Damien caught her before she could slam her nose into his, or break his teeth. “Hey, easy now. You’re baking a bun, remember? Got to be careful.”

He eased out of her and settled her gently on his chest, caressing along her spine, and Mandy had the stupid overwhelming urge to cry. This was so right, yet so wrong. Damien was her boss, a Caribbean fling, and yet he had more concern for her unborn child than the baby’s father.

And when he pressed a kiss on the top of her head as she snuggled into his hard chest, she did start to cry. Her child was never going to have a father, and when they got back to New York, this wonderful intimacy with Damien would be gone.

Embarrassed, she buried her face in his downy hair and tried to suck the sobs back, hold her shoulders still so he wouldn’t know.

But of course he did. “Are you crying?” He sounded terrified.

“Hormones. It’s nothing.”

Making shushing sounds, he kissed her again, body tense beneath her. “Do you want a chocolate?”

That drew a startled laugh out of her, and she lifted her head to give him a wobbly smile. “No, thank you. I’m fine really, though you get points for a brilliant suggestion.”

He searched her face, tucking her hair behind her ear. “No regrets, right?”

“No. None.” Without thinking, her fingers trailed over his lips, and he kissed the tips. “A few months ago my roommate Jamie brought a psychic to our apartment. At the time, I might have been pregnant but didn’t know it, or was on the verge of conceiving. This man, who was a bit of a loon, by the way, told me when he looked at me, he saw pastries. Sweet, sticky things.”

Damien’s eyebrows shot up.

“I thought it was ridiculous, but then I did get pregnant, and hearing you call the baby a bun, I just had the thought, that well, maybe this is the way things were supposed to happen.”

Lying a little on her side, she touched the swell of her stomach. “Maybe I was meant to have this baby just like this, and it’s not an accident at all. Maybe I was meant to give up the shop and come work for you.”

No matter her feelings on Ben, she wouldn’t go back and give up her relationship with him, because he had given her this child, unwittingly or not. A child she wanted more than anything, ever.

And she wouldn’t give up this night with Damien.

The lamplight set his face in the shadows. “I’m not sure I believe in fate or destiny, Mandy, but all I know is that I’m really damn glad you’re here with me.”

“So am I, Damien.” She laid her head back down on his chest and felt him relax one slow breath at a time.