But no matter if the behavior fit Damien’s aggressive, assertive personality, it was unnerving. And his concern, no matter how thoughtful, coupled with the way he had opened up to her the night before, made her feel a strange, confusing longing that she had no business feeling.

They needed to keep this simple. They needed to keep this about sex.

But it was so hard when Damien had become her friend on this trip. He had shown her parts of him that were hidden from everyone else. She saw the humor and the caring and the worry. The loneliness.

He had made her feel so relaxed, so sexy, so capable. He didn’t doubt her abilities to raise her child. He didn’t look at her and see nothing but poor choices. Damn it, he liked her, respected her, trusted her, and that was so appealing.

And now he wanted to look after her unborn baby.

It couldn’t happen. She couldn’t let him in like that, couldn’t learn to lean on him, get used to him being in her life. He had said he didn’t want a relationship and she believed him. He hadn’t healed from his wife’s death, and his heart wasn’t his to give away, even if she were looking for that, which she wasn’t.

Was she? Mandy halted in the hallway outside Damien’s room, startled by her thoughts.

No, of course she wasn’t. She was still hurt and dealing with Ben’s rejection, and most importantly of all, she needed to focus on her job and her baby. There was no time for a relationship in her life, and it would only be a needless distraction. Plus she never wanted her child to become attached to a man who wasn’t its father and who could leave at any time. Bad enough Mandy would have to explain someday that the child’s biological father had no interest in seeing her or him. She couldn’t create a situation where her child could be rejected a second time.

So it had to be about sex, and nothing more.

That had been fabulous between them, so what in the hell was wrong with just leaving it at that?

Annoyed that Damien had complicated things, she pounded hard on his door.

“Come in,” he called.

Mandy flung open the door, determined to seduce him into a nooner. She’d spent the entire morning reading the Everything Guide, and there was absolutely no reason why they couldn’t be as sexually active as she wanted to. The book had even encouraged it as a way to keep you relaxed and alleviate stress.

Damien was sitting at the table trying to work on his laptop, a gigantic hamper taking up most of the space and leaving him dangling precariously on the edge.

“What is that?”