She gave a tremulous smile. The conviction in his voice had been absolute.
“Well...even if the timing and circumstances weren’t what you might have wanted, I’m glad that your wish came true,” she whispered.
“Thank you. For making it come true,” he said quietly.
Her lips parted, but she couldn’t speak. She was caught in his stare. Neither of them spoke when he lifted his hand. Somehow she knew what he was about to do. She didn’t protest when he gently cupped her right breast. The heavy, pleasurable ache at her center amplified to a slow burn.
“You’re changing here, too,” he said gruffly.
She stifled a gasp when his fingers moved, ever so slightly, grazing a sensitive nipple. “Yes.”
“Are you planning on breast-feeding?” he asked.
When she didn’t immediately respond, his gaze flashed up to her face. She nodded, her throat too tight with emotion to speak. His nostrils flared. He seemed to come to himself. He dropped his hand and stood. Faith looked up at him helplessly. His face was rigid and difficult to read, but his tense muscles and hard body betrayed his arousal.
He excused himself and walked out of the room, leaving her spinning in confusion and desire.
* * *
After taking a few minutes to compose himself, Ryan returned to the den. Regret hit him when he saw Faith glance up at him from where she still sat on the floor, her face looking pale, her eyes huge. She’d rebuttoned the flannel shirt, which amplified his guilt, but also gladdened him. All in all, he thought it was best for the time being that she cover herself from his greedy gaze. The last thing he wanted to do was to alienate her, but seeing the subtle transformation of her lovely body had moved him deeply.
It had also been one of the most erotic experiences he could ever imagine—touching her. If that had been true on Christmas Eve, it was even more so now that his child grew inside of her.
A child.
Their baby.
And people said miracles didn’t happen anymore. Couldn’t they see they occurred every day, right in front of their eyes?
“What should I tackle first?” he asked, forcing his mind to the mundane and glancing around the room. He was glad to see the tension seep out of her face.
“Oh, well I suppose you could start with the closet? Pretty much everything in there is stuff that I’ve already gone through and want to throw away.”
“What about all this furniture?” he asked, inspecting the large cherry desk, bureau and full-size bed.
“I was planning on hiring movers to do that. I’m going to donate the bed and bureau to the Salvation Army. They said they’d come and pick it up with their truck if I got the items out into the driveway. As for the desk, I’m moving that to the guest bedroom,” she said, standing.
Ryan nodded, assessing the items. “I can do it today. I’ll run into town and rent a hand truck, then stop by the Salvation Army and ask them to pick up the bed and bureau later this afternoon.” He noticed Faith’s amazed expression. “But if you’d rather I worked on the closet instead, that’s fine, too.”
“No, I just hadn’t expected that it all could be taken care of so quickly by one person. Are you sure? It seems like such a big job.”
“Not if I have the right tools to do it with,” Ryan said. He caught her gaze and gave her a smile. He hoped she recognized it as an apology for pawing her earlier. Not that he’d considered it pawing, by any means. More like carnal worship, but he couldn’t really tell Faith that without making more of a fool of himself than he already had.
“I’ll be back in less than an hour. How about if I bring us back some lunch, too?”
“Tha
t’d be great.” She gave him a shaky smile, and he thought he might have been forgiven.
He hoped so, anyway.
* * *
When he returned with the rented hand truck, he taped all the drawers together on the desk and moved it into the spare bedroom. Afterward, they took a break. He got everything ready for their lunch while Faith admired her newly fixed back door, complete with not just one, but two sturdy-looking brass locks. She opened it and gazed at the back yard. Topsy was almost immediately there, panting to get outside. Faith laughed and let the puppy run into the yard.
“This is great. I used to have to take her out the front and go around the house to let her into the fenced-in area. Thank you for fixing it, Ryan,” she said, coming toward him and accepting the sandwich and salad he offered her, along with a carton of skim milk.
“My pleasure,” Ryan said, watching Topsy through the window over the sink. She zipped from place to place, sniffing every bush and new bloom avidly. He laughed. Faith looked over and smiled. She really liked his deep, booming laugh. “She’s like a hyperactive bee out there sniffing those bushes,” he said.