Damn, why did everything have to come back to sex?
It wasn’t just sex, that’s why.
No, it hadn’t been. They had so much more than just sex. It wasn’t just two bodies coupling. She didn’t imagine the connection. Couldn’t have imagined it. Maybe everything he couldn’t say he’d used his body to show her. Just like she’d done with him.
She had to ask. “Daniel, what do you want? From me, I mean.”
He didn’t move, but said, “There’s nothing I want from you, lass.”
Her heart turned to stone and dropped to the floor, past her feet, crashing into the centre of the earth. Amelia couldn’t breathe.
“I just want you, love. Just you. And this little one.” He kissed her belly again.
Suddenly her breathing returned, like magic.
Damn it! Amelia needed to get away from him. He turned her brain to mush, and these hormones weren’t helping.
“Don’t,” Daniel said. He tightened his hold on her. “Don’t run. Please. Stay. Let me stay, just for a while. Or forever. Forever sounds so much better.”
Laughing, she smoothed a hand over his head while he whispered in Irish to their baby. Forever did sound so much better than a while.
Daniel didn’t leave that night. All of his belongings were in a duffel bag in the trunk of his new car anyways. By the time Amelia drifted off in his arms, sitting next to the fire, her friend suggested he stay. He carried Amelia to her bedroom and tucked her into her bed, wanting nothing more than to lie down next to her and hold the sweet lass in his arms all night.
But that wasn’t slow. He agreed to take things slow with her this time.
And he needed to get in her friend’s good graces. The best way he knew was to talk to her. But damn if the woman didn’t frighten him. She prowled around the main living area of the cottage, her eyes always watching, seeing everything he did from the moment she came back from the shops.
He’d just laid his cards on the table and told Amelia he wanted forever. A reply didn’t come, and he wasn’t about to force her to make a decision.
They hadn’t spoiled the moment with idle chatter, choosing instead to simply live for the moment. She let him hold her; put up with his constant need to touch the swollen bump of her abdomen and the need to run his hands through her hair. To inhale her fragrance, drugging himself with all things Amelia. They just sat and touched and enjoyed the evening.
Gabby had made supper – a pasta dish he’d never heard of before but one that tasted better than any he’d ever tried – and then she put on some film. Daniel’s attention was thoroughly engaged by Amelia though and if someone questioned him about the movie, he’d get every question wrong. He watched her breathe. Watched her sighs. Watched her fall asleep.
Amelia meant everything to him and if she turned him away tomorrow he needed to lock away as many memories as he could. They might very well be his last.
Gabby was waiting for him back in the lounge. She’d shut the film off and poured two glasses of white wine. The auburn haired lass motioned for him to take one. Daniel shook his head.
“Suit yourself.” Gabby took the glass she’d poured for him and downed it in three gulps. “Now. Tell me what the fuck you think you’re doing here.”
“Eh?” He shook his head, like doing so would help him understand her better.
“You heard me.” Gabby carried the empty glass to the kitchen and walked back to the couch. “What do you want, Mr. Byrne? Are you after her money?”
Daniel shot to his feet, moving to the other end of the lounge. Anger vibrated to the furthest reaches of his body. “You’re not right,” he said, glaring at the woman across the room.
One copper brow rose, and she gave him a knowing look. “I assure you, I’m perfectly sane, Mr. Byrne. Here’s my problem; Amelia is incredibly wealthy. I know she told you about her job. What she does. And I’m not stupid. I didn’t get where I am today by letting people walk all over me. Amelia didn’t get where she is now without me behind her, cutting out the cancer, the evil lurking in the shadows. So answer me, and choose your words wisely. What do you want from Amelia?”
She was mad. She’d lost her bloody mind.
Or she cared about Amelia, enough to make overbearing and utter bitch her companions.
Either way, Daniel figured the next words from his lips better be the most truth he could pack into a small sentence.
“You want to know what I want, lass? Fine, I’ll tell you. I want Amelia, and our child, and nothing else. Make me sign whatever you want. I’ll work myself to the goddamned bone and sleep at the foot of her bed if it means I can be close to her. I’ll never spend a single cent of her money. I don’t want it. Don’t need it. Damn it, but she’s got my heart. I’ll live out the rest of my days just trying to earn half of hers, if she’ll let me.