***
“Yes, I look forward to seeing you next month, Mr. Benwaldi,” Aidan said before hanging up. He rose out of his desk chair with a heavy sigh. In truth, he wasn’t too thrilled of the prospect of leaving the country for a month, but it had been a stipulation of his new promotion. Of course, he hadn’t thought to mention his imminent departure to Emma yet. He wasn’t sure how she was going to take him leaving in the middle of their baby-making quest. Maybe he could convince her to fly over for a few days if the next week’s try didn’t take.
Wait, what the hell was he thinking? Emma wasn’t his girlfriend or his wife. Asking a woman to fly across the ocean was way past his level of commitment, even if it was more for her benefit than his.
“Man, I’m the worst host ever. Sorry that took so long,” he said, as he walked into the living room. He skidded to a stop at the sight of Emma asleep on the couch with Beau beside her. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do. Should he wake her up and take her to get her car, or should he offer her the guest bedroom? Or should he take her to his bed? It wasn’t like they hadn’t slept together before.
He eyed Beau and gave a frustrated grunt. When Beau gazed drowsily up at him, Aidan wagged his finger. “You know damn well you’re not allowed on the furniture.”
Beau responded by yawning and then burrowing deeper to Emma’s side.
Aidan bent over the couch, his hand sweeping across Emma’s cheek. “Wake up, Em,” he said softly.
“Hmm?” she questioned without stirring.
“You need to go to bed.”
“No. Too tired,” she murmured.
He rubbed her arm. “You’ll sleep better in bed.”
She gave a short snore in response. Aidan rolled his eyes. Of course, she would have to make this harder on him. “Okay, fine. I’ll put you to bed.”
He reached underneath her legs and then brought his arms around her back. With a grunt, he lifted her up off the couch.
Emma gazed up at him through hooded eyes. “Are you my Knight in Shining Armor, now?”
“Oh yeah, I’m a helluva knight,” he grumbled.
“You’re making me break all my rules.”
“Huh?”
Her eyes closed, and he thought she’d gone back to sleep. “You make me feel too much…I’m just supposed to use you for sex like you use me.”
His chest tightened at her words. Is that really what she thought of him? Even though it was usually the truth, he didn’t like hearing it from her…at least not now. “Em, open your eyes and look at me.”
At his command, her drowsy green eyes focused on his. “Don’t you ever think I’m using you, all right? I may have always wanted to have sex with you, but I would never, ever use you.”
She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, her lips grazing his cheek. “You’re a good man, Aidan Fitzgerald, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“You think so?”
Her head bobbed lazily. “I never would have imagined you would take care of me like you did tonight, especially when there was no promise of sex. But you did.”
Aidan rolled his eyes as he eased Emma down on his bed. “That makes me a real gentleman, huh?”
“Umm, hmm,” she murmured, snuggling under the covers.
“I’m glad you think so highly of me, Em.”
“Just don’t break my heart,” she said softly.
She was already breathing heavily when he replied, “I’m going to try my best not to.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ten days after her dinner and sleepover at Aidan’s, Emma forced herself to throw her rule book out the window. Daily texts, emails, and phone calls from Aidan even made Casey a believer in resurrecting his potential boyfriend material. And now the red circled date on her calendar told her it was time to start Round Two of Baby-Making.
This time Aidan insisted she come to his house. The “all business” parameters of their arrangement had been broken, so there was no point in meeting at a hotel. After running home to freshen up, she headed over to his house.
He answered the door in boxers and a t-shirt. “Sorry, I just got out of the shower.”
“Yeah, I just did the same,” she replied, as she followed him into the house.
He grinned at her over his shoulder. “You should’ve showered here, and we could have killed two birds with one stone.”
Emma laughed. “I guess you’re right.”
“Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
“I can order in some Chinese.”
Emma pretended to be horrified. “You mean you didn’t cook for me tonight?”
Aidan chuckled. “Sorry babe, not tonight. Work’s been kicking my ass.”
“The new promotion?”
He nodded. “Even though the money is fabulous, I’m starting to wish I’d said no.”
After digging in one of his drawers, he pulled out a menu and handed it to Emma. “Let me know what you want to eat.”
Instead of looking at the food options, Emma was puzzled about what was different about Aidan. Then she realized what it was. “Boxers? When did you start wearing those?”
He leaned back against the kitchen counter. “Well, I did a little research, and I found out that boxers are better for the balls and sperm counts.”
“I see,” she replied, fighting the flush that was creeping across her cheeks.
“Yeah, the article says it seems to help the swimmers with their mobility, and we want Olympic Gold this time around.”
Emma’s heartbeat accelerated, and she sucked in a breath. “So you started wearing boxers to help me conceive?”
“Yep. And I also read that it’s better to store up sperm to make them more potent.” He pushed himself off the counter and came to stand in front of her. “So I’ve held off on any sexual activity that might result in me wasting swimmers.”
“Oh,” she murmured.
“Does that surprise you?”
She nodded. “I just assumed you were seeing someone or…”
“Screwing someone?” When Emma didn’t respond, Aidan swept the hair away from her face and stroked her cheek. “There’s no one but you—not even my hand since I saw you last.”
Her eyes widened when she got his meaning. “I guess it’s been a really long ten days, huh?”
His expression became pained. “Frankly, I’m about to explode.”