More Than He Expected

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What the hell was wrong with him?

Certainly he didn’t require a baby as an excuse to have Gwen in his arms again. That was a life-changing complication he simply didn’t need. But knowing that she was still single, albeit a bit preoccupied, meant his plans for this week hadn’t completely fallen apart yet. If she was interested, they could still have a little fun and, hopefully, this time he’d be able to move on when it was over.

Alex heard a familiar melody of a woman’s laughter from the patio. He strode to the window and pulled aside the curtain. Gwen had joined the others outside. She was standing near the sparkling turquoise pool, talking to Adrienne and another woman he didn’t know. He couldn’t hear their conversation, but Adrienne spoke and Gwen laughed again.

He had missed that sound. When Gwen was really tickled, she laughed wholeheartedly. No polite, uptight chuckles from her. He loved how she could let herself go. Whether it was laughter or pleasure, she allowed herself to just feel it and react without worrying what other people thought. As he watched, her head tipped back and she giggled in unrestrained amusement. Her eyes closed, her white smile flashing up at him. Her movement allowed the golden sunlight to highlight the creamy expanse of her chest and shoulders exposed by her dress.

Alex had been too preoccupied earlier to notice how Gwen had changed since he had seen her in November. Last year, long hours at the hospital and attempts to diet before the wedding had trimmed her petite frame to the point of being almost too thin, in his opinion. Women always worried too much about those last few vanity pounds. In his experience, a woman with curves and a healthy appetite was more fun both in bed and out.

Now, as he watched her from the window, he could see Gwen was obviously pregnant, but everything about her seemed to be softer and more welcoming. Her skin radiated a rosy, maternal glow. Her breasts were fuller and her hips a touch rounder. Pregnancy really suited her.

And him.

The fire in his gut that had been building since he had gotten into the car this morning returned. The shock of their previous discussion had dulled it, but now it was back with renewed fervor. The woman he’d fantasized about for months was here, looking more beautiful than he remembered. Standing in the sunlight with her long, flowing dress, she looked more like some ancient Greek fertility goddess than a nurse.

The tightness in his groin forced him to shift his stance uncomfortably. Alex was surprised by his visceral reaction to her. There was something primal piqued by her new, soft curves. Typically the sight of a pregnant woman threw up red flags declaring her off-limits. It was something he’d never considered, given he never planned to settle down and start a family.

But Gwen wasn’t off-limits. Her situation was unique and certainly complicated, but he didn’t see any barriers between them. If she could be coaxed into continuing their affair, they could spend another fantastic week in bed together. Alex wanted that week to start as soon as possible.

“Sworn off men, have you, Gwen? We’ll just see about that.”

Letting the curtain drop, he headed downstairs to join the party and begin his heated pursuit of Gwen Wright.

“About damn time!” Will shouted toward the house.

Gwen turned that direction in time to see Alex strut onto the blue flagstone patio that arched out from the house. The tall, white pergola that lined the back of the house was covered in clematis vines this time of year, and it shaded almost everything below. Patches of dark and light danced across his face as he approached the outdoor kitchen, where everyone had congregated.

“The party can officially start,” he announced, giving Gwen a brilliant smile before he bent down to pull a cold bottle of locally microbrewed beer out of the small refrigerator inset to the right of the grill.

The small gesture brought a wave of warmth to her cheeks that had nothing to do with the sun. Perhaps she’d worried for nothing. When Adrienne had first invited her up here for the Independence Day holiday, she’d had doubts. Her friend had promised her a relaxing vacation by the ocean with nothing but fun and friends. It sounded like a dream.

The time away from work would be a godsend, as would going a couple days without having to climb the four flights of stairs to her apartment. Her daily routine got rougher as each week ticked by. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like in the last few months. She needed this break more than she’d realized.

But she’d known seeing Alex again would be awkward. Her being pregnant made it doubly so. It wasn’t because they had parted on bad terms. They had both known it was nothing more than a little short-term fun. He’d had a business trip to go on, and it had seemed like the right time to end whatever they had going. But once he was gone, she’d been left with this restless, icky feeling she’d never felt before.

Eventually the complications of her life had put those concerns out of her head, but it had just confirmed some of the thoughts she’d been having about her choices in men. As in—she always made bad ones. Alex was no different. And it just wasn’t working for her anymore. The decision to take the next year off from dating was obviously a wise choice.

But Alex didn’t know how she felt about things. Their relationship had ended on a positive note as far as he was concerned. And given the firm arousal that had pressed into her back less than an hour ago, he’d arrived alone and interested in having another go at it.

At least he had. Until twenty-two weeks of belly had come between them. Now he probably thought she was as sexy as a beluga whale—or worse in Alex’s mind—a pregnant woman.

It was probably for the best. There was a reason why she’d planned her man-break to coincide with the pregnancy. It was built-in willpower. And lately, she’d needed it. The months of celibacy and the second-trimester hormones had done a number on her libido. If Alex was still interested, she’d be tempted to use him for a couple nights of hot sex, the way he used every other woman in his life. Turnabout was fair play, right?

But, fortunately, she didn’t have to worry. Alex would stay at arm’s length from her all week, and she wouldn’t need the strength necessary to turn him down. And she would have to turn him down. She’d done so well. She didn’t want to fall off the wagon, even for a guy like Alex.

“Alex, have you met everybody?” Adrienne set down her glass of tea on the table and began fulfilling her role as hostess by introducing her guests.

Gwen had heard it all before, but she listened a second time in the hope she would actually retain the information. First was Emma, Adrienne’s half sister of sorts. She was actually the child of George and Pauline Dempsey, who had lost their older daughter in the same wreck that had nearly killed Adrienne. They’d unofficially adopted Adrienne and let her take Emma shopping or on trips from time to time. Emma had just graduated from high school, and when she got home, she had to pack up and get ready for her freshman year at Yale.

Next was Sabine, a somewhat funky twentysomething who managed Adrienne’s boutique. She had a nose piercing and a bright purple stripe in her black hair, so Gwen wasn’t quite sure what to make of her. Adrienne ran in diverse circles.

Peter and Helena were a middle-aged couple who lived in the brownstone next to Will and Adrienne’s new place on the Upper West Side. Rounding off the crowd was Wade, one of Will and Alex’s friends from Yale and Alex’s former business partner, and Jack, an editor for one of the big New York publishing houses. Apparently he had worked with Will at the paper a few years back.

It was a blur of names and faces that Gwen would forget the minute the next name was called. She’d blame her short-term memory loss on the pregnancy—it was easy to label almost anything as a symptom of her condition—but the truth of the matter was that she was simply bad with names. At work, it was easy. All the staff had name tags, and all the patients had their names on a plaque outside their door or a clipboard hanging at the foot of their bed.

When the introductions were finished, she decided her time standing in the sun was over. It had felt good at first, but now she was a minute or two from starting to burn. Taking her glass of iced tea, Gwen returned to the shade of the pergola and sat down on one of the cushioned Adirondack chairs.

Leaning back into the cool comfort of her chair, she instantly felt better. Thank goodness she wasn’t full-term in the heat of the summer. Gwen wasn’t sure she could bear that. Her apartment didn’t have central air, just a small unit in the bedroom window. Most of the time she was cold natured and it suited her fine, but she’d had fire running through her veins the last few months.

Taking a refreshing sip of the sweet tea she’d brewed earlier, she watched the men gather around the grill. Apparently millionaires could run companies and build empires, but outdoor cooking was a challenge. She watched Alex open the cabinet beneath it and make some adjustments to the propane line. A few minutes later, a roar of success sounded from the group.

“We have fire!” the editor guy—Jack?—shouted triumphantly.

Adrienne patted them all on the back and headed toward the house. “I’m off to prepare the meat,” she said with a smile as she slipped inside.

Sabine with the purple hair quickly grew bored with the sight of an operating gas grill and came to sit in the shade with Gwen. They hadn’t spoken much since she’d arrived. She was sure the woman was perfectly nice—Adrienne was a good judge of people—but Gwen just didn’t know what they had in common to discuss.

“When are you due?” Sabine asked before taking a sip from her beer.

“Mid-October,” Gwen said, although watching the other woman made her think the day couldn’t come soon enough. Of all the lifestyle changes she’d had to make, the hardest had been giving up her favorite beer. She didn’t drink much, but there was just something soothing about popping the top on a cold one after a long shift, plopping onto the couch and watching a few hours of reality television on her DVR.

“My son will be two in October, so I understand where you’re at. Do you know what you’re having yet?”

Gwen tried not to look too surprised to learn Sabine was a mother. Imagining her own mother with purple hair was just impossible. “A little girl. I had the ultrasound last week.”

Susan and Robert had been over the moon in the doctor’s office. It was hard to see the fuzzy image on the screen from her vantage point, but she tried not to be too disappointed. This was their baby after all, not hers. They did give her a copy of the latest ultrasound picture to show off. Unfortunately, it was in her purse on her bed when she needed it.

“Do you have any names picked out yet?”

The more pregnant Gwen became, the more of these questions she had to field. It had been easy when no one could tell she was pregnant. Now, unless it was just a quick comment from a stranger on the subway, it was best to tell them about her situation before they pressed on.

“No, actually, I’m a surrogate, so the baby technically isn’t mine to name. I think her parents are considering Caroline Joy and Abigail Rose. Every time I talk to them they’ve changed it again. For now I just call her Peanut, because that’s what she looked like on the first sonogram.”

Sabine’s eyes had grown wider as Gwen talked. Apparently dropping a detail like that and carrying on without pause had thrown her off her guard. “A surrogate? Wow. I don’t think I could ever do that,” she finally said.

“Why is that?”

“Being pregnant is such a life-changing experience. Whether or not the child is yours, you’re going to bond with it. To go through months with that baby inside you and then to give it away … I just couldn’t do it.”

Gwen tried not to frown at Sabine. She probably didn’t realize how her words would affect her. But they struck a chord. Gwen had never been interested in having a family of her own. She’d spent too much of her childhood being pushed aside by her mother when a new man came into her life. She wasn’t about to do that to a child of her own. Acting as a surrogate seemed like an intriguing opportunity. Since she’d never thought she’d have kids, she’d never thought she would experience pregnancy.

Never once did she consider that she’d form an emotional attachment to another person’s child. But Sabine was right. She’d underestimated what it was like to have life growing inside her. The moment she’d felt the first flutter in her stomach, Peanut had become a real person to her. She’d gotten in the habit of talking to the baby when she was alone in her apartment. She was the one who helped Gwen pick out what she would have for lunch. The silent child had become her main companion when her crowd of bar-hopping friends didn’t know how to act around her anymore.

Gwen hadn’t really realized it until that moment, but she had bonded with the baby. With four more months to go, how much worse would it get? She didn’t even want to think about it. She was too prone to getting emotional lately.

Confused, she turned away from Sabine and found Alex watching her from across the patio. He was leaning casually against one of the white wooden posts, while either Jack or Wade, she couldn’t be sure, talked to him. But he wasn’t looking at them or even pretending to. He was looking at her. There was an intensity in his hazel eyes, but there was something different there than the desire he’d directed at her in the past. It almost felt like admiration, although she had no idea why Alex would look at her that way. She was pregnant, broke and overworked. That was no condition to admire.

“He is one sexy piece of man,” Sabine commented, still oblivious to the effect her words had on Gwen.

The comment startled Gwen into turning back to the woman beside her. Sabine’s gaze was focused exactly in Alex’s direction. Gwen had no claim to him, but the thought of him and Sabine together brought on a surge of jealousy that chased away the last of her confusing emotions. She opted to play dumb. “Who? Wade?”

“No, the guy who came late. Alex.”

“Ahh,” Gwen said, not trusting herself to comment further without sounding either bitter or jealous to the other woman’s ears.

“Pity for me, but I think he’s into you.”

That perked Gwen’s attention. Her head snapped toward him, but he had returned to his conversation. “Why would you say that?”

“Because he keeps watching you.”

“Maybe I’m just funny-looking.” She sighed.

“Nope,” Sabine said with certainty. “When you’re not watching, he’s looking at you like you’re the sweetest strawberry tart in the bakery window. He definitely wants a taste.”

Gwen subconsciously stroked her rounded stomach and shook her head. “I appreciate you thinking so, but somehow I doubt he wants to take a bite out of this.”

At that, Sabine cracked a crooked, knowing grin. “Oh, he does,” she assured.

“Well, even if that were true, my life is a little complicated right now. I’m not interested.”

Sabine laughed and shook her head. “I hardly think that matters. I’ve had my share of experience with those rich, cocky types. They get what they want, and they don’t care who they have to roll over in the process. If I were you, I’d let him have his way with you. And let me tell you something if you don’t already know. Between all the hormones and the increased blood flow, sex in the second trimester can be absolutely mind-blowing. I bet that in the experienced hands of a man like Alex, you can multiply that by ten at least.”

Gwen’s jaw dropped open, but she didn’t have the words to respond. Instead, she shifted her gaze back to Alex. This time he was watching her, and his obvious, heated appraisal was enough to send a surprising surge of desire down her spine.

Well, hell. She hadn’t counted on him still being attracted to her. That certainly complicated things.

Willpower, she reminded herself as she sucked in a deep breath and began fidgeting with her bracelet. She was on a man-break, and Alex was just the kind of man who had necessitated the break to begin with. Her attraction to him was nothing more than hormones and months of celibacy conspiring against her. But she could fight it. She had to. It didn’t matter what Alex wanted. He couldn’t just snap his fingers and get his way.

And yet, as she looked at him across the patio, Gwen was fairly certain her celibacy streak was on the verge of coming to a wild, passionate end.

Three

By the time Gwen had taken the last bite of her dinner, she thought she might literally burst. She’d recently regained her appetite, and everything tasted so good, she couldn’t help herself. She’d had a grilled chicken breast and a cheeseburger in addition to the array of sides Adrienne had prepared. She was stuffed.

At least for an hour or so.

Given that Alex was watching her with his predatory gaze the whole time, she probably should’ve curbed her ravenous appetite and picked delicately at her food, but Peanut would have her way. After a rough first trimester living on saltines and lemon-lime soda, the hunger and the ability to keep it down were welcome. Even if the extra pounds were not. The doctor said she was right on track with her weight gain, but after a lifetime of trying to get smaller, not bigger, it was hard to change how she thought about things.

After they were done eating, several of the ladies started rounding up dishes, and the guys went inside for what promised to be a rowdy and high-stakes game of poker. Gwen scooped up her plate and a nearby bowl of potato salad and followed the other women into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Helena chided, snatching the items away from her the moment she crossed the threshold into the house. “You need to rest.”

Gwen frowned. “I’m pregnant, not paralyzed. If washing dishes is hazardous to my condition, someone needs to tell me, because I’ve been doing it the whole time.”

“Of course not. But take the opportunity to relax for once,” Adrienne said, brushing past her with a platter and another bowl. “We can handle it.”

The cherry-and-granite kitchen was quite large, but even Gwen realized that the four women already in there were bumping elbows and dancing around to clean up. A fifth one with a protruding belly probably wouldn’t be much help.

With a sigh, she snatched one of her favorite peppermint candies from the bag she left on the counter, turned, and went back outside. The sun had set, but the sky was still bright with orange-and-red hues streaking across it. Beyond the pool and the expansive lawn that extended on both sides of the house, she spied the boathouse and pier that led out into the harbor.

A walk would probably help things settle, she decided. She slipped out of her sandals and kicked them to the side, then headed across the perfectly manicured lawn. The blades of grass were soft and cool, welcoming the bottoms of her feet to sink into them. It was a beautiful evening, one like she hadn’t experienced in a long time. Along the tree line, she could see the blinking dance of fireflies as they appeared for the night. The breeze coming off the water was warm and salty, mingling with the scent of freshly mown grass.

It reminded her of her home in Tennessee. There, of course, the water was the creek that ran behind her grandparents’ house, but the grass and the flashing lightning bugs were just the same. She had the urge to climb into the tire swing her Paw-Paw had hung for her and sway for hours, as she used to.

For a brief moment, Gwen was overcome with homesickness. She loved Manhattan—the energy, the excitement, the culture. But it had never felt like home to her. It made her wonder if she ever would’ve left Tennessee if it hadn’t been the only way to get away from her mother. Following a guy she barely had lukewarm feelings for wasn’t very smart, but it was a sure ticket out of her mother’s clutches.

In the end, she and Ty went their separate ways, but she had gotten what she wanted from him—about six hundred miles of breathing room and her very own apartment, albeit tiny.

Gwen reached the pier and opted to walk out to the edge and watch the water. The occasional boat would sail by and send a ripple across the surface, but for the most part, the water was calm and still this time of day. At the end of the rough, wooden planks, she sucked in a lungful of ocean air and sighed.

She enjoyed getting away from the chaos more than she’d expected. There was a serenity out here that seemed to sink into her bones and force her muscles to unknot. Even Peanut had settled down and stopped squirming around. It was a shame she wasn’t in the right tax bracket to live out here. She’d have to take a job as a live-in nurse for some old, rich Hamptons resident to do that. Unfortunately, caring for an entitled hypochondriac didn’t really work for her.

Perhaps, after the baby was born, she should give some more thought about going back to Tennessee. That would probably make it easier on everyone with no awkward, obligatory visits. Robert and Susan could just take their baby and continue life as it was before their accident, and Gwen could return to the life she knew and start fresh.

The black, still waters around her beckoned. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in a body of water that wasn’t chlorinated, and she wanted to put her feet in it. Easing back, she sat on the boards and pulled her dress up to her knees. The water was cool and refreshing as she slipped her bare feet in to just above the ankles.