A Baby For Christmas. Joanna Sims

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       Chapter Four

      After the words popped out of her mouth, Sophia felt immediately relieved. Unloaded. It felt really good to get that off her chest.

      There, she thought proudly. It’s good for relationship growth to get things out in the open.

      She had absolutely no doubt that this would be good for both of them. They would have an open and honest dialogue about their feelings; about Daniel. About being together without him. Of course, she had never had a serious discussion with Luke before, but after all, Luke and Daniel were twins, right? There had to be some similarities in the way they resolved problems.

      Daniel was great when it came to hashing things out.And he always had something relevant to say that let her know that he’d really listened to her and that he’d thought about his answer. He never dismissed her. It was one of the many things that she had truly admired about her husband.

      Just like Daniel, Luke was taking his time before he responded. He hadn’t moved; his eyes were still closed, his head was still resting on the cushion. No doubt he was trying to think of the perfect thing to say....

      Sophia sank back into the couch, rested her head in her hand and, for the first time she could remember, she really looked at Luke. Her eyes roamed his profile and naturally took an inventory of all of the little Daniel details she loved.

      Those were Daniel’s ears. One of her favorites spots to nibble on when they made love. So sensitive. It made her wonder, irrationally, if Luke’s ears were sensitive, too.

      Silly thought.

      Of course, the dent in the middle of Luke’s nose, which made him look like a prizefighter, didn’t mirror Daniel’s nose. Daniel’s nose had been unaltered from the original design.

      By the time her eyes landed on the faint, long scar that ran the length of Luke’s jawline, it hit her that Luke was taking an excessive amount of time to respond to her statement.

      Sophia opened her mouth to say his name, but clamped it back shut when she heard Luke take in a deep breath through his nose that sounded suspiciously like a snore.

      Sophia reached over and poked him in the arm with her finger. “Luke!”

      “Hmm?”

      “Did you just fall asleep?”

      After a long pause. “No.”

      “Yes, you did!”

      “Are you sure?”

      “Yes!” she snapped. Typical Luke behavior! Once again, she had given him more credit than he deserved. She had opened her heart, revealed something very personal to her, and he was snoring!

      She would have thought at this point the man would have the decency to open his eyes. He didn’t. Luke didn’t move, but Ranger did. The kitten used his back leg to scratch an itch underneath his chin before he moved over to sit on Luke’s chest. Ranger plopped down and curled up into a tight ball. Luke didn’t bother to move.

      “Luke!” she said forcefully.

      “What?” Now he sounded irritated.

      “You fell asleep!”

      After a few ticks of the grandfather clock and a few loud Ranger purrs, Luke cracked an eye open and looked at her. “Then, why’d you wake me up?”

      Her mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

      “You bet.”

      He used that abrasive tone that always rubbed her the wrong way, and she felt her blood pressure soar. She wasn’t here to play naughty “recruit” to his bad boy “drill sergeant”! She felt like punching him and she wished, at the moment, that she had a violent streak.

      Was this some sort of bizarre pregnancy rage, or was Luke just that infuriating to her?

      “Luke.” Her tone was snappy and she didn’t try to curb it. “We were in the middle of a conversation.”

      Luke stretched, yawned and then stretched again. Finally, his eyes were open. He turned his full attention to Sophia, examined her through heavy-lidded eyes.

      “We were?”

      Sophia lifted up both her hands and splayed out her fingers. “Yes! We were! I said that your face bothered me.” When she repeated the phrase out loud, it sounded comical to her own ears, but she didn’t laugh as she continued. “Didn’t you hear me?”

      “I heard you.” He had the audacity to sound irritated with her. She wasn’t the one who had fallen asleep in the middle of an important conversation.

      She found herself glaring at him. “And?”

      “And what?”

      “And... What do you have to say about it?”

      Luke rubbed his hands over his face, sighed heavily and finally turned his intense gaze back to her. “What do you want me to say? Oh, wait... How ’bout this. You’re СКАЧАТЬ