"I sound like a sulky two-year-old."
She forced herself not to smile. "Well … if the shoe fits."
He reached over and tickled her thigh, making her squirm in her seat. Laughing put too much pressure on her bladder.
"Stop, Donovan."
"Not until you take that back."
"Okay, I take it back," she said. He stopped tickling her, caressing the inside of her thigh before he removed his hand.
"You're so incredibly sexy," he said, his voice deepening with lust.
"I'm not sexy at all. I'm almost nine months pregnant. Big as a whale."
He pulled off the road under a streetlamp. "Cassidy, look at me."
She faced him. She'd never really had body issues, but the bigger her stomach had gotten and the skinnier her friends had stayed, the more conscious she'd become of her size. Being alone all these months hadn't helped, either.
He leaned over her and released her seat belt and then his own. He drew her into his arms and held her close.
"You are the only woman in the world who is always beautiful to me. First thing in the morning, after a workout, sunburned and swollen." He tipped her head back and leaned in to kiss her. "You've always been beautiful to me, but never more so than now. You are carrying my child."
He pulled back and put his hand on her belly. "I thought my life was meant to follow one path. Business has always been my focus. But when our baby kicked against me the other night … it was like an awakening for me."
"Awakening how?" she asked. This was what she wanted to understand. This was what she needed to know. Was Donovan really back because he'd had a change of heart and needed her the way she needed him? This moment could change everything. Put her doubts to rest for good.
"It made me realize that our futures-my future and yours-were intertwined. And it made me see that I had a chance to leave behind a legacy outside of Tolley-Patterson."
Cassidy started to ask another question, but he stopped her with his mouth. The kiss was soft but not tentative. It felt like a promise to her. The promise of a life that they would build together with their child.
He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and nibbled on her. She shifted in his arms, trying to get closer to him, but the close confines of the car made it impossible.
He groaned, his hands skimming up her belly to brush over her breasts. They were sensitive and his touch on them made her squirm as a pulse of desire speared through her body.
"Donovan," she said, holding tight to his shoulders when he would have pulled back.
"Baby," he said. "God, I want you."
"I want you, too," she said, thinking of all the vivid sexual dreams she'd had of him during her pregnancy.
He kissed her again and this time there was nothing soft or tentative about it. He was reclaiming her, and she knew that if they weren't in the front seat of his sports car this encounter wouldn't end until he was buried deep inside her body. But instead he gentled the embrace with some light kisses and eventually put her back in her seat, fastening her seat belt.
"Don't worry about us, Cassidy. We are solid this time. I'm not going to let you go."
As he pulled back out into traffic, she smiled, believing in Donovan and the future they'd have together.
Donovan dropped off Cassidy at her place and turned to leave. He had a meeting with his directors first thing in the morning and he still had a few hours preparation ahead. Something made him look back. Cassidy fingered her swollen lower lip as she stood in her doorway watching him. As their eyes met, he knew the promise he made to her in the car would be kept.
So that wasn't the reason for the churning in his gut. No, that was due to the fact that he knew the reason he'd made those promises wasn't because of his faith in their love but because he wouldn't be able to become CEO of Tolley-Patterson without Cassidy by his side.
He never lost focus, but right now he was torn. He wanted to stay with Cassidy even though he had reports to analyze.
He shook his head and got into the car. The job-his career at Tolley-Patterson-was the most important thing in his life. Winning the last challenge that Granddaddy had put before him and Sam was what he needed.
He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Cassidy lean heavily against the doorjamb and knew he'd disappointed her.
Instead of going back, he hit the car phone button. "Call Marcus Ware."
"Calling Marcus," the car speaker responded.
Marcus answered on the third ring, exactly as Donovan expected of his right-hand man. Marcus had the same hungry ambition that Donovan did. The other man lived for Tolley-Patterson and the deals they both made.
"Catch me up on where we stand with the West Coast production problem," Donovan said without exchanging pleasantries.
"Not good. Someone needs to go out there and take care of the problem. Jose's been trying to negotiate with the workers, but he's made little headway."
The last thing he needed right now was a trip to the West Coast. It was Wednesday, and he and Cassidy were getting married on Saturday. "Marcus, I'm getting married this weekend."
"I know, sir."
He'd informed his second in command of the marriage to make sure that he covered all the bases for the terms of the will. He'd instructed Marcus not to mention it to anyone yet. "I need this problem fixed tomorrow."
"That's why I'm booked on the next flight to San Francisco. I'm not going to leave the table until we have this dispute resolved."
"Call me when it's taken care of."
"I will."
He disconnected the call. Donovan knew that Marcus was ambitious; in fact, the younger man reminded him a lot of himself, which was one reason he'd hired him. He had brought Marcus up the ranks with him each time he'd been promoted, and if Marcus got the West Coast operation back online tomorrow, Donovan intended to promote the man to his position when he became CEO.
And there was little doubt he'd be CEO with Cassidy already pregnant. Every detail was falling into place. So why then did he have this hollow feeling inside?
His cell phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID before answering it. "Hello, Sam. What's up?"
"My mother just called … So you're back with Cassidy Franzone." It was a statement, not a question.
"I am."
"You know that most of the board don't approve of her family."
"Granddaddy's will just said the CEO must be married and have an heir. It said nothing about the type of family she had to come from."
There was silence on the line.
"But I think everyone assumes you'll marry someone from Old Charleston."
"Then they don't know me very well, do they?" He deliberately didn't tell Sam that the wedding was already planned. No need to tip off the competition.
"No, they don't. But I do," Sam said. "You sound confident."
"I'm the best man to take control of the company, and at the end of the day everyone is more interested in making money than social connections."
Sam cleared his throat. "You aren't the best man for the helm, Donovan."
"You think you are?"
"I know I am, because I know that to be successful in business you have to have a life outside of the office. You have to see the world in which we sell our products."
Donovan disagreed, but then Sam had lost his competitive edge four years ago when he'd married Marilyn. Since then Sam had become strictly a nine-to-five man, getting home to his wife every night. Donovan knew that a lot of people believed in balance, but he thought that theory was full of crap.
"Well, we'll see what the board decides in January when they meet."
"Yes, we will. Good luck," Sam said, hanging up.
Donovan continued driving, needing some time to figure out if there was value to anything Sam had said. He'd kept the news about Cassidy's pregnancy to himself and he wondered if his mother had, too. She probably hadn't said anything about it to her sister, Sam's mother, because his marrying his pregnant girlfriend wasn't exactly something she'd brag about.
For the first time in years, Donovan thought about his dreams and he realized that home and family had never been part of them. And with Granddaddy dead, he didn't know what he was searching for anymore. The old man's approval was always going to be just out of reach.