Read Online More Than He Expected by Andrea Laurence - Free Book Online

brownstone hardly qualifies as a bungalow.”
    “You’re still newlyweds,” Gwen said with a firm shake of her
head. “Single women without elevators have babies all the time. I will be fine.
Really, I’ll be better off than most of them, since when it’s over, I won’t have
a baby and all its crap to haul up and down the stairs.”
    “What about staying with Robert and Susan? It’s their baby,
after all.”
    “Robert and Susan live in a tiny place in Hoboken. They’d take
me in, in a heartbeat, but it wouldn’t be very comfortable for anyone. And I’d
have a longer commute to work. No thanks.”
    Gwen could see the wheels turning in Adrienne’s brain. Her
silence made it appear as if she was backing down, but Gwen knew better.
    Fortunately, the conversation was interrupted by the return of
the golfing posse. The five guys strolled into the house, dumping their golf
bags in the foyer and arguing loudly. Apparently there was some disagreement
over Wade’s handicap, the wind helping Jack cheat and whether or not it was
illegal to move your ball if it fell in the cart path.
    She had no real idea what they were talking about and continued
to eat before her eggs got cold.
    Will swept into the kitchen and wrapped his arms possessively
around Adrienne, pulling her into a kiss that elicited a catcall from one of the
other guys. That, precisely, was one reason Gwen wasn’t going to stay with them.
She wouldn’t be a lumpy third wheel in their romance. And she was pretty sure
she’d get depressed surrounded by all that mushy love stuff.
    Alex followed Will into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of
water out of the refrigerator. “Get a room,” he challenged, looking at Gwen when
he spoke, giving her a wide smile and winking when no one was looking.
    The eggs in her mouth were suddenly dry as Styrofoam. Her
cheeks were burning. Good lord. How could something as innocent as a flirtatious
wink have that kind of effect on her? This man-break was going to backfire. It
was supposed to help her get some perspective, but so far, all it had done was
make her more vulnerable to the same type of charming man who made her want to
take a break from dating in the first place.
    Gwen took a big swig of her milk and stuffed a piece of
cantaloupe in her mouth as a distraction. She didn’t dare look up at him
again.
    But she did catch Adrienne watching her curiously. Her green
eyes narrowed at Gwen for a moment before she turned and spoke to Alex.
    “How long are you going to be back in New York this time,
Alex?”
    He shrugged, chugging half the bottle of water. “The project in
New Orleans is under way, so I really don’t need to go back down there for a
while. My project manager, Tabitha, has it well under control. I was thinking of
doing a little traveling this summer, though. Maybe scoping out a couple
potential sites for my next project. Why do you ask?”
    Yes, Gwen thought curiously. Why did Adrienne ask? And did she
really want to know the answer? Probably not.
    “Well,” Adrienne began, “I’m worried about Gwen and that
apartment of hers. It’s just too many stairs, and she’s all alone without
air-conditioning.”
    “I have a window unit,” Gwen grumbled.
    “Like that is going to make an ounce of difference in the end
of August when you’re pushing eight months.”
    Gwen shrugged. She’d made it through the last five summers
without AC. If she had to, she’d spend all her free time loitering at the ice
cream place up the block from her building.
    “I want her to come stay with us until the baby is born, but
she’s being stubborn about it.”
    “Are you trying to rally a gang to bully me into it?” Gwen
asked, hearing the edge of her accent creeping into her voice. After five years
in New York, it had mostly faded, but when she got agitated or tired, it came
out in full force.
    “No, actually, I had another idea. Alex’s place is huge, and
he’s almost never there.”
    Gwen nearly choked on the piece of