Page 16 of The Plan

“I’m going to tell them the truth, sweetheart. I adore their sister, and will never do anything to hurt her ever again. If I do, they can beat me to a pulp.”

“Adore me? Yeah, right. You just have that whole ‘right thing to do’ thing going on. You can’t pull one over on me. I know you well, after all, Georgiano Maxwell.”

He pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building. “We’re here. I’m going to walk you inside. I hope you’ll let me come in for a little while.”

“We need to talk.” She was wise to the man next to her. Best to just get it out there. “But you are going to keep your hands to yourself, or I’ll clobber you. Got me?”

“Two kisses, and then I’ll be a good boy. I want two damned good kisses before I go. Then, I’ll keep my hands to myself. Otherwise, I’m going to try to seduce you. And I’m relentless. You have haunted me in my dreams for twelve weeks and four days.”

The man was definitely relentless. She’d give him that.

Somehow, she found herself unlocking her apartment door and letting the man follow her inside. He dwarfed her little one-bedroom apartment, no denying that. Not just because he was tall and strong, but it was his presence.

People would notice George Hiller. Always. Hard to miss that. She closed the door and turned to the father of her child. “Ok, so… what exactly is it you are going to want from me?”

Well, that was a loaded question, wasn’t it?

“For a start—my first kiss. I want it now.”

And then his hands were around her waist and he was pulling her closer. Ronnie didn’t resist, not even one teeny tiny second.

She was pitiful, wasn’t she?

His hands tightened, she was pulled closer, until they were chest to chest. Then he had her, right there, where she was never going to get away. Heaven help her, she didn’t think she’d ever get away again.

“Veronica…” he practically breathed her name in a way no man ever had before. In a way that just melted her straight down to the bottom of her soul. His thumb brushed her bottom lip, sending sensation coursing through her entire body. Damn him.

He knew just how to seduce her. To get exactly what he wanted. And she was a weak, weak woman here.

“I’m going to kiss you now, sweetheart…”

His mouth covered hers. Ronnie didn’t even think to pull away.

So much for resistance.

She just didn’t have any where this man was concerned. Wasn’t that at the root of her current predicament?

Hell, Ronnie just kissed him right back.

For the firsttime in twelve weeks and four days his world felt like it was right again. George pulled his woman closer and just wished this moment could last forever.

But strategy was what would matter most with this woman.

He had to seduce her like he’d never seduced a woman before in his life. He had to convince her he wanted her and not just the baby, somehow.

He did want her. More than he had ever wanted a woman before. But there was no way she’d believe him right now. Hepulled back. “You do something to me, Veronica Lake. Like no woman ever has before.”

“Sure I do,” she said in a breathy little whisper that had his stomach tightening with instant lust.

She’d sounded exactly like that when he’d had her over his desk. He lived for the moment he got her back into that position. Until he showed her what she truly did to him.

“You’re just trying to trick me so I’ll go along with your man-plans. You think you are going to plant me right there in that big old house of yours so your conscience can say that you did the right thing by your baby.”

George dropped his hand to her stomach. A rush of possession filled him.

His woman. His child.

Life didn’t get much more elemental than that. “So what if us being together is the right thing by the baby? That doesn’t mean it damned well isn’t the right thing for us, too. I’d told myself that you deserved a different man. A younger one. I’m almost ten damned years older than you, Veronica. You’ve not even had time to figure out what life is yet, and now here I am. I get that. I get that you deserve so much better. But I’ll be damned if I’ll let you go. These past twelve weeks have been literal hell. I can’t eat, I can’t think, I can’t sleep, I can’t work. Not without you there. Do you understand what I am telling you?”

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