For the Sake of Their Son (The Alpha Brotherhood #5)(25)
Author: Catherine Mann

She wanted to believe him. “A dime a dozen. Nice.”

“Lucy Ann, stop.” He squeezed her hand. “I don’t want to fight with you. It doesn’t have to be that way for us this time. Trust me. I have a plan.”

She’d planned to seduce him, keep things light, and he was going serious on her. She tried to lighten the mood again. “What fairy tale does this night come from?”

“It could be reality.”

“You disappoint me.” She leaned closer until their chests just brushed. Her br**sts beaded in response. “Tonight, I want the fairy tale.”

He blinked in surprise. “Okay, fair enough.” He stood, tugging her to the middle of the balcony. “We’re in the middle of Cinderella’s ball.”

Appropriate, given her thoughts earlier. “Well, the clock is definitely ticking since Eli still wakes up in the middle of the night.”

“Then we should make the most of this evening.” The moonlight cast a glow around them, adding to the magical air of the night. “Are you ready for supper?”

“Honestly?” She swayed in time with the classical music.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I hadn’t wanted to know. I don’t think you know how much I want to make you happy.”

She stepped closer, lifting their hands. “Then let’s dance.”

“I can accommodate.” He brought her hand to rest on his shoulder, his palm sliding warmly along her waist. “I owe you for homecoming our sophomore year in high school. You had that pretty dress your aunt made. She showed me so I could make sure the flowers on your wrist corsage matched just the right shade of blue.”

“I can’t believe you still remember about a high school dance.” Or that he remembered the color of her dress.

“I got arrested for car theft and stood you up.” He rested his chin on top of her head. “That tends to make a night particularly memorable.”

“I knew it was really your friends that night, not you.”

He angled back to look in her warm chocolate-brown eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you thought that?”

“You would have argued with me about some technical detail.” She teased, all the while too aware of the freshly showered scent of him. “You were even more stubborn in those days.”

“I did steal that car.” He tugged her closer and stole her breath so she couldn’t speak. “And it wasn’t a technicality. I wanted to take you to the dance in decent wheels. I figured the used car dealership would never know as long as I returned it in the morning.”

“I wouldn’t have cared what kind of car we had that night.”

“I know. But I cared. And ended up spending the night in jail before the car dealer dismissed the charges—God only knows why.” He laughed darkly. “That night in jail was the best night’s sleep I’d gotten in a long time, being out of my father’s house.”

God, he was breaking her heart. Their childhoods were so damaged, had they even stood a chance at a healthy adult relationship with each other? She rested her head on his shoulder and let him talk, taking in the steady beat of his pulse to help steady her own.

“I felt like such a bastard for sleeping, for being grateful for a night’s break from my dad when I’d let you down.”

Let her down? He’d been her port in the storm, her safe harbor. “Elliot,” she said softly, “it was a silly dance. I was more worried about how your father would react to your arrest.”

“I wanted to give you everything,” he said, ignoring her comment about his dad. “But I let you down time after time.”

This conversation was straying so far from her plans for seduction, her plans to work out the sensual ache inside her. “This isn’t the sort of thing Prince Charming says to Cinderella at the ball.”

“My point is that I’m trying to give you everything now, if you’ll just let me.” He nuzzled her hair. “Just tell me what you want.”

Every cell in her body shouted for her to say she wanted him to peel off her dress and make love to her against the castle wall. Instead, she found herself whispering, “All I want is for Eli to be happy and to lead a normal life.”

“You think this isn’t normal.” His feet matched steps with hers as the music flowed into their every move.

A castle? A monastery library? “Well, this isn’t your average trip to a bookstore or corner library, that’s for sure.”

“There are playgrounds here as well as libraries. We just have to find them for Eli.”

Lucy Ann felt a stab of guilt. Elliot was thinking of their son and she’d been thinking about sex. “You make it sound so simple.”

“It can be.”

If only she could buy into his notion of keeping things simple long-term. “Except I never contacted you about being pregnant.”

“And I didn’t come after you like I should have. I let my pride get stung, and hurt another woman in the process.”

She hadn’t considered the fact that Gianna had been wronged in this situation. “What happens in the future if you find someone else…or if I do?”

“You want monogamy?” he asked. “I can do that.”

“You say that so quickly, but you’re also the one spinning fairy tales and games.” She looked up at him. “I’m asking honest questions now.”

She wondered why she was pushing so hard for answers to questions that could send him running. Was she on a self-destructive path in spite of her plans to be with him? Then again, this level of honesty between them had been a long time coming.

His feet stopped. He cupped her face until their eyes met. “Believe this. You’re the only woman I want. You’re sure as hell more woman than I can handle, so if you will stay with me, then monogamy is a piece of cake.”

“Are you proposing?”

“I’m proposing we stay together, sleep together, be friends, lovers, parents.”

He wasn’t proposing. This wasn’t Cinderella’s ball after all. They were making an arrangement of convenience—to enjoy sex and friendship.

She didn’t believe in fairy tales, damn it. So she should take exactly what he offered. But she intended to make sure he understood that convenience did not mean she would simply follow his lead.

Eight

Lucy Ann stepped out of his arms, and a protest roared inside Elliot. Damn it, was she leaving? Rejecting him in spite of everything they’d just said to each other? He set his jaw and stuffed his hands into his pockets to keep from turning into an idiot, a fool begging her to stay.