“Aw, I hate to see them go. They’re really sweet boys.”
He chuckled. “Oh yeah, I should have asked them to spend the night. I’m sure John would have loved to share a bed with you and your rack.” He shook his head with disgust. “The little pervert.”
“He’s thirteen. What do you expect? I highly doubt you were an angel of virtue at that age,” Emma countered with a smile.
“No, I was a pervert, too.”
“I figured as much. I swear he looks and acts so much like you.” She giggled. “He’s another Fitzgerald player in the making.”
Aidan’s cell phone started ringing, and when he glanced down at it, he grimaced. “Damn, this is the India office. I have to take it. Make yourself at home, okay?”
“No problem,” Emma replied, scratching Beau’s ears.
As soon as Aidan left the room, Beau hopped up on the couch with her. “Wanna find a chick flick to watch with me?”
He licked her hand. She grabbed the remote on the table and started flipping channels. “Ooh,” she murmured when she saw one of her favorites, Nottinghill, was on. She snuggled deeper into the couch, continuing to stroke Beau’s shiny black fur. After awhile, her eye-lids grew heavy, and before she could stop herself, she nodded off.
***
“Yes, I look forward to seeing you next month, Mr. Benwaldi,” Aidan said before hanging up. He rose out of his desk chair with a heavy sigh. In truth, he wasn’t too thrilled of the prospect of leaving the country for a month, but it had been a stipulation of his new promotion. Of course, he hadn’t thought to mention his imminent departure to Emma yet. He wasn’t sure how she was going to take him leaving in the middle of their baby-making quest. Maybe he could convince her to fly over for a few days if the next week’s try didn’t take.
Wait, what the hell was he thinking? Emma wasn’t his girlfriend or his wife. Asking a woman to fly across the ocean was way past his level of commitment, even if it was more for her benefit than his.
“Man, I’m the worst host ever. Sorry that took so long,” he said, as he walked into the living room. He skidded to a stop at the sight of Emma asleep on the couch with Beau beside her. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do. Should he wake her up and take her to get her car, or should he offer her the guest bedroom? Or should he take her to his bed? It wasn’t like they hadn’t slept together before.
He eyed Beau and gave a frustrated grunt. When Beau gazed drowsily up at him, Aidan wagged his finger. “You know damn well you’re not allowed on the furniture.”
Beau responded by yawning and then burrowing deeper to Emma’s side.
Aidan bent over the couch, his hand sweeping across Emma’s cheek. “Wake up, Em,” he said softly.
“Hmm?” she questioned without stirring.
“You need to go to bed.”
“No. Too tired,” she murmured.
He rubbed her arm. “You’ll sleep better in bed.”
She gave a short snore in response. Aidan rolled his eyes. Of course, she would have to make this harder on him. “Okay, fine. I’ll put you to bed.”
He reached underneath her legs and then brought his arms around her back. With a grunt, he lifted her up off the couch.
Emma gazed up at him through hooded eyes. “Are you my Knight in Shining Armor, now?”
“Oh yeah, I’m a helluva knight,” he grumbled.
“You’re making me break all my rules.”
“Huh?”
Her eyes closed, and he thought she’d gone back to sleep. “You make me feel too much…I’m just supposed to use you for sex like you use me.”
His chest tightened at her words. Is that really what she thought of him? Even though it was usually the truth, he didn’t like hearing it from her…at least not now. “Em, open your eyes and look at me.”
At his command, her drowsy green eyes focused on his. “Don’t you ever think I’m using you, all right? I may have always wanted to have sex with you, but I would never, ever use you.”
She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, her lips grazing his cheek. “You’re a good man, Aidan Fitzgerald, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“You think so?”
Her head bobbed lazily. “I never would have imagined you would take care of me like you did tonight, especially when there was no promise of sex. But you did.”
Aidan rolled his eyes as he eased Emma down on his bed. “That makes me a real gentleman, huh?”
“Umm, hmm,” she murmured, snuggling under the covers.
“I’m glad you think so highly of me, Em.”
“Just don’t break my heart,” she said softly.
She was already breathing heavily when he replied, “I’m going to try my best not to.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ten days after her dinner and sleepover at Aidan’s, Emma forced herself to throw her rule book out the window. Daily texts, emails, and phone calls from Aidan even made Casey a believer in resurrecting his potential boyfriend material. And now the red circled date on her calendar told her it was time to start Round Two of Baby-Making.
This time Aidan insisted she come to his house. The “all business” parameters of their arrangement had been broken, so there was no point in meeting at a hotel. After running home to freshen up, she headed over to his house.
He answered the door in boxers and a t-shirt. “Sorry, I just got out of the shower.”