“Every marriage hits rough spots, but it’s hard when you know your husband proposed because you got knocked up, not because he loved you. With Bobby starting first grade, I had a rough summer. Even thought about having another baby because I thought he’d leave me once the little guy was old enough to handle it.”
Beth couldn’t imagine living like that. “So you spent all those years not trusting your marriage?”
Lisa shrugged. “It came and went, depending on how things were going. But he proposed to me again a few months ago and in January we’re going on a cruise—just the two of us. We’re going to get married again in a sunset ceremony.”
Beth smiled and congratulated her, but inside her stomach was twisting into a knot. That’s what she was afraid of—why deep down she knew insisting they not have a real relationship was the right thing to do. Not only imagining herself in one place with one person, but wondering for the rest of her life, especially during the rough patches, if they were just pretending for the sake of the child. Not something she was eager to sign up for.
Lisa laughed. “Can you imagine us with another baby? Especially another boy. God. How about you? Hoping for a girl?”
“Maybe. Bobby wants a boy so he can finally have somebody to pick on.”
Lisa laughed and shook her head. “Girl or boy, your baby’s going to be short kid on the Kowalski totem pole. But don’t worry—kids toughen up pretty damn quick around here.”
Both women turned when the slider whooshed across the runner and Kevin stepped onto the deck. He closed the slider and immediately moved to the left.
Beth chuckled. “Not much of a hiding spot.”
“It won’t stop anybody from finding us,” Kevin said. “But it’ll slow them down for a few minutes. Thought maybe you ran off and left me.”
“Like I told Lisa, I tried but I went out the wrong door.”
He laughed and hooked his arm around her waist as if it was the most natural thing in the world. The entire day he’d been waging a constant campaign of subtle looks and slight touches, but she didn’t want to kick up a fuss in front of his family. And then there was the troublesome possibility she might like it. No doubt he was attentive. And sweet. And so damn hot she’d swear her skin sizzled everywhere he touched her.
“Lisa,” somebody bellowed from inside the house and she sighed.
“Time to go.” On her way by, she punched Kevin in the arm. “Behave yourself out here.”
“I’ll try, but no guarantees.” Beth shivered when he turned his piercing blue gaze on her.
After Lisa closed the door behind her, Beth stepped out of the circle of Kevin’s arm. With Lisa’s words fresh in her mind, she needed to reestablish some boundaries. “We talked about this over and over and—”
“It’s time for pie.”
He had to be joking. “You’re going to eat again? And stop trying to change the subject. You’re not getting—”
“Chocolate cream pie. Homemade, even the whipped cream.”
“I’m not going to let you distract me.”
“Six. Inches. Deep.”
Well, hell. She supposed she could tolerate the sexiest man in the world touching her in exchange for a slab of homemade chocolate cream pie.
Chapter Ten
There was nothing sweeter than watching the Patriots kick some Jets ass on a cold December Monday night in Foxboro. With a brother on each side of him, Kevin watched Brady in the shotgun, looking for Wes Welker. Another first down and the crowd went wild.
“So Beth seems nice,” Mike said during a lull in the action.
“Yup.” He’d known, since this was the first time he’d been alone with Mike and Joe since Thanksgiving, she’d come up in the conversation. “And she didn’t run away screaming, so that was good.”
“No offense,” Joe said, “but it looked like maybe you were a little more into her than she was into you.”
No offense, his ass. “She’ll come around.”
“You’ve got women practically lined up in the bar looking for a date, and you’re chasing the one playing hard to get?”
“I don’t recall Keri exactly throwing herself at your feet. If you gave up the first time she didn’t run into your arms, she’d be in L.A. and you’d still be in a monogamous relationship with your right hand.”
Mike laughed, but Joe just shrugged. “She snuck out on you and—”
“That was a misunderstanding.”
“—then you didn’t hear from her again until she found out she was pregnant.”
Kevin watched the Pats line up in the red zone to buy himself a minute to think. He knew Joe was just looking out for him, but he didn’t really want to hear it. It was complicated—Beth was complicated—and maybe she was trying to keep him at a distance, but that didn’t mean he was going to abandon ship.