Cart Before The Horse (16 page)

The grip he had on her hips became stronger, a lifeline holding him up as her kiss dragged him under.
He lifted her to

his waist, and she wound her legs around him. Never letting her mouth leave his, he carried her to the bedroom.

The bed was still made as haphazardly as he’d made it that morning.
He knew she’d never even made it to her room after work, or she’d have fixed it.

Gabe laid her on the bed and lowered himself on top of her then shifted his weight to the side, and she rolled to meet him.
He didn’t want to hurt her, though with her mouth still on his and her hands greedily grabbing at the buttons on his shirt, he knew she was fine.

The moment her hands touched his chest and she peeled away his shirt, his heart rate kicked up.
He wished he could remember the first time they’d done this. It had to have been as miraculous. Then it struck him, he hadn’t loved her then. She was someone to forget a night with, but now she was the woman he loved. This was his wife-to-be. The mother of his child. The woman he would spend the rest of his life with.

The heat between them didn’t amount to anything when he thought about how much she meant to him and how much, how unconditionally, he loved her.

Her hands moved over his chest to his shoulders and down his back. She nipped at his bottom lip with her teeth and then smiled a sexy smile as she pressed her tongue to his and pulled him closer.

He felt the silk of her shirt on his skin as he began to unbu
tton the tiny buttons. His fingers, usually nimble, were uncoordinated as he fought against the blouse. When he turned his head to see what he was doing, his cheek brushed hers. She jumped, and he remembered that he’d never gotten to that shave.

Obviously, she didn’t mind when she took his face in her hands and directed his lips back to hers.

The blouse had come off. He wasn’t sure if he’d owe her a new one, but finally his hands caressed the softness of her skin. The lacy bra that barely covered her swollen breasts unhooked

in the front. He released them directly into his hands and rolled his thumbs over the tender tips. She gasped. Her body arched

against him, and her breath came in short beats as he sent her over the edge.

Then her hands moved to his belt and she was working quickly to release him from his pants. With just as much need, he pulled her skirt from her hips and marveled at how alluring she looked with her panties riding low under the very small swell of her belly.

He’d never thought pregnancy could be sexy, but the very slight, almost unnoticeable bump of her stomach made him itch to have her even more.

Gabe pulled away the panties as she managed to toss his pants in the floor.
They were naked, their mouths still feeding off the other’s. He rolled her onto her back and moved himself between her legs.

Her fingers were in his hair.
Her legs had come around him, urging him along.

Gabe looked down at her.
She was perfect. She was everything he’d always wanted. “I love you,” he said before he entered her. Her head rolled back, and she let loose a sigh and rocked against him.

Holly tightened her legs around him, driving him deeper inside of her.
Her moans and cries of pleasure were more powerful than the night they’d met. It was different when two people were in love. It was absolutely wonderful.

It shocked his already heightened senses when she rolled him to his back.
She sat atop him and rode him. He held her hips as she rose up and down, stroking his masculinity and his ego with her tight body, driving him into near madness with desire. Her hands were in her hair now, and her eyes had glossed over with an erotic, pleasurable glaze.

He felt her squeeze around him, and every muscle in him tightened as she fell over that slippery edge of pleasure and took him with her.

Every muscle in her body was fluid.
She’d meant to seduce him slowly and teasingly, but this had been so much better.

“By the way…” She gasped for a breath. “I love you too.”

“What?” Gabe rolled to his side and looked down on her.

“You said you loved me, but I was busy.”
She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him to her. She kissed him softly. If it weren’t four in the morning, she figured they could have easily done it again. But looking at his unshaven face and his dark eyes, she knew he’d sleep well.

He brushed back her hair with his hand. “When we were making love, I wondered if it was that good the first time.
I realized it couldn’t have been. We weren’t in love. Now…” He brushed a hair from her eyes. “Now I know I’ve been waiting my whole life for you. I’m so happy you’re going to be
my wife.”

She smiled and curled into his arms.
She was happy too, and who would ever have thought that was possible? It was backward and wonderful.

That morning she left a note with the address and time of her doctor’s appointment on the table along with a hanger for his coat.
He was a smart man, he’d figure out what she wanted him to do with it.

It was early for even her to be at work, but still the line at the coffee shop was long.
She knew she shouldn’t have caffeine, but she couldn’t help herself. It was like champagne to celebrate the night she’d had in the arms of the man she loved.

As usual, Tracy walked through her door at nine and sat in one of the leather chairs. “I’d almost think it was a record. I have it under good authority you’ve been here for three hours already. But I know better. I’ve seen you earlier.”

“I have a doctor’s appointment today.”

Tracy nodded. “Your future husband going with you?”

“Yep.”

“I knew I liked him.” She stood and walked to Holly’s

drafting table. The swirls, shapes, and colors splayed out in eye-popping color. “Holly, that’s beautiful.”

“I sent the concept to the company yesterday, and they liked it.
I wanted to keep going while it was fresh in my head.”

“You’re amazing.”

“Thank you.”

“And you’re glowing.
I don’t just mean because you’re pregnant.”

Holly put down her pencil and turned to Tracy.
She’d
never, in all the years she’d known her, been able to hide anything. The pleasure she still felt brewing in her body made her feel as though she were walking on a cloud, and that cloud had a silver lining. “It was amazing.”

“I can tell by your smile.”

“It wasn’t just the sex.” She thought about his smoldering looks and how she’d taken him so off guard. It was empowerment to have moved a man in such a way and gained such pleasure herself. It still resonated in her, and she couldn’t imagine being any happier. “It was the desire and compassion and the knowing someone loves you as much as you love him.”

Tracy sniffed.
“I think you’re going to make me cry.”

“Stop it.”
She picked up the pencil again. “I wouldn’t have thought it was going to be possible. But I love him, and I’m actually excited about my wedding.”

“Glad to hear it.” Tracy started for the door and turned back as she opened it.
“Don’t come back after that appointment. Spend the day picking out mints or ribbon or something.”

“Consider it done and thank you.”

“You deserve it.” Tracy shut the door behind her.

It was nice to know that she’d worked hard enough her whole life that someone took note and rewarded her as Tracy did.
She couldn’t have been luckier to have a mentor like her. She made a few lines on the design and smiled to herself. She owed more than just her career and her lifestyle to Tracy; it’d been her idea that Holly go to Maguire’s and drink way too

much. She laughed. Tracy hadn’t held her back when she’d curled up with Gabe in a corner booth or stopped her when she left with him to spend the night in his arms.

The smile slipped way.
What if she hadn’t gotten pregnant? Would she have tried to forget the night and the man she ran out on? She’d have tied herself up with her work and been miserable for the rest of her life. Maybe she didn’t know how to be happy. Would Gabe eventually regret that he’d married her? She certainly had never looked as happy in any photograph of herself as Gabe and Jasmine looked in theirs.

Gabe wondered if one more thing could possibly go wrong today. He’d been awoken earlier than he’d have liked by one of Holly’s neighbors. The woman must have been having one hell of a tantrum, or she was remodeling. Either way, the tearing of the walls had started at seven in the morning.

He’d gotten up and headed to his own place only to find that the walk-in cooler had frozen over, and all of his fresh ve
getables for the day were wasted. Driving to the suppliers to get a new load of produce didn’t do wonders for his mood or his financial agenda.

To top it all off, Chandra’s car wouldn’t start, so he had to do the liquor order.
It was another reason to give her a raise, he thought. That liquor sales rep could talk your ear off, and Chandra handled him just right. If he never had to do that job again, it would be worth any amount.

All the excitement from the morning had him testy, and now he was late for the doctor’s appointment.

He parked his car out front of the building Holly’d left directions to. He was already twenty minutes late, and his mood was slipping even further into the black. Why the note? Couldn’t she have made sure he wrote it down or put the
appointment into his phone’s calendar? The day of the appointment was not the time to tell him.

As he took the elevator to the fourth floor, he considered

that she may have mentioned it.
Maybe he just hadn’t paid
attention. It had been a long time since he’d had to pay attention to someone other than himself. Chandra was right. It wasn’t all about him anymore, but it was going to take a lot of effort to get used to that.

The office was right there when he stepped off the elev
ator. He hurried through the door, and the eyes of every pregnant woman in that waiting room shot up and stared at him.

He looked around.
None of the eyes were Holly’s.

He walked to the counter.
“I’m looking for Holly Jacobs. She has an appointment.”

“And you are?”

“I’m Gabriel Maguire. I’m her fiancé.”

The woman gave him a questioning glance, and he realized he’d barked out his name rather than simply giving it to her.
He forced a smile to his lips, and she looked over the appointment and nodded. “There’s a note that you might come. Follow me.”

Gabe followed the nurse down a hallway lined with black-and-white photographs of babies and pregnant bellies.
How wonderful it would be to have Holly’s picture taken like that, full and ripe with pregnancy. He wondered if he could talk her into it. As a rule she was fairly modest. Though he seemed to be the one who could make her shed it once in a while. He wondered just how good he was at making her accept other things. Wait until he told her that her worries over the condo were almost over.

The woman opened the door, and he saw Holly lying on the table, a paper draped over her pants and her stomach exposed.
They were alone and the room was dimly lit.

She didn’t sit up, she only turned her head to see him, but her eyes were sad.
She’d given up on him, and that stabbed at his chest. “You made it.”

“I’m so sorry, Holly.
I would have been here sooner, but…” He let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“I guess this is how it is being engaged to such an im
-

portant man.”

He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“No. This isn’t how it is. Or how it will be. No matter what, I should have been here on time.” He looked around. “Did I miss it?”

“No.
The doctor just had to get some gel to do the ultrasound. We’re going to look at our baby.”

Gabe softened his knees so he wouldn’t lock them and fall over.
Our baby.
He had been sure she’d never accept that, but it sounded like she had.

The door opened, and a woman in a white lab coat walked through the door.
“Oh, your fiancé is here.” She held out her hand to him. “Dr. Emily.”

“Gabe.”

“Well, Gabe, are you ready to see your baby?”

He couldn’t speak.
He could only nod, and Holly tightened her grip on his hand as Dr. Emily lowered the drape and squirted the gel on Holly’s stomach. Then she put the wand that was attached to the machine on her stomach, and on the screen before them they saw the first pictures of their baby.

“Oh, God.
Look.” Holly gasped and covered her mouth.

Gabe couldn’t tear his eyes from the screen.
It was a blur of lines and curves, but the small shape in the middle was their child. The most amazing feeling surged through him, a jumble of emotions that he’d never felt before. A love he’d never imagined. A sense of duty to protect and care for that little shape for the rest of his life.