“Ashton, Jim is my roommate — that’s all. We aren’t lovers; we aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. He was looking for a roommate and I applied. We’ve become close …,” she began to say, but she stopped herself. She didn’t want to tell Ashton the reason they were close.
“That’s how it begins, Savvy. You get close and then you get closer,” he growled.
“He’s gay, Ashton. We’re about as close as we’re going to get,” she told him with a sad smile.
“Oh,” he said, the breath whooshing out of his mouth. “Hmmm … Have you seen my father lately?” The change in topic stumped her for a moment.
“Yes, a few days ago. Jim’s a lawyer and is working on something for your father, I think. I was at the office dropping something off for Jim when Richard walked in.”
She stopped. Oh, she should have known Richard would immediately go to his son and tell him where she was. Dang it. She should have made him promise not to do that. He wouldn’t go against his word — he was a man of honor. Had he set up this whole roommate business for some ulterior motive? She’d been wearing a thick coat, her body not exposed. Richard couldn’t have known her secret … Now her head was spinning trying to figure out if he had somehow known.
“Good old Dad,” Ashton said, coming to the same conclusion as she had.
But then he stepped toward her again and she didn’t know what to think. The look in his eyes almost resembled love. But despite what he’d said a few minutes before, that couldn’t be.
“I’m sorry, Ashton. But this is all a big misunderstanding. You really should leave now.”
He knelt in front of her on the couch and reached for her hand. Savvy’s heart thudded and throbbed.
“Weren’t you listening to me, Savvy? I love you. I need you. Please don’t throw us away. Do I have to beg?” He lifted her hand up and kissed the back of it.
“But … Kalli,” she whimpered.
“I screwed up, Savvy. I thought I wanted a baby more than anything else. I thought I was supposed to continue the Storm line with the perfect children. Did you know that she lied about being pregnant?”
“What?”#p#分页标题#e#
“But even before I found out she’d lied, I knew I didn’t want to be with her. No, I wouldn’t abandon my child, but I couldn’t marry a woman I didn’t love and who didn’t love me. I never slept with her again after she came back. I couldn’t do that when I was in love with you. But she did lie. She was never pregnant and she’s now out of my life forever.”
“I … I don’t know what to say,” she finally muttered.
“Say you forgive me. I was a fool. I want you, Savvy, only you. I don’t need children. I don’t need anything but you. And for you to love me. Please forgive me and then marry me. Let’s be a family — just the two of us. That’s all I need.”
And Savvy could no longer hold the tears back. She needed to answer him, but she couldn’t find the words.
Ashton sat down, pulled her legs over his, and caressed her cheeks with infinite fondness. “I’ve missed you so much, Savvy — so, so much. There hasn’t been a day that’s passed since I last saw you that I haven’t thought about you, that I haven’t sighed your name before falling asleep. I thought I could stay in a world without love, but I can’t. You showed me a new way of life, and now that’s all I want.”
“Oh, Ashton, I … I love you too,” she said with a sob as she took his hand in hers.
“Marry me, Savvy. Please be mine forever. It will always be just you and me.”
“Well, that might be a little bit difficult,” she said as she pulled his hand toward her and slipped it beneath her robe.
Ashton’s eyes widened in shock, and then in wonder, and now she knew beyond a doubt that he’d had no idea she was carrying his child. She’d truly believed she hadn’t wanted to be a mother, but knowing she was carrying the baby of the man she loved had changed the way she felt. Her bump was small, but it was definitely telling as she approached her fourth month.
“Yes, she’s yours,” Savvy whispered. “And, yes, I love her with all my heart.”
He didn’t speak for several moments as he stroked her thickening stomach, adoration and awe in his eyes and in his touch.
“I love you so much, Savvy,” he told her. “Thank you for protecting our child when I wasn’t here for you.”
He then pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she lost her breath for all new reasons. When his lips finally released hers, she smiled as she looked into his eyes.