Sealing the Deal (17 page)

“How long do you need to think? I d-don’t mean to rush you, but we should get this s-settled before we start the p-paperwork.” He tossed her a weak smile. “Otherwise Alexis w-will have to do it all over again with your m-married name.”

“Give me a day or two, okay?” she pleaded, despite his clear nervousness. “I just want to think it all through. For Emma’s sake.”

Robert gave her a curt nod. “Anything for Emma.”

Chapter Fifteen

“He
what
?” Dani leaned forward, jostling everything on the small table.

Beth knew the question was rhetorical, but she answered it anyway. “He asked me to marry him.”

Asked
wasn’t exactly the right word. More like
told
. Not that it mattered. Even though Beth desperately wanted to be Robert’s wife, she wouldn’t accept his proposal when the only reason he wanted to marry her was to make Emma’s adoption easier.

“Weird,” Dani said. “I sort of expected it, but to hear the news is still… surprising. It’s just so damn fast.”

With a shrug, Beth picked up her glass and took a sip of her sangria.

“I mean, you’ve known each other a long time, but you’ve only been a couple since you moved in together. It’s been really fast.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely been fast,” Beth admitted. “Trying to adopt Emma pushed things ahead of a normal relationship.”

“So what did you tell him?” Dani picked up her own glass, taking a drink of her white wine.

Beth had called to invite the Ladies Who Lunch to a night out, but she needed to talk to her best friend first. When she’d pulled up Mallory’s number, ready to call her and Jules as well, Beth couldn’t make herself dial. To tell the Ladies—all of them—that the only reason Robert had brought up marriage was because he wanted to be Emma’s father would be humiliating.

But Dani would understand and not give her those I-feel-so-sorry-for-you eyes she expected from the other Ladies. Once she was able to talk it through with Dani, then she could confide in the others. So when she finally called all the Ladies, Beth made sure to give her and Dani a window of time to themselves. They’d meet early, and Beth hoped Dani would help her come to a decision before Jules and Mallory arrived. Unfortunately, Dani had arrived twenty minutes late, eating up a great deal of their “alone” time.

A rail-thin waitress came over to set their stuffed mushroom appetizers on the table. “Refills?”

“Not yet,” Beth replied. “We’re waiting for two more people. Then we can get drinks all around.”

“I’ll keep a lookout for them,” the waitress replied before flitting to another table in the bar.

“Sorry I was so late, but why’d you ask me to meet you before Jules and Mallory?” Dani asked. “I mean, you’re gonna tell them about the proposal, right?”

“Like I could keep it a secret.” Beth let out a sigh. “I just wanted to see what you thought first.”

“What’s to think? Yes, I think it’s hasty, but then again, you love the guy and have known him for years. He’s a great father to Emma. Marry him.”

Gathering up her courage, Beth revealed her deepest fear. “He doesn’t love me.”

Dani dismissed the heartrending statement with a simple wave of her hand.

So much for empathy.

“He doesn’t love
me
,” Beth insisted. “He loves
Emma
.” Finally. She’d said the words aloud. Now someone else would understand why she was rattled by the proposal.

“You’re jealous of a baby?” Dani rolled her eyes. “Of course he loves Emma, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you, too.”

“He cares for me. I know that. But…”

“But.” Dani shook her head. “With you, there’s always a
but
. Shit, I’d love to get my hands on your mother right about now.”

“My mother?”

“Yeah. I want to give her a good smack upside the head. Maybe two.”

“Why?”

“Because she made you think you’re never good enough.” After another sip of wine, Dani leveled a hard stare at her. “You are, you know.”

This whole conversation had gotten too far off target. Dani was supposed to recognize Beth’s fear. Instead, they’d morphed their night out into some kind of therapy session. “I’m what?”

“Good enough. I’d bet my entire retirement savings, pathetic though it may be, that Robert loves you—probably every bit as much as you love him. Everyone else sees it. Why can’t you?”

“Sees what?” Mallory asked as she set her hands on Beth’s shoulders.

Funny, but the friendly squeeze Mallory gave her, added to Dani’s confident tone, made Beth feel a little better.

“That Robert loves her.” Dani moved her purse from the chair next to her.

Mallory sat down and waved back toward the entrance.

Whipping her head around to see who Mallory waved to, Beth smiled as Jules came striding into the restaurant, heavy purse in tow and phone firmly in her hands.

What would she do without the Ladies Who Lunch?

After rapidly touching her screen several times, Jules dropped her purse, took a seat, and finally put her phone aside. “Catch me up.”

“On what?” Beth teased. “The drinks or the conversation?”

“Both.”

The waitress came back as promised. After drink orders were given, Beth figured she should fill the Ladies in on the latest development in the soap opera that was her life.

Dani beat her to the punch. “Robert proposed.”

“Congratulations,” Mallory said with a genuine smile. “I knew he would.”

“Me too,” Jules said. “Now that he’s finally got you, he’s not gonna let you go.”

“It’s only because of the adoption,” Beth said, taking another taste of her drink.

“Bullshit.” Jules. Blunt as always. “We all knew he’d propose. He just needed to work up the guts. The guy has had a thing for you for years.”

“Ben and Connor wanted to start a pool, but we wouldn’t let them,” Mallory added. Then she stared hard at Beth. “But you still don’t think he wants you, do you?”

“He only wants to be married so the adoption will go smoothly,” Beth replied.

“She doesn’t believe he loves her as much as he loves Emma,” Dani said. “Will you both tell her he loves her? She doesn’t believe me.”

“C’mon, Beth.” Jules took her drink from the waitress. “Open your eyes. How can you not see it?”

“Because I’m not anything near the kind of woman he usually likes.” The sangria had definitely loosened her tongue.

“Oh,
now
I get it.” Jules sipped her margarita before setting it down and shaking her head. “You’re wrong, Beth. Robert’s changed. Even the guys noticed it. Sure, he might’ve played the field the last few years…”

“Yeah,” Beth drawled. “With lots of skinny blondes.”

“So what? He was a single guy,” Mallory said. “He was also kind of… immature. I think he’s grown up since he went into business for himself.”

“Probably ’cause he’s not around teenagers all day now,” Dani said with a smirk. “Admit it. The men who teach at our school are all a bit juvenile. Part of being a high school teacher.”

“They end up like Peter Pan,” Mallory added. “They never grow up. But I think Robert’s changed.”

“You’re absolutely right, Beth,” Jules said. “He played the field. A lot. But you and Emma mean the world to him. He’s ready to settle down now.”

Beth tried to let the words sink in, and for the first time, she struggled to look at her relationship with Robert through the eyes of her friends. Hope sparked inside her, and she tried to grab it and hold tight.

She loved Robert so much; how could he not love her in return? How could he make love to her the way he did if his feelings weren’t involved? Sure, guys were horn dogs, but she could sense some of how he felt when they were joined. It was more than sex. It was truly making love.

“You can’t let your insecurity ruin this,” Jules insisted. “If you keep insisting he doesn’t care for you, you’ll turn things sour. He’ll start to think there’s nothing he can do to convince you of his sincerity. Besides, you and Emma are a package deal now. You should be celebrating the fact that he loves you both. A lot of guys would run the other way at the idea of a ready-made family. We’ve all known guys like that or had students from families like that. It’s never a good situation. You’re lucky. You got one of the good ones to fall for you.”

“And he’s definitely one of the good ones,” Beth couldn’t help but point out, feeling the weight lifting from her shoulders.

“Damn right, he is.” Dani lifted her glass in toast. “Sounds like you’re finally opening your eyes.”

“I’m trying.” But it wasn’t easy.

Yet the more Beth thought about everything Robert had done for her—and not only because of Emma—she started to realize there had already been a bond between them before Emma was thrust into her life.
Their
lives.

Her own attraction to him might be years old, but maybe it just took Robert a little longer to see how good they could be together.

Perhaps she’d been looking at things all wrong. It wasn’t that he loved Emma more; it was that he could love Emma freely, with no fear of rejection. He couldn’t tell Beth what was in his heart any more than she could tell him.

She grasped hold of that thought and hoped she could squeeze tight enough she’d never let it go.

“You know what?” The smile on her face matched the lightness in her heart. “I think you’re all right. He does care for me.”

Dani put her hand over Beth’s. “He does more than care, but at least now you’re getting it.”

* * *

Robert breathed a sigh of relief when Dani gave them one last wave before she went inside her apartment.

Since he’d volunteered to be the sober ride home for their Ladies’ night out, he’d had to endure the giggles and teasing of Beth’s three rather tipsy friends directed right at him. Most was about his marriage proposal, which was a sore spot since Beth hadn’t immediately accepted. Not that he could blame her.

As far as romance, the proposal had left much to be desired. The funny thing was that he’d always had such great ideas for how to propose to the woman he finally decided to marry. A hot air balloon ride. A surprise trip to a beach for a moonlit stroll. A Jumbotron proposal when he’d take her to a Chicago Bulls game.

Instead, he’d just blurted out they should get married as a way to make an adoption easier. Beth had to be thinking he was more concerned about Emma than her.

“Dumbass,” he whispered to himself.

“Pardon?” Beth gave him a sexy smile and then put her hand on his thigh. She rubbed his leg, easing closer and closer to his groin.

“Nothing.” Robert didn’t stop her, rather enjoying her being so frisky. The fact that her attention turned his cock hard as a rock made it a bit tricky to drive with great skill, but they were almost home. At least Emma was still sound asleep in her car seat. She probably wouldn’t even notice when he put her back in her crib. Now that she slept through the night, there wasn’t much that would make her stir once she’d closed her eyes.

Beth rubbed his erection with the heel of her hand.

“B, you’re making me crazy here.”

“That’s the plan.” She popped her seat belt and slid closer. “I want to make love.” She ran her tongue around his ear.

Heat raced through his veins. “Probably not a good idea right now. Would hate to cause an accident.”

“I meant when we get home, silly.” She ran his fingers over his jeans, outlining the shape of his cock. “And I think it sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“You’ve been drinking,” he said. “I-I don’t want to take advantage.” She wasn’t acting at all like the reserved Beth he knew so well. Sure, she might be a bit of a wildcat in bed, but she’d never been quite
this
insistent.

“I only had three glasses of sangria,” she insisted. “I’m not drunk. I just want you.”

Her words made his breath catch.

Once he pulled into the garage and killed the engine, Robert gave in to the overpowering need to kiss her. The moment his lips touched hers, she threaded her arms around his neck and pressed her breasts to his chest. Her tongue slid past his lips, rubbing against his. She tasted wonderful, a heady mixture of Beth with a touch of sweet wine. A growl rose from his chest.

Easing back, she smiled at him. “Why don’t you put Emma in her crib? I’ll go get ready.” Before he could say a word, she’d slipped out of the car and was going through the door into the house.

Emma didn’t even twitch as he gently unstrapped her from the car seat and carried her up the stairs. He normally liked to watch her as she slept, marveling at how perfect such a tiny creature could be. Tonight, he only stayed long enough to be sure she stayed asleep. His mind and his senses were full of Beth.

She was going to marry him. There was no way she’d be trying to get him in bed if she wasn’t ready to accept his proposal. He vowed to make the lack of a romantic proposal up to her, maybe by taking her to Hawaii or somewhere else special for their first anniversary. At the very least, he’d get the Ladies to help make their small, rather quick wedding nice.

Caught between being relieved that Beth had accepted his proposal and being excited at the prospect of making her his wife, Robert had taken only a few steps into the room before he stopped short and gaped.

Beth was standing next to the bed, waiting for him.

Naked.

With no memory of jerking off his clothes, he picked her up and laid her on the mattress. Then he blanketed her body with his. A slight shudder raced through her, echoing the one that moved through him. There was no better feeling in the world than being skin-to-skin with her.

“So you’ve forgiven me?” he asked as he gazed into her chocolate eyes.

“Forgiven you?” Her gaze searched his as her brows gathered. “For what?”

“For botching my proposal. I should’ve gotten down on one knee and asked you to m-marry m-me. Instead, I—”

She kissed him, a quick hard kiss. “It’s fine, Robert.”

“It w-wasn’t—”

When she kissed him again, he got the hint.

But he needed to hear her say she’d accept him. “Will you marry me, B?”

“Yes,” she hissed a moment before she arched up against him. “If you make love to me. Now.”