Page 33 of The Christmas Cowboy

“Do I regret marrying Val? Hell, no. But it’s been two and a half weeks and we haven’t had sex and I sure as shit regret that.”

Connor choked in mid sip. “Nearly three weeks and you haven’t done it again? Why the hell not?”

“Okay, Liam, that’s just weird,” Logan added.

“At first she didn’t feel good. So I didn’t push her.”

“No sex the entire honeymoon?”

“Nope.”

“Well that sucks.”

Liam nodded and finished his beer.

“And since then?” Logan asked. “She’s felt bad this whole time?”

“Kind of. And the longer it’s gone on the harder it’s been to figure out how to approach her.” Okay, he knew this sounded lame. If she really was pregnant with his baby, then they wouldn’t have any problems having sex again.

“This is bullshit. Val is pregnant but now you’re telling me you haven’t had sex since you got married? That doesn’t make sense.” Connor drank beer and shook his head.

“I didn’t think it was going to take this long and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Good God, Liam. It’s not like you’ve never slept with a woman before. And Val’s pregnant so you’re bound to have…” Connor’s voice trailed off and he stared at Liam.

“Oh, shit,” Logan said. “You haven’t slept with her. The baby isn’t yours, is it?”

“We’re married. The baby is mine.”

“But not biologically.”

Fuck. He shouldn’t have ever brought this up. He could continue the lie, but neither of his brothers was stupid. They’d know he was lying. And Val had said he could tell his brothers the truth. He took a sip of his drink and sighed. “No. The son of a bitch denied he was the father. So, I married her. And now the baby is mine.”

“You’ve never had sex with your wife. Damn, Liam. What a mess.”

“I haven’t slept with Val.” He thought about it and added, “No, I have slept with her. Every damn night since we got married. But we still haven’t had sex.”

Connor studied him, then asked, “Are you in love with her?”

“No.” He rubbed the side of his nose. “At least, I don’t think so. But I like her a lot. And we’re married. And I don’t know how much longer I can sleep with her every night and not have sex.”

“Shit, man,” Logan said. “Seduce her. Unless…is it the pregnancy?”

“No. Not for her and sure as shit not for me. She’s not even showing. Her morning sickness is getting better too. We talked about it before we got married. We agreed neither one of us wanted a marriage without sex.”

“Well, there you go. Just go for it.”

“I can’t.” He’d left it too long and now he didn’t know how to approach it. Or her.

“Hmm.” Connor shook his head. “Okay, the way I see it you have three choices. You can talk to her, you can seduce her, or you can wait until you totally lose it and see what happens. By the way, I don’t recommend the third option.”

Liam put his head in his hands. “I thought she might do something to let me know she was ready, but she hasn’t. I didn’t think it would be this hard.” He looked up. “But she’s so damn pretty. Every night she washes her face and she puts on her pajamas—pink flannel pants or blue flannel pants and a T-shirt. And I just want to rip those damn pants off of her. She smells so good. Like lavender. Her soap or her lotion smell like lavender.”

Connor stared at him. “Uh, Liam. You sound like you’re in love with her. Hell, I’ve never heard you talk like that about a woman. Not even—”

“This is totally different,” Liam said, cutting him off.

“Connor’s right. You’re in love with her.”

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