“I threatened to kill him.” A shred of orneriness rifled his tone. He sobered, surveying her emotions. “Summer gave me an ultimatum, either I tell you the truth or he would. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
The beeping of monitors encompassed the deafening silence.
“I think you should leave now, Dad,” she said flatly. “I’m not feeling any clemency.”
Summer sauntered into the room, weighing the heaviness of the bruised air, stating, “I am.”
Carrie Ann shook her head. “You don’t have to forgive…”
“I don’t have to. I want to.” Summer’s eyes were bloodshot. “Life has a way of putting things into perspective. Your father and I nearly lost the most important thing in our lives. I think we can put our differences aside from now on. Obviously, I’m capable of taking care of your daughter, Mr. Lowell. I don’t need your blessing, but it would be nice to have it.”
“Either way, Dad, I’m marrying Summer.”
He pressed a fatherly kiss to the top of her head before rising to his feet. “I’d be happy to pay for the wedding.”
Carrie Ann and Summer’s eyes connected in a brief glance. Money talked when it came to Mr. Lowell. It was the one constant thing he could control in his life. It was her father’s way of offering his approval.
“Thank you, but I think I can handle the wedding.”
“Fine.” Walking out the door, her dad turned back. “Do you golf?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Maybe you’d care to join me this weekend?”
A deep-seeded satisfaction warmed Summer’s smile. His unblinking stare never left Carrie Ann’s features. “I’ve got plans this weekend, but we can pencil something in.”
Waiting for the door to close, she asked quietly, “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“I tried.” Summer gently tugged her from the bed. “To be honest, I don’t want to think about it anymore. I’m tired of looking back. I’m more interested in the future. Paperwork is all finished. Let’s get out of here.”
“Let’s go home.”
Aspen greeted her with twenty puppy kisses, before rolling onto her back for belly rubs. Carrie Ann headed straight for the shower, needing to wash off the hospital grime and aftershocks of mental stress. Standing in the closet, towel clad with soaking wet hair, she rifled through her drawers searching for a pair of boxers and a tank top.
She didn’t know how long Summer had been standing behind her, but she shrieked catching sight of him in her peripheral as the thin tank stretched over her head, making it past her eyes.
Her pulse went crazy squashing almost every word in her vocabulary, seeing Summer propped against the doorway wearing a silver-grey suit. “Fuckity-fuck, fuck,” she panted breathily.
A sexy smile sucked into the corner of his mouth. His faint laughter filtered through the closet as he ambled toward her. His arms came around her as his eyes locked on hers with an intensity she’d never seen him wear before. One hand spanned the small of her back, drawing an arch as the other coasted over the curve of her bare bum, giving a generous squeeze. Her slight giggle dissolved into a soft gasp.
Carrie Ann’s fingers keyed up his white shirt front, giving a small adjustment to his crooked tie. The flat of his palms held her securely, molding her to the muscular terrain of his body. A low, pleasurable sigh rose in her throat, reveling in the tantalizing scent of his neck.
“What’s going on?”
“I know you’re exhausted, but I thought I might be able to tempt you in a little trip.”
“A trip? Where?” she questioned amusingly, raising an inquisitive brow. A broad smile touched her lips. Even though she was tired, there was no way she’d turn him down.
Following his gaze beyond the doorway, she noticed one of her dresses, a white strapless vintage-style cocktail dress laid out on the bed. Summer lifted their entwined fingers to his lips, and kissed her knuckles. His gorgeous gaze hovered behind the rock on her finger.
“Vegas.”
Epilogue
‡
Being naked in front of another man was a place Carrie Ann thought she’d never find herself again.
After Ryan Summer stunned fans by publicizing Ry-Ann had tied the knot in a secret ceremony at a private residence in Las Vegas, the Paparazzi stalked them relentlessly. The couple took painstaking deliberations to keep their relationship as tight-lipped as possible, blocking out all the white-noise. However, they wouldn’t be able to keep the rumor mongers at bay much longer. At sixteen weeks, she was already starting to show. Instead of allowing the press the power to ridicule the pregnancy of their first child, they decided to take the announcement of their baby-bump into their own hands.
Posing nude in front of the white sheet, Summer stood behind her arranging the big red heart-shaped pillow. She gripped the red satin like a scared virgin protecting her innocence.
“How much longer is this gonna take?” Summer growled nipping her ear. His semi-hard erection nudging her in the back, drew a sweet pull of desire at her core.
“Easy cowboy.” Tony, one of Hollywood’s renowned photographers, sassed in a pleasant playful tone. “You’ve got about ten more minutes. That should give me enough shots to choose from.”
Twenty minutes later Tony called it a wrap. Summer doted over her, assisting her into her silky robe, carefully slipping one arm into a sleeve and then the other. She bellied up to the kitchen table as Tony downloaded the images to his computer.
Carrie Ann and Summer, JC and Reed, plus ten other expecting couples donned the pages of this year’s Bare Your Soul Calendar. After thirty minutes, she narrowed the cover image down to the last shot of the day. In the photo, Carrie Ann’s arms were tastefully crossed over her breast, as Summer held the satin heart over her nether regions. His chin rested on her shoulder as she twisted to face him, eyes closed, foreheads barely touching.
*
The next afternoon, she leaned over the kitchen counter, her arms pressed along the outside slope of her breasts, posing to show off her ever-growing cleavage in a new pink bra and panty set she’d purchased earlier that morning.
Summer walked through the garage door and nearly skidded to a halt tripping over his tongue. His eyes, wide with delight, slid from her head to her toes. “Pink? Hmm? Not even a hint of red?”
Biting back a smile, she shot him a look of feigned outrage. “Very funny. You should be lucky…”
“Oh, I’m definitely lucky.”
“That I haven’t given you a heart attack or sent you to the hospital or wounded you…”
“I will gladly take all the sex you can throw at me.”
Blush warmed her cheeks as a timid smile curled the edges of her lips. “The doctor said my out-of-control lust filled hormones…”
“You mean your dirty-talking horn-doggedness?”
“Probably won’t last the entire pregnancy and that you should prepare for random outbursts of crying and/or yelling.” Carrie Ann smothered her brazen grin. “She suggested you take full advantage of me while you can.”
“Is that so?” His eyes narrowed wickedly as he slinked toward her. His lips made their way down the curve of her neck, nibbling until goosebumps skittered across her shoulders. “Sorry I missed the appointment this morning. I was stuck on the freeway for three hours. What else did the doc have to say?”
They’d already had several doctor appointments and this was the first time Summer hadn’t been able to go with her. He called, warning her to take a different route because the freeway had been shut down. He was so upset about not being able to make the appointment, she offered to reschedule, but he insisted she go.
A pinch of guilt mingled with overwhelming joy. Carrie Ann untangled herself from his arms. Rising to her tiptoes in a slow pirouette, she modeled the pink underwear for him. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, hoping to squash the goofy lop-sided grin from covering her face, but it just continued to grow until she let out a soft giggle.