Working on a Full House (24 page)

"Same time next week?" he asked, against her lips.

He could feel her, quite predictably, stiffen. She pulled her head back to stare at him. "You must be kidding."

He smiled. "I never kid."

She laughed then, a thoroughly unexpected gurgle.

Kenny responded by covering her lips with his again, revealing more hunger, more demand — and feeling more of each. "I'll be looking for you outside Norman's Art Supply," he told her, once he'd managed to drag himself away.

He caught her expression — stunned, aroused, defiant — before he swung around and walked away, his hands clenched into fists.

He couldn't seduce her tonight, though it would be easy.

Because he was bound and determined to have her in his future... Whatever that meant.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Roy was doing his very best not to lose his mojo here. But sitting in the waiting room of a gynecologist, the only man within sight — and coming off nonchalant — was taking every ounce of testosterone he owned. On the walls were nude photos of pregnant women and fashion prints from the twenties. He'd picked up a copy of
Vogue
, which was actually the least femme magazine he could find amid the issues of
Motherhood, Cosmopolitan
, and, of all things,
Bride
.

He flipped through the pages of expensive clothes while mulling with increasing ill temper the fact he was cooling his heels out here while Valerie was with the doctor getting her internal examination.

Well, okay, so the two of them weren't sleeping together — yet. So maybe she felt a bit reserved about her body. But come on. Did she think she was going to keep him out of the birthing room?

"Hmm," Roy said, as he gazed down at a picture of a gigantic diamond wristwatch. His lips curved. All the more reason to get her into bed. She needed to grow comfortable when naked with him.

Besides, she wanted to go to bed with him, even if she'd taken a determinedly amnesiac tone on the telephone this past week. She'd been trying to act like the two kisses they'd shared in the parking lot had never occurred.

Huh
, Roy thought, and flipped the page of the magazine with masculine zest. They'd occurred.

"Mr. Beaujovais?" The heavy-set receptionist lifted her chin to peer over the counter.

Roy dropped the magazine. "Yes?"

She motioned her head toward the door leading in. "They're ready for you now."

Finally. Roy was on his feet and at the door. The receptionist buzzed it just in time for Roy's muscular twist. He'd been kept out long enough.

"The second room on your right," the receptionist called to Roy, who was already on his way down the hall.

"Thanks," Roy muttered back, and came to a stop outside said door. He paused and decided he'd better knock, though he damn well didn't feel like it. He gave three short taps.

"Come in," called a woman's voice.

Roy turned the knob and went through. It was only sheer pride that kept him from swiveling on his heel and going right out again. The level of estrogen in the room was nearly suffocating. The place was hung with diagrams of women's bodies and babies going through birth canals. Add to that the doctor tending to Valerie's bared belly with some microphone device, and he felt like a fish out of water. Male, and completely de trop.

"Hello," he said. Even the timbre of his voice seemed out of place.

Valerie glanced over her shoulder. There was a wary light in her eyes.

Now, why did she look like that, like she was Little Red Riding Hood and he was the Big Bad Wolf? Roy felt his sense of de trop-ness expand.

"Uh, hi Roy," she said.

"Yeah, hi, Dad." The doctor, a severely intellectual-looking woman with wireless glasses, squinted and bent further over Valerie's tummy. "We haven't heard anything yet, but I'm still trying."

Roy rolled his shoulders and forced himself to step further into the room. He might not belong, but he was staying. "How is everything else?"

"Peachy," said the doctor. A steady beating noise suddenly filled the room. "That's Mom's heart," the doctor explained. "What? Oh, goody." She smiled and leaned back while a rapid beating, like the wings of a bird, rose over the normal cadence of Valerie's heartbeat. "There's baby."

Roy blinked. "It's — so fast."

Valerie and her doctor spoke at the same time. "It's supposed to be."

"Oh." Roy swallowed. The sound was impossibly quick, delicate...and
real
. Good God, there was a real, honest-to-goodness life growing inside there! Of course, he'd known that, but until he'd heard the pattering beat-beat-beat, he hadn't truly comprehended it.

They were going to have a baby.

"Wow," Roy breathed as a funny sensation shimmered through him, part fear and part exhilaration. He reached down and twined his fingers through Valerie's. Despite her earlier wariness, she gripped him back. The beat-beat-beat was too big to be petty about. "So, it sounds good, huh?" Roy asked, and gripped Valerie harder.

"A real trooper," the OB replied.

Roy grinned down at Valerie, and she beamed back. In that moment, with his own heart up around his ears, Roy thought he would do anything for her. Absolutely anything.

Of course, in that moment, he had no idea what she had in mind to ask.

~~~

"You want
what
?" Roy demanded. They were standing beside Valerie's Acura in the parking garage beneath her OB's office. To be more specific, they were standing with Valerie backed against her car and Roy's arms around her after he'd just finished a long-anticipated and passion-heavy kiss. Roy was still panting from the additional rush the kiss had brought forth. His heart was thudding beneath the hand Valerie had placed on his chest to push him away.

"You heard me." Valerie's own face was flushed from the kiss, but she continued to push on his chest, giving him no choice but to loosen his hold. She slid him another one of her wary glances. "I want you to stay somewhere other than my house from now on."

"But — " Roy was still hot. The anticipation that had been building inside him all week now added to what had been stirred by hearing the baby's heartbeat upstairs. "I don't get it. I thought we'd worked that out." Indeed, he'd jumped through hoops to get that worked out. "You said there was no point to spending money on a hotel room."

Valerie pulled the rest of the way out of his arms. "That was before you told me you wanted to sleep with me."

"Ah. Now, wait a minute."

"I don't want to sleep with you, Roy. And as that's your stated intention, I can hardly have you staying over."

"Now, hold on." Roy felt as though water was rising above his head. After hearing their baby's heartbeat, he wanted to jump her bones — now. He wanted to find some way to absorb the high emotion.

Valerie looked cool enough to drink a cup of tea...almost. Telling color stained her cheeks.

"You want me," he claimed.

Her eyebrows lifted.

Roy could feel his own face turning red. What a conversation. "Look, I know how you respond when I kiss you. Hell, I know how you responded when we went to bed together two months ago. You — We're into each other. Way into each other." He took a step toward her. "And I can prove it."

Valerie stood her ground, indeed lifted her chin in defiance. "Sure, you can get me to respond, Roy. I am...physically attracted to you. Which is the precise reason it's so important we don't sleep together."

"
What
?" She'd just
admitted
she wanted him! This made no sense. "Oh, wait, wait." Roy held up his palms. "It's because of Peter, right? You're still hung up on him."

Valerie closed her eyes. "This is not because of Peter... Although, maybe, in a way it is." She opened her eyes again. "Peter slept with me, but he didn't love me. And — that hurt. I don't want it to happen again. I'm not sleeping with a guy who doesn't love me, who doesn't...think I'm the only woman in the world for him."

Roy stared at her. In his mind, he heard a dismaying flashback to the conversation over Isaac's dining room poker table. Love. Why did everyone keep harping on the idea? "We are talking about sleeping together," he argued. "Very simple. You want me. I sure as hell want you. And we're
married
. There's absolutely no need to make things...complicated."

Valerie looked at him as if he'd just slapped her. "Complicated," she repeated softly.

"Yeah." Roy rolled his shoulders. That's right. The whole thing was very simple.

But Valerie still looked struck. Slowly, she shook her head. "Roy, we can't afford to make a mess here. We can't involve ourselves in some doomed physical affair. We're going to have to be able deal with each other, amicably, for the rest of our lives."

Well, yeah, but
— "Isn't that the point? We are going to have to deal with each other the rest of our lives...be parents together." He moved his arms, at a loss. They should be living together, a real husband and wife. It made perfect sense to him.

But Valerie's bleak expression said she didn't get it. She thought he was angling to hurt her. When — God — she was the one carrying the little life whose heart went beat-beat-beat. Of course he didn't want to hurt her.

He closed his eyes. Being together with her would make him so happy. Couldn't it make her that way, too? He thought so. He was pretty sure so. But...clearly she was going to have to reach that conclusion for herself.

With a sigh, he gave in. "You don't want us to sleep together. Fine. We won't." Ignoring the pang this statement caused him, Roy opened his eyes again. "But since I've promised that — and believe me it isn't easy — there's no reason I can't stay at your house."

Valerie's mouth opened.

"You have my word. Besides, I'll be downstairs." Roy crossed his arms over his chest.

Valerie shut her mouth, pressing her lips tightly together. "All right. If you promise not to — Well, I guess it would be okay for you to stay in the guest suite, when you're in town." Following these words, however, a look flashed from beneath her lashes of such grave uncertainty that Roy had to blink.

Did she doubt his promise? Think he'd try to seduce her after giving his word? Insulted by the thought, Roy watched her turn and climb into her car. It wasn't until after she'd pulled out of the parking space that another reason for her expression hit him.

His eyebrows shot up and he quickly swiveled before she might see his grin. As she drove out of the garage, Roy walked to his own car, relishing his theory. Maybe Valerie didn't doubt him, maybe she doubted herself! Perhaps she worried if he stayed overnight at her house
she'd
be the one to come on to
him
.

Okay, maybe that was conceited of him, but it was possible, wasn't it? Every time they kissed she responded like a woman starved.

In which case, despite what she said, the jury was still out on the subject of them sleeping together.

Roy was smiling broadly as he maneuvered his Cadillac out of the parking garage. He had a feeling that getting into Valerie's bed was only going to be a matter of time.

~~~

As Valerie drove home from the doctor's office her limbs were still trembling.

That kiss... She managed to keep her eyes on the road as she recalled the soul-searing kiss Roy had delivered in the basement of the medical building. Just — wow.

Although she wasn't sure it was Roy's kiss, exhilarating as it had been, which had her shaking. It could be hearing the baby's heartbeat, her first communication from her little sweetheart.

Or it could be the little 'talk' she'd finally had with her husband.

Valerie released a deep sigh. Part of her was amazed she'd had the nerve to go through with it, particularly in the face of Roy's adamant displeasure. Congratulations were in order for having, finally, put her foot down.

But that was only part of her. As Valerie slowed to a stop at a red light, she heaved another deep sigh. Unfortunately, another part of her felt let down after that talk. Nervous. Even anxious.

As if setting this boundary had
not
been the right thing to do.

Ahead of Valerie, the light turned green. She frowned, recalling the moment in the doctor's office when the baby's pattering heartbeat had filled the air and Roy's hand had found its way into hers. He'd twined his fingers through hers as if — as if —

Still stopped behind stalled traffic, Valerie closed her eyes. A wave of the remembered emotion swept over her. He'd held her hand as if there were actually a lot more to their relationship than either one of them had been admitting. The emotion she'd felt arcing between them had been that of two people who were deeply bonded. It was as if they were really married, in love, partners — the works.

Valerie opened her eyes and drew in a deep breath. The problem was she couldn't trust her own interpretation of the situation. History said she was no good at that. And since she felt so much stronger about Roy than she ever had about Peter, she was afraid her interpretation was even more distorted.

Let's be honest. She was afraid if she were wrong, it would hurt even more when she was rejected.

Valerie shook her head. No, whatever she imagined might have been going on between her and Roy — her only real choice here was to play it safe.

~~~

Roy felt like an animal of the hunt, calmly waiting for his prey to trot into his trap.

Indeed, he almost felt guilty, it was going to be so easy.

Though Valerie had started first in her car on the way home from the OB/GYN, Roy must have driven faster. He was parked and leaning against his car when Valerie drove up. The sun was just disappearing behind her neighbors' rooftops.

Nonchalant, indifferent, he'd told himself, thinking it over on the drive. That was the role to play. He'd act as if he didn't particularly care if they made love or not. He'd let
her
come to him.

But it wasn't so easy to play the role when she came out of the garage to meet him. He felt a solid punch of desire. She was wearing ordinary black pants and a jewel-toned top, nothing the least bit provocative. Indeed, the expression on her face, one of repressed tension, couldn't have been further from come-hither promise.