The Pregnancy Plan (9 page)

“But I’m not tired,” his daughter insisted, though the state
ment was immediately followed by a wide yawn just as an older couple entered the barn.

Cam’s parents, Ashley realized, and wondered if this night could get any more awkward.

She’d spent a lot of time in their home and had grown to know Rob and Gayle Turcotte well while she and Cam were dating. But when Cam ended their relationship and went away to school, their paths had crossed much less frequently, and Ashley still felt awkward whenever they did. Maybe it was her own fault, because she’d loved them almost as much as she’d loved Cam and she’d mistakenly assumed they would be her family someday, too. Losing them, less than two years after her own father had passed away, had devastated her almost as much as being dumped by Cam.

“Looks like we’re just on time,” Rob said, scooping his granddaughter into his arms and making her giggle.

“I wondered where you two had wandered off to,” Cam said to his parents.

“Your mother got waylaid by Ethel Mayer and conned into buying raffle tickets for a blanket we won’t win and don’t need even if we do,” Rob explained.

“It’s a quilt, not a blanket,” his wife chided. “And a beautiful work of art.” Then she smiled at Ashley. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

“It’s nice to see you again,” Ashley said, and hoped she sounded half as sincere as Cam’s mother.

Maddie, having been set back on her feet by her grandfather, reached for her grandmother’s hand. “Come see the piggies, Grandma.”

Gayle glanced at her watch. “Only for a quick minute, then we have to get you home to bed.”

“But I’m not tired,” Maddie said again.

“But Grandpa is,” Gayle replied in a staged whisper. “And you know how cranky he gets if he stays up past his bedtime.”

Maddie sighed. “Okay. But we have to see the piggies first.”

“We’ll see the piggies first,” her grandmother promised. Then to the others, “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

“Hey,” Cam called, as his daughter started to walk away with her grandparents.

Maddie turned and ran back to him. He squatted down so she could throw her arms around his neck and give him a loud smacking kiss. “Bye, Daddy. Love you.”

“Love you, too, baby,” he said, and something squeezed tight inside Ashley’s heart.

Maddie raced back to her grandparents, turning to wave one last time, then Ashley was alone with Cam again.

Cam watched his daughter until she was out of sight before turning to Ashley. “Looks like it’s just you and me now.”

“Looks like,” she agreed.

It was the first time they’d been alone together since their meeting at the Bean There Café, since she’d told him that his daughter was trying to find him a wife. He’d been thinking about that conversation a lot recently, and thinking that he might not object to getting married again.

Not that he was in any hurry to find himself standing at the altar, but he was no longer adamantly opposed to the possibility. Especially when he considered the potential benefits of making Ashley his bride.

Of course, thinking about marriage—even in the most abstract sense—was a little premature when Ashley was as skittish about being alone with him as the newborn foal was about the strangers hovering around her stall. First, they had to get to know one another all over again, and he would have to thank Paige for giving him this time with her cousin.

“So what do you want to do now?” he asked.

“I think I’ve had enough for tonight,” Ashley said, making her way towards the doors. “So I’ll just call a cab and—”

“I promised Paige I would take you home,” he interrupted to remind her.

“You were conned by my cousin.”

He shrugged. “Either way, there’s no reason for you to take a cab when I’m going in the same direction.”

“Fine,” she relented.

“Are you really that opposed to spending time in my company?”

“I’m not opposed at all,” she said. “I’m just not interested.”

“You sure didn’t kiss me like a woman who was not interested.”

She glared at him over her shoulder; he just grinned.

“In fact, you kissed like a woman who enjoys being kissed, and touched and—”

“I was dizzy from the loss of blood,” she said.

“You didn’t lose that much blood.” But he picked up her hand, turned it to the light.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s called a follow-up exam.”

Ashley was tempted to make some comment about playing doctor, but decided that any kind of sexual innuendo was inherently dangerous around Cam Turcotte. Instead she said, “Dr. Alex already checked it out and said everything’s fine.”

“It looks like it’s healing nicely,” he agreed. Then he dipped his head and feathered light kisses along the side of her palm. “How does it feel now?”

She felt all kinds of things she shouldn’t be feeling, and none of them had anything to do with the fading scar on her hand. “Fine,” she managed.

“No tightness? No pain?”

“No.”
Not in my hand.

He smiled, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, but all he said was, “Good.”

“Eli said you did an exceptional job with the stitches,” she admitted. “That I probably won’t even have much of a scar.”

“You’ve always had pretty hands. I wanted to make sure they stayed that way.” He lowered her hand but, instead of releasing it, linked their fingers together and led her toward the midway.

“The parking lot is the other way.”

“I know. The Ferris wheel is this way.”

“Aren’t you anxious to get home to Maddie?”

“She’s spending the night at my parents’ house,” he told her.

“Oh.”

“Ferris wheel?” he prompted again.

She glanced up at the towering wheel, felt a quick jolt of excitement low in her belly, though she wasn’t sure if it was anticipation of the ride or just the excitement of being with Cam. She decided not to question but to go with her instincts.

“The Ferris wheel sounds like fun,” she agreed.

He must have purchased tickets earlier, because he pulled two out of his pocket and handed them to the attendant, and they joined the queue. There were only a few people ahead of them—most of the younger crowd preferred rides that offered more thrill—and it only took a few minutes before they were ushered into their car.

As she slid across the seat to make room for Cam, she thought it seemed smaller than she remembered. Or maybe it was that Cam seemed bigger. Or maybe it was just that her entire body was sizzling with awareness. Whatever the reason, Ashley found herself thinking that she should have nixed his suggestion. But the attendant had already secured the door and the wheel had shifted to load the next car.

They were only about halfway to the top, slowly making
their way round as the cars continued to load, but Ashley felt her tummy drop as she looked down at the crowds below. “I never used to be afraid of heights.”

“Are you now?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, but thought it probably wasn’t the height so much as the possibility of falling and found herself wondering about maintenance schedules and metal fatigue and other things she’d never considered before. “Do you think this is the same Ferris wheel we used to ride as kids?”

“It might be,” he teased. “Why—are you worried that the old wheel should be retired?”

“Maybe.”

He chuckled and slid his arm across the back of the seat. “Do you remember how we used to ride it over and over again?”

She nodded.

“The first time I ever kissed you was at the very top.”

She remembered that, too, and how she’d thought the drop in her belly was the car moving, until she realized it hadn’t moved at all. That was the day she’d fallen in love with him.

“I think the local high school boys still lure their girlfriends onto the ride to steal kisses,” she told him.

“I’m sure it’s not a strategy exclusive to high school kids,” he said, curling his arm around her shoulders.

She eyed him warily. “Don’t get any ideas.”

“Too late,” he said, just before his lips touched hers.

S
he couldn’t pull back—there was nowhere to go. She could have pushed him away—but she didn’t want to.

His fingers sifted through her hair, cupping the back of her head, changing the angle of the kiss.

Her eyes drifted shut, her lips parted.

His tongue touched hers, lightly, teasingly.

Her stomach dropped, and this time she knew it had nothing to do with the ride and everything to do with the man.

When she was fifteen, she’d thought Cam Turcotte was a great kisser. Of course, her experience at the time had been extremely limited and Cam’s technique had definitely been superior to that of any of the other three boys she’d kissed.

They’d both moved on since then, and though Ashley secretly hoped to find something to criticize so she could stop wanting him so damn much, she couldn’t deny that his mastery was confirmed. Somehow he just knew how to do ev
erything right. When to advance, when to tease, when to push, when to withdraw.

His lips were soft but firm, his taste both familiar and different, and altogether too tempting. It would be so easy to sink back into his arms, to pretend that the past twelve years had never happened. But no—she wouldn’t let herself fall into that trap again. She wouldn’t let herself forget anything of their past or delude herself into thinking they could have a future. She was just going to enjoy the moment for what it was.

When he finally drew back, they were both out of breath.

“This is crazy,” she told him.

“I know,” he agreed, and covered her mouth again.

She met him halfway this time, as eager and desperate as he. Maybe it was crazy, but it was safe. As long as she stayed on the Ferris wheel, there was no danger of this leading anywhere she wasn’t ready to go.

Okay, so maybe she was more ready than she wanted to admit, but she still had no intention of succumbing to the desire that raged through her system. Then his hands slid beneath the hem of her top, his wide palms skimmed up her sides, over her ribs. His thumbs brushed over the aching peaks of her breasts through the satin fabric of her bra. She moaned, and he nibbled on her bottom lip while his thumbs moved back and forth over her nipples, the rhythmic motion shooting tingles through her whole body.

She arched against him, wanting to be closer, wanting to feel every inch of his body pressed against every inch of hers. But they were already as close as they could get in the narrow, swaying gondola of the rickety old Ferris wheel.

Her conversation with Paige came back to haunt her. It had been a long time since anyone had made her feel this good. Too long. And when Cam eased away because the attendant
had started to unload passengers, she was undeniably disappointed that the ride—and this exquisite stolen moment—was over so soon.

Cam took Ashley’s hand to help her out of the car. He’d been tempted to give the Ferris wheel attendant his last two tickets so they could stay on the ride, but then he’d had a better idea.

“Where are we going?”

“The haunted house,” he said, thrusting the tickets at the bored attendant outside before he pulled Ashley through the strips of heavy black fabric that guarded the entrance.

It was pitch-black inside, illuminated by black lights that made her white T-shirt glow like a beacon. He took a moment to appreciate the curve of her breasts and the tight buds of her nipples before he led her through the narrow corridors and across shifting floorboards to his destination, ignoring the eerie moans and cackling laughs and other ghostly sounds.

“Maddie and I were in here earlier, and we took a wrong turn—” he pivoted, fervently hoping that he’d remembered correctly and was taking the right wrong turn “—and got shut in…here.”

She moved ahead of him, and he guessed she took about three steps before bumping into the wall.

“Is this some kind of closet?”

“I don’t know,” he said. And he didn’t care. All that mattered was that it was dark and private and that he needed to touch her.

He stepped up behind her, sliding his hands around to her front, under her shirt, over her breasts.

She moaned. “Cam.”

“I need to touch you, Ash.”

“I’m not having sex with you,” she told him, though the tremor in her voice suggested her might be able to change her mind if he really wanted to.

“I didn’t bring you here to have sex with you,” he told her, and bent his head to kiss her throat. “I just want to touch you.”

“You are touching me.”

“All of you,” he said, shifting one hand from her breast to her hips, pulling her more snugly against him. Her buttocks were nestled against his groin and there was no way she couldn’t know how hard he was for her, how much he wanted her. But for now, he just wanted to pleasure Ashley.

His hand slipped lower, dipping beneath the waistband of her denim skirt. She sucked in a breath but didn’t push him away, so he let his fingers dip lower, into the soft curls. She gasped, but shifted her legs apart a little more. He accepted the unspoken invitation, delving deeper into the slick heat. Her breath was coming faster now, quick shallow gasps that warned him she was on the edge. Just touching her had him trembling on the precipice himself, but he gritted his teeth and concentrated on her pleasure.

“Let go.” He whispered the words into her ear.

She shook her head, denying what he wanted, what they both wanted. But he wouldn’t be denied. He kept touching her, stroking her, kissing her neck, nibbling on her collarbone. He knew that she was close. Close but still fighting.

He turned her around, so that she was facing him, and captured her mouth with his own. He kissed her, hard and deep, and slipped his hand between her legs again. He swallowed her shocked gasps and blissful moans as he drove her harder and faster toward the edge, until he felt her tense and shudder and finally…release.

She trembled and sagged against him, burying her face in his shirt. He held her close, gently sliding his hand up and
down her back and feeling just a little bit smug as he waited for her breathing to even out again.

“Well.” She cleared her throat. “That was a new experience for me.”

He tipped her chin up and brushed his lips against hers again. “A good one, I hope.”

She sighed. “Oh. Yeah.”

Though his own body was still aching with arousal, he managed to grin at the lazy satisfaction in her tone. “Imagine what we might accomplish if we ever found ourselves near a bed,” he mused.

She pulled away from him, just a little, but the slight withdrawal was enough to make him realize he should have kept that tantalizing thought inside his head. Ashley had made it clear that she didn’t want to get involved with him and what had just happened obviously hadn’t changed her mind in that regard.

“As…interesting…as this was, it was a mistake,” she told him. “And one I’m not going to compound by sleeping with you.”

“It didn’t feel like a mistake when you were trembling in my arms. It felt incredible. And right.”

“Cam—”

Whatever she was going to say, he didn’t want to hear it, so he opened the door and stepped back into the main corridor of the haunted house, where the noise and the dark made conversation impossible.

Because her knees were still shaking and her head was still spinning, Ashley took the hand Cam offered to her and followed him into the darkness. She knew they should talk about what had just happened, but she honestly didn’t know what to say, how to explain her own outrageously reckless behavior.

She wondered if her conversation with Paige had lessened
her inhibitions, or if Cam’s kisses had short-circuited her usually rational brain. There had to be some kind of explanation for what she’d just allowed to happen in a public place. The fact that they’d been behind a closed door and completely in the dark failed to lessen the shock she felt with respect to her own actions.

The intensity of her release was unlike anything she’d ever known. Or maybe it was the illicitness of the situation that had intensified the experience. Or maybe it was just that it had been far too long since she’d let herself go so completely.

And yet, her body still ached and yearned, wanting more.

Wanting Cam.

There, she’d admitted it. At least to herself. She wanted Cam Turcotte as much now as she’d wanted him when she was in high school. But she was an adult now, a grown woman, not an idealistic girl. A woman who had experienced love and heartbreak and who wasn’t prepared to walk down that path again.

Paige had been right about the fact that Ashley didn’t have sex for fun, and that was why she couldn’t succumb to the desire that was coursing through her body. She didn’t dare. Because she knew she would never be able to share her body with Cam without letting him into her heart, and she absolutely was not going to fall in love with him again.

No, she had plans for her life, and Cam Turcotte didn’t fit anywhere in those plans.

He didn’t say anything more as he led her across the still-crowded parking lot to his car. It obviously wasn’t as late as she’d thought, but she was more than ready to head home, to say good-night and goodbye to Cam and crawl into bed alone.

Liar.

She scowled at the mocking voice inside her head.

Okay, so what she really wanted was to drag Cam into the
house with her and jump him. Because while her body was still humming with pleasure, she didn’t feel completely fulfilled. She wanted him inside of her, moving with her, stoking the long-dormant fire that was suddenly roaring through her body.

I’m not having sex with you,
she’d said, and she’d meant those words when she said them. Now, however, she wasn’t feeling quite so adamant. Or maybe she was just feeling a little guilty that he had taken care of her needs and she’d done nothing for him.

Of course, he hadn’t asked for or demanded anything from her. He never had. The first time they’d ever made love had been on her initiative and, even then, even when he’d had more enthusiasm than finesse, he’d tried to ensure she got some pleasure out of the experience.

While sex had never been an earth-shattering experience for her as a teenager, she’d loved Cam wholeheartedly and unashamedly and she’d enjoyed the closeness of being with him. It was a long time after he left before she’d dated anyone else, and longer still before she’d been willing to open up her heart again. But she’d never loved anyone else with the same unrestrained passion; she’d never loved anyone else as much as she’d loved Cam.

And that was precisely why getting involved with him again was a very bad idea.

He pulled into her driveway and cut the engine.

She wanted to protest that he didn’t need to walk her to the door, but she knew he wouldn’t listen. And maybe she needed to say good-night to him on the doorstep, to prove to herself that she was capable of sending him away even when she wanted to drag him inside.

He came around to her side and walked beside her up to the porch.

“You forgot to leave a light on,” he noted.

“I do it all the time,” she admitted, sliding her key into the lock. “Unless it’s dark when I leave, I don’t think about it.”

“Then you should have sensor lights that come on automatically when you move in front of them.”

She pushed the door open and hit the switch on the inside wall, spilling light onto the porch. “I’m a big girl, and this is a safe neighborhood.”

“You’re a single woman living alone. There’s no harm in being cautious.”

“I am cautious,” she told him, then proved it by slipping inside before she could renege on her promise to herself that she wasn’t going to invite him to come in.

“Lock the door,” she heard him call from the other side.

She slid the deadbolt into place, and watched through the sidelight as he walked back to his car and drove away.

Cam slept like hell.

Or maybe it was more accurate to say that he didn’t sleep at all. And when he finally caught a glimpse of the sun beginning to peek over the horizon, he gave up even pretending.

It was his own fault, he knew that. Just as he knew that he could take care of the ache in his body easily enough. But he also knew that any satisfaction would be both temporary and superficial. He wanted more than a physical release—he wanted Ashley. He wanted her naked body beneath him, her soft breasts pressed against his chest, her long legs wrapped around his hips—

He shoved the image out of his mind as he pushed back the tangled covers.

He needed a shower. A very cold shower.

And then he needed a plan.

Because he knew better than to think he’d made any
progress with Ashley last night. Sure, it might have seemed like they were on the same wavelength while they were in the haunted house, but he knew that she would do some serious backtracking in the light of day. Hell, she’d started backtracking even before they got in his car to drive home.

He firmly believed that the sizzling sexual attraction between them was proof that the chemistry had never died, but he knew that she still needed some convincing.

He turned off the shower and yanked a towel from the bar. It was early yet, but he would grab a cup of coffee on the way to his parents’ house to pick up Maddie—maybe get there in time for some of his mother’s buttermilk pancakes—then take his daughter to her ballet class and, afterward, for a quick trip to the hardware store.

Ashley was working at the computer late Saturday morning when the doorbell rang. She was tempted to ignore the summons. She wasn’t expecting any company and, as a result of having gotten very little sleep the night before, she wasn’t in the mood to chat with anyone selling anything.

But the bell rang again, as if whoever was on the other side knew she was home, so she finally pushed away from the desk.

Peeking through the sidelight and finding Cam on her porch only made her more wary. After what had happened between them the night before, she needed some time to figure out how to deal with him, and how to deal with her own mixed-up feelings.

How the heck was she supposed to carry on a conversation with the man who had taken her to heights of pleasure she hadn’t experienced in a very long time? Especially when her hormones were already revving in anticipation of a return trip.