Amelia sighed, shaking her head and then stopping. She looked up at him with hope beaming in her big doe eyes. “Do we have any hot chocolate?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll look.” Tyler went into the pantry, scanning for the tiny packets of instant mix, but came up empty-handed. He spied a bar of milk chocolate on the shelf and decided to improvise. It had been a long time since he’d made hot chocolate for his little brothers after school. Once his older sisters had gotten part-time jobs, Tyler had been the one at the apartment when the school bus dropped off the little ones. He’d been the one who had made sure they’d done their homework and given them snacks. Hot chocolate had been one of their favorites. Back then he’d made it with bottled syrup, but this would work.

“From scratch?” she asked as she watched him put a small pot of milk on to boil.

“Only the best for you,” he said with a grin. He broke up small pieces of the chocolate and dropped them into the heating mixture of milk, vanilla and cinnamon. A few minutes later, it had come together into a frothy brew that he poured into a mug for her. “Here you go. Be careful, it’s hot.”

“Looks yummy. Thank you.”

Tyler rested his hands on the granite countertop and watched her sip the cocoa with a blissful expression on her face. In that moment, he realized just how much he enjoyed making her happy. Over the years, he’d always liked sending her pretty gifts for her birthday or Christmas. That was fun because he knew she would never buy anything like that for herself, and jewels were his business. Seeing her wearing something sparkly and decadent seemed like the perfect treat.

But lately, even before the reunion, their relationship had started to feel different. With their hectic schedules, they rarely saw each other in person, but as life had started encroaching on their technological interchanges, he’d found the idea of it was bothering him more than it used to. He missed talking to Amelia on the phone. Finding emails and texts from her. When he’d arrived in Vegas for the reunion, he couldn’t believe how much he’d missed the sight of her. He hadn’t even wanted to go to the party. Tyler would’ve been just as happy ordering room service and spending hours talking in his hotel room.

Now that they were spending almost all their time together, he certainly couldn’t miss her. But he still found himself feeling the same little thrill every time she walked into the room. Doing little things like making her breakfast and helping her cut up beef tenderloin gave him a warm feeling in the center of his chest that was more satisfying than giving her some expensive bauble.

She looked at it as being fawned over or taken care of, but that wasn’t how he thought about it. He wanted to do things for her because he...cared about her. She was his Amelia. Of course he wanted to do what he could to make her life better. If cocoa made her happy, he’d make it. If this kitchen and a private movie theater that seated eight made her smile, he’d rent this house at twice the price. If marrying her would make her feel better about being single at the reunion...apparently he’d do that, too.

She was the most important person in his life. He’d never expected that she would also be his wife. But now that she was, and the clock was ticking, he was having a hard time envisioning his life without her. He didn’t want to go back to just seeing Amelia every now and then. The baby would bring them together more often, but somehow even that wasn’t enough. He wanted her here. With him. Every day. This was one challenge he couldn’t fail at.

“This was very good,” Amelia said, draining the last of her cup. “You’re better in the kitchen than you give yourself credit for.”

Tyler shrugged and rinsed her mug in the sink. “I am just painting by numbers when in the presence of Michelangelo.”

At that, Amelia snorted and burst into exhausted giggles. “I’m more like Bob Ross painting happy little trees, but thank you.”

“You should give yourself more credit, too.”

“Maybe later,” she said with a yawn. “I’m about to fall out with all that warm, chocolaty milk in my tummy.”

Tyler wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked her toward the bedroom. “All right. Come on, let’s get you into bed before you collapse on the kitchen floor.”

They walked down the hallway to the master suite. There, he sat Amelia down on the bed and knelt in front of her to take off her shoes. He unlaced her little sneakers and slipped them off with her socks, revealing dainty, pink-painted toenails.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling her shirt up over her head and throwing it to the floor beside him. “I’m so tired, my feet seem as if they’re a million miles away. In a few months, they might as well be. I’ll have to get some slip-on shoes.”

“You don’t need them,” Tyler argued. “I’ll be here to help you.”

“Tyler?”

He sat back on his heels and looked up, catching a glimpse of her large ivory breasts held in the tight confines of her white satin bra. He swallowed hard at the sight of them and focused on her eyes, trying not to look at the temptation on display in front of him. Amelia wasn’t trying to tempt him—she was exhausted. “Yes?” he said, clearing his throat.

Her brow furrowed in thought, her eyes glazing over slightly. Even this discussion was tiring her out. “What if thirty days come and go and we don’t fall in love?”

That was a good question, and one he hadn’t really allowed himself to consider. Having a winning attitude in life had gotten him far. He’d accepted her challenge, never doubting he would be successful. But this was the first time he wasn’t fully in control of the variables. No matter what he did, it was possible that Amelia wouldn’t fall in love with him. Then what?

That was too deep a conversation for three in the morning. “You mean you’re not mad for me already? After last night?”

She shrugged coyly. “I’m getting there. Maybe we should try again tonight to see if it makes a difference.”

Tyler chuckled. As much as he’d like to, he didn’t relish the idea of Amelia falling asleep in the middle of it. He stood up, planting a warm kiss on her forehead. “Tomorrow night,” he promised. “Tonight, all you need to do is slip out of these pants and get to bed.”

She nodded slowly, fumbling at the waistband of her black slacks. “Are you staying in here with me?” she asked. “I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

Last night he hadn’t given her request a second thought. Now her question was plaguing his mind with unproductive fantasies about what might happen at the end of their time together. He’d always avoided a relationship with Amelia because he was certain it would end badly, like all the others before him. Now, because of the baby, he hadn’t allowed himself to consider any other alternative than them being successful. There was no way he would be sleeping anytime soon. Tossing and turning was more like it. Amelia needed her rest, and that meant he needed to sleep in his own room tonight.

“No,” he said, stepping away as she slipped off the last of her clothes.

Amelia slipped under the covers and Tyler pulled the comforter up as if he was tucking a small child into bed. She pouted a little, but the soft pillows quickly lured her into the twilight before sleep, wiping worries from her mind. “Good night, Tyler,” she said as her eyes fluttered closed.

“Good night,” he replied, looking down as she drifted off to sleep. Tyler couldn’t make himself walk away, like he should. He just stood there, watching the soft rise and fall of her chest and the faint smile that curled her pink lips in her sleep. She was the most precious thing he’d ever had in his life. And soon, they would have a child—maybe with the same rosy cheeks and flash of red hair.

Failure was simply not an option. That had been the motto of his life since he was eighteen years old and decided to get into the jewelry business. He hadn’t had a family legacy or a lick of experience, but that hadn’t stopped him. He had drive. Ambition. A fire that pushed him to succeed in everything in life. It was a passion Amelia lit in him.