“I could handle it if this was just about my health, but worrying about the baby, that’s too much.” The concerns bubbling inside her were so much bigger than anything she’d ever faced.
“Worry is against doctor’s orders.” He smoothed his other hand over her stomach in a gesture of intimacy she couldn’t bring herself to stop. “Set your mind on something else.”
She blinked through the fears, accepting he was right, knowing she needed to try harder for their baby’s sake. “Such as?”
“Have you thought about names?”
The limo stopped at a light while hordes of pedestrian traffic crossed the street. She let herself settle into the warmth of his touch and the butter-soft leather seats as they shared the moment, planning together for their child. “It would have helped if the little one had been more cooperative during all those ultrasounds. Then we could have known whether to choose girl or boy names.”
“We?”
He’d doubted she would include him? Further proof he didn’t know her well if he thought she could be so small-minded as to cut him out of such a huge decision about their baby. “Of course, you should get a say in this, unless you come up with something horrid. What’s your mother’s name?”
“Victoria.”
“Your hotel’s name,” she murmured in surprise. How could she not have known that? Yet another reminder of how far they needed to come before she could even consider tying her life—and the knot—with this man.
He shrugged.
“That’s really touching.” She wanted the same sort of closeness with her own child, something better than her relationship with Bonita. “I’m sorry about how my mother behaved earlier.”
His eyes took on that sharp look again. Predatory, unrelenting. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
She still felt guilty for not thinking through her actions more that night five months ago. “The first time I took you to dinner, my brother beat you up—”
“Uh, you mean tried to beat me up.”
Male egos. She stifled a laugh. “Right,” she said, then sobered. “Anyway, and the next time we showed up at my house, my mother goes on the attack, verbally rather than physically.”
“You were the one who was hurt. I should have stepped in sooner.”
As if that would have made a difference. Her hands shaking, she set aside her water bottle. “No one can stop her when she’s on a roll like that.”
However, she needed to stop her mother in the future since there was no way she could allow Bonita to jeopardize this baby’s health. Anger stirred at what her mother’s tirade had nearly cost them.
He rested a hand on top of her clenched fist. “I don’t think this is a wise discussion for you to be having.”
“Think happy thoughts and all.” She forced even breaths in, out, in again.
“Exactly.” He raised her hand to his mouth and grazed a kiss across her knuckles, once, twice and again until her fist unfurled and the gold band on her thumb appeared again. “Tell me a happy childhood memory.”
She offered up the first thing that popped to mind. “My mother used to paint. She would take her art supplies to the beach. Brittany and I could build sand castles and splash in the waves.”
“That’s a great memory.” He thumbed along the inside of her wrist as the limo pulled up to the iron gates outside his family home on the north end of the strip.
“I hadn’t thought about it in such a long time. The bad memories tend to overtake the good ones.” She eyed the opening gates, envisioning them closing behind her. Closing her in with the manicured bushes and trees. “I guess you and I need to make sure those bad feelings between our families don’t overcome the good stuff we’re working on.”
He studied her as the limo rolled along the brick paved driveway, past a fountain with an angel in the center. “I agree, as long as thinking about that doesn’t stress you.”
“Hmm … If I was a Machiavellian type of person, I could really milk this to my advantage and pick the name I want.”
“As long as we don’t have to name the kid Parker, I think I can handle just about anything.”
Much-needed laughter rolled up and past her lips. She clapped a hand over her mouth. “I’ll think about names and get back to you.”
“Fair enough.” He winked on his way out of the limo.
Before she even reached the walkway, he swept her into his arms. She started to argue, but they’d already been down this route and he seemed insistent on carrying her. Today, at least, she had a valid reason to accept the ride without worry of losing control of the situation.