“Oh, that sounds amazing,” Gwen moaned. Her breathy sound had his body twitching in an uncomfortable place as he helped her into her car. He followed her out of the parking lot and they parted ways at the light for his stop at the coffee shop. When he reached his destination, he sat in his truck for a moment, taking a deep breath.
He was in over his head with her, and a part of him was terrified. He’d shamelessly used the condom mishap to get close to her and stay there. Yes, there was an off chance she might be pregnant, and if she was, they would cross that bridge then. He would have wanted to take care of her regardless, though. She brought that out in him. He’d wanted her for so long that now that she had let him in, he wanted to shift from taking it slow to running like he was in a fucking marathon. In some crazy way, he had known that she was “the one” for him almost from the moment he saw her. He had never had that feeling before, not even close, which was why it had gotten his attention. He wasn’t a man who believed in nor had he experienced love at first sight. There had been moments of desire or lust, but that was it. With Gwen, he had been close to obsessed from the beginning. The feeling had been so strong that it had scared the hell out of him for a while. Hence, why he’d waited to make his move and almost lost her to his best friend. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. This last week with her had shown him that no matter how strong his feelings had been for her from afar, they were nothing compared to how he felt now that he knew her intimately.
He was terrified of a possible pregnancy, but for completely different reasons. He was afraid that she was letting him close only because of it. What would happen when and if she found that she wasn’t expecting his child? Would she push him away and move on? He couldn’t lose her now that he finally had her. Each day with her only solidified the depth of his feelings for her. He was trying to pace himself to keep from scaring her. He knew that she wanted him, but she was skittish. She seemed to almost believe that she wasn’t good enough for him, which was a joke. He wanted to drop to his knees and thank God for bringing her into his life because she was perfect.
He didn’t know that much about a woman’s cycle or timing, but he knew one thing for sure. He had to make her fall for him, and he figured he had a couple of weeks to do it before they found out if their night of passion had consequences. He wanted to be with her, but he wanted her to want it too, and for the right reasons. It was time for him to show her that there was something real between them. If he had to take a water aerobics class and make a fool of himself or give her orgasms until she couldn’t walk, then so be it. From this moment forward, he would be her dream man because she had been his dream woman from the start.
* * *
Gwen was on a call with the purchasing department, requesting some purchase orders for invoices when Dominic knocked on her door and walked in. God bless the man, he was carrying a drink tray with two huge coffee cups and . . . a bottle of water? Maybe that was for him. Right now, even though she knew the damn thing would be caffeine free, she needed that steaming cup more than her next breath. She ended her call and clapped her hands together enthusiastically. “Gimme.” When he raised a brow, she batted her eyes and added, “Please.”
He laughed softly as he took a cup that was marked decaf on the side and handed it to her. While she was taking a sip, he took the bottle of water and put it on her desk. Okay, so maybe it was for her after all. Then he surprised her further by setting his own coffee down and pulling a small bottle from his pocket. “I bought these for you yesterday. All of the baby articles say that you should be taking extra folic acid so I picked up some. You already take a multivitamin, right?”
She knew she was staring at him, but she hadn’t seen that one coming. If someone had told her a month ago that she’d feel weepy over the gift of vitamins, she would have thought they were insane. Now, though, she was fighting the urge to melt into a puddle in her seat over his care of her. How could the man whom she had only a short time ago thought of as such a tough guy be such a tender caregiver? He thought of things that would never have even crossed her mind and she was the woman. Almost on the heels of that thought came the pang of fear that this would all be over if she wasn’t pregnant. She had never imagined that men like Dominic existed and now that she knew, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and never let go. She cleared her throat when he shook a tablet into his hand and handed it to her. “I . . . thanks,” she murmured as she took the water bottle he offered her.
Touching her arm briefly, he said, “Sure, babe. Anything else before I go?”