“Yes. It’s okay. I’m in for as long as you need me to be, Logan.”
“Thank you.” He gazed at her with wonder. “You’re pretty awesome.”
“Back at you.” She smiled.
Something in his chest flared with warmth, a sweet blast of feeling. “I appreciate this. I really do. And hey, since it’s not a real relationship, feel free to kick my ass anytime I do something you don’t like.”
“I’d do that even if we were in a real relationship.” Her eyes sparkled with more mischief. “But now that I have your blessing? Game on, Carter.”
He laughed. “Great. So, listen . . . You’re out here all by yourself. I know what a strong woman you are. But during the, uh . . . process, you can lean on me. And on this thing, I’m your cheerleader. I want you to have your baby.” He reached out and took her hand. “I know I bailed on you before. It won’t happen again. I’m here for you, Tess, however you need me. You’ll see.”
Her mouth dropped a little, those pretty lips forming an O of surprise.
“You need a ride to or from the clinic, you want someone to go with you, you want someone to be here to hold your hand when you get home . . . I can do that.” He rubbed his thumb along the top of her soft skin. “All you have to do is ask. Okay?”
“I’d really like that.” Her voice dropped, was a little thick. Light pink dusted her cheeks. “That’s . . . that’s comforting to know. Thank you.”
“You’ll see that you can trust me again.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to prove—”
“I want to.” He cut her off firmly, leaving no room for debate. “So. Your appointment’s at one? What time should I be here? We’ll go together; I’ll pick you up.”
“Noon, if you could. Twelve fifteen at the latest. The clinic’s just outside city limits, and I always like to be five minutes early wherever I go.”
“Okay then. Noon tomorrow, done deal.” He kept rubbing her hand. It felt good, and she wasn’t pulling it away, so maybe she liked it too. “I don’t know what the testing involves. I can tell you I’m clean as far as STDs and all that fun stuff.”
She grinned. “Good to know. I’m not sure either. I guess to see how high your sperm count is, if they’re healthy swimmers, all of that.”
“Well, I’m not twenty-eight, I’m thirty-eight. Don’t know how age affects it, but I’m sure it does . . .” He frowned. “I’ll be thirty-nine in May. Think it’s a problem?”
“Easy, old man. I’m sure it’s fine.” She tipped her head to the side, assessing him. “Did you and your ex-wife try to have children?”
“No, we tried not to. She was on the pill. We had too much going on, we weren’t ready yet. We weren’t going to try for kids until we were thirty. We had a plan . . .” Memories crept in. They didn’t cause a kick of pain; he didn’t feel anything, which was good. He shrugged. “So I don’t know if my boys are good swimmers. I use condoms.”
She blinked at that. “Use? Present tense? Are you seeing someone?” Her hand slowly but surely slipped out of his.
“No, I’m not seeing anyone now. But I’ve dated. Had some . . . encounters.” He shrugged again. “I don’t do relationships, but I’m not a very good monk.” He grinned, but peered harder at her. “Does that bother you?”
“Not at all. Your dating life is none of my business,” she said. Her tone held no malice, no edge. “I was just surprised. I thought, from your use of present tense, that you were seeing someone.”
“There was someone I was seeing last year, kind of on and off,” he said. “Casual, not serious. But after a while, I knew she wanted it to become more, and I didn’t. So I thought it was fair to her to end it. That was about five months ago. End of the summer. Haven’t had any sex since then, by the way. Guess you should know that too?”
Tess bit down on her lip, trying to hide a grin. “That’s honest. But you know, you didn’t have to tell me that if you didn’t want to.”