CHAPTER FOUR
During the party, Grayson had been keeping an eye on Lori, making sure she didn’t wear herself out, or overdo it playing with the kids, or not get enough to eat and drink. Of course, he had to be stealthy about looking after her, or risk her coming after him with a spike heel in hand.
Lori had always been adamant about taking care of herself—and she was damned good at it. But that didn’t mean he could push away his own instincts to take care of her and their baby.
Life with his wife these past years had been one adventure after another, but no adventure was bigger than having a child. He had known Lori only a week when he’d started to dream of a little girl who looked just like her, a mini-spitfire with a sparkling laugh and an indomitable spirit. Given his dark past, he’d thought they were just crazy dreams at the time, but Lori had done the impossible by making his wildest dreams an incredible—and terrifying—reality.
More than one person had told Grayson that he was the calmest, steadiest man they knew. But that was only because they didn’t know that inside, the thought of Lori being pregnant, of having their child, made his heart beat a million miles a minute while he barely managed to keep his breathing even. He’d thought Lori’s perceptive mother might say something to him about this during the party, but thankfully Mary had held her own counsel.
Grayson knew exactly what he needed to do: suck up his fears and get the hell over them. Lori wasn’t at all worried about the big changes they were facing, and he wouldn’t forgive himself if he damaged that by feeding her his fears.
She’d done so much to help him face his demons over the death of his first wife. He’d sworn he wouldn’t let new ones take their place. And he was going to stand by that vow, damn it.
No more lying awake at night, running over worst-case childbirth scenarios.
No more fighting back dark visions.
No more watching over Lori as though she were made of fine china, when he knew better than anyone that she had a steely determination and backbone. Especially when it came to those she cared for—there was nothing that would make her back down when it came to giving them her love.
A long weekend in Carmel couldn’t have come at a better time. Grayson desperately needed time away from the endless demands of their farm and community produce business so that he could lavish his full attention on his favorite person in the world—and show her just how much he loved her. More than anything, or anyone, else.
When Mary and his mother had suggested a babymoon—something he’d never heard of until they brought it up—he’d instantly known that Lori would love it. She celebrated even the smallest things, from the hatching of a baby chick, to a colorful sunset, to the first ear of corn growing in the field. A long weekend in a beach town was right up her alley. In addition to giving them time to connect one on one with no outside distractions, he also hoped the beach cottage would be the perfect place for Lori to relax for a few rare and uninterrupted hours.
Before they got there, however, he had one more surprise for her that he knew would be the icing on the cake of their perfect day with her family. A ballroom dancing venue was less than a mile from the coastal highway that led to Carmel-by-the-Sea. They had hit the road thirty minutes ago and were now close to the venue.
First, however, he needed to make absolutely sure that she felt up to dancing after having been on her feet the entire time at the party. Though he had literally just reminded himself not to treat her like she was breakable, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Really good.” She turned to face him better from the passenger seat, her expression strangely serious. “What about you?” Her words seemed to hold more gravity than normal. “How are you feeling?”
Grayson stilled. Had she caught on to the fact that his worries were taking him over more and more with every day that passed?
No. He couldn’t heap his old demons on her. Demons he thought he’d fully dealt with already, damn it!
“It was a great party.” He hoped his smile didn’t look strained as he said, “It means a lot that so many of the family came such a long way to celebrate with us.”
“My family all adores you, Grayson.” She put her hand over his, and warmth moved through him.
“I feel the same way about them.” His smile came easier now as he added, “Are you glad to finally be off your feet? Maybe even ready for a nap?”
She snorted in response. “Of course I’m not ready for a nap! And my feet—” She slipped off one shoe and wiggled her painted toes. “—are always up for more action. Just like me.” She waggled her eyebrows, sexy even when she was doing something silly. “What kind of action do you have in mind, cowboy?”
Though it was tempting to head straight to the cabin so that he could strip her pretty dress completely away and give her some slow-and-sexy loving action to counterbalance the quickie in her old bedroom, he pointed at the freeway sign. “We’re right by the new ballroom and cocktail place you were telling me about last month. If you’re up for it, I’d like to take you dancing.”
“Yet again, you’re the best husband ever!” Her eyes were bright with happiness as she leaned over and strained against her seat belt to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ve been dying to do some proper ballroom.” She looked down at her stomach. “Although I’m not sure how proper I can be at this point.” She shrugged. “Whatever, it’s still going to be awesome to dance with you, even if everyone will be wondering the whole time if I’m about to give birth on the dance floor.” She grinned. “Actually, knowing we’re shocking people will make it even better.”
He laughed, grateful that it eased the tightness in his chest. Soon, they were walking into the club full of people who were decked out in their best sequins and satin. And that was just the men.
“One day I’ll stop being surprised by how many waxed chests there are on display in these clubs,” he muttered.
“Any chance you’ll unbutton your shirt?”
“No.” The word was little more than a growl.
She walked her fingers up his chest. “Any chance you’ll let me unbutton your shirt?”
“Try it and you’ll be dancing with your arms tied behind your back.”
Her eyes twinkled up at him, full of mischief. “Sounds like fun.”
He kissed her in lieu of groaning. And five minutes later, he was glad, yet again, for the ballroom dancing classes his parents had forced him to take when he was a teenager. For every second of those classes, he had wished he was on the basketball court instead. At fifteen, he’d been absolutely certain that he would never, ever need to know how to do the fox-trot. But even then, the universe must have known that Lori Sullivan was going to come into his life—and that he was going to need to do whatever he could to keep up with her and make her happy. Even if that meant spending time in her dance studio working on improving his posture and hold so that he could be useful to her if she needed to grab him and try out new choreography.
When they first stepped onto the dance floor, a few eyebrows rose at the sight of Lori’s very round belly. But within sixty seconds, everyone’s mouths were hanging wide open in awe. She was that good a dancer, every move she made so fluid, so effortless, so right. In fact, several people in the crowd applauded when the band came to the end of the waltz with a flourish.
“I swear,” she said, her breathing still perfectly even, while he was trying to keep from panting, “you could go pro if you wanted to. You know exactly when and where to move with me—even with our baby girl bouncing between us.”
He’d said it plenty of times before, and he said it again now: “The only reason I seem remotely like a good dancer is because I’m dancing with you. I guarantee there would be smashed toes and elbowed ribs if you paired me up with anyone else here.”
“I know this smacks of double standards, given that I dance with other people all the time, but I don’t think I could stand to let you dance with anyone else.”
He drew her closer. “You’re the only one I want to dance with, Lori.” He lowered one hand to her stomach and grinned when he felt a good, strong kick to his palm. “Sorry, I meant the two of you are the only ones I want to dance with.”
Lori put her hand on her belly too and laughed out loud at the feel of two little hands and two little feet pushing out. “I love that she’s already dancing with us.”
“Me too, sweetheart.” He pressed his lips to hers and counted himself the luckiest man alive. “Me too.”