Dominic couldn’t help but laugh. Gage sounded overwhelmed at what he had learned from one night of commercial watching. “You know, man, you’re going to make someone a mighty fine wife someday,” he teased.
As was usually the case, Gage chuckled good-naturedly before saying, “Laugh it up, big papa. I’m not the one wondering if I’ve got a baby on the way. You should have probably already been checking into this stuff. Don’t you want to know as soon as possible? I mean what if Gwen thinks you just don’t give a shit since you haven’t asked her.”
Shrugging his suddenly stiff shoulders, Dominic admitted, “Yeah, I guess I’d like to know. It’s a big thing, but I’m not sitting around having a nervous breakdown over it every day, and I don’t think Gwen is, either.”
Gage sounded bemused when he asked, “You’re not? I don’t think I would have been able to focus on anything else, including more sex, until I knew for sure. I mean, how do you perform, wondering if the baby magic’s already at work?”
“Baby magic?” Dominic choked out.
“Hell, yes.” Gage removed one hand from the wheel long enough to throw some imaginary dust.
“You know,” Dominic began, “if you say stuff like this around women, it’s probably why none of them stays around for long.”
“Trust me, there’s no talk of babies when I’m with a woman,” Gage smirked. “They mainly stick to one-syllable words like ‘yes!’”
Despite his fatigue, Dominic found himself laughing along with Gage’s crude comments. You had to admire a man who was that confident in his abilities between the sheets. After a few minutes, the conversation died down once again, and he pondered the other man’s questions. He had been honest when he said that he hadn’t asked Gwen when she would know if she was pregnant or not. Maybe a part of him was afraid of rocking the boat. Things had been going so well between them that he was afraid to do anything to change that.
Unlike Gage, he wouldn’t freak out if she was pregnant. Sure, it would be a shock, even the possibility had taken some adjustment to get used to, but he’d never been one to run from a challenge. Now that he had been forced to think about it, he found that he did want to know one way or another. He wanted to have a normal relationship with Gwen without either of them stressing over what-ifs. He figured he was probably driving her crazy, trying to monitor what she ate and drank, and her activities . . . just in case.
Worse yet, could she possibly think that he was indifferent as Gage had suggested? That wasn’t the case at all. He just didn’t have any experience with trying to keep up with a woman’s cycle. Hell, men weren’t supposed to know stuff like that, were they? It was already completely weird that he and Gage had been discussing Gwen’s period. He wanted to be supportive of his woman, but that made his balls shrivel just a little.
He’d never admit this to Gage, but maybe he needed to take one piece of his advice and ask Gwen about when she would be taking a test. If there was a remote possibility that she felt like he didn’t care or wasn’t interested, then he needed to show her that was not the case. Fuck, what was the world coming to when he was taking advice about women from a man who only exerted as much effort as was necessary to get into the next woman’s panties? Mac was going to laugh his ass off about this one.
Chapter Ten
Gwen tried to hide her delight at seeing Dominic waiting for her in the parking garage of Danvers the next morning.
He walked toward her in all of his masculine hotness and opened her door before extending a hand and helping her out. “Morning, babe,” he said in a voice that was still slightly sleep-roughened, and oh, so very sexy.
She went into his arms willingly as he pulled her close. The smell of his cologne had her snuggling into the curve of his neck and hoping he didn’t catch her inhaling deeply. “Good morning,” she finally managed to reply before he pulled back enough to kiss her. The contact was light since they were in a public place, but Gwen felt it all the way to the tips of her toes. “How was your trip?” She knew her voice came out in a high-pitched squeak, but as always, her body betrayed her any time that he was near.
Rubbing her back, Dominic said, “It was good. We got in around two this morning. Needless to say, I’m going to be running on fumes today.”
“Poor baby,” Gwen teased him gently as she took in the smudges under his eyes. “Didn’t you have anyone to cover for you so that you could sleep in for a few hours this morning?”
“I’m fine, babe, just need a big cup of coffee. Plus, if I’d slept late, I would have missed seeing my girl this morning and that just wasn’t acceptable to me.”
They had just started walking through the parking lot when a hesitant voice behind them said, “Good morning.” As they stopped and turned, Gwen felt herself instinctively stiffen as she recognized Ava. The other woman smiled warmly, but her fidgeting hands at her side gave her nervousness away.
“Hey there, Blondie,” Dominic greeted her easily. Gwen knew by the quick look that he shot at her that he was afraid she was uncomfortable.
Determined to show him that she was okay, Gwen gave Ava a warm, answering smile before saying, “Good morning, Ava.” Then taking everyone by surprise, including herself, she added, “Thank God for our lunch last week or this would be an insanely awkward moment, right?”
Ava’s eyes had widened before laughter exploded from her. “I know, right! Like it wasn’t bad enough there for the first minute with Dominic looking like he didn’t know whether to stay or run.”