Baby by Design: Designing Love Book One (Crimson Romance) by Elley Arden

“You know what you said, and you know why you said it.”
    She scoffed and wiggled a bit, hoping to shed the shivers from his stare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was with Jackson that night.”
    “Uh huh.” He smiled. “But you wanted to be with me.”
    Trish shut her mouth so hard her teeth chattered. Had she been that transparent? “Tony, stop it. Give me my pants and go.”
    “Okay. As soon as you lift the shirt and put me out of my misery.”
    She rolled her eyes. These games might work on his usual conquests, but she wasn’t usual, and she wasn’t his conquest. “Never mind. I do own other clothing, you know?” She turned her back on him and walked to her dresser.
    Before she could open a drawer, his arm looped around her waist and he spun her to face him while crushing her body against his. “Let’s get something straight.” His mouth hovered inches from the tip of her nose. “Long before you hit me with this crazy plan there was something brewing between us.”
    The hint of beer on his breath, the strong arm locked across her back, the heat rising between them. She’d planned for a lot, but she could’ve never planned for this. She blinked, grasping for control of her wayward emotions. “So you admit this plan is crazy.”
    He grinned. “Don’t change the subject.” And then he lowered his cheek to hers, smoothing skin to skin until he was nibbling her ear, licking the lobe, drawing it into his mouth, leaving her breathless. “For the record, I am very attracted to you.”
    “You are?”
    “I am.” He backed her into the dresser, hooking a hand beneath her knee, and hiking her leg along rough denim.
    Trish shivered. Something rough and unfiltered stirred in her chest, urging her to drive him back toward the bed and see this thing through.
    “Despite what you may have heard, I’m a gentleman,” he continued, adding his trademark grin. “And you asked me to leave. So I’m asking you, is that really what you want, or should I stay and finish this?”
    Beneath a hypnosis caused by Tony’s beautiful face—bold black brows, dark chocolate eyes—Trish wanted the baby, but suddenly somehow she wanted the man more. “Stay.” It was a hurried answer made by her overheated body instead of her overused mind.
    A second later, his lips met hers, shocking her body with pleasure and giving her mind a much-needed break. It was impossible to think straight while being electrocuted, so she didn’t try. She surrendered to her tingling skin and racing heart, neither of which was necessary to get pregnant. But when his tongue invaded her mouth, making thought soupy and knees weak, she decided the chemistry was a welcomed bonus. At least she wouldn’t have to grin and bear it, not while his fingers crawled along her bare thigh and his mouth dropped to her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut and blocked her nervous chatter, threading fingers through his soft, thick hair, holding his head as he sucked the skin on her throat. Her sigh echoed in the silence. Burying her nose in the blanket of black, she breathed him in and let him consume her.
    Just as she managed to fully relax in his arms, he spun her away from the dresser, releasing her onto the bed. Her shirt wound around her waist, and she scrambled to cover. Instinct.
    “Too late.” Tony smiled. “I saw what I saw, and I liked it.” His jacket hit the floor. “Your turn.”
    “For what?” She gulped to go along with the blush.
    “I lost the jacket. You lose the shirt.”
    She glanced at her jumbled shirt. “No way. I’m pantless. You’re not. We’re hardly even.”
    “Fine.” He unbuttoned his shirt, widening the V at his neck, and then lifted the fabric over his head, pitching it to the floor. “There. You’re bottomless. I’m topless. Call me even.”
    She’d call him mouthwatering. Hard and rough. Dark and light. A breathtaking balance of masculine beauty. And then there were the tattoos, strategically peppering his