Secretly Hers (Sterling Canyon)(77)

 

“Yes, fine. What would you want to name her?”

 

That shut him up. He probably hadn’t even started daydreaming about fun details like names, but she had. She watched different emotions play over his face, but had no idea what he was thinking. Rather than wait for his answer, she led him toward her own. An answer that should show him how much he meant to her.

 

“What was your mother’s name?” she asked, praying it wasn’t something awful or old-fashioned.

 

He stilled and stared at her, blinking the same dazed way he did when she first told him about the baby.

 

“Danielle.” His throat worked while he watched for her reaction. “But my grandfather called her Dani.”

 

When she smiled, she felt his muscles slacken.

 

“I like that.” She kissed his chest and fingered his bangs, hoping her decision would please him. “If we have a miracle daughter, I think we should name her for your mother.”

 

Without a word, he pulled her into a kiss. It started out firm but then softened into something gentle and loving. Something that melted her very core. He eased away and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

 

“You take my breath away,” he said, his eyes locked on hers. “I can only hope to be worthy of your kind heart.”

 

You are. Her heart longed to shout the words. To tell him he was the most captivating, sexy, stimulating, tender, infuriating man she’d ever known. To tell him she’d fallen for him, heart and soul. But the baby had been more than enough shock for him to handle. She’d hold her feelings inside until she knew they wouldn’t send him running away.

 

Trip tugged her back against his chest and into the vise of his muscular arms. His steady heartbeat pounded beneath her ear. They laid together in silence for another minute before he kissed the top of her head. “If it’s a boy, we shouldn’t name him after me.”

 

“Really?” She’d have expected his ego to demand that he and his beloved grandfather be the baby’s namesake. “Why not?”

 

After a brief hesitation, Trip joked. “’Cause I can live with being called Trip, but ‘Quad’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.”

 

Kelsey chuckled, but sensed more to the remark, knowing his joke was probably just another deflection. “We could skip the nicknames and call him Gunner.”

 

“Maybe.” His dismissive tone only increased her curiosity. His arms tightened around her, making her warm inside and out. “Or maybe our son should get his own identity.”

 

Whether Trip was attempting to distance their child from his reputation, his family history, or something else, Kelsey wasn’t sure. Rather than press him, she changed the subject.

 

“Will you be bummed if it is a girl?” She bit her lip, awaiting his answer.

 

“No. But unless she’s the world’s biggest tomboy, I’ll be clueless about how to handle her.”

 

“You’re good with Fee.”

 

Trip chuckled aloud. “Oh, boy. If I father a girly girl with that big a personality, she’ll give me a heart attack. She won’t date until she’s thirty, I can promise that much.”

 

“It’s always womanizers like you who never want their daughters to date.” Kelsey pinched his chest.

 

He grabbed her fingers and kissed them. “You think I want my daughter to end up with someone like me?” Rolling her onto her back, he playfully pinned her beneath his body, wrestling her until she stopped squirming. “Now let’s change the subject.” He kissed her breastbone and then her stomach as he worked his way down her body. “I’ve got a better way to spend the rest of the night.”

 

“You do?”

 

“Mm hmm.”

 

Then his face disappeared between her legs and even she stopped caring about baby names.

 

 

 

Trip set the pregnancy journal and fancy body creams he’d picked for Kelsey on the counter where Jessie—one of his former flings—was working. Her sandy-colored, wavy hair, not nearly as shiny or thick as Kelsey’s golden locks, hung wild around her shoulders. A snug sweater revealed full C-cups and a small waist. Skintight jeans completed her walking advertisement for sex-on-the-go.

 

The kind of ad he’d usually answered, but not anymore.

 

She’d been a party girl looking for a good time, and they’d shared a few. No complications. No regrets. Still, this particular purchase presented an awkward moment.

 

“I heard karma caught up to you.” She chuckled while scanning the items. “Guess you’re off the market now, or for a while, anyway.”