“Good. You know I don’t like to feel left out,” Deidre joked, waving as they walked toward the car.
“That was nice,” Faith murmured later as they drove back to Holland. “You were right about Mari. She’s wonderful. It was nice to see Brigit, as well.”
“Yeah. It was. Nice, I mean,” Ryan said. She glanced at him in surprise, his tone had been so steadfast.
“I had the impression Brigit wasn’t one of your favorite people.”
“She didn’t used to be,” Ryan admitted, his gaze on the road. “The lawsuits that followed the accident years ago sort of put the Kavanaughs and us on opposite sides of the ring. It wasn’t pretty.”
“I can only imagine,” Faith said, compassion filling her when she considered what people on all sides must have suffered following such a horrific accident. Ryan glanced at her quickly, a small smile on his face.
“But I have to admit...seeing how fond Brigit was of you, I have a new respect for her. She was doing what I wanted to do all along—making sure you were okay and safe and sound. I appreciate her in a whole new way for being here and looking out for you.”
She opened her mouth to remind him she was very capable of looking out for herself, but halted. He’d sounded so warm and thoughtful just now, it was difficult to find fault in what he’d said. Was it really such a terrible thing that he worried about her, even though it was unwarranted? Didn’t that mean he cared...even a little?
“Would you like to come in?” she asked him when he pulled into her driveway, damning her breathlessness.
“I would, if you don’t mind,” he said. “I brought my tape measure. I was hoping to get some measurements for the bookcases so that I can start coming up with a sketch for you. We can bounce ideas off that.”
“That’d be terrific,” she said, watching as he reached in the backseat for a tape measure, ruler and a tablet of paper.
He immediately went into the nursery-to-be and began working. Faith let Topsy out into the backyard and fed the cats. She walked into the baby’s room a half hour later. Ryan sat on the only chair in the room, the sketchpad open on his spread thighs. She peered over his shoulder at his sketch.
“It’s just preliminary, but what would you think about something like this?” he asked, his pencil still moving over the paper. He moved aside the ruler to show her what he’d drawn. Fascinated, Faith sunk to her knees next to him, her forearms braced on the arms of his chair.
“Oh, that’d be amazing, Ryan,” she enthused, admiring the multi-unit shelving and cabinet unit. “I can’t believe you came up with that so quickly. I love it.”
He waved his pencil over the two corner benches. “These can be used for both sitting and for toy storage, and these cabinets can hold anything from sports equipment to clothing to diapers. Then there’s the book shelves, for displaying things and—”
“Books. Lots and lots of books.”
Ryan glanced at her. Their heads were close enough that Faith could easily see the warm gleam in his eyes. She also could smell his clean, spicy scent. She breathed deeper, as if she wanted to absorb it.
“I’m glad you think books are so important,” he said quietly.
“Of course I do.”
She couldn’t pull her gaze off his lips when they twitched in a smile. He leaned closer to her. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from craning closer to him, until their mouths were only inches apart. He still watched her intently. She saw his nostrils flare, as if he was trying to capture her scent as she had his. Her heart stalled, and then began to race.
“I should have known that learning would be a top priority for a straight-A student.”
“Don’t forget gym class.”
“I’m not forgetting anything,” he said before his lips brushed against hers.
Chapter Seven
It was more of a gentle, skimming caress than a kiss, as if he was curious as to how her mouth felt and used his own to discover the information. Faith closed her eyes and just experienced him; firm, warm, fragrant flesh sliding and rubbing against her own sensitive, tingling lips. She pressed closer, eager for more of the sensation of him, molding her mouth against his, hungrier now...blindly seeking.
He put his hand on the back of her head and pierced her lips with his tongue. Excitement knifed through her, sharp and compelling. Her nipples prickled and tightened. A gnawing ache expanded at her core, a feeling she knew from experience that Ryan could build and mount in her flesh...and finally vanquish in a delicious rush of pure pleasure.
A loud, high-pitched wail penetrated her haze of arousal. Ryan closed their kiss and leaned back slightly, a mixture of alarm and puzzlement on his face.
“It’s Topsy,” she said in an apologetic tone. She snorted into soft laughter when the comically mournful howling continued. Faith pushed up on the arm of Ryan’s chair and stood. “I’ll just go and get her. I left her out in the yard.”
“Her Highness doesn’t like to be left waiting,” Ryan said, grinning, although the embers of arousal remained in his eyes.
Thinking it was best to get some distance from him for a bit, considering how much she’d lost herself in that kiss, Faith busied herself in other rooms for the next several minutes. When she walked down the hallway to her bedroom a while later, Topsy panting after her on her heels, she noticed he was still in the baby’s room, absorbed in his task. She entered her room and closed the door, leaving it open a crack. She quickly undressed and pulled on some jeans. Standing in her opened closet door, she searched for a blouse to wear, her hands skimming over several garments. Her fingers paused on the hanger for her evening dress that she planned to wear for the benefit Wednesday night for the Animal Advocates Alliance.