The Maverick's Ready-Made Family by Brenda Harlen

Author:Brenda Harlen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-12-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Why had he kissed her?

Why had she kissed him back?

And why the hell had she run out on him just when things were getting interesting?

Clay wanted answers to these questions and more that swirled through his mind, and the only way to get those answers was to go after Antonia. He started to take a step forward, intending to do just that. But he suspected that his desire to follow her wasn’t just about getting answers but also wanting to finish what they started, and it was the desperation of the wanting that forced him back into his seat.

He wasn’t the type of man to chase after a woman, and there were too many reasons why he should not chase after Antonia. Instead, he settled into the soft leather and picked up his beer.

Forrest dropped into the chair beside him. “You truly are an idiot.”

“So you’ve said on more than one occasion,” Clay acknowledged.

“You’re really just going to let her go?”

“Obviously she wanted to go.”

“If you want her, and I don’t think there’s any doubt that you do,” Forrest noted, “you should go after her.”

“And then what?”

His brother’s brows lifted. “Since you already have a kid, I figured you got the logistics and mechanics of sex.”

“And if Antonia was anyone else, I’d already be out the door,” Clay admitted.

“But you don’t want anyone else.”

Which was, unfortunately, all too true. Since the first minute he’d set eyes on her, he’d felt an attraction that was as inexplicable as it was undeniable. At first he’d thought it was a simple matter of his hormones waking up after nearly a year of self-imposed celibacy, but no other woman stirred his blood the way that Antonia did.

And he’d tried—he’d flirted with the pretty barista at The Daily Grind, he’d checked out the checkout girls at the Super Save Mart, and he’d even contemplated the offers of various happily married cousins to set him up with a sister or niece or friend. But no other woman tempted him the way that Antonia did, and the only thing that had prevented him from succumbing to that temptation before now was the fact that she was pregnant.

He’d assumed that, being in the latter stages of pregnancy, Antonia’s sexual desires would have waned. The way she’d responded to his kiss had him reassessing that assumption. Still, it seemed necessary to remind his brother of that one salient fact: “She’s pregnant, Forrest.”

“At least you won’t have to worry about knocking her up.”

“Instead I would have to worry about Antonia expecting that a casual hook-up might lead to something more.” He shook his head. “No, getting involved—however temporarily—with my pregnant landlady is more complication than either of us wants or needs right now.”

His brother didn’t disagree. He just looked at Clay long and hard for a minute, and then he shrugged. “Your call,” he said easily.

It was his call, and he’d made it. He was not going to pursue Antonia. He was not going to think about the warm,

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