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It was a dare, another gauntlet. And this time, it worked. Brayden lifted his head, turned and nailed his gaze to hers. Unfortunately, his movement came at the same moment when she noticed the car creeping through the parking lot.
Ashley tried to ignore it. Tried and failed. Before she could stop herself, she began to make mental notes of the specifics. A dark green van. Texas plates. Nondescript, except for the fact it had heavily tinted windows. So heavily tinted that she couldn’t see the driver.
When it finally crawled by, she pulled her attention away from it and reaimed it at the man who was waiting for her to fulfill her part of the you still haven’t seen my face dare.
“Want me to run a check on those plates?” Brayden asked.
So, he’d noticed. Of course, he wouldn’t have been much of a cop if he hadn’t. “No thanks. Old habits, you know.”
And those old habits ruled her life. In fact, when Ashley got right down to it, to that elusive bottom line, one of those old habits was the thing that worried her most about becoming pregnant. Giving up her life in Virginia was only part of the problem. Getting past her unresolved issues with Brayden was another. But the worst part was facing a fear that so far she’d had zero success in facing.
She cursed herself.
And cursed Brayden, as well.
While she was at it, she cursed the medical community for not having a cure for her nephew.
“You know those scenes in horror movies where the people go into a scary-looking house?” Brayden asked.
Okay. That got her mind off her mental profanity. “Excuse me?”
“Those scenes where people go inside even though they’re scared spitless and there’s this creepy music playing?”
Now, he looked at her. And she looked at him. Even though the subject was intriguing, and somewhat confusing, Ashley got lost for in moment in those eyes.
Mercy, where had that come from?
“Those people are too stupid to live because they ignore all their instincts and do something, well, stupid,” he continued. “And the point is, you’re not stupid. So, that means I want you to accept my offer to stay in the guest room at my house. You might think I’m a couple of steps below navel lint, but I didn’t ask you to come here so you could get hurt.”
As one-sided conversations went, that one packed a wallop. Brayden didn’t dismiss her fears. Didn’t give her one of those icy coplike glances. It was one nearly perfect moment in what had been far from perfect between them.
And in that moment, Ashley knew exactly where this had to go. Maybe she’d always known but had needed this moment, this visit with Colton, for it to sink in. Now, she only hoped she could live with the decision she was about to make.
“I’ll do it,” she heard herself say.
Brayden nodded. “Good. It won’t take us long to get to the house. I’ve already upgraded the security system, and some officers have volunteered to drive by and keep an eye on the place. It’s as safe as I can make it.”
He put the car in gear, but she caught his hand to stop him from leaving.
“No, I mean…well, yes, to the guest room,” Ashley assured him. “Because you’re right—I’m not stupid.” Well, not about this anyway. “But yes to helping Colton, too.”
His gaze rifled to hers again. But he didn’t say a word. He just waited for her to finish.
Ashley did. After she gathered enough breath so she could speak.
“I’ll have your baby, Brayden.”
Chapter Four
Brayden unlocked his back door, disengaged the security system so he could enter and then immediately reset it once he was inside. What he didn’t do was leave the family room. Instead, he stood there a moment in the thick darkness and listened.
If Ashley was still up, she wasn’t making a sound.
Of course, it was close to midnight, and after the trip from Virginia, the doctor’s appointment, the lab tests and the general stress of the past two days, she was no doubt exhausted. And probably asleep.
Well, hopefully.
Brayden hated to admit it even to himself, but one of the reasons he was so late getting home was that he preferred not to see her. That’s why he’d stayed away most of the night before and why he was late again tonight.
And that created a whole new round of guilt for him.
As if he needed more.
He’d asked so much of her, and she’d come through for Colton. For him. Somehow, Ashley had been able to put aside their past to give him the most incredible gift: a chance for his son to get well.
Yet, he wasn’t anxious to face her.
That couldn’t go on much longer. Eventually, they had to talk. About the insemination. About the upcoming pregnancy. About the logistics of how all of this would work. They had to discuss what would happen once she became pregnant. Would she stay in San Antonio or return to her self-made sanctuary in Virginia?
Brayden refused to change that once to an if.
Ashley would become pregnant.
And the new baby’s bone marrow would be a match for Colton. He’d have two healthy children to love and raise.
That was the only scenario he could accept.
He leaned against the wall and listened for several moments but only heard the hum of the fridge in the adjoining kitchen and the rhythmic swings of the pendulum in the grandfather clock. Certain that he could make a clean escape to his bedroom, he crossed the room to the hall.
And came face-to-face with a baseball bat.
He moved out of instinct, latching onto the bat before it could be used to assault him. In the same motion, he grabbed the person’s wrist.
His brain registered that it was probably Ashley. Probably. But in the back of his mind, there was a concern that it might be an intruder.
“It’s me,” he managed to say. “It’s Brayden.”
He heard her then. Definitely Ashley. She made a sound of surprise, of recognition, of relief, but unfortunately her body was a couple of steps ahead of that sound. She’d already started toward him, and it was Brayden who stopped her forward progression.
Ashley rammed into him, off-balancing them both. And they went down to the floor. He managed to turn them at the last possible second so that he took the brunt of the fall. Chivalrous, yes, but not very bright since his head banged the corner of the clock.
Brayden could have sworn he saw stars.
But that wasn’t all his chivalrous act had done. No such luck. Ashley landed on top of him. Her breasts against his chest. And their lower bodies aligned in the worst way possible. If it hadn’t been for their clothes, they might have had accidental sex.
“It’s me,” he repeated. Heaven knows why. Ashley obviously knew that by now.
She looked down at him, her breath gusting and hitting him in the face. She smelled like mint toothpaste.
And sex.
Brayden quickly pushed aside that thought. It probably had something to do with the fact that earlier in the evening he’d spent some time in the collection room at the clinic donating his contribution for the artificial insemination. Difficult not to think of sex after that.
“I thought it was someone breaking in,” she said, climbing off him. Not easily, either. There was a lot of slippery sliding contact that reminded Brayden he was a man. And that she was a woman.
She rolled to the side, flopped onto her back and lay there, most likely so she could catch her breath. Brayden tried to do the same.
“I didn’t hear the garage door open so I didn’t think it was you,” she explained.
“I figured the garage door would wake you up so I parked in the drive and came in through the back.”
More of those gusty breaths punctuated by some mumbling. “I was already awake.”
“Obviously.” He forced himself to get up and then offered her a hand. Ashley latched onto him, and he helped her to her feet. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
“No. How about you?”
He wouldn’t dare mention the stars whirling around his head or the bruise he’d almost certainly have on his butt. “I’ll live.”
Brayden reached over and turned on the light. A huge mistake. Major. Ashley might not have been sleeping when he arrived, but she was definitely ready for bed.
She wore pajamas. Not some baggy, formless outfit, but Christmas-red silk pj’s that clung to just about every inch of her. The top was short. Cropped. And it cropped just enough to expose about an inch or so of her bare stomach.
No bra.
How did he know that?
Because the top was also snug, and he could see the exact shape of her breasts. Small. Firm, from the looks of them. And for reasons Brayden didn’t want to explore, he looked.
With that look, he felt his body make all kinds of suggestions. Bad suggestions. Suggestions he had no intention of acting on. Brayden forced his attention from her breasts to her face.
Not a great idea, either.
Her hair was tousled, framing her face. Emphasizing that naked mouth and her eyes. It was a reminder that he’d never seen her without her makeup in her pj’s.
It didn’t seem as if it was something he should be seeing now, either.
“Uh, how was Colton?” Ashley asked, licking her lips. Not a come-on kind of lick either. A fidgety kind of lick. She was nervous.
Welcome to the club.
Brayden was glad she came up with a suitable subject. Because raunchy thoughts aside, he was drawing a blank in the particular area of where they should go from here.
“He’s better. He said to tell you hello. Oh, and he also said I should remind you about the snow thing.” He paused, shaking his head. “What’s that about anyway?”
“He wants snow for Christmas. I told him I’d see what I could do.” She folded her arms over her chest. Which meant she probably knew he’d been gawking at her breasts.
Great. Just great.
In addition to thinking he was naval lint, now she probably thought he was a pervert.
She checked the clock. “Colton was up late, huh? Is that usual for him?”
“It wasn’t that late. Not really. I dropped by his room around nine. Tucked him in. Kissed him good-night. And then I had to go to the clinic where the insemination will be done. That’s why I’m just now getting home.”
That, and the fact that he’d circled the block for the past forty-five minutes.
“Is there a problem at the clinic?” Ashley asked, some alarm in her eyes.
He shook his head. “The doctor met me after hours so I could do some paperwork. Plus, I needed to use the collection room,” he added, after clearing his throat.
Brayden saw the moment his meaning registered. “Oh. Got it.” She actually blushed, shuffled her feet, licked her lips and generally looked as uncomfortable as he felt. “No news on the tests I took earlier?”
“Nothing yet, but the doctor put a rush on them so we should know something before morning.”
“A rush?” she repeated.
“Yes. Because he was concerned that we might miss your ovulation. Which would mean waiting another month. Anyway, I told the lab to call though as soon as they had results. So, if you hear the phone, that’s probably who it’ll be. Once we know when you’ll be ovulating, then we can schedule the insemination.”
Of course, they’d have to verify that she was a suitable candidate for insemination first, but Brayden was hoping they’d get past that hurdle without any problems. That’s why he’d gone ahead with the collection so they would be prepared.
Ashley slid her fingers through her hair, ruffling it, and hiking up her top in the process so he could see even more of her stomach. Not that he wanted to see more. When her hair fell back in place, it somehow managed to look even hotter than it had before.
And that was Brayden’s cue to head to bed.
If her mussed hair and bare stomach were making him have dirty thoughts, then he didn’t need to be in the general vicinity of her.
It was probably just adrenaline or fatigue. Or the fact that his body was on alert because of his trip to the collection room.
“Collection room?” Ashley mumbled under her breath, and Brayden thought maybe he’d said that last part aloud. It gave him a moment of panic. But apparently he’d said aloud no such thing because Ashley didn’t looked astonished, only a little queasy.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Collection room,” she repeated. “Insemination. Sorry, but it all has sort of an ick factor to it.”
Okay. That helped with the raunchy thoughts, but it sent his stomach into a tailspin. “You haven’t changed your mind about doing this?”
“No. Oh, no. Of course not. It’s just…” She made a circular motion with her fingers as if she were trying to figure out how to explain what was on her mind. “The thought of it is a little, well, icky.” Another ruffling of her hair. “I’m not making any sense.”
“You are. I understand. There’s nothing natural about it.” And he should know. He was the one who’d been in that collection room.
Even though there was something about this, about Ashley, that felt natural.
Not in a comforting sort of way, either.
Brayden hitched his thumb toward his room, and he almost managed to say a good-night. Almost. But other than the lustful thoughts about her stomach, mouth and hair, he had one other thing on his mind.
“I haven’t thanked you—”
