Page 70 of Home Run

“Nothing to apologize for. But please don’t bite your lip like that, it doesn’t help,” he added, freeing it from my teeth with the pad of his thumb.

He held my gaze. There was no way the air had suddenly thinned, even if it did feel like I was struggling for oxygen. He let go of my lip and tucked his hands underneath his pillow, as though releasing them would be too much temptation for him. On my side of the bed, my fists balled under the comforter for the exact same reason, but I apologized again anyway.

“I’m a guy, Mills. It’s kind of in our DNA to wake up horny.”

DNA.Of course,it was DNA and nothing else.

And this baby’s DNA was half of Tanner.That’swhy I was waking up feeling like this.Tanner Simpson.

A frown creased his brow. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re annoyed at me. You can’t be annoyed already, we’ve only been awake five minutes.”

Itried my best to school my features back to neutral. “I’m not annoyed, it’s just—” I stopped, this was so dumb.

“Just what?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. I don’t know. This baby is making me feel things. And I wish it wouldn’t.”

“What things?”

“You know…things.”

His blue eyes narrowed a fraction, scouring my face. The way I couldn’t look at him made it perfectly obvious whatthingsI was thinking about, especially when a sly smile slowly crept upward.

“Things like the feel of my dick sliding inside you?”

The visual popped into my brain before I could stop it, and my entire body throbbed hard. “Tanner.God?—”

“Am I right?”

“Maybe.”

“And the baby is making you feel this?”

“The baby is making me hot. And the baby is reminding me how it came about in the first place,” I clarified, in the worst attempt ever to save face. “That’s all. DNA, like you said.”

I was sorely tempted to hit Tanner with my pillow from the laugh he barked out. He didn’t care that I practically snarled the last part of my sentence, if anything he enjoyed it.

“Would it make a difference if I told you I wake up every single morning thinking ofyou, and only you? My body is reacting to that. Right now is no different,” he said, then paused. “No, I lie. Right now is way more intense because I’ve woken up next to you after dreaming about it for more than a year. I’m fully prepared to get in a coldshower, I just wanted to experience this for a little longer. Unless you wanna join me.” He grinned wide, and I could tell he wasn’t joking even a little bit. If I said yes, I’d be in that shower before I could blink.

My brain was whirring a thousand times a minute. An opportunity was presenting itself that I was definitely going to blame on the baby, because right now I couldn’t think straight for all the images of naked Tanner flashing in my brain.

“Do you think it’ll complicate things?”

“Do you think us having sex will complicate things?”

I nodded.

“Not for me,” he replied without hesitation.

“What if we made this a one-time thing? No strings. Just morning sex because you happened to be here.”

“No can do, sorry, babe. This is our string.” Pulling down the comforter, he ran his hand over my belly. His fingers stayed purposely low, brushing over that sensitive spot on my hip bones until it trembled. “And I for one couldn’t be happier that I’m attached to you. But…while I wait for you to admit you’re in love with me, I can do my very best to make you feel good. If that’s what you want.”

I let out a groan. It could have been from finally having his hands on me, or it could have been from his persistence in making me admit feelings I didn’t have. Didn’t think I had.

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