Page 17 of The Plan

She just looked up at him, those big eyes of hers wide and innocent.

Hell. He couldn’t take it much longer. “Just give me the second kiss you promised me. Then tuck yourself into bed. I’ll be by to get you for work at 8:30 or so.”

“What? I don’t work for you any longer.”

“You don’t work for anyone any longer, but I never dropped your health insurance policy. Which is a really good thing for mybank account right now. And I need you back. In the office and in my life. It’s the perfect solution.”

“I’m not going to just go back to work for you.”

She would. He knew she would. And it would get her right there in his reach.

“Why not? I’ll give you a raise. You can put the difference into the college fund I’m going to start for the baby. Money might be tight for a few more years until I get my law school loans paid off. And I’ll get what I have in the rest of my trust from my grandparents when I’m thirty-five and I do pull some profit from the ranch but I tend to funnel it back in or to investments. It’ll get easier for us when I get my trust, I promise. That’s a little less than three years away. We can make do for that long. I’ll take care of you and the baby to the best of my ability. And any more we have in the meantime. There’s probably time for two by the time I’m thirty-five, I think. I’m looking forward to it.”

“I think you are completely delusional, Georgie. You have downright lost it.”

“Maybe. But… kiss me. Then… 8:30. And lock your doors so I’ll know you’re safe.” He didn’t give her a chance to protest. He took his second kiss.

By the time they were done, George had her on her kitchen table.

She looked up at him with dazed eyes. “What is it with you and tables?”

“We’ll have a lifetime to figure that out.”

13

She was a total idiot.Ronnie was the poster child for screwing up right now.

She just kept telling herself that pregnancy was expensive. She needed health insurance to pay for the kid who’d made her toss her cookies yet again. And… she needed a job. No one was really going to hire a pregnant woman and give her insurance in time for it to make a difference, either. And why hadn’t that crazy man dropped her insurance already? That was insane. But it was there. Ronnie had googled the cost of pregnancy. She really needed that insurance right now.

That was what she was deluding herself with this morning.

She was just going to use… the father of her child. That was all.

She knew she was lying to herself long before George pulled in at 8:24 the next morning. He climbed out of that big flashy truck of his, looking like the epitome of masculine perfection. Her insides turned all mushy in an instant. No wonder the women in town all drooled over Gorgeous George.

That man was too damned dangerous to her sanity for words.

He stepped up onto the small porch in front of her apartment. She had the door already open. If she was going to do this, she was going to just have to do this.

“Good morning, how are you feeling?”

“Like a little Lake-Hiller life-form is taking over my entire body. You?” Why skirt the issue here? She was going with him for the baby, that was it. The baby. That was it. No matter what he did, or how he looked at her with those eyes of his.

“Like you are the most gorgeous pregnant woman on the planet and you owe me some seriously good kisses. So… come here…”

Before she could escape, those big strong hands were around her waist and she was being pulled to that big strong chest and his perfect mouth was pressing against hers.

And her brains went right out the window.

It took her a good ten minutes to realize he’d backed her into her apartment, and they were on her couch. And her fingers had unbuttoned every one of those fastidious little white buttons on that dress shirt that made him look like a stuffy old nerd. She’d just… wanted to touch him. Not the shirt.

He was hot and strong beneath her hands.

His mouth was practically worshiping her.

Ronnie had never been kissed the way Georgie Hiller kissed her. Damn him. Finally, she pulled back to breathe. “What exactly are we doing here?”

“Making out. That’s where two lovers just sit and enjoy each other physically… I really enjoy you, Veronica Lake. So much I want to just devour you the first chance I get. Why don’t we just… close the office for the day? I’ll call Giavonna and have her put a sign on the door for me. You and I can just stay right here, where we are at. And… just be with each other. I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than with you.”

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