Sweet Temptation

She smiled, her eyes all watery and red, her nose swollen and her lips ravaged from her nervous chewing on them, and she’d never looked so beautiful to him than right now.

“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ll stay.” She looked down and smoothed a hand over her stomach. “We’ll stay.”

He closed his eyes, and for a moment he simply couldn’t breathe around the knot of emotion welling in his throat. He tried to speak, tried to tell her how damn much he loved her, but nothing would come out. God, he loved her.

He put his hand over hers at her stomach. “Are you happy about the baby, Angel?”

She smiled again. “I love her already. She’ll be just like me and drive her daddy crazy.”

“God help me.” Then he smiled, and it felt so goddamn good he wanted to cry like a damn girl. “You’re so sure it’s a daughter.”

She shrugged. “Just a feeling. It could be a boy who’ll be death on women just like his daddy.”

“I just want to be death on one woman,” he said softly. “I plan to love his or her mama so well that she never doubts even for a minute how much she means to him.”

“Can we go to bed now?” she asked as she leaned back into his arms. “Could you just hold me for a while?”

He brushed his lips over her temple in a tender gesture and stroked his fingers through her hair.

“I never intend to let you go, Angel girl.”