She was hot and tight around him and he clenched his teeth, closing his eyes as he sucked in steadying breaths. He’d already lost every ounce of control the first time. He wanted to make it last this time.

Her knees locked at his sides and she lifted her h*ps the tiniest bit before lowering her weight once more to surround him with silky, heated sweetness that had sweat beading his forehead.

She seemed inhibited and a little unsure and this new shyness from her continued to be endearing as hell. He reached for her, wanting to offer reassurance, but as his hands stroked up her lush body, over her swollen belly to her gorgeous breasts, he forgot all about offering her anything except the pleasure of his touch.

He stroked the swell of her breasts, enjoying the new fullness. Her ni**les were darker, more pronounced, and his mouth watered with wanting to taste them again.

He pulled ever so gently at the tips, just enough to make them harden and pucker. She sucked in her breath and fluttered around his erection until he groaned and gritted his teeth to keep from orgasming.

“I love your body. You’re beautiful pregnant, Kelly. I can’t keep my hands or mouth off you. You make me crazy.”

She smiled then, a brilliant smile that he felt all the way to his soul. Her eyes lit up and sparkled and he felt as if he’d been handed the world in the palm of her hand.

Hell, if that was all it took to make her smile like that, he’d gladly tell her every single day how gorgeous she was.

She reached for his hands, laced her fingers in his and then used his hands for leverage as she raised her h*ps just enough so he slid through her sweetness all over again.

His breath escaped in a long hiss and then she slid down, resheathing him all over again.

“You drive me crazy,” he muttered.

She smiled, clearly satisfied with his admission.

He savored the feel of her much smaller hands engulfed by his. They held on tightly as she began a slow, rhythmic ride.

Their gazes locked. They never looked away, never broke eye contact as she made love to him, driving him closer and closer to ultimate release.

Her breaths grew more rapid and erratic. Her face became flushed and she tightened around him. She was close. He was closer. But he was determined to take care of her first.

It took every ounce of his concentration. His body strained. He was rigid, painfully rigid, and then she pulsed and went wet around him. Her body shuddered.

He pulled her down, holding her as he took control of their movements. He stroked and caressed her, kissing her hair, murmuring to her how beautiful she was.

As the last of her orgasm rolled through her body, his began. Through it all, their fingers remained entwined, their hands clasped.

He brought their hands to rest between them, against their chests, over their hearts, as he surged upward, his mind numb, his body awash with the sweetest of pleasure.

She collapsed over him, going limp as she nuzzled against his neck. She kissed him just below the ear and he smiled at the sweetness of the gesture.

He missed her affection. Missed the way she had always seemed to be touching him or kissing him or just offering him a smile.

He’d missed her.

And now he had to find a way to make sure she didn’t leave again. He didn’t think for a minute that sex was a fix-all for a relationship. It wasn’t even a good bandage.

He knew it wasn’t going to be easy. There was too much mistrust and hurt between them, but somehow they had to find their way back. He wouldn’t allow himself to think any differently.

She was his. She carried his child. To him, that made things simple. She belonged with him. She needed him to take care of her. He wanted to take care of her.

If he was willing to forget the past, then shouldn’t she be willing to try their relationship again? It wasn’t as if he’d betrayed her.

But she carried so much hurt and anger. Something inside her had been broken. Had he done it when he’d tossed her out of his apartment? What had she expected?

He stroked her hair and willed himself not to become embroiled in the past. He’d promised himself—and her—that he’d put everything behind him.

And if he was willing to do that, then he saw no reason she shouldn’t be willing to let the past rest as well.

“How about breakfast in bed?” he asked.

“Mmm, that sounds nice. I don’t think I can move and I’m suddenly feeling lazy.”

He smiled because he couldn’t imagine anything better than the two of them sharing an intimate meal in bed. Hell, if he had his way they wouldn’t leave the bedroom for the rest of the day.

“Let me go order room service. You stay here and get comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

He kissed her nose and then carefully disentangled himself from the warm clasp of her body. He eased her onto her side, pulled the rumpled sheet over her and rolled toward the nightstand, sitting up and putting his legs over the edge of the bed.

He glanced back to see that she’d immediately commandeered his pillow, which made him chuckle, because it was exactly what she’d done in the past.

He picked up the phone, ordered breakfast for them both and then rolled back over to face her.

“You can’t have your pillow back,” she mumbled.

He smiled and propped his head in his palm. “Never let it be said I interfered with the comfort of my woman.”

One eyebrow went up and she studied him for a long moment. He could see her mind swirling with something and so he simply waited to see if she’d say what was on her mind.

“Am I?” she finally asked.

His brow furrowed. “Are you what?”

“Yours,” she said simply. “I need to know what this was, Ryan. Are we back together? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here and I’m not about to assume anything.”

He took a deep breath because it was important to handle this just right. The last thing he wanted to do was screw everything up when he felt as if he was this close to having her where he wanted her.

“I think that’s up to you,” he said carefully. “I think I’ve been up front about what I want, about where I’d like to see our relationship. It’s time for you to decide if this is where you want to be. With me. I’m not saying we have to take a huge leap, but we can at least decide to be together so we can work things out.”

She visibly swallowed and he could see fear in her gaze again. It ate at his gut because he honestly didn’t know what scared her so bad. Was he such an ogre? Could she really blame him or hold against him the reaction he’d had to her being unfaithful?

“My mind tells me I’m an idiot for even considering this,” she muttered.

“What does your heart tell you?” he asked softly.

She sighed and stared helplessly back at him, her blue eyes churning with emotion.

“My heart tells me that I want this. No matter how much I think I shouldn’t want it, I do. Maybe this is a bad time to have a discussion about our relationship when our minds are mush after sex.”

He touched his finger to her lips. “I think it’s the perfect time to have it because our guards are down. It’s just us. No barriers. No walls. Just us and how we feel.”

“How do you feel, Ryan? Do you really want this?”

“Yeah, I do, Kell. I want it so damn much that the thought of you walking away has my gut in knots.”

Her eyes widened. “But I never walked away from you.”

He blew out his breath. “Let’s not talk about that, okay? Whatever happened in the past, the point is, I don’t want you to walk away now. I can’t stand the thought of it.”

“Okay,” she said so quietly he almost didn’t hear.

He reached out and nudged her chin up. “Okay?”

“I want to stay. I have no idea how we’ll work all this out, but I want to try.”

Satisfaction ripped through him, so savage that for a moment he couldn’t breathe. He had to temper his reaction because he wanted nothing more than to grab her, haul her into his arms and hold her so damn tight that she could never escape.

“We’ll do more than try,” he vowed. “We’re going to fix this, Kell. We’re going to make it work this time.”

Eleven

“She doesn’t give up, does she?” Kelly murmured as she watched Roberta approach their table, a determined expression on her face.

Ryan looked up and to his credit heaved a sigh and appeared to be extremely irritated with the impending interruption. After a morning and most of the afternoon in bed, they’d ventured out for dinner and now here was Roberta, circling like a hawk.

And it wasn’t that Kelly was jealous. Honestly, Roberta wasn’t Ryan’s type, though she supposed his type could have changed after he’d broken their engagement.

What bothered her was the seemingly public knowledge of their relationship. It just proved Kelly’s assertion that his family and friends alike loathed her. Something Ryan was finally coming to accept. But acceptance didn’t make anything easier.

While love was supposed to be “everything,” she wasn’t naive enough to think that relatives hating you didn’t put an unbearable strain on a relationship. Who could be happy when, at every turn, your lover’s family did everything they could to make their disapproval known?

Maybe they’d both been too naive the first time. Maybe now they could be stronger together. But then what would happen if and when Ryan finally knew the truth about Jarrod? And his mother’s part in the whole affair?

Once again, Kelly would be the wedge between him and his family. Their relationship might not survive a second time.

Roberta stopped at the table and bent to kiss Ryan on either cheek, but when he turned away, she caught him full on the lips, leaving a smear of lipstick.

Kelly sighed and sat back, resigned to another uncomfortable scene.

Ryan looked…pissed.

“Roberta, what the hell?”

He didn’t even try to be polite this time.

“Oh, I just came around to say goodbye. My flight leaves in the morning and I hoped we could set up a time to get together when you return to New York. Your mother would like us all to have dinner.”

She flicked a sideways look of disdain—and challenge—in Kelly’s direction, but Kelly purposely yawned and sent a bored look in return.

Roberta frowned but turned eagerly back to Ryan. “Shall we say this weekend perhaps? I’m sure Kelly wouldn’t mind. After all, you and I are old friends.”

“I mind,” Ryan said in a clipped voice. “Now if that’s all, we’d appreciate being left to our meal.”

“I’ll call you,” Roberta murmured. “We’ll talk…later.” The inference being they’d talk when Kelly wasn’t around. Was the woman stupid?

It was tempting to put her firmly in her place, but frankly it would take too much effort and Kelly was quite content to remain in her seat and watch Roberta stew in her own ignorance.

Roberta touched Ryan’s face in a gesture that repulsed Kelly then slid one long nail down his jaw before fluttering her fingers at him as she walked away.

Ryan turned, his lips tight. “God, I’m sorry, Kell. You have to know I haven’t encouraged her.”

Kelly smiled and handed him a napkin to wipe the lipstick off his mouth. “Yeah, I figured that much out. She’s…she’s interesting. And awfully dense. You were pretty blatant with the brush-off. It makes me wonder what your mother promised her.”

Ryan frowned as he swiped at his lips. He pulled the napkin away, frowning even harder at the red smear on the material. Then he reached across the table and took her hand. “Let’s not let her ruin what has otherwise been a spectacular day.”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “You’re just saying that because of the sex. Give a man sex and it’s the most amazing day ever.”

He grinned. “Well, there is that, but it’s not just sex with you, Kell. It’s…more.”

She flushed in pleasure at the sincerity in his voice. He made her believe all sorts of crazy things, like they could actually work through the serious issues facing them.

“So what do you want to do after dinner?” she asked lightly.

“How about another walk on the beach? Maybe we’ll stop in the cabana down the way for some dancing.”

“I liked how we danced last night,” she said in a dreamy voice. “Just you and me. No one else around. It was an amazing night.”

He studied her for a long moment, his fingers idly caressing hers. “Yeah, it was.” He lifted her hand and brought it to his mouth where he proceeded to kiss each fingertip before turning her hand over and nuzzling into her palm. “I thought maybe tomorrow we could get out and see some of the sights as long as you’re feeling up to it. I don’t want you walking, but I’ve arranged for a convertible so we can drive where we like. Top down, wind-in-our-hair sort of thing.”

“It sounds fun.” And it had been a long time since she’d simply had fun. She smiled, feeling her chest grow lighter with each passing second.

Impulsively she squeezed his hand.

“I love that you’re smiling again,” he said. “You’re beautiful when you smile. I want you to be happy, Kell. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

With that statement, she felt some of her hurt and anger recede. For the first time she began to believe that maybe they could get beyond the past and forge ahead.

He seemed so sincere. Whatever he thought of her in the past, he seemed willing to push aside those feelings and start over. Why would he go to such lengths if he didn’t care about her?

“I want this to work,” she said earnestly. And for the first time she really believed wholeheartedly that she did. That they could find their way back to each other seemed an impossible dream. It would take forgiveness and sacrifice, but she wanted it more than anything.