Winning Dawn Page 9

  She bit her lip and looked up at him through her lashes. “And you’re sure you don’t want to come in?”

  She was very attractive with a flawless peaches and cream complexion. But she wasn’t Dawn. She didn’t have the sweet brown sugar skin he craved. She didn’t smell like his woman. She didn’t have the fire and sass that he loved so much about Dawn. God, he had it bad. “I’m sorry.”

  She sighed. “Ah, well. You can’t blame me for trying. If things don’t work out, you know my number.” She stretched up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

  Chapter 13

  The day after Thanksgiving, Dawn and Kayla went shopping at the Cary Towne Center. Though it was Black Friday, they decided that getting up in the predawn hours was not worth the trouble of fighting their way through crowds over limited deals. The mall was still bustling with people when they arrived at eleven.

  Wandering through the mall, seeing all the sparkling decorations and hearing the festive music, Dawn began to feel the excitement that came with the Christmas season. This year would be different without Reggie. And she didn’t anticipate having Evan in her life, but Christmas was her favorite holiday. She would allow nothing to ruin that. She would enjoy the days off and the time with family. The only person she knew who loved Christmas more was Kayla—thus the holiday themed wedding in October.

  Kayla dragged her into Motherhood Maternity where they spent over an hour pouring over clothes. She purchased four sweaters and several pairs of pants. She would have bought more, but Dawn reminded her that she would not be pregnant forever.

  They decided to have a late lunch at Starbucks as Kayla had a craving for one of their cranberry orange scones and a hot chocolate. Dawn had a fruit salad and encouraged Kayla to have one also. The food was delicious, but something about the smell of the coffee was off putting today. Dawn sipped her green tea, hoping it would settle her stomach.

  Kayla swallowed visibly and wrapped her scone. She hadn’t even bitten into it. “We’re going to have to leave here,” she said. “Since becoming pregnant, I can’t stand the smell of coffee. It’s nauseating.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, shit,” she gasped. She placed a hand to her own roiling stomach, her mind racing. “Sorry,” she muttered automatically. Kayla didn’t use profanity so Dawn tried to watch her language around her. This could not be happening to her! She was on the pill. It was impossible for her to be pregnant. She thought of the naps she’d been compelled by exhaustion to take the last few days with a sinking heart. And the sudden nausea she’d experienced of late. She also seemed to be far more sensitive to smells.

  Eyes on the hand covering her belly, Kayla leaned forward. “Dawn, you’re scaring me. Are you pregnant?”

  She immediately dropped her hand. She shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I shouldn’t be.”

  “Oh, God, just when you thought you were done with Reggie for good.”

  She frowned. “Reggie? What does he have to do with this?”

  “Well, he is the father. And this baby will be his responsibility also whether the two of you are a couple or not.”

  “But Reggie’s not—” She shut her mouth, not willing to reveal that she’d been doing the nasty with her brother-in-law.

  “You’re not planning on keeping this from him?”

  She held up her hand. “There’s no ‘this.’ Let me be sure first.”

  Kayla gathered her belongings and stood. “Let’s go to a drug store.”

  Dawn reluctantly did the same. “When did you get so pushy?”

  “It’s the pregnancy hormones. They’re a bitch.” Dawn’s shocked gasp followed her cousin out the door.

  * * * *

  Three pregnancy tests all declared she was with child. Following the directions on the tests and reading the results had been far easier than getting rid of Kayla. She was like a pit bull in her insistence that the father be informed. Dawn finally convinced her to leave by promising she would tell Reggie.

  Dawn didn’t know what she was going to do. She knew she had to tell Evan. How to tell him was the question. As far as she was concerned, she was done with him. She’d spent too many years with a man who had no consideration for her feelings. That her heart now raced whenever she saw him was of no importance. She was not about to waste another second on a man who could not commit. So she had to find a way to make him understand that she didn’t expect anything from him. The less she saw of him the better.

  That seemed an insurmountable task. She slid into bed with a pint of Haagen Daz to consider her options. One of her favorite movies was playing on cable, but she couldn’t concentrate. She placed a hand over her flat belly. There could be a baby there. Evan’s baby. “Wow,” she whispered. “Evan’s baby.” She continued to have difficulty believing it. She would call on Monday for a doctor’s appointment to get a definitive diagnosis. Until then, she didn’t know what to hope for. No baby would make life easier. Yet…that idea depressed her.

  Chapter 14

  Dawn was fortunate that her gynecologist had a cancellation on Monday and could see her after lunch. It took Dr. Amelia Hodges mere minutes to confirm her pregnancy. Her blood was drawn for testing and she was given another appointment to come in for an ultrasound. Dawn felt like things were moving too fast. She could barely absorb her impending motherhood before she was being released. She glanced at her watch. She had time to go back to work, but she was in no mood to do so.

  She needed to talk to Evan. She needed to know how he would feel about this. Would he freak out? He’d never wanted anything permanent and babies were anything but temporary. She sat behind her steering wheel staring off into space, wanting to call her mother.

  She sighed, dropping her head to the steering wheel. No matter how unpleasant, she knew what she had to do. She started up her SUV and drove over to Evan’s. The closer she got, the more nervous she became. Her stomach was tied in knots. She parked behind a white Audi in his driveway. Her hand on the key in the ignition, she paused as Evan exited his house with a rail thin woman with thick blonde hair and a fake, orange-hued tan. “God, what is it with that man and stick figures?” Her eyes met his through the windshield as she shifted into reverse. She shook her head and mouthed the words “Man whore.” He looked thoroughly confused. She rolled her eyes.

  Suddenly, going back to the office sounded like a good idea. She would concentrate on her work and forget her troubles for a few hours.

  * * * *

  Evan bit back a ripe curse as Dawn spun out of his drive. Sylvia arched a thin, sculpted brow at him. “Someone you know?” He ground his teeth together to keep from swearing at her. Her timing had never been the best, but he’d brought this on himself. If he’d answered her phone calls, she wouldn’t have been compelled to come over.

  “A friend,” he replied. “Listen, um, thanks. And congratulations again.”

  “You’re welcome to come to the wedding. Charles said it was acceptable to him if you wished to attend.”

  “That’s really magnanimous of him, but it would be best if I didn’t. I’m really happy for you.” He found that he truly meant that. And not just because she would not be calling him whenever anything went wrong in her life or when she needed an infusion of cash to support her lifestyle. She held her arms out to him and he awkwardly moved forward into her hug.

  “Don’t worry, Evan. Someday, it’ll happen for you, too. You’ll find your perfect one.”

  He broke the embrace, annoyed with her once more. He didn’t need platitudes from her. “Well, I should get back to work.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “You know, I could get you an interview with Charles. I’m not sure what you could do there, but—”

  “No thanks. I enjoy my work.”

  She sighed. “But you could do so much better. And once you were more successful—”

  “Didn’t you say you had an appointment with a wedding cake designer?”

  She pulled back her sleeve to glance at a slim gold watch. “Evan, I w
ant the best for you. Why you insist on fighting me, I don’t know. It was the same when we were married. I think you delight in being poor!”

  He clenched his jaw. He wasn’t poor, but he had nothing to prove to her. Hoping to rush her along, he walked her to her car. “Really, Syl, I appreciate your coming to invite me in person.”

  “I wouldn’t have had to if you’d ever pick up your phone!”

  This was going downhill and for once, he’d hoped to part amicably. “I’m sorry, Syl,” he said quickly, and almost grimaced. It sounded like much of their marriage. Her complaining and him apologizing. But she appeared to be mollified. She slid into the leather interior of her car. It wasn’t the same one that she’d left his home in three years ago. She liked to get a new car every year, but it was always the same model and the same color.

  “Goodbye, Evan.”

  “Bye.” He waved her off. He slid his phone out of his pocket and immediately called Dawn. He was not at all surprised when the call went to voicemail. “Dawn, it’s Evan. Call me when you get a chance.”

  He went back inside. At the moment, he was between projects and he was enjoying working on software of his own. He settled down in his home office prepared to work, but he couldn’t help wondering why Dawn had come over. He glanced at the clock in the corner of his computer screen. Only three. It would be another two hours before she’d leave work.

  But she didn’t call at five. Or at six. By seven, he was done waiting. He called her again. He growled when voicemail picked up. “Dawn, Evan again. Call me back.” Three messages later and still no return call from her. He shut down his computer. He drummed his fingers on the glass top of his desk. The woman was going to drive him crazy.

  Feeling a bit like a stalker, he drove over to her place, but she wasn’t home. Recalling the time she’d spent at Kayla’s, he headed over to her and Josh’s home. Josh opened the door bare-chested and looking very put upon. Evan arched a brow. “Trouble in paradise?”

  “Pregnancy hormones,” Josh muttered, stepping aside so that Evan could enter. “They’re a bitch. Every emotion is exaggerated.”

  “Do you think my concern is misplaced?”

  Josh stiffened at his wife’s soft spoken question. “Of course not, baby, but Dawn’s a grown woman. She can handle this herself. If the shoe were on the other foot, would you want someone to interfere in your business?”

  “Yes!”

  “What’s this about Dawn?”

  “She’s pregnant and that bastard Reggie had better come through for her for once.”

  Kayla continued to rant, but Evan didn’t hear a word of it. The bottom fell out of his stomach. “Pregnant,” he whispered. He knew without a doubt that the baby was his. He recalled the tight feel of Dawn around him the first time he took her. She hadn’t been with Reggie in some time. A baby! Finally, a baby! He’d always wanted children, but Sylvia kept putting it off. She wanted to enjoy her freedom as long as she could. When their relationship ended, he’d been grateful that there were no children to be hurt by their separation.

  “Where is she?” he asked, interrupting Josh as he tried to soothe his wife. “I’ve tried calling her but she won’t pick up.”

  Kayla sighed. “The last thing she needs is for you to try something while she’s vulnerable.”

  “No, you don’t understand. That’s my baby.”

  “Your baby!” She covered her mouth, eyes going round. And then she was hugging him. “Thank God! That’s wonderful.” She pulled back and kissed his cheeks. “What a relief.”

  “Um, you’re welcome,” he said uncertainly with a glance in Josh’s direction. His brother smirked, his arms crossed over his chest. Of all the possible reactions his sister-in-law could have had to discovering his affair with her cousin, this one had never occurred to him.

  She took her face in his hands. “I was so worried that Reggie would use the baby to weasel his way back into Dawn’s life. So thank you. Of course, my aunt is going to kill you. I’ll be sure to pick out a really nice headstone for you.” She patted his cheek.

  Evan winced. This was more along the lines of what he’d expected.

  “So, Evan, what are your intentions toward my cousin?”

  “I want to marry her,” he replied, stunning not only himself, but Kayla also.

  “Why? Because you knocked her up? You don’t have to. I’d rather you just leave her alone so that she might have the opportunity to find someone who will love and cherish her the way she deserves. Someone who wants to settle down.” She gave him a stern look. “Can you honestly say that you’re ready to give her what she needs?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone else give it to her. And let’s not forget that she is carrying my baby.”

  “And yet she’s not answering your calls.”

  He expelled an exasperated breath. “Do you know where she is?”

  “Clearly, she doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

  He turned to his brother. “Josh, help.”

  “Baby, Evan won’t do anything to hurt your cousin.”

  “One could argue that he already has.”

  He threw up his hands. He was getting nowhere with her. “I’ll go wait at her place until she gets home.”

  Josh followed him out. “Evan, wait.” He closed the door behind himself. “Listen, I’ll talk to her. She’ll settle down some after, um, well, after.” He flushed and cleared his throat. “When she’s in a more mellow mood, I’ll see what I can find out for you.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

  “Oh, and congrats, bro.” He folded him into a tight hug.

  Evan grinned. “Thanks again.”

  Chapter 15

  Evan spent the next few days alternating between calling Dawn, attempting to work, driving by Dawn’s house, baking cookies, and calling Josh and Kayla for updates on Dawn. While she had remained in touch with her cousin, Kayla was sharing very little information with Josh. She would only reveal that she was fine. Dawn continued avoiding his calls and she wasn’t staying at her house. He was eager to talk to her about the baby and anxious to know her state of mind. Did she regret their affair? How was she feeling about the baby? Was she happy? A million unanswered questions plagued him.

  He was beginning to feel desperate on Friday evening when he did his now customary drive by. His heart lurched when he saw her SUV in the drive.

  He almost expected her to ignore him as he knocked at the door. But she opened up right away. He could tell she had been crying. She was sniffing and her eyelids were puffy. Pregnancy hormones, he thought with dismay. Should they have kicked in already? “What’s wrong?” he asked, hoping she wouldn’t say it was something as trivial as a broken nail.

  “I lost my job.”

  “Dawn, I’m so sorry.” He didn’t think about it. He pulled her into his arms, stroking her from her neck to her lower back. The hair at the nape of her neck was soft and sexy. She smelled as sweet as he recalled. Like a tropical flower. “What happened?”

  “The firm declared bankruptcy.” She sighed and withdrew from his embrace. He reluctantly let her go. “It’s a long story and I don’t believe they told us all of it. There are rumors about embezzling, but nothing has been confirmed. Suffice it to say that Myers & Donahue is done.”

  “I’m sure you can find something else. You’re bright, capable—”

  “But I need health insurance now. I can’t afford to keep paying for it and this place if I don’t have a job.”

  He wet his lips. “I may have a solution.”

  “You’re offering me a job?”

  He took a deep breath and plunged right in. It was a big risk on his part, opening his heart to her, but he didn’t see as he had any other choice. He wanted Dawn and he would have her. “Of sorts,” he said, taking her chin in his hand and lifting her face to his. He couldn’t resist rubbing his thumb across her full bottom lip. “Marry me.”

  * * * *

  “No.”
>
  He let his hand drop. “No hesitation at all. You really know how to wound a guy.”

  She glared at him. “I know that you know about the baby. I don’t want to marry a guy who’s marrying me out of some sense of obligation. And I don’t want a man who doesn’t know how to be faithful.” So why did she want to say yes?

  Dawn turned away from him. This was too hard. And it wasn’t fair. How dare he show up looking gorgeous in a black turtleneck sweater and fitted jeans when she looked and felt so miserable? The color emphasized his beautiful dark eyes and the jeans molded his sculpted thighs lovingly. And then he had the audacity propose to her? True, it wasn’t much of a proposal. It was more like an afterthought. But that was Evan for you—straightforward and brash.

  “What makes you think I don’t know how to be faithful?”

  “I’ve seen you with two different women in the last week,” she reminded him.

  “Those women—”

  She whirled on him. “If you say those women meant nothing I will slap you so hard, you won’t wake up until next Christmas,” she flashed.

  He held his hands up as though in surrender. “Dawn,” he said softly, “I haven’t so much as touched another woman in a sexual manner since our first time together. Hell, since that kiss at Josh and Kayla’s dinner party, I haven’t been able to think of anyone but you.”

  The romantic comment surprised her coming from Evan because she knew he meant it. She realized in that moment that she trusted him. She’d never doubted that he was telling her the truth. “So supposing I believe that you can be faithful—”

  “I’ve never cheated on any woman I’ve been with.”

  She nodded her acceptance of his answer. “I still can’t marry you.”

  “Why? Don’t you want to marry me?”