“Let me guess. The reason you left Tortola so unexpectedly wasn’t simply because Steven had been in an accident, but because someone had to come deal with the grown-up stuff.”
Ally inclined her head slightly. “Of course I was worried about Steven, but, yeah, they needed me to deal with the hospital and the insurance companies and such. They don’t deal well with actual emergencies.”
He tried to keep his voice light. “What are they going to do when you’re busy with the baby and not able to drop everything when they call?”
She paused, seeming to think about something, so he let the silence stretch out. “Molly asked me the same thing.”
“Maybe it’s worth thinking about.”
Ally kicked off the railing and started to pace. “Sometimes I get really fed up with them. They’re flighty, they can’t hold down jobs or be responsible about anything. Theylovedmy ex, and looking back, I can totally see why. He was just like them. Happy to just sit back and let me take care of everything.”
Bitterness tinged her voice, and she seemed to be talking to herself now. “Calling me home from my vacation was par for the course. And at the time, I actually thought they’d done me a favor.”
“A favor?”
“After I got over the anger at having my vacation interrupted, I realized that given a few more days, I probably would have latched onto you. Tried to bring you home with me.”
Understanding dawned. “And I’d be just someone else for you to take care of. A beach bum with no job.”
She nodded. “No offense intended. I still toyed with the idea of trying to find you for a little while, but then I turned up pregnant.”
“And you figured the baby would be enough responsibility.”
“God, yes. I just didn’t have any more to give.”
“So doing it alone was your solution?”
“It was easier than trying to figure out how you’d fit into the picture.” She snorted. “Of course, that’s before you showed up and proved you didn’t need me to take care of you, too.”
“That’s because I’m an actual adult—not like them.” He jerked his head in the direction of the house. She winced, then nodded in agreement. “I don’t need a keeper.”
“I know that now. I misjudged you, and I’m sorry.”
He stepped forward and smoothed his hands over her crossed arms. She’d provided him with an opening. “I’d like to help take care of you, you know. You and the baby.”
Ally’s eyes met his, and he could see the confusion there. She really had been flying blind through this. And while the front porch of her parents’ house wasn’t exactly a good place to be having this conversation, he forged ahead.
“We kind of went about this all backward and out of order, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make it work.”
Ally inhaled sharply. “You’re talking about getting married, aren’t you?”
He took a deep breath and asked for patience. “Yes, Ally, I’m talking about getting married. But not immediately.”
Her shoulders dropped and she sighed audibly in relief. That irked him a little. “But this game we’re playing—dancing around like there’s a better solution—is crazier than your family.” His voice turned husky. “There’s a lot to build on.” This time when she inhaled, he watched her eyes darken and knew she was also thinking about the night before last. His body hardened in response.
“Chris, I—”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger over her lips. “You brought me home to meet your family. You’re carrying my baby. We get along fine—when we’re not antagonizing each other, that is.” Her mouth twisted into a small smile. “I think that’s a good start.”
From inside he heard the noise level increase, then the sound of Erin’s voice. “Ally! We need you in here!”
Ally’s eyes flicked in the direction of the door. He moved closer, until he could feel the warmth that always radiated off her body.
“Forget them for a minute. Hell, forget them altogether. Think about yourself. About the baby.” He pressed a kiss against her lips. “About us.”
“Al-ly!” Erin’s voice took on an impatient whine.
Ally seemed lost in thought for a moment. When her eyes met his again, the spark was back. Her lips curved into a conspiratorial smile. “Can you get me out of here?”
Relief—followed quickly by desire—flowed through him. “My pleasure.”
“Get the car. I’ll grab my purse.” Ally raised up on tiptoe to kiss him—a lighthearted, happy kiss like he hadn’t felt since Tortola. She was out of his arms and in the house in a flash.
Whatever she told her family, they weren’t happy to hear it, and she burst back through the screen door to a litany of loud complaints. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the steps and to the car.
He opened the door and she slid in, giving the open-mouthed assembled crowd on the porch a wave as he started the engine.
As the wind picked up speed through her open window, Ally’s hair came loose, flowing around her face as she leaned against the seat back with a happy smile and closed her eyes.
“Where to?”
“My place.”
He floored the pedal.
LIFE WAS JUST TOO GOOD to be true. Ally wanted to pinch herself, but she’d be black-and-blue by now if she acted on the impulse every time she thought about it.
After their escape from her mom’s house on Sunday afternoon, she’d spent an unbelievable afternoon in Chris’s arms, taking him back to catch his ride long after sundown. Victor, Chris’s crewmate and pilot, had worn a knowing grin as Chris had given her a goodbye kiss that thrilled her to her toenails, reigniting a spark that should have been sated by then. If Victor hadn’t been waiting, she’d have dragged Chris back to the car for a quickie in the backseat.
The look on Chris’s face said he wouldn’t have objected.
Molly had taken one look at the dopey grin on her face Monday morning, and not a lot of work had been accomplished as she’d insisted on a play-by-play recount of the weekend. When Ally got to the part about Chris and her family, Molly had merely snorted and said, “I like him more and more.”
Her family, on the other hand, wasn’t speaking to her—other than one message from her mother on the answering machine, chiding her for her behavior. The four days of silence had been…well, not quite bliss, but a least a welcome break from the norm.
The scent of stargazer lilies filled the air in her and Molly’s office, and Ally knew she still wore the same dopey smile for the fifth day in a row. It was hard not to; Chris had only managed one quick trip down to see her on Wednesday night for pizza, but he called and sent e-mails—not so many or so often that she felt smothered, but enough to make her feel, well, special. The flowers arriving this morning just intensified that feeling.
She still worried a bit that she wasn’t making the smartest of decisions right now—that the hormones shaking up her normal equilibrium and the heady rush of Chris’s attentions were affecting her judgment—but she wanted to believe she was. Even Molly encouraged it and joked about expanding the business to an office in Charleston.
That was a little further ahead than Ally liked to plan at the moment.