by Joss Wood
According to Alex’s earth-tilting news, the first of the next generation of Claytons was baking inside of her, and what did that mean? For Rose and for the future of The Silver C? And what did it, should it, mean to him?
Having children wasn’t something he’d thought much about, and when he did, it was only in terms of who would inherit the ranch sometime in the very distant future. Honestly, at this point in his life, he didn’t want to be a dad and he had no interest in being tied down—he was perfectly content with brief affairs and one-night stands, keeping emotionally distant. But Alex... Dammit. Well, she’d recently managed to narrow that distance, to pull him closer. She tempted him to unbend a little and to open up a fraction, probably because he subconsciously wanted a way to recapture some of the magic and joy of that heady summer so long ago.
It had been the happiest three months of his life, so why wouldn’t he want to experience it again? But she’d been right to call it off, to make them move on. What he hadn’t expected was that they’d be left with a lifetime memento of their fling.
They’d made a child. God. He was utterly determined to be a better parent, and the exact opposite of his mother—and to be a stable, responsible and hands-on dad.
His child would know that he loved him, or her, that he would be a constant and consistent part of his child’s life. That was nonnegotiable. His child would know his, or her, father’s love. His love...
He wanted to be there for the big and small things, and that meant having his baby’s mother in his life. But Alex... Being with Alex made him feel alive, uncontrolled, impulsive. The way she made him feel terrified him. But he’d just have to deal, find a way to keep her at arm’s length, because he planned on being a vital part of his child’s upbringing. He wanted to change diapers, do the midnight feedings, pace the floors while he tried to put his child to sleep. He’d do whatever was needed, but in order to be a part of his child’s life, he had to be in that life. That meant marriage—God!—or at the very least, him and Alex living together.
Where could they live? Since Alex lived in the main house at the Lone Wolf Ranch, his house was the most reasonable option. Or they could build a new place, something that suited them both. And they’d have to tell their grandparents—that was going to be a barrel of laughs...
First things first, Clayton. Talk to Alex, offer to marry her, secure his child’s future. As for the way Alex made him feel, well, he’d simply have to get over that. He would not allow her to cause him to lose control or focus. They could marry and within that union they’d be friends, even lovers, but he’d always keep himself emotionally detached. It was safer that way.
Daniel heard footsteps and lifted his head to see Alex walking toward her car and him. Cold air caught in his throat as the rest of his body heated, then sizzled. Man, she looked amazing, so damn sexy. When she noticed him leaning against her car, she released a long sigh. She was past exhausted, he realized, and a wave of protectiveness swept over him. He was right to feel protective over her, he rationalized, because she was the mother of his child. By protecting her, he protected his son. Or daughter.
When Alex reached him, he lifted his hand and ran his knuckles over her pale cheek. “You look done in, honey,” he said, his voice gruff.
“It’s been a hell of a night,” Alex replied, surprising him by resting her butt on the side of her car. She’d pulled a jacket over that sexy dress, but her shapely thigh slid out from under the high slit in the skirt. He wanted to pull the slippery material up and find out for sure whether she was wearing panties or not.
Like that was important! Daniel mentally slapped himself as he moved to stand in front of her. They had a future to discuss, plans to make.
Alex held up a hand and he saw that her eyes were red-rimmed and that she now sported blue stripes under her eyes that her makeup could no longer conceal. “Not tonight, Daniel. I can’t take anymore.”
He curbed his impulse to push and tipped his head to the side. “What was the great bachelor-auction emergency?”
“Ah, that. Well, that hundred-thousand-dollar bid Gail made for Lloyd was a fake bid—neither have that type of money. To distract a reporter from reporting on that juicy piece of gossip and totally ruining the success of the evening, we’ve offered the reporter complete access to Ryan and Tessa’s super romantic date. And to distract him further—” Alex’s eyes narrowed in the moonlight “—you are, according to Rose, giving an interview to the same reporter on what it feels like to auction yourself off and how it feels to be one of Texas’s most eligible bachelors.”
Daniel waited for Alex to laugh, to give him any indication that she was joking, but she just sent him a steady look with no hint of amusement. So, ah, this interview was going to happen whether he was on board or not.
Crap.
Daniel closed his eyes and gripped the bridge of his nose. “My damn interfering grandmother.”
“Tonight, I am grateful for her interference. The two stories will be a welcome distraction from the fake bid.”
“I swear, my grandmother only hears what she wants to! I’m going to kill her. I swear I am!”
“She’ll just come back and haunt you,” Alex said behind a yawn. “Look, Mr. Most Eligible, I am exhausted, as it’s been a hell of a day. I’m going home.”
But they hadn’t talked about the baby or come up with any concrete solutions. Daniel started to argue but then he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes, noticed that her hands were trembling. Stop being an ass and think about her for one sec, Clayton. She’s been on her feet for fourteen hours, she’s just found out she’s pregnant and, after hearing that news, she still managed to stand in front of a huge crowd and pull off a super successful event. Alex had grit and courage in spades—he had to give her that.
Making a quick decision, he took her bag off her shoulder and shoved his hand inside, looking for her car keys. Ignoring her protest, he wound his arm around her waist and lifted her up to walk her around the car, pulling open the passenger door.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded as he bundled her into the seat.
“Taking you home.”
“I can drive,” Alex protested.
Daniel crouched down between the car door and its frame and placed his hand on her slim thigh. “Lex, let me do this for you. You are played out and I don’t want you making the drive back to the Lone Wolf exhausted and emotional.”
Alex licked her lips and sighed. “I was going to go to the tree house, spend the night there. I need some space, to be alone.”
“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, honey. I just want to make sure you get there in one piece,” Daniel said, keeping his tone noncombative.
“What about your car?”
Daniel shrugged. “It’ll be safe enough here.” He moved his thumb to stroke her bare thigh. “Let me take you home, Lex.”
Alex dropped her head back against the headrest and gave a quick nod. Daniel gathered the rest of her dress, put it inside the car and slammed her door shut. In the five minutes he took to adjust her seat to his longer legs, back out of her space and reach the TCC gates, she was sound asleep.
* * *
“No, I’m not going to marry you, and I’m not going to move in with you, either.”
With her battered cowboy boots propped onto the railing of Sarah’s tree house, Alex held Daniel’s hot stare and shook her head to emphasize her point. However, Daniel, dressed in faded, formfitting denims and a green-and-black flannel shirt worn over a black T-shirt, tried to scowl her into submission. But she’d been raised by Gus and had learned at an early age to stand her ground or get run over.
When he started to argue his point—again!—Alex rushed in, “Daniel, we are not living in the 1800s. My honor, your honor, is not at stake. Sure, Rose and my grandpa are probably going to blow a gasket, but they will just have to deal. I am not jumping into a mar
riage with you or into sharing a house just because I’m pregnant. That’s a terrible reason to be together!”
“I want to see my child, Alex.” Daniel pushed the words out from between clenched teeth.
“He or she will arrive in only seven months’ time. How will us moving in together or getting married help you with that right now?”
Daniel opened his mouth to issue what she knew would be a hot retort only to have the words die on his tongue. Ha! He didn’t have an answer to that argument! And there wasn’t a reasonable answer because he was being an idiot!
She dropped her feet to the ground and rested her forearms on her thighs. “Daniel, I have no intention of denying you access to our child, but this idea you have of you being a full-time dad—that’s not going to happen.” Alex caught the flash of pain in his eyes, knew that her words were harsh but it was better to clear this up now before expectations were created that could not be fulfilled.
She was not eighteen anymore and dreaming of this man, fat babies, horses and a life on the ranch, filled with laughter and love. Dreams were for children, for the naive, and she far preferred cold reality. “We’re not going to be a couple and we are not going to live together. I’ve had a business offer. I’m probably going to take it. It’s lucrative and it’s in my, and the baby’s, best interest for me to accept it since my bills are going to quadruple.”
Daniel’s eyes turned cold. Oh damn. Now she’d properly insulted him.
“I am fully capable and prepared to pay for everything you or the baby need.”
Of course he was, the guy was a millionaire fifty times over. That wasn’t the point! “And I am an independent, successful woman who can earn her own money and support her own child,” Alex stated, her voice dropping ten degrees. Standing up so that she did not feel like Daniel was looming over her, she slapped her hands onto her hips and handed him her most ferocious scowl. He didn’t look remotely intimidated, dammit.
“I do not need you, or any other man, to pay my way.”
“Goddammit, woman, you are so contrary!”
“Pot. Kettle. Black.” Alex threw his words back in his face.
Daniel threw his hands up in the air, whipped around as if to leave and, before she could blink, he’d spun back and he was in her space, his fingers tunneling through her hair and his mouth falling toward hers. Alex knew that she should stop him but instead of pushing him away, she stood on her toes so that she could feel his lips against hers a second sooner. Waiting even a moment longer than she needed to was torture. She wanted him, of course she did, always had. Probably always would.
He drove her nuts. Nobody had the power to annoy her as intensely as Daniel could but, God, when he kissed her, he morphed from Irritant Number One to Sex God to Have-to-Get-Him-Naked-Immediately.
Those amazing lips moved over hers and his hand on her butt pulled her into him. Denim rubbed against denim and underneath the fabric she could feel the evidence of his desire. They might not know how to be friends and had even less idea of how to co-parent. But, God, this? This they knew how to do.
Daniel’s tongue slid into her mouth to tangle with hers, and she groaned deep in her throat. She should stop this; it wasn’t sensible. This would just further complicate a crazy situation, but instead of pushing him away, her hand skated up under his T-shirt to find hot, hard skin. Daniel had the same idea, since his hand was down the back of her loose jeans, cupping her bare backside with his big calloused hand.
He yanked his mouth off hers to speak. “I’ve got to know, were you wearing panties last night? Under that sexy dress?”
It took Alex a moment to make sense of his words. She’d worn the tiniest thong she had and really, she still didn’t know why she bothered. But she wasn’t about to admit that to Daniel. He wanted to hear that she’d worn nothing more than that silver slip dress. “No.”
Alex felt him tighten and harden, saw the fire in his eyes and knew that there was no going back. They were headed for the bedroom, or the sitting room. Hell, they might not even make it inside.
Daniel pulled her long-sleeve T-shirt up and over her head, looking down at the sheer lacy bra she wore. She was in the early stage of her pregnancy, and she’d yet to feel different, but Daniel was looking at her like she was made of spun glass, of delicate platinum strands. His index finger gently traced the outline of her nipple and she sucked in her breath, watching his dark hand against her lighter skin. Even in winter he looked tanned, courtesy of his Hispanic heritage. So sexy, Alex thought as he pushed the lace away to touch her, skin on skin. Daniel bent his knees, wrapped his big, powerful arms around her thighs and lifted her so that her nipple was in line with his mouth. Holding her easily, muscles bunching but not straining, he tongued her, pulling her nipple into his mouth, nibbling her with his teeth. She ran her fingers through the loose curls he hated, tracing the shell of his ear, the strong cords of his neck.
“I want you, Lex. I know I shouldn’t but, God, I do,” Daniel muttered, pulling away from her to look up, his eyes blazing with lust.
“Dan...”
He rested his forehead between her breasts, still holding her, and she felt his ragged breath against her skin. She knew that he expected her to ask him to let her go, to step away, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know how to be a mommy, to have Daniel in her life, how to navigate her suddenly complicated future, but she knew how to make love to this sexy, infuriating man.
She loved being naked with him.
“Take me inside, Dan. Love me until I can’t think anymore,” Alex whispered, brushing her fingers across his lips, his jaw.
Daniel flashed her a grin that was sexy enough to melt glass, and then he carried her inside. Allowing her to slide down his body so that their mouths could meet, he kissed her as he navigated his way to the bedroom at the back of the tree house. With long hot slides of his tongue, and hands possessively skimming her skin, he silently demanded that she match his passion. Alex held on to him as he lowered her to the bed and sighed when he settled into the V shape between her legs. Right place, far too many clothes.
Her shirt was gone, so Alex pulled his over his head and tossed it to the floor. She sighed when his naked chest touched hers and lifted her head so that she could tongue his flat, masculine nipple. A good start but not enough.
“Please, Dan, I don’t want to wait. It’s been too long.”
Daniel heard her pleas and pulled back to yank her boots off her feet and tug her jeans down over her hips. His eyes moved down, stopping on her breasts before moving over her still-flat stomach to her relatively modest bikini panties.
His eyes widened and he released a low chuckle. God, he had a great smile. It crinkled his eyes, revealed his straight white teeth and hinted at the tiniest dimple in his right cheek. But as much as she liked seeing his smile, she couldn’t understand why he was laughing.
Alex pushed herself up to rest her weight on her bent elbows.
Daniel arched an eyebrow. “I’m game if you are.”
Ah...what was he talking about? They’d had great sex but nothing weird or kinky, so where was he going with this?
Daniel gestured to her panties and Alex tried to read the slogan upside down. Okay, but Afterward We Get Pizza?
She groaned. She was not wearing her sexiest lingerie. “They were a gag gift from Rachel,” she explained, blushing. “I haven’t had a chance to do laundry.”
“Silk or cotton, I can pretty much guarantee that anything you wear will always end up on the floor.”
Daniel slowly peeled the panties down her legs, his smile still tugging at the edges of his gorgeous mouth. He dropped the panties to the floor and stood up to undress. Lifting his feet, he pulled his boots off, then pushed his jeans over his hips, taking his underwear with him. Embarrassment forgotten, Alex stared at him and Daniel stood there, allowing her to look her fill. Broad shoulders, muscled arms, that wid
e chest. He had sexy abs, but she also adored those long hip muscles, his lean, powerful thighs, the arch of his surprisingly elegant feet.
Daniel was a curious combination of masculine grace and rugged good looks, but beneath it all, he was a man of honor. By marrying her, he wanted to do what was right, what he thought was best for their baby. She respected that, respected him. But she couldn’t marry him or move in with him; she shouldn’t even be making love to him.
But this...thing...between them ran too deep and she couldn’t resist him. She would always, as long as she breathed, want him but she wouldn’t let herself love him. She couldn’t afford to do that, to let him hurt her again.
Daniel placed his hands on the bed on either side of her face and placed his mouth on hers, sipping, tasting, exploring. They’d had slow sex, hot sex and crazy sex up against a door, but his kisses seemed different tonight, intense with a hint of gentleness. Alex slipped her tongue into his mouth and tried to dial up the passion. Hot and fast she could deal with, but she didn’t know how to handle slow and sexy and profound.
She lifted her hips to make contact with his shaft, wanting to get out of her head and fully into the physicality of the act. Daniel didn’t take the hint so she ran her thumb up his dick and when she stroked his tip, he jerked and then groaned.
“Need you, Dan, now.” And she did. She needed him to remind her that this was all sex, that she couldn’t have the ranch and the horses and the hot baby daddy in her life. Dreams like those put her heart at risk...so she’d just take the sex.
It was simpler that way.
Daniel nudged her legs farther apart with his knee before stroking her secret folds with his fingers. “You’re so wet, Lex.”
