Naughty Before Christmas (Decadent Delight Series #3) by Angie Daniels

“Hiding? Who’s hiding? I just don’t want to be around you right now.”
    He blew out a long breath. “Baby, I understand you ’re upset with me and you have every reason to be, but you have to believe me when I say there’s nothing going on between me and Lyric.”
    As she stared at him, he saw her eyes soften. She wanted to believe him. So what was stopping her?
    “I saw the two of you together at El Patron .”
    Damn . He should have known. When she mentioned being at the baby store up the street he should have suspected she had seen him or rather she had seen the two of them climbing out of his vehicle. Lyric had asked him to take her to drop her car off at the shop for an oil change while they had lunch and discussed business. Stupid. Stupid . He should have just been honest with Berlin in the first place.
    His dark eyes bored intently into hers. “We were discussing the interior design for the house.”
    Berlin tensed. “You told me you were meeting a client about a sunroom.”
    Double damn . He hesitated then replied, “My bad. I wanted to keep it a surprise.”
    “Why would you want to keep it a surprise? That’s not my house,” she croaked.
    He gazed at her, opting for complete honesty, but his pride wouldn’t let him. He wanted her to trust him and his word even if he wasn’t able to justify his actions just yet. “Yo, I promised you I was gonna get that house ready and I was tryna not to let you down.” He shuffled his feet. “That’s all.”
    Berlin cut her eyes at him and mumbled, “Whatever.”
    Taking a s tep closer, he ventured carefully. “Are you saying you don’t trust me?”
    “No… I’m not saying that. ” She paused and her eyes shifted to the door. “I-I don’t know what to believe.”
    Watching the play of emotion across her face, Reggie shook his head. “I’m not losing my wife.”
    Her head whipped around and he saw the tears well in her eyes. “Then you should have thought about that before you decided to kiss someone else!” she cried, eyes flashing with outrage as she rose from the couch.
    “ The only woman I want to kiss is you.”
    Reggie immediately closed the distance and dragged Berlin into his arms and kissed her with all his bent up frustration as his tongue stroked and teased her mouth, hoping to coax her into submission. Instead, she dragged her lips from his and stepped away, drawing a deep breath to calm her jittery nerves. “Reggie, please go. I need time to think.”
    “Think at home. You’re leaving.”
    “I—”
    He cut her off , “You’re pregnant. I’m taking you home.” Berlin was preparing to protest when Reggie added, “I’ll stay here for a few days, but trust me. When I get back from Columbia, I’m coming home to my wife and our bed.”

CHAPTER 8
     
    On Tuesday, Berlin drove to the clinic. Reggie was still in Columbia, Missouri looking at a mansion renovation for an athletic director, which meant she had at least another day before his return home. Lord knows she needed it. She also needed the time to finish up a few year-end reports before the clinic closed the following afternoon for the holiday.
    Using her key, Berlin stepped inside the building. The reception desk was empty but the florist had been by and several poinsettias were on the counters. They would use them to decorate the banquet tables for their holiday party later today.
    Berlin moved down the long hall past a large Christmas tree covered with bulbs, lights, candy canes, and homemade angels made by some of the children. As she moved toward her office, she reached up, slipped the scarf from around her neck then tugged the leather gloves from her hands, and stuffed them inside the wool coat pocket. She reached her office door that had been beautifully decorated with Christmas cards. Usually the sight caused her to smile but not this time. She sighed. The holiday just wasn’t going to be the same.
    Once in her office, Berlin shrugged out of her coat, and spent the