Maggie could not have said what woke her. The green numbers on the clock across the room on the entertainment center read 4:30 a.m. So early. In fact, she could not remember the last time she had been awake this time of morning. She was a horrible morning person. Generally speaking, Maggie would roll out of bed at the last second, get in the shower, and then go to work with her hair still damp. It helped that she didn’t have to be at work until nine in the morning. The teachers had to be there much earlier, but that would certainly not have worked for Maggie.

“Good morning.” The sleep-roughened whisper came from Darren. She practically felt it rumble up through his chest. “Did you sleep?”

At some point in the night, she had pretty much rolled completely onto his chest. Their position was shockingly intimate at the moment. She was stretched out on top of his body. Her legs were between his, and their groins were pressed against one another. She could feel a hard bulge between them, and it sent a little shock and a thrill through her body that swept a bit of the sleep-addled feeling from her brain.

“I think I slept pretty well, actually.” Maggie was sort of surprised since couch sleeping was not known for making anyone wake up rested. She wriggled herself into a slightly more upright position.

He grunted and wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t know if you want to move like that, sweetheart,” he told her gruffly. “Having you this close is making my body a little crazy.”

“Is that right?” She wriggled again, feeling deliciously naughty. Then she stretched herself as far as she could until her toes were brushing his and her lips were touching his neck. She nibbled a little bit on his throat. “Because I feel like I’m really enjoying all of this moving around. I need to stretch, you know.”

“Oh, is that right?”

He reached down and cupped her bottom. She gasped when he pulled her hard against him. The friction between them was incredible. The heat and the pressure were making everything south of her belly button heat up to the boiling point. She moved her lips from his throat to his jaw. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and pulled herself a little closer to his mouth.

“Kiss me,” Darren growled. “I need you so badly, Maggie. Do you have any idea how much you turn me on?”

His words set her aflame. She cupped his face in her palms. The stubble on his cheeks tickled. The room was still dark, and the lack of her sight made every other stimulus that much more intense. She found his lips in the darkness and kissed him deeply. She nibbled his lower lip and then smoothed her tongue over the soft surface.

Darren moaned and wrapped his arms more tightly around her body. She felt a wave of excitement wash over every inch of her body. His taste, his feel, the way it felt to be in his arms, it was all part of a bigger need to be as close to this man as possible. She could feel his erection hardening between them. It didn’t scare her. It didn’t intimidate or bother her. It excited her. This was what she wanted. This was the buildup and the arousal and every moment that was leading up to something even bigger.

Maggie spread her legs and moved them to the outside of Darren’s body. Her skirt was becoming bunched up around her thighs. Her core was aching, and everything between her legs was wet and hot. She moved herself closer to the bulge beneath his fly. Still kissing him, she felt their bodies grind together to mimic the act of love.

He moved his hands to her face. Sifting his fingers through her hair, he cupped the back of her head and kissed her deeply as she moved against him. There was no pushiness on his part. He seemed content to wait and let her lead. That alone made her even more excited. She had never felt so confident and so natural with a lover. She wasn’t worried about what would happen next. She was too busy enjoying right now.

Heat built at her core. Maggie arched her back and pushed her mound even harder against the ridge at Darren’s groin. Her body was on fire. Her breasts were heavy, and her nipples were taut and almost painful. She pressed against Darren’s chest and whimpered. He put his arms around her body. With one hand on her back and one hand on her bottom, he gently helped her steady her rhythm as she ground against him.

Maggie’s mind was spinning. It was as if every nerve was firing at once. The rubbing sensation grew more and more intense. More pressure. More heat. More friction. And then, all at once, she felt something snap below her waist. Sucking in a quick gasp, she cried out. Pressing her face to his chest, she muffled the shout that wanted to escape as her body climaxed in rolling waves of release that left her feeling tingly and oh so wonderful.

It was beautiful. It was so beautiful! Darren’s arms steadied her as he held her close. His lips pressed against her forehead, and she realized that he was whispering to her. “That’s my girl. So precious. So perfect. Feel good, sweetheart. I want you to feel good.”

His words were the icing on the cake. She shuddered against him and then collapsed as though she was about to fall back asleep. Every muscle in her body was utterly relaxed. She was boneless and feeling fantastic. She pressed one last kiss to his lips and then rubbed her nose playfully against his.

“And how’s my girl now?” he asked, a note of teasing in his voice. “Because I must admit that I feel amazing.”

“You do?” Maggie’s cheeks heated up as she realized that he had given her a wonderful gift and yet he’d gotten nothing for himself. How many men would tolerate that? “I feel kind of bad. You—uh—didn’t get yours.”

“It isn’t about getting something.” He traced her cheek with his fingertip. “It’s about loving the way that you react to me. It’s flattering to think that you can climax just from being with me in such a”—he paused as though he were searching for the right words—“G-rated setting, I guess.”

Maggie could not help but laugh. “A G-rated setting, huh? Are you trying to be PC or something?”

“Don’t you feel it?” he whispered. “There’s something happening between us, and it’s special. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever felt, and I don’t want to make it as though it is. I don’t want to pretend it isn’t incredible.”

“And that means you’re being a very wonderful gentleman about the whole thing?” Maggie wondered out loud. “That’s really—it’s sweet.”

“I’ve had my share of one-night stands and crass sexual encounters.” His arms seemed to tighten around her body. He pressed a fervent kiss to the top of her head. “You’re different, Maggie. You’re better than that. I want you to be better than that, and I want to be better for you. Do you understand?”

She did. In fact, she probably understood more fully than he realized. How many people had told her that this man was not what he seemed? How many people had claimed that he was a lazy man who only wanted one thing and would only stay until the money called him elsewhere? This was her proof that it wasn’t true. This was what every woman dreamed of hearing.

You are different. You are special. I want to make a life with you.

“It feels like a dream,” Maggie whispered.

Darren snorted. “Ah, sweetheart, if it was a dream, we wouldn’t have so much damn drama on our doorstep.”

“Drama?” Maggie tried to stop the yawn that snuck up on her but could not. She was just too relaxed. “What drama?”

“My brother is passed out in his bathroom. My niece is asleep in her room around the corner. You have a coworker who is power-tripping on you. Your school has a bully problem. I don’t know what’s really going on with my adopted sister, Jesse. And my baby mama drama is worthy of some daytime talk show.” Darren delivered this last reminder with more than a little bitterness.

“We should talk about that,” Maggie said, rousing her brain from slumber. “You need to get a place. Can you do that?”

“I will.” He sounded as though he were absolutely determined. “I’ll do it tomorrow—or today. Whatever.”

Maggie mumbled something that might have been the word “good.” She couldn’t really tell. Her brain was too sleepy. “Once you do that, I know an attorney. She’s good. She’ll get you your custody. You might actually be surprised what happens.”

“I don’t like surprises.” His voice was what she would have called dead serious. “Surprises almost always end badly. I just want to see my kid. I want him to know me. God knows what that woman has told him about me.”

“Then, we’ll need some help,” Maggie told him groggily.

She was busy in her head talking to social workers and therapists. She could see the whole thing unfolding in her mind. Then she pictured herself with a little tiny Hernandez in her arms. Maggie was reading stories and tucking the little boy into bed. She made him peanut butter sandwiches and took him to the park to play. This was not a case of her biological clock ticking. She felt as though it were broken entirely. She wanted kids and a husband and the whole crazy thing.

“Darren,” Maggie whispered.

He cradled her in his arms and gently nuzzled her head before kissing her temple. “What, sweetheart? I thought you were asleep.”

“Do you want more kids?” Maggie asked suddenly. Was she even coherent? She shouldn’t be discussing these things if she wasn’t even conscious. “I want kids.”

“I hope that you have kids someday soon,” Darren told her warmly. “You’re going to make an incredible mother. Your children will be the luckiest kids on the planet to have you for a mom.”

“But do you want kids?”

She felt as though her brain were totally checking out. The numbers on the clock read 5:00. It was still so early. The sun wasn’t even up yet. She couldn’t stay awake anymore, but she wanted so badly to hear his answer. Did Darren want more children? If he didn’t, that meant this was all for nothing. The idea hurt Maggie’s heart. She was falling in love with Darren Hernandez. It was time to be honest with herself about that. But she wasn’t going to marry a man or be with him when the two of them didn’t have the same goals and aspirations for their lives. It wouldn’t work. Darren was better than that. She would never want him to wake up one day and look over and think that he was trapped in a relationship where he wasn’t having his needs met. That would break her heart.

“Maggie, I would love to have children with you.”

The words seemed to drift out of the ether. She could not even be sure that she had heard them correctly. But her heart knew. It settled down, and she pressed her face to Darren’s warm chest and drifted off feeling as though she were the luckiest woman in the entire world. Sure. There were some pretty weird things going on recently, but it was all going to smooth out. It would all be fine. And in the end once, they got through the rocky stuff, they were going to be together, and that was really what mattered.