“So do I,” she admitted softly. “But I don’t want to be your dirty little secret, either. I don’t want to be a skeleton in your closet that can ruin your reelection campaign.”
“You’re not,” he said. “And I don’t want to keep you a secret. Or Joey. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since that night at the carnival. You were right. I hadn’t really thought all this through. I know we agreed to wait to go public, but I think it’s unfair to you and to me. So I called my lawyer this morning.”
“Your lawyer? Why?”
“He’s from D.C., so I need him to study up on Connecticut family law and find out what we need to do going forward. I want to legally acknowledge Joey as my son. Then I want to publically disclose his existence and beat the press to the punch. It will just be a happy reunion story with no sharp edge to cut us.”
“What about my father?”
If Xander were standing in front of Billy Pierce right now, he’d punch him in the jaw. Somehow he managed to continue ruining things and making Rose worry incessantly without even being around. “You’re not your father. If the press brings it up, we’ll address it, but I’ve decided it doesn’t have anything to do with you and me and Joey. I think a lot of people have one of those relatives.”
She nodded blankly, but he could tell she wasn’t entirely sold on the idea. “So we go public,” she clarified, “and then the whole town knows that I lied to them about Joey.”
Xander tried not to laugh at her worries. He couldn’t believe there was someone more concerned with appearances than he was. “Why should they care? He’s not their son.”
“You know how small towns are, Xander. You’re going to head back to D.C. and I’ll have to face the backlash alone. Half the town already feels sorry for me and the other half ignores me. I don’t want to be the center of gossip, or worse, for Joey to be.”
“Then I think we need to seriously consider you moving to D.C. You can get away from all of that and start fresh in a big new city that doesn’t care about your past.”
Her dark eyes widened, her teeth pulling gently at her full bottom lip with concern. “That’s one way to avoid Cornwall gossip, but it’s a pretty drastic step. I don’t know that we’re ready for the kind of commitment.”
“We don’t have to be. Sharing a child doesn’t mean we have to change our relationship trajectory or move faster than either of us is comfortable. If you move to D.C. and we don’t work out as a couple, it won’t change anything with our arrangement with Joey. But I would hate for us to not give this a chance because we’re afraid of something that might not even happen.”
She shook her head, diverting her eyes from his. Xander took advantage of her movement to dip down and place a kiss against the long column of her neck. She gasped softly into his ear and leaned farther to give him the access he needed. His lips moved over her soft, pale flesh, tasting the saltiness of her skin and the sharp acidity of the perfume she’d dabbed along her pulse points.
“Come back with me this weekend.” He spoke against the column on her throat. “What can it hurt? It might even help.”
“How could it help?”
“It might help you figure out what you want. Where the two of us are in this relationship.”
His mouth moved up her neck to her earlobe, biting gently and teasing the sensitive spot just behind it. His fingertips stroked her rib cage through the silky fabric of her dress, moving higher until one firm breast filled his hand. His thumb grazed over the hardened tip as it pressed insistently at the fabric, begging for freedom and the pleasure of his touch.
“You want to know where I think we stand, Rose?” Xander asked as he pulled the zipper of her dress down a few inches. It allowed him to tug the straps of her dress down her shoulders to expose the thin satin bra beneath it. His mouth moved over the fabric, dampening it and making her squirm against him. He pulled down the strap and exposed her perfect, full breast.
“Yes,” she panted, although he was fairly certain it had nothing to do with the question he asked and everything to do with his hands.
Xander dipped his head and took the firm pink nipple into his mouth. He teased it with his tongue before drawing hard on it and eliciting a sharp gasp from her throat. He tortured her with pleasure for a few more moments before standing upright and focusing his gaze into the dark eyes that were hazy with her desire for him.
“If I have anything to say about it, Rose...my vote is for very close together. Come with me this weekend. Please.”