3. Chapter Three #2
She’d stared at him. “That’s not a sane response.”
“I don’t want a sane response.”
“We’ve known each other for one weekend.”
“You’ve already mentioned that.”
“Because it keeps being true.”
“It’ll be true tomorrow too. Marry me anyway.”
She’d laughed, cried, and called him a swindler again. Then she’d said yes.
They chose her engagement ring together from a jeweler in the hotel.
Caroline wore the yellow dress to the chapel and carried no flowers.
The room had cream-covered chairs, artificial roses, and a chandelier that scattered glittering light over everything.
Outside, traffic moved past in steady lines under the neon signs.
Inside, Hayden held both her hands and promised her a future as if no sensible reason could stop them from having it.
Caroline promised too.
They returned to the suite married and laughing, and opened a bottle of wine because neither of them was ready to let the night become ordinary. Hayden took the pins from her hair. She pulled his shirt free from his trousers. There had been no pause for thought between the last glass and the bed.
They forgot protection.
Caroline remembered after waking. She lay warm and tangled with Hayden under white sheets, one leg across his. Pale light filled the edges of the curtains.
“We didn’t use anything,” she’d said.
His eyes opened. Sleep vanished from his face. “No. We didn’t.”
She’d counted backward in her head, then tried to calm the sudden worry. “One time is probably fine.”
“Probably?”
“It has to be difficult, or everyone would be pregnant all the time.”
Hayden had watched her. “Are you worried?”
“A little.” She’d looked at the ring on her hand and then at her new husband. “But I think it’ll be fine.”
They were careful after that.
It hadn’t been fine. Not in the way she’d meant. Their daughter had already begun with one shared, thoughtless choice, wine, and more desire than either of them had stopped to manage.
There had been no plan.
Back in their Southampton bedroom, Hayden still held her hands.
“You chose me,” Caroline said.
“Yes.”
“Even after I tried to be sensible.”
“Especially then. It was adorable.”
She gave him a damp, offended look. “I was being mature.”
“You were barefoot in a yellow dress, telling me we came from different planets.”
“We do.”
“Then I’ll move.”
The answer slipped past the remains of her anger. A laugh caught in her throat, close to another sob.
Hayden lifted one hand to her face and wiped away the wetness under her eye. “Come here.”
She went. He held her against him without trying to finish the argument. His shirt was cool under her cheek. His arms were warm and familiar. Caroline listened to his heartbeat and let herself believe his parents couldn’t reach this part of him.
“Will you please get me out of this dress?” she asked.
“Gladly.”
He turned her around with care and found the hidden zipper.
“Show-off,” she said.
“Many skills. You asked me to name four.”
“That’s one.”
He lowered the zipper slowly. The pressure around her ribs eased. Then he removed the pins from her hair one by one and placed them on the dresser. Her hair fell down her back, loose and heavy.
“Better?” he asked.
“Much.”
His fingers brushed the back of her neck. He kissed the spot, and the warmth of his mouth moved through her.
Caroline turned in his arms. Hayden searched her face before he kissed her again.
This kiss held none of the quick reassurance from the library or the urgency of stolen privacy at his parents’ house.
He took his time. His thumb moved over her cheek.
His other hand rested at her waist, above the place where the dress had fallen open.
She slid his loose tie from his collar and dropped it. Then she began opening his shirt.
“You were crying,” he murmured against her mouth.
“I can cry and want you.”
“I know.” He kissed the corner of her eye. “I don’t want you pretending you’re all right.”
“I’m not pretending now.”
She pushed the shirt from his shoulders. His skin was warm under her palms. He helped her ease the tight sleeves down her arms, then knelt to guide the dress over her hips without making her lose her balance. When it gathered around her feet, he took off her shoes and moved everything aside.
Caroline stood before him in her underwear, her stomach round between them. She’d stopped recognizing her body in mirrors. Her breasts were fuller, her waist gone, and faint new lines marked her skin. Hayden looked at her as if every change had made her more beautiful.
He pressed his mouth to the curve of her stomach. Their daughter moved under his hand.
“She’s awake,” Caroline whispered.
“She has terrible timing.”
“She’s yours.”
“Exactly my concern.”
Caroline laughed, and he looked up at her. The tenderness in his dark eyes nearly undid her again.
He rose and kissed her, then led her to the bed.
He arranged pillows behind her without asking how it ought to be done.
When she shifted, he adjusted with her. He kissed her throat and shoulders, the curve of each breast, and the sensitive skin below her stomach.
Every touch was slow. He knew where her body had grown tender and where it still welcomed pressure.
He listened to each breath and small sound as if nothing else in the world required his attention.
When his hand moved between her thighs, Caroline caught his shoulder.
“Too much?” he asked.
“No. Don’t stop.”
His mouth curved against her skin. “I can follow instructions.”
“That’s two skills.”
He made her forget the count.
Pleasure gathered slowly, then broke through her with a force that left her shaking underneath him. Hayden held her through it, kissing her until she could breathe normally again. When he moved over her, he kept most of his weight away from her body.
“Tell me,” he said.
“I’m comfortable.” She wrapped one leg around him. “Come closer.”
He entered her carefully. Caroline closed her eyes at the deep, familiar stretch. His forehead rested against hers. They moved together without hurry, pausing when she needed to shift, finding a pace that kept her body open and warm under his.
This was what she had wanted at dinner. Not the sex. Him. All of his attention, with no family, work call, or perfect woman across a table waiting to take it away.
Hayden kissed her and said her name as he came. The rough sound of it made her hold him tighter.
Afterward, he helped her turn onto her side and settled behind her, one arm under her head and the other around her stomach. The sheets were cool against her skin. Her hair spread across the pillow and over his shoulder.
“Still moving to another planet?” he asked.
“I’m considering it.”
“I’ll need the address.”
“There are forms.”
“I’ll refuse to sign them.”
She smiled, then grew quiet. “You really don’t want the postnup.”
“I really don’t.”
“Your father does.”
“My father wants many things he isn’t getting.” Hayden kissed her shoulder. “I chose you. I trust you. I won’t ask you to prove you deserve either of those things.”
Caroline covered his hand with hers.
Dinner still hurt. In the morning, Larissa would still like Dasha, Adam would still think Hayden had made a mistake, and Caroline would still have to enter rooms without knowing the rules everyone else took for granted.
But here, Hayden’s body curved around hers. His hand rested over their daughter. He’d rejected the postnup, rejected Dasha, and come home with Caroline.
This was the man from Vegas. The man who’d looked at every reason they shouldn’t fit and chosen her anyway.
Her breathing slowed. Hayden’s mouth brushed her hair, and his arm tightened gently when she settled deeper against him.
Caroline fell asleep believing that their private love was the truest thing in her life.