Beyond Temptation - Brenda Jackson [37]
“Like what?”
“Although our union will be a marriage of purpose, as he put it, he still wants us to project a semblance of realness. In other words, he has no qualms about us sharing a bed.”
“But you do?”
“Yes. No. Hell, I don’t know.” The last couple of guys she’d dated—way back when—took that time to cross her mind. They hadn’t done anything to light a fire within her, at least not to the degree Morgan had with just a mere kiss. “Trust me, it wouldn’t bother me one bit to sleep with Morgan,” she finally said. “But what if we start something that neither of us can finish?”
“Meaning?”
“What if things don’t work out and he decides I’m not the woman he wants to live with or the right woman for the mother of his child?”
Kylie shrugged. “Knowing Morgan I’m sure he’s thought this thing through before approaching you with it. If I were you, the only thing I’d worry about is what decision I’ll be giving him in five days.”
She hadn’t dreamed today, Lena thought, slipping beneath the covers later that night. She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling as memories flooded her. It was hard to believe Morgan had actually asked her to marry him and have his baby.
After Morgan had left her office she had hung back, unable to leave as she’d planned to do. Instead she had sat at her desk trying to rationalize what had happened moments earlier, replaying in her mind his every word, every stroke of his tongue in her mouth.
In the end when she’d realized she hadn’t been hallucinating, she had called Kylie and asked to meet her at the nearest Burger King after she closed her florist shop that day.
After their talk she had left to pick up her mother from day care, barely remembering what their conversation had been about on the ride home. The only thing she remembered was the one single question that was still floating around in her head.
Why, of all the women he knew, he wanted to marry her?
From the day she had agreed to sell his house and help him locate another one, things had been strictly business between them. Even when he’d had dinner with her and her mother on Sunday he hadn’t shown any obvious signs that he was attracted to her.
Or had he?
She had noted the intense looks in his gazes, but he’d always looked at her that way. In the past she had chalked things up as a one-sided attraction that she could never act on…but today, following his lead, she had.
She doubted that she would ever be able to look him in the face and not be reminded of their kiss. Today she had been introduced to another facet of Morgan’s unique personality. His passionate side. It would be a side she would be constantly exposed to if they were to marry. Sheesh! For over a year he had been her nightly dream and she wasn’t sure she was ready for him to make the jump from being her Mr. Fantasy to taking on the role of her Mr. Reality.
But then, all she had to do was close her eyes to remember the exact moment he’d made his outlandish proposal. “I want you to marry me and have my baby.” The moment he had said the words, although she hadn’t been sure she’d heard him correctly, he had looked at her with that deep, dark gaze of his as a spark of desire had flooded her insides, overheating her senses. And the seductive scent of the cologne he’d been wearing hadn’t helped matters.
And later, right before he had left, he had taken the initiative to step closer to her, and she had boldly walked into his arms. And the exact moment their tongues had mingled, zapping her willpower with tenderness, she had known she was a goner. She knew even now that she would probably be whispering his name in her sleep. But that was okay. She didn’t know of any other man whose name she’d rather whisper.
And as she closed her eyes to peaceful slumber, it was Morgan’s face that occupied her dreams.
Morgan inhaled a steadying breath as he pushed himself out of bed and sat on the edge of it. The kiss he had shared earlier that day with Lena was still heavily on his mind, in his thoughts, embedded so deep in his