Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68249 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
She choked and jerked upright so fast the bottle shot from her fingers, dropped, and rolled across the countertop. I caught it and set it up right again before it could drop off the edge. “Our child,” I repeated. “When were you planning on telling me?”
“How—what? How?” Riley stammered then set her jaw. “Veronica,” she muttered.
“Yes, Veronica told me, not that it damn well matters,” I replied.
“I was going to tell you this week. I just needed time to think about how I was going to do it. I—guess I was afraid, that’s all.”
“You didn’t know how to do it? Here’s a concept. Call me, ask to meet me, and then use your fucking words.”
“Jax! It doesn’t help being angry with me about it. I was going to tell you,” she snapped. “It’s not like I was withholding the information because I wanted to keep you in the dark. I needed time to figure out my next move.”
“Your next move.” A fresh wave of anger shuttled through me. Perhaps I’d been too soft with her, too caring from the start, because she didn’t seem to understand that this was no longer her next move, but ours. “Your next move.”
“You sound weird,” she said. “Are you OK?”
“No, I’m not fucking OK,” I said, my voice hitting a lower octave. “No, I’m not fucking OK.”
“Calm down,” Riley said, primly. “You’re getting angry.”
“Getting angry?” I strode around the kitchen counter and came to her side, stood in front of her, adrenaline pounding through me. “Getting angry? I’m not getting angry, I’m already fucking furious.”
“I was going to tell—”
“Enough,” I said. “E-fucking-nough, Riley Robinson. Enough of your plans and your ideas and all the bullshit in between. I’ve done nothing but provide you with options to fulfill your dreams, and you’ve outright rejected them. You’re stubborn and full of shit, and you can’t seem to see the truth when it’s staring you right in the goddamn face.”
Her bottom lip trembled. “You’re scaring me.”
“Good!” I growled. “Good. You should be afraid.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m in love with you,” I snapped. “I’m so damn in love with you I’m willing to excuse all the bullshit you’ve put us through over the past month. I’m willing to allow for the fact you kept the pregnancy from me.”
“I didn’t keep it from you!”
“Silence.” I grated it out. “Riley, I sold all my strip clubs. I sold them all and bought the studio so you could start your dreams.”
“I—Jax—I—appreciate it, but I—”
“What?” I asked, and grabbed her upper arms and pressed them to her sides. “What? What’s the excuse this time?”
“I—just—I—I—I –”
“Spit it out.”
“I’m scared of losing you,” she wailed, breaking at last. All the tight control she’d held over herself shattered, and the flood gates opened. “I don’t want to fall in love again. I don’t want to get hurt again. I don’t want another man to drag me backward through the coals, because the last time it happened I wound up losing everything I’ve ever wanted and Jax, I—I won’t let it happen to me again. I won’t let it happen to my child.” She pressed her hand to her stomach.
“Our child,” I corrected her. “Our baby. And you don’t have a choice in the falling in love thing because it’s already happened. I swear to god, Riley, if you let me look after you like you’ve deserved all along, you’ll have the life you’ve dreamed of. You’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted. A business to build, a baby to care for, and a man who loves you more than his own fucking soul.”
She whimpered and bit her bottom lip, the vulnerability I treasured shining through again, as it had on the first night I’d brought her back to this apartment and made her lasagna.
Riley looked down at her lap and refused to meet my gaze. Tears dropped onto her yoga pants and dotted them. The water bled through the fabric to the skin underneath. “I can’t believe you sold the clubs. I thought—you didn’t have to do that. You would have been part of the baby’s life regardless. You’re the father.”
“Part of the baby’s life, but not part of yours,” I said. “I won’t settle for that. I love you, Riley, and you’re going to be mine, not because I want to own you, but because we belong together. This baby is proof of that. What were the chances that this could’ve happened.”
She sniffed and cleared her throat, met my gaze, her chocolate eyes sharp now. “Well, there was that one time in the club—”
I silenced her with a kiss, pressed my lips to hers and parted them with a nudge of the tip of my tongue. She opened to me like a flower turning to the sun and looped her arms around my neck, pulled herself into my chest.