The Proposition (16 page)

Connor snorted. “Just a text my ass! From the
practically giddy expression on your face, I’m assuming it’s from
Big Papa Fitzgerald!” Connor joked.

Emma giggled. “Yes, it is. He’s on his way
home.”

Peeking over her shoulder, Connor gasped.
“Damn, girl, he’s looking forward to licking every inch of your
body? Em’s gone kinky on me!”

“Would you stop!” she shrieked, jerking the
phone away from his view. Her reaction sent Connor and Casey
giggling like mad as they hopped into the car.

Fumbling for her car keys, she wasn’t quite
sure how to respond to Aidan’s text. Finally, she typed a quick
See you then
. As she cranked up, she had a gnawing feeling
in the pit of her stomach that telling Aidan wasn’t going to be as
easy as she thought.

As his plane skidded across the runway at
Hartsfield Jackson, Aidan fought the urge to shout for joy. For
him, there was truly no place like home. He tapped his foot
impatiently while he waited for the plane to come to a stop. Four
weeks away had felt like an eternity. Even though he wanted nothing
more than to grab a couple of chili dogs from the Varsity along
with a twelve pack from the liquor store, he had very important
dinner plans and even bigger nighttime plans.

After deplaning, he broke into a jog from the
gate, grabbing up his luggage as fast as he could. Glancing at his
watch, he had forty-five minutes to make it to O’Malley’s. He
would’ve liked to have had time to freshen up, but his rumpled
shirt and wrinkled dress pants were just going to have to do.

Miraculously, he stepped into O’Malley’s a
little before six. When Jenny saw him, her face lit up. “Hey
stranger! Glad to see you’re back.”

He smiled. “Thanks. It’s good to be home. You
can’t imagine how much I missed this old hole in the wall. You
can’t quite find the same beer or burgers over there.”

Jenny laughed. “So do I need to reserve a
large booth for the crew and your Welcome Home party?”

“Um, no, actually, I’m meeting someone.”

“Someone or some
woman
?”

He coughed. “A woman.”

Aidan couldn’t help feeling surprised when
Jenny’s smile widened. “Is it the pretty red-head you were here
with before?”

His mouth gaped open. “Wait, how did you
guess that?”

She grinned. “I knew there was something
between you two when you came in—something different from the other
women I’ve seen you with.”

“But we weren’t even dating then.” He shook
his head. “We’re not even dating
now
.”

“Oh please.” Jenny waved her hand
dismissively at him and grabbed two menus. She led him to the same
secluded area he had sat with Emma in before. This time she gave
them the back corner booth, ensuring they would have a lot of
privacy. “You guys make a really good-looking couple,” she said
before leaving him once again open-mouthed.

Aidan’s only response to Jenny’s compliments
was to give a frustrated grunt. He eased down in the booth and took
out his phone. After scrolling through several emails and texts, he
glanced up to see Emma sweeping through the door. He sucked in a
breath and tried to still the accelerating of his heartbeat. What
the hell was happening to him? No woman had ever had this much of
an effect on him. The time away seemed to have made her even more
beautiful than he remembered, but there was something different
about her—something softer, more vulnerable. It was a hell of a
turn on.

When Jenny said something to Emma, she beamed
and ducked her head. Without blinking, Aidan watched Emma as she
followed Jenny to the table. Her dress slid over her hips,
accentuating the curves he was familiar with. Her long auburn hair
hung in waves, cascading over her shoulders. He gritted his teeth
when he noticed some of the other male patrons ogling Emma as she
passed them by. Even though he had no right, he wanted to scream at
them that she belonged to him.

Her face lit up when she met his gaze.
“Hey!”

As he started rising out of the booth, she
rushed over and threw her arms around his neck. He opened his mouth
to say hello, but her lips crushed against his. As she deepened the
kiss, Aidan tried to keep his bearings by tightening his arms
around Emma’s waist. Damn, he had missed the feel of her lips, her
tongue, and the way her body molded against his.

A low whistle behind them caused Emma to jerk
back much to Aidan’s dismay. Jenny grinned at them and winked. “Now
who needs the guys when you can get a homecoming like that,
huh?”

Emma’s cheeks grew red, but she laughed.
Tilting her head to the side at Aidan, she asked, “Am I enough of a
Welcome Home party?”

He grinned. “At the moment, hell yes, you
are.”

Jenny squeezed past them to sit their
silverware on the table. “I guess I’ll leave you two lovebirds
alone now.”

“Thanks Jenny,” Aidan said.

He arched his eyebrows when Emma plopped down
next to him in the booth rather than sitting across from him. “Miss
me that much, huh?”

Her laughter made his heart vibrate with
warmth. “Yes, actually I did.”

Aidan stared into her twinkling green eyes.
“I missed you, too.”
A hell of a lot more than I want to
admit.

“Me or the sex?” she asked.

“Both,” he answered honestly.

She giggled. “I figured it would only be the
sex.”

“You underestimate yourself as usual.”
Propping his arm on the back of the booth, he turned to get a
better look at her. “But I can’t help myself if it sounds like I’ve
only been missing the sex when I tell you how fucking gorgeous you
look tonight.”

“No, it’s okay.” Her cheeks flushed. “And
thank you.”

Aidan leaned over to nuzzle her neck,
inhaling the delicate smell of her perfume. He groaned in the sweet
agony. “The way your dress is hugging all your curves and your hair
falling loose and wavy, just begging me to run my fingers through
it, makes me want to forget dinner and take you home instead.”

When she stiffened, he raised his head.
“What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“Anything. Well, as long as it isn’t
something like you’re not coming home with me tonight.”

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted.

The air wheezed out of him, and he felt like
he had been kicked in the groin. “Okay, that’s not quite what I was
expecting.”

“I found out a week ago, but I wanted to wait
until you got back to tell you. I thought it would mean more in
person.”

Now he knew why she appeared so different.
Pregnancy had her absolutely glowing with pure happiness. A sense
of immense pride radiated through him that he had a part in making
that happiness. His lips curved in a genuine smile. “That’s
wonderful news, Em. I’m thrilled for you.”

Happy tears sparkled in her eyes. “Oh Aidan,
I can never thank you enough for making this dream possible!” she
cried, throwing her arms around his neck again. She squeezed him
tight. “I still can’t believe it happened after only two months of
trying. Do you know how blessed and lucky we are? Some people have
to try for months and months—even years.”

“Yeah, that would have been miserable,” he
joked.

A girlish giggle escaped her lips. “I am
sorry that we didn’t get to…well, you know, have sex as much as you
would have liked.”

Just the mention of that word on her luscious
lips made him squirm in the booth. “So am I, especially since I’ve
practically been a monk the last few weeks.”

Her eyes widened. “You mean you kept up with
the boxers and no activity of any kind?”

“Well, I might have taken care of business
once or twice,” he replied, sheepishly. “But I abstained all last
week in preparation.” Now after all that work, he was going home,
tail between his legs, and extremely frustrated. It was truly going
to be just him and his hand that night.

Emma cupped his face in her hands. “Oh, you
poor baby! You’ve really gone above and beyond for me through this
whole thing.”

When she brushed her fingers over his lips,
he grabbed her hand. “Please, Em, don’t. I’m way too fucking
frustrated for shit like that.”

A smile that was both teasing and sweet
spread on her face. “I tell you what. Since you’ve made me the
happiest woman in the world, I think I more than owe you a round or
two to put a smile on your face.”

For the second time that night, Aidan felt
like he had been kicked in the groin. “You can’t be serious.”

Her brows furrowed. “Don’t you want me to be
serious?”

“Of course I do! I want to push your dress up
over your thighs, rip off the lacy thong I imagine that you’re
wearing, and fuck you senseless right here in the booth.”

Emma sucked in a breath and widened her eyes.
“I take that as a yes.”

Aidan grinned. “Hey, it’s been
four
weeks babe. You’re lucky I’m not dragging you into the bathroom for
a quickie.” When her nose wrinkled in disgust, he couldn’t hold
back his laughter. “Don’t worry, Em. I’ll control myself.” Running
his hand under her dress, he squeezed her thigh. “At least while
we’re in public.”

He was surprised when she didn’t smack his
hand away. Instead, she merely smiled invitingly up at him. “Can we
at least eat first?”

“Of course we can. You’re eating for two now,
right?”

Emma snorted. “Supposedly yes. But the way
I’ve been packing it in lately, you would think I was having
triplets or something.”

Aidan waved the waiter over. After Emma
finished rattling off all that she wanted, Aidan couldn’t hide his
amusement. “You’re seriously going to eat all that?”

She bobbed her head as the waiter left. “It
won’t matter as much this time since I assume I’ll be burning a lot
of calories later, right?”

He chuckled. “Hell yes!”

For the rest of dinner, he behaved himself.
Instead, he focused on how joyfully animated Emma became as she
talked about the baby and the pregnancy. He had never seen her talk
a mile a minute or smile so much. He began to wonder how her cheeks
couldn’t hurt. He momentarily stiffened when she mentioned that
both Casey
and
Connor had accompanied her to her first
doctor’s appointment. “So now he’s all about you having a baby as
long as he didn’t father it?”

Emma’s fork froze in mid-air while her face
crumpled. “He just wanted to come and support me since you were out
of town.”

“That was nice of him,” Aidan said, unable to
keep the sarcasm out of his tone.

“If you don’t want him at the first
ultrasound, I won’t invite him.”

Aidan didn’t know why the hell it bothered
him. It wasn’t like he had any plans of being involved in the
baby’s life…or did he? For some reason, just the thought of Connor
being in
his
baby’s life dropped a heavy blanket of
possessiveness around him. Shuddering, he tried ridding himself of
the feeling. Besides Connor seemed like a genuine guy—he obviously
didn’t have to worry about him being competition in Emma’s bed.

“Aidan, you didn’t answer me?”

He met Emma’s intense stare. “What?”

“I asked you again if you wanted it to just
be the two of us at the first ultrasound.”

Swallowing hard, he finally responded, “Um,
yeah, sure.”

Any doubt about his decision faded at the
expression of pure, unadulterated happiness that flashed on Emma’s
face. Knowing he was the reason behind it warmed him straight
through to his soul. It was a feeling he thought he could come to
enjoy experiencing more of.

“Great,” she replied, nibbling on her last
French fry.

He couldn’t help grinning when he surveyed
her empty plate. “Would you like some dessert?”

She pursed her lips at his teasing. “No, I’m
good for now, thanks.”

“Then can we please get the hell out of here
and go back to your house before I have a permanent case of blue
balls?”

Emma giggled. “I guess so. Just be glad I
have some Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer, or we would be making a
pit stop.”

Aidan groaned as he threw a wad of bills on
the table. “You love to torture me, don’t you?”

Running her hand up his thigh, Emma stopped
just before she touched his cock. When he sucked in a sharp breath,
she merely took her hand away and picked up her drink. Swirling the
straw around, she then brought it to her lips and worked it in and
out of her mouth while she drank. “Hmm, that’s so good.”

His mouth gaped open in shock. He couldn’t
believe she was doing this to him. His sweet, innocent Emma, the
mother of his child, was being a total cock-tease. And in some
small way, he was enjoying the hell out of it.

When she finally looked at him, she burst out
laughing. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.”

“Just make sure you keep that attitude up the
rest the night,” Aidan replied, nudging her out of the booth.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

After they left O’Malley’s, Aidan followed
Emma home. When she pulled in the garage, she hopped out of her car
and met him in the driveway. He glanced around the yard. “Where’s
Beau?”

Emma laughed. “I put him in his swinging
bachelor’s pad down in the basement before I came to meet you. Want
me to go let him out?”

He shook his head as they started up the
walk-way “No, I can wait to see him until after I devour you at
least once.”

Emma made a tsking noise. “Poor Beau. His
Daddy is always thinking of his own needs first.”

Aidan laughed. “He’s a dude, so he would
totally understand.”

“Oh really?”

“You better believe if some bitch in heat
came by, he wouldn’t think twice about thinking with his dick and
running out on me.”

“Is that what I am to you? A bitch in heat?”
Emma questioned, feigning outrage.

“Of course not…well, you might’ve been before
I got you pregnant.”