A Film Star, A Baby, And A Proposal by CC MacKenzie

whisper.
    Silence.
    "I'm not good with pain," he admitted, eventually.
    "Don't worry," she said and gave him another look that tickled him. "You won't feel a thing."
    "Seriously. Do you want to know what terrifies me the most?"
    Her fingertips stroked his cheek, scratched his beard. "No. What?"
    "You'll laugh at me."
    Whisky coloured eyes danced into his. "No I won't."
    "That I drop the baby ."
    Stunned, she stared at him as her bottom lip quivered and then her brow creased.
    "See?" he said looking offended. "I knew you'd find it funny."
    "I don't find it funny. I find it terribly sweet."
    He moved to kiss her when his eye caught the digital clock on the bedside table.
    His eyes went wide.
    "Shit!"
    Matt leapt from the bed.
    Eve sat pulling the sheet across her breasts and shoved back her hair.
    "What 's the matter?"
    "We have exactly thirty minutes to get ready."
    Baffled she simply stared at him. "For what?"
    "For dinner with the Ferranti's. He'll kill me if we're late," he said over his shoulder as he raced for the bathroom.
    She'd completely forgotten their dinner date.
    Eve heard the shower running.
    Biting down on her bottom lip she slid out of bed, strolled through the door to watch a gorgeous naked man scrub himself. Her mouth twitched. Perhaps it would save time if they shared the water?

Chapter Fourteen
    Eve changed twice before she got a grip of herself.
    A dinner with his close friends was not a big deal. Matt had said to dress casual.
    She huffed out a breath. Of course it was a big deal. She was meeting his best friends for the first time. Now she bit her lip, maybe she should have bought that lovely little black number in the hotel boutique?
    Annoyed now she wondered what she was stressing about?
    So she tugged on her suede boots over black skinny jeans.
    Hadn't Matt the clueless said jeans were fine?
    She slid a gorgeous top of black and gold silk over her head. It fell just below her hips.
    Off duty she rarely wore make-up so she dusted on a sheer coat of mineral face powder, a little smoky eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss and that was it.
    When she entered the sitting room he stood there in a black long sleeved thermal that hugged his chest like a lover, ancient jeans and battered boots. He still hadn't shaved and with the too long hair he looked all rough and ready. And Eve thought he was the most superb male animal she'd ever seen and the want deep in her belly was so much more than mindless lust.
    It was love.
    He held out his hand and she placed hers in his.
    "You look stunning," he told her.
    Sitting comfortably and toasty in Matt's Range Rover on the way to The Dower House, Eve found herself considering her options.
    In the afterglow of their lovemaking there was that familiar ease between them that reminded her of the good times with Matt. But nothing had changed between them, not really.
    Keeping her baby, being a single mother, risked career suicide but it couldn't be helped.
    Thinking too fa r ahead wasn't something she indulged in on a regular basis. Eve preferred to live in the moment. Although she'd had the odd panic attack when she'd tried to visualise what lay ahead for her and her baby, their immediate future was secure. She had savings and investments to be able to take care of her child until it went to school. The future after that might be a little hazy it was true but not once did she regret the decision to keep her baby.
    On a bad day she'd worried about making ends meet in the long term. On good days Eve told herself that she had a good brain and it was time she used it to finally settle down and write her book s.
    Until yesterday , her grand plan had been to confront him and then put Mathias Carter right out of her mind. Why oh why had she fallen in love with an actor? After everything she and her mother had gone through she should have learned the hard lesson that actors were simply not reliable. They'd been let down very badly by a man who'd been at the very top of his profession