The Proposition (The Proposition #1)(41)

“Yeah, that would have been miserable,” he joked.

A girlish giggle escaped her lips. “I am sorry that we didn’t get to…well, you know, have sex as much as you would have liked.”

Just the mention of that word on her luscious lips made him squirm in the booth. “So am I, especially since I’ve practically been a monk the last few weeks.”

Her eyes widened. “You mean you kept up with the boxers and no activity of any kind?”

“Well, I might have taken care of business once or twice,” he replied, sheepishly. “But I abstained all last week in preparation.” Now after all that work, he was going home, tail between his legs, and extremely frustrated. It was truly going to be just him and his hand that night.

Emma cupped his face in her hands. “Oh, you poor baby! You’ve really gone above and beyond for me through this whole thing.”

When she brushed her fingers over his lips, he grabbed her hand. “Please, Em, don’t. I’m way too f**king frustrated for shit like that.”

A smile that was both teasing and sweet spread on her face. “I tell you what. Since you’ve made me the happiest woman in the world, I think I more than owe you a round or two to put a smile on your face.”

For the second time that night, Aidan felt like he had been kicked in the groin. “You can’t be serious.”

Her brows furrowed. “Don’t you want me to be serious?”

“Of course I do! I want to push your dress up over your thighs, rip off the lacy thong I imagine that you’re wearing, and f**k you senseless right here in the booth.”

Emma sucked in a breath and widened her eyes. “I take that as a yes.”

Aidan grinned. “Hey, it’s been four weeks babe. You’re lucky I’m not dragging you into the bathroom for a quickie.” When her nose wrinkled in disgust, he couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Don’t worry, Em. I’ll control myself.” Running his hand under her dress, he squeezed her thigh. “At least while we’re in public.”

He was surprised when she didn’t smack his hand away. Instead, she merely smiled invitingly up at him. “Can we at least eat first?”

“Of course we can. You’re eating for two now, right?”

Emma snorted. “Supposedly yes. But the way I’ve been packing it in lately, you would think I was having triplets or something.”

Aidan waved the waiter over. After Emma finished rattling off all that she wanted, Aidan couldn’t hide his amusement. “You’re seriously going to eat all that?”

She bobbed her head as the waiter left. “It won’t matter as much this time since I assume I’ll be burning a lot of calories later, right?”

He chuckled. “Hell yes!”

For the rest of dinner, he behaved himself. Instead, he focused on how joyfully animated Emma became as she talked about the baby and the pregnancy. He had never seen her talk a mile a minute or smile so much. He began to wonder how her cheeks couldn’t hurt. He momentarily stiffened when she mentioned that both Casey and Connor had accompanied her to her first doctor’s appointment. “So now he’s all about you having a baby as long as he didn’t father it?”

Emma’s fork froze in mid-air while her face crumpled. “He just wanted to come and support me since you were out of town.”

“That was nice of him,” Aidan said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his tone.

“If you don’t want him at the first ultrasound, I won’t invite him.”

Aidan didn’t know why the hell it bothered him. It wasn’t like he had any plans of being involved in the baby’s life…or did he? For some reason, just the thought of Connor being in his baby’s life dropped a heavy blanket of possessiveness around him. Shuddering, he tried ridding himself of the feeling. Besides Connor seemed like a genuine guy—he obviously didn’t have to worry about him being competition in Emma’s bed.

“Aidan, you didn’t answer me?”

He met Emma’s intense stare. “What?”

“I asked you again if you wanted it to just be the two of us at the first ultrasound.”

Swallowing hard, he finally responded, “Um, yeah, sure.”

Any doubt about his decision faded at the expression of pure, unadulterated happiness that flashed on Emma’s face. Knowing he was the reason behind it warmed him straight through to his soul. It was a feeling he thought he could come to enjoy experiencing more of.

“Great,” she replied, nibbling on her last French fry.

He couldn’t help grinning when he surveyed her empty plate. “Would you like some dessert?”

She pursed her lips at his teasing. “No, I’m good for now, thanks.”

“Then can we please get the hell out of here and go back to your house before I have a permanent case of blue balls?”

Emma giggled. “I guess so. Just be glad I have some Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer, or we would be making a pit stop.”

Aidan groaned as he threw a wad of bills on the table. “You love to torture me, don’t you?”

Running her hand up his thigh, Emma stopped just before she touched his cock. When he sucked in a sharp breath, she merely took her hand away and picked up her drink. Swirling the straw around, she then brought it to her lips and worked it in and out of her mouth while she drank. “Hmm, that’s so good.”