“Oh.” She stroked his chest, still smiling seductively. “This sounds serious.”
“Your fridge is too small.”
“My … what?”
“Your bedroom is too small, your TV is definitely too small, in fact, this whole place is too small.”
She pinched his arm warningly. “What’s going on here?”
He grinned. He was enjoying this. “We need a bigger place now that I’m moving permanently to Sydney.” Her eyes went wide, her gorgeous lips forming an O of astonishment. “I’m going into partnership with an investor. He’s buying a half share of the Happy Palace, and we’re opening a second restaurant here in Sydney. We’ll finally be together, sweetheart. Won’t that be great?”
She didn’t squeal or fling her arms around him like he’d expected. She just stood and stared at him, a strange expression in her eyes. “So … you’re leaving Piper Bay?”
“Yeah.” His heart tightened. What was going on here? Why wasn’t she as ecstatic as he? Finally, six months after they’d tied the knot, they’d be a real married couple, with one address, one home, one bed. No more endless trips, no more lonely nights, no more missing her like crazy. Isn’t that what Toni longed for too?
“And – and our parents? They’re happy about the Happy Palace?”
“Very happy. They’re planning a round-the-world cruise with the windfall. Gary will be head chef.” He shrugged, unease slithering through his gut like a python. “Talk to me, Toni. Tell me what’s bothering you. I thought you’d be happy.”
“I am. It’s just that I … well, I’ve been searching the internet looking at houses for sale in Piper Bay.”
It was his turn to gape. “You want to move back to Piper Bay?” His head spun. “But what about your job? You love it. You just got a promotion.”
“Oh, that, yeah.” She waved her hand nonchalantly, dismissing all her hard work of the past eighteen months. Her smile widened as she gripped the front of his shirt and tilted her head up at him. “I don’t care about that at any more because I’ve just gotten the best promotion ever.”
Her eyes were dazzling, in fact her whole face glowed with excitement, but he had no idea what she was on about. “Huh?”
“I don’t know about a bigger TV, but we definitely need a bigger fridge for all the extra food I’ll be eating.” She smoothed her palms over his chest, teasing and bubbling. “And we’ll need another bedroom, too. Not right away, but in a few months …”
Dion gawped at her as the clues slowly piled up. The fruit and veg, the yoghurt, the house in Piper Bay … the bottle of folic acid on the kitchen counter … the bloom on her cheeks … it could only mean one thing.
“Toni.” He gripped her shoulders tighter, his throat closing up. “Are you pregnant?”
She nodded, her smile breaking out like pure sunshine. “Yeah,” she said softly.
He gulped. “How long?”
“About eight weeks now.”
The air whooshed out of his lungs, and he felt himself filling up with an indescribable mix of emotions – exultation, pride, anxiety, all rolled into one great big ball which swept everything else aside. Nothing in the world mattered any more except his beautiful, gorgeous wife and the new life she carried.
He curled her into the circle of his arms and showered incoherent kisses all over her face and hair, holding her as if she were made of glass. “Oh honey, oh sweetheart.” He couldn’t get out anything more lucid than that. “That’s – that’s so … terrific. I’m so–” he let out a breath, ruing his lack of vocabulary, “–so happy I could burst.”
“Really?” She stroked his cheeks, gazing at him intently. “I know it’s unexpected, so I understand if you feel panicked or trapped–”
“No, never. Maybe panicked in a good way, but never trapped. But what about you?” Anxiously he kneaded her shoulders. “Are you ready for this?”
“I’m ready. Oh, I’m so ready.” Folding her arms around him, she pressed herself up against his chest. “As long as you’re there, Dion, I’m ready for anything.”
The delicious feel of her body rubbing against him ignited all his cylinders again, but he kissed her with reverential awe instead of just plain blazing lust. He was ready too, he realised, more than ready to be a husband, a father, a provider, a friend, a stalwart. Whatever Toni and his child needed of him, he was there for them.
“Now comes the difficult question,” he finally murmured against her lips, his hands sliding over her stomach. “Who’s gonna tell our mothers, because I don’t think I could stand all the squealing and fussing.” No way would those two set off on a round-the-world cruise now, not when there was a pregnant daughter to flap over and later, a first grandchild to spoil.
She laughed breathily into his mouth. “We’ll worry about that later. For now, let’s just celebrate in private.”
He picked her up in his arms and carried her out of the kitchen.
About the Author
Coleen Kwan has been a bookworm all her life. At school, English was her favourite subject, but for some reason she decided on a career in IT. After many years of programming, she wondered what else there was in life — and discovered writing. She loves writing both contemporary romance and steampunk romance.
Coleen lives in Sydney, Australia with her partner and two children. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys avoiding housework, eating chocolate, and watching The Office.
Contact Coleen at her website www.coleenkwan.com.
ISBN: 978-0-85799-008-2
Title: Short Soup
Copyright © 2012 by Coleen Kwan
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Locked Bag 7002, Chatswood D.C. NSW, Australia, 2067.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
® and ™ are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and are used under license to the Publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in Australia, New Zealand, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.
www.escapepublishing.com.au
Excerpt from No Strings Attached by Bridget Gray
Chinese Proverb: Kissing is like drinking salted water: You drink and your thirst increases.
“We’ve met before.” Mei Jing eyed him with a half smile while his mates around the bar table grinned. She’d been introduced to them by her friend, Mick, only a moment ago, and she’d homed in on the cute blond one with glasses.
She’d recognised him immediately. The circumstances were dramatically different, but it was definitely him. Last time she’d seen him he’d been half dead, but … he was here in Brisbane, hanging out with her friend. She stopped breathing. Be brave. Be cool. Breathe.
He half smiled back, looking nervous. “Really?”
Mei Jing nodded. “It doesn’t do my ego much good that you don’t remember. You’re Rod Keller, right? An architect?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “Where did we meet?” Rod squinted. Mei Jing understood. Squinting always helped her remember better.
“Well, I could just tell you … or … I could flirt outrageously with you and not tell you.” Mei Jing considered her options while the guys at the table started to snigger. “No. Not going to tell,” she said firmly. “I’ll give you a hint though. How many Chinese Australian girls have you met?”
The blond architect looked bemused. “A few.”
“Hmm …” Mei Jing smiled as she pretended to ponder. “OK. Let’s narrow it down. How many Chinese Australian girls have you kissed?”
He scrunched his forehead. “None that I can remember.”
Mei Jing feigned distress. “This is seriously damaging my self-esteem.”
He smiled properly this time, and asked hopefully, “Did we sleep together?”
Ouch! Mei Jing’s face froze. That was a bit rude! The sniggering stopped. The awkwardness began. Some guys just took it too far. She knew she’d think of something clever to say later, but for now, she gave a disappointed raise of her eyebrows, turned and walked back towards the bar. It was Friday night and the Platform Bar at Central Station was crowded and getting noisier.
“You OK?” asked Tina. Her friend since college, it didn’t take much of a blip in Mei Jing’s mood for Tina to notice.
“Great,” lied Mei Jing.
“OK, spit it out. Who got your goat up? Do you need me to take them out?”