down to her. Her insecurities, her fears. That this crazy rich, crazy beautiful man would ever look at her with anything other than amused pity.
He loved her.
He really loved her.
