She stared, her mouth partially opened in amazement at his stark declaration.
* * *
His deep voice seemed to ring in her head three months later as she lay in bed. Faith kept telling herself to stop remembering—reliving—every detail of that night. She told herself to forget.
The problem was, part of her rebelled against that very idea. Part of her clung on to the memories of feeling so alive...so cherished. He’d made her feel so special, made her so aware of her femininity, made her prize again what Jesse had found replaceable.
Part of her treasured the memories of Ryan, and that part was only growing since he’d come back into her life. That realization worried Faith.
It worried her a lot.
* * *
She was in the process of doing Saturday morning chores when she heard a car door slam. Her heart lurched against her breastbone when she peeked out the window and saw Ryan’s car in the driveway. He’d said that he’d stop by again today, but she hadn’t expected him so early.
She dropped the curtain and glanced at herself in the vanity mirror. She’d washed her hair this morning, but hadn’t styled it. It’d dried into a wild riot of curls, which she’d restrained in a low ponytail at her neck. She wore an old pair of low-rise jeans and a simple white T-shirt. The shirt was a lot tighter than she ever remembered it being before, and the jeans kept slipping down her hips while she worked, resulting in her newly expanding belly protruding over the waistband.
A brisk knock resounded down the hallway. Topsy charged to the front door, yipping ferociously the entire time. Panicked, Faith flung open her closet and grabbed an old flannel shirt. She hurriedly slipped it on, and then hitched up her uncooperative jeans. She grabbed Topsy before she opened the front door.
Ryan stood there in the sunshine holding a toolbox. His dark hair fluttered in the spring breeze. He wore a pair of well-fitted jeans, brown work boots and a dark blue thermal shirt with a T-shirt beneath it. He pretty much epitomized the sexy tool man that every female with a healthy pulse on the planet would love to invite into her house.
She mentally rolled her eyes at the errant, ridiculous thought and opened the screen door for him.
“Is this a good time?” Ryan asked.
“Er...a good time for what?” she wondered, her gaze running over the line of his slightly whiskered jaw and well-shaped mouth.
His lips tilted ever so slightly.
“To fix your back door. Unless you had something else in mind. I’m flexible.”
Faith realized his gaze had dropped. She’d tried to close the flannel shirt over the revealing T-shirt, but Topsy had wiggled her way into the opening, parting the material. Her nipples prickled beneath Ryan’s warm glance. Heat rushed into her cheeks.
“Fixing the back door would be great. If you’re sure you don’t mind?” she asked, flustered. She tried to tug the flannel shirt closed over the strip of bare skin above her jeans. She backed up so that he could enter. If he were just a few inches taller, he’d have to duck his head to not hit the doorframe. As soon as the door was closed, she set down Topsy, who yipped and frolicked on Ryan’s boots and around his ankles. The puppy wagged her entire bottom, not just her tail, as he bent to pet her.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Ryan asked after he’d stood.
“No,” she said, leading him to the kitchen, hurriedly buttoning the flannel shirt. “I was just doing some cleaning, and I have to attack the den later.”
“Attack?” he asked. She heard the smile in his voice before she glanced back to see it. His wind-ruffled dark hair fell attractively on his forehead. “Sounds pretty hardcore.”
“I keep procrastinating on it,” Faith said as she watched him set down his toolbox next to the back door. She realized she was staring at his rear end as he bent over and glanced away, blushing.
“What’s the hurry?” Ryan asked, flipping open the lid on the metal box.
“Well, the baby coming, I guess.”
He paused at that, his head swinging around. She felt herself being examined by his incisive stare.
She gave him a weak smile. “The den is going to be the nursery. I have to clear it all out before I can start to decorate and buy the furniture.”
She saw the color wash out of his face beneath his tan. He just stood there, holding a hammer and looking stunned.
“Ryan? Are you okay?”
After a second he nodded. He stepped toward the door. “It’s really going to happen, isn’t it?” he said after a moment. “You’re actually going to have a baby.”
She nodded, giving him a quizzical glance. He shook his head slightly, as if to clear it. “I woke up this morning, wondering if it had all been a dream,” she heard him mutter as he lifted the claw of the hammer to loosen the piece of plywood.