The Marriage Solution. Brenda Harlen
would never think of marrying you as settling,” he said.
He sounded so sincere and was looking at her with such earnestness in his dark eyes that Tess almost believed him. In her heart, she wanted to believe him. But her disastrous experience with Roger had made her wary. And while she’d known Craig a lot longer than she’d known Roger, so much had changed between them in the last few weeks that she wasn’t sure she really knew him at all anymore.
At work she was a confident, competent professional but that was because she’d spent years studying manuals and mastering computer code. There was no such training to succeed at relationships and she felt at a distinct disadvantage when it came to the games that men and women played.
Craig, on the other hand, had dated more women than she could count—beautiful, sophisticated women. He would never be happy with someone like her and she’d be deluding herself if she believed otherwise for a single moment.
Tess sighed and pushed away from the table. She crossed over to the window, looked out at the brilliant array of stars scattered across the sky. No, there was no way she could marry Craig.
“You might not think of it that way now,” she said. “But you’d eventually start to resent me, and the baby, for putting you in this position.”
And for Tess, the thought of losing Craig’s friendship and support was far worse than the prospect of raising a child on her own.
He didn’t say anything for a minute and she let herself hope he was actually considering what she’d said. She didn’t hear him leave the table, wasn’t aware that he was behind her until he put his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around to face him.
She met his gaze evenly, almost defiantly. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t easily dissuaded from something he wanted, but she could be equally stubborn. And there was no way she was going to further jeopardize their friendship by marrying him. Her mom and Ken had been friends before they married and they’d had nothing left when their marriage had fallen apart. Tess refused to let that happen. Craig could use whatever arguments he wanted, she wasn’t going to change her mind.
But his response wasn’t at all what she expected. He didn’t argue or plead or use any of the other tactics she was confident she could handle. Instead, he lowered his head and he kissed her.
At first, she was too stunned to react. And then, as his lips continued to move over hers, soft but firm, strong yet coaxing, she simply melted.
He slid his fingers into her hair and tipped her head back to deepen the kiss. She opened for him willingly, all thoughts of resistance gone. Whether it was the pregnancy hormones running rampant through her system or her new awareness of Craig as a man, she had no desire to be anywhere but in his arms.
She shivered as his fingers massaged her scalp, moaned as his tongue tangled with hers. Somewhere, in the back recesses of her mind, she knew she should end this kiss. She shouldn’t allow this to happen but she was powerless to stop the desire that flowed hot and thick through her system. She wanted this—she wanted Craig—more than she’d ever thought possible.
He stroked his hands down her back, tugged the blouse from the waistband of her slacks, and she trembled with anticipation. Then his hands were on her skin and she could no longer think. She could only feel and she loved the way it felt to be touched by him, to touch him. She ran her hands up his chest, found the buttons at the front of his shirt and quickly worked them free.
He slid an arm behind her knees and scooped her up, cradling her against his chest as his lips continued their sensual assault. She’d never been swept off her feet before—literally or figuratively—and if she let herself think about it she might worry that Craig was her first on both counts and that it felt so completely right.
He carried her into the living room, laid her down gently on the soft leather sofa and levered himself down beside her. Their bodies were aligned, their legs entwined, on the narrow couch. She could feel the evidence of his arousal against her belly and wriggled her hips to position him between her thighs.
Her blouse was undone now, too, and he slid the garment over her shoulders, letting it drop to the ground. Then he shifted their bodies so that she was lying beneath him and dipped his head to nuzzle her throat, the scrape of his jaw against her tender skin sending deliciously erotic tingles through her body.
His lips moved lower, caressing the swell of her breasts above the lacy cups of her bra. She felt her nipples tighten, the heat spread through her body. As if in response to an unspoken request, he flicked his tongue over the aching peak, then closed his teeth over the thin fabric. Tess gasped and thrust her hips upward. Impatiently Craig pushed the strap off her shoulder and took her nipple in his mouth. He manipulated the peak, tasting, teasing, then he suckled hard on the breast, thrusting it against the roof of his mouth with his tongue. She bit down on her lip to keep from crying out as she rocked her hips against him, aching for the fulfillment of his lovemaking.
“Let me make love with you, Tess.”
His words paralleled her thoughts, proving they were—if at odds over everything else—at least in synch in their desire for one another.
She gripped his shoulders with trembling hands. “Yes.”
He undid the button of her slacks, slid the zipper down. His fingers found the wet heat inside her and she almost flew apart right then.
“Let me remind you how good we are together,” he whispered the words against her lips as his hands continued to tease and torment her. “Let me show you how wonderful it would be to make love every night if we got married.”
It took a minute for his words to penetrate through the fog that surrounded Tess’s brain. When they did, the heat flowing through her veins suddenly chilled.
“What…” She had to pause for breath, forced herself to ignore the traitorous demands of her body that insisted his words didn’t matter. “What did you say?”
He leaned forward again and brushed his lips against hers, softly coaxing. “I said I want to make love with you.”
She wanted to melt against him, to lean into the kiss, to go back to where she’d been before she’d heard the words that had doused her own desire more effectively than an icy rain. “Why?”
He smiled, that slow, sexy smile that made her insides all trembly and weak. “I thought that was obvious.”
“Is it?” She felt her cheeks flush but wouldn’t allow herself to be distracted by his easy charm. Not again.
Instead, she pushed herself up and scrambled off of the couch. She found her discarded top and shoved her arms through the sleeves, turning her back on him to fasten the buttons and zip up her slacks. It wasn’t about modesty so much as hiding the hurt she was afraid he’d see in her eyes when she spoke her next words. “Or was this part of your plan to convince me to marry you?”
She heard him sigh. “I didn’t plan this at all, Tess, things just got out of control. But to be perfectly honest, I think the attraction between us is further proof that our marriage would succeed.”
She turned back to him, confident that any residual hurt would be shrouded by the anger that was beginning to boil inside her. “We should get married because we’re good in bed together?”
He stood up and took a step toward her. “We’re a lot better than good, but that’s only one factor.”
“That’s what this was to you?” She impatiently brushed away the tears that spilled onto her cheeks. “A factor?”
“Of course not,” he denied.
But she knew him well enough to recognize the guilt that flickered in his eyes. Tess straightened her shirt.
“Go to hell, and take your proposal with you.”
Chapter Four
Tess wasn’t really surprised that she didn’t hear from Craig through the following week,