by Lainey Reese
She smiled at him and answered, “No. I’m pretty sure I’d still be freaking out.”
“Fair enough,” Luke replied.
“How are we going to manage this then?” she asked. “Doctor visits and birthing classes. Are you going to want to be there for all that?” Andie looked at him and hoped she didn’t look as desperate as she felt.
“Of course.” Luke scooted as close as he could get without pulling her into his lap and clasped their joined hands to his chest. “Andie. Of course I want to be there. This is my child, and the visits and classes and the birth… that’s all part of it. I wouldn’t dream of making you go through this alone. To be honest, it’s not even about you going it alone; it’s more about not wanting to miss out. I was a scared, dumb kid the first time around. This time, I know how important those things are and how fast time is going to fly by.” He brought their hands up and kissed her fingers again then spoke so she felt the damp warmth of his next words seep into her with the solemn promise of an oath. “I’m going to take every step with you, Andie, and I promise I’m going to be the best father I can be.”
With a sob of relief, Andie threw herself against him and clung. Somehow, she believed him. God knew she’d seen for herself the type of father he was already through Logan. That was a fantastic kid who was kind and hardworking and respectful, and if that didn’t speak to the type of parent Luke was, then she didn’t know what did.
“Thank you,” she sobbed in her watery, hiccupping voice. “I was so scared. I didn’t know how you were going to react. You know, I thought you were going to be mad at me or try to push me to get rid of it. I thought the least you were going to do was tell me it was my problem. And yet here you are. Being all wonderful and supportive.”
“Yeah, well,” Luke said as he shifted her to a more comfortable position in his lap before he settled back against the cushions. “I can’t blame you for thinking any of those things after the way I behaved that night. And ever since.” When she stilled at his mention of their night together, Luke paused for a moment to take a deep breath. “I never apologized for that night. I should have. Hell, I should have never acted like that in the first place. There’s no excuse for it. None. I panicked. I was ticked at myself for getting carried away, and instead of owning it, I turned on you.”
“You wanted me to take the morning-after pill,” she whispered into the hollow where his neck met his shoulder, and the words nestled there like a venomous cloud.
“I said that.” Luke gave a curt nod, owning his actions, and Andie respected him for not hedging or adding on clarifiers to soften or deflect. “I said a lot of stupid things I regretted the minute I walked out of that room. And that was at the top of the list. I can tell you honestly and with absolute truth that I’m delighted you didn’t.” He put a hand over her tummy, low where their baby grew within her. “I’m not saying this is going to be ideal or even easy, but my child is in here, and a part of me—a very large part—is thrilled.”
Andie placed her hand over his and looked up at him with her head still resting on his shoulder. “You have the most beautiful eyes. I wonder if the baby will get them.” She didn’t realize she’d spoken that aloud until he answered her.
“I don’t know. Yours are pretty incredible. I’d say the kid would be luckier to get yours.” Then Luke kissed the tip of her nose. Gently and with all the tenderness he’d been showing since she put that stick in his hand. It caused her breath to hitch, and her fingers tightened over his. When he trailed his lips up to brush them light as a feather across her forehead, she felt her eyes drift closed in surrender. He kissed at her temple then pressed harder, and she felt his hold on her tighten as he took a deep breath. The wave of tenderness she felt flowing from him overwhelmed her, and Andie wanted nothing more than to stay right where she was and let him hold her forever.
With a soft groan, his kisses got firmer. He trailed them from her temple to her ear then her neck. Andie clung to his shoulders and arched into his embrace as everything melted away under his lips.
“Jax.” She breathed the word just in time to stop him as he was about to kiss her open and waiting mouth. It worked. Luke jolted as though she jabbed him with something sharp.
“What was that?” he asked, pulling back to look into her eyes.
“Jax,” she panted out, trying to rein in the passion he ignited. “I’ve been seeing Jax since I got into town.”
“Oh.” Luke’s expression cooled, and the arms around her loosened. “I see. Well, I wasn’t aware of that. Logan never said anything about seeing him there.”
“Hey.” Andie hated to see the return of the cold stranger he’d been these last weeks. She laid her hand on his cheek and lightly kissed the corner of his mouth. “I haven’t slept with him. We’re just starting out and seeing how we fit and get along. I didn’t know what he’d done to you back then.”
“So?” Luke looked at her with a steely glint in his eye that told Andie he was not over the pain of his best friend’s betrayal. “Are you going to keep seeing him now?”
“Now that I know he slept with his best friend’s girl?”
Luke inclined his head and said, “Yeah, there’s that. But I was talking about now that you’re carrying my kid.”
Andie pushed up from his lap, and it didn’t hurt her feelings a bit when he tried to hold onto her and keep her right where she was. “I have to talk to him. I can’t make you any promises about him, Luke.” It crushed something inside Andie to see him pull back from her when just seconds ago he was reluctant to let her out of his arms. “I know you said you were sorry about that night. But… it doesn’t change what happened. Or change the way it’s been between us every time we’ve seen each other since. The baby changes a lot between us, but I’m not going to be with you just because I’m pregnant. A loveless match is the last thing this baby will need. And I also am not going to sit at home alone for the next nine months either.”
“So, what?” Luke asked as he stood up and walked away from her. “Are you going to just keep dating that asshole then? Is that what you’re telling me?” Andie heard the barely restrained anger in his voice and had to admit she couldn’t fault him for it. He had a nasty history with Jax, and it was no wonder he was upset at the idea of her seeing him. However, the man she’d been getting to know was kind and generous, and she just could not imagine him repeating the mistakes of his past.
“I’m telling you that I have to talk to him. I don’t know what I’m going to do about him or you or any of this. It’s just too soon to be making decisions like that. I have to think.”
Andie hoped he could understand that. She really did, but she knew that even if he didn’t, she had to do what was right for her anyway. No matter what anyone else felt about her choices, she was the one who had to live with them, so she firmed her resolve as she walked toward the door.
“He’s coming over tonight for dinner. I’ll talk to him then.” She stopped and turned to look at him in the doorway and felt her heart trip in her chest. The man was too beautiful for words. “I can’t make any promises other than this: I promise I will be a good mom to your child, our child. And to me, a big part of that means never tearing you down or keeping you from it— Him… or her. I came over here prepared to go it alone, considering how you acted that night, but now that you’re in, I have to tell you I’m so glad we are going to do this together.”
When some of the tension eased off him, Andie was relieved, but she wasn’t going to make promises she couldn’t keep or let him set expectations she wasn’t prepared to meet.
“I’ve started to really care about Jax though. I don’t know how this baby is going to change things between us, but I don’t want you getting blindsided by it if Jax and I decide to keep seeing each other. Okay?”
“Fair enough.” There was a hardness to his expression, but Luke nodded nonetheless, accepting her choice. “He’s not going to have a problem with you being pregnant with my kid though.” Luke gave her a cold l
ook and walked out of the kitchen ahead of her as he added one last parting shot. “He’s never let that stop him before.”
Chapter 7
Andie was more nervous about talking to Jax that night than she’d been about telling Luke he was going to be a father. That probably had a lot to do with the fact that she’d been sure of Luke’s reaction. She admitted to herself that she’d gone over there spoiling for a fight. Andie had been positive he was going to rail at her and push for an abortion. When instead he’d been supportive and calm and had been the one to convince her they could do this, Andie couldn’t have been more surprised.
“Wow.” Jax’s voice from just outside the screen door brought Andie out of her thoughts. “You look amazing. Am I missing something? Did we have plans to go out that I forgot about?” He made his way inside as he spoke, and his eyes coursed over Andie nonstop the whole time. She smoothed her hands over her fluttering tummy and smiled at him a little self-consciously.
“No. No plans,” Andie said then finished fussing with the flowers she’d been arranging on the table. More out of a need to keep her hands busy than anything else, Andie played with the stems and colorful blooms as she spoke. “It’s just that I haven’t dressed like a girl since I got here. Dinner with a friend seemed like a good enough excuse for a little fussing.”
“Well,” Jax said as he ran his fingers along the back of her exposed neck, “turn around and let me get a good look at you. Wouldn’t want all this effort to go to waste.”
Andie felt herself blush and turned away from the flowers to face him. She was wearing one of her favorite summer dresses, even though it was barely spring and still too cool for it. She loved the way the dress fit and how confident she always felt when she wore it. With the bomb Andie was about to drop tonight, she needed all the confidence she could get.
The lightweight, ice-blue cotton had spaghetti straps. It fit tight through the bodice and waist then flowed light as air over her hips to end just above the knees. She’d curled her hair and piled it on top of her head, and as Jax gave an exaggerated whistle, Andie fiddled with a curl that she’d left to dangle along her cheek. Her simple white flip-flops rounded out the cute but casual look she was going for, and Andie curled her newly painted baby-pink toes as she rocked back on her heels and finally managed to look Jax in the eye.
“You look gorgeous.” He stepped close and kissed her lightly on the cheek as his big, warm palms settled on her sides. “But then, you always look gorgeous to me.” Heat, delicious and compelling, seeped into her from his hands. Andie tried to look anywhere but at Jax’s face as he pulled her closer, then closer still, until her body was flush to his, and Andie bit back a moan at the feel of it. He was all hard muscles and wiry strength, and being held against him made her feel delicate, fragile, and safe, she realized. Since the day she’d met him, Jax had always made her feel safe. It was as if, no matter what the world threw at her, he would be there to see her through it. A gladiator in a silk tie and vest.
She was terrified that what she had to tell him now would take that away, and Andie was very afraid she was about to lose not just her champion but her friend as well.
Those thoughts helped her find the strength to turn away when his lips worked their way toward hers. Jax had kissed her before, but they’d been light, unassuming kisses shared between friends just testing the waters of becoming more than friends. The way he held her now, the intent she could feel pouring off him was rich with sexual need. Even as she eased out of his hold, her body yearned for the promises his touch was making.
Jax had never tested the boundaries she had in place. After her miserable attempt at casual sex with Luke, Andie was determined to take things slow with Jax. She gave him hugs at the end of their evenings together, and although she touched him often, it was always in safe non-erogenous zones that he’d never misinterpreted. Now, as she eased back, Jax did something he’d never done and resisted her attempt to move away.
One strong arm banded low across her hips while the other hand slipped under her chin, and he held her prisoner in his embrace. Andie realized she was caught in a trap of her own making. She wanted to dress up for more than her own confidence; she wanted also to make Jax see her as a woman. She wanted him to want her, despite the fact that she carried another man’s baby. Only, now that it had worked, worked like a charm, and she was caught against his perfectly muscled body with his intent to take them out of the friend-zone clear as day… she didn’t know what to do. If she told him now, she feared she’d never again see that fire in his eyes. She hadn’t guessed that her reaction to him would be so visceral. She assumed she would continue to feel the same level of attraction and growing interest in him that she always had. She had no idea how deeply she’d react to him when he dropped the polite veneer and made a real advance toward her.
Was it unfair to want to experience a night with Jax untouched by the baby and all the strings attached to that? Was she being unreasonably selfish to want to feel his touch unhindered by the ghosts of his past or her current condition? She suddenly longed for a night in his arms when the only thing between them was the sweat that fused their bodies.
Almost as soon as the thought entered her mind, she let it go. She wouldn’t do that to him. He obviously respected her, since he kept this much under wraps all this time to let her set the pace. She realized, because of that, he was a rare man indeed. If she wasn’t mistaken, this was a man who didn’t give his affection or body lightly. Besides, she’d be worse than a villain to sleep with him carrying such a large and game-changing secret.
But, Andie thought, a kiss. Just one kiss that was untouched by her news, to hold onto like a treasured memento in case he chose to walk away. What could that hurt?
After a month of keeping his distance and suppressing every impulse and urge he had, Jax finally had Andie in his arms. And it was heaven. She had a figure like a freaking goddess, the face of an angel, and the heart of a fighter. Jax tightened his grip on her chin and tugged, just a bit rough, and felt like he just downed a double shot of whiskey when it made her eyes widen and her cheeks flush. He lowered his mouth.
Her plump lips tasted of strawberries and intoxicated him at the first sip. He licked along the full top one then caught the bottom briefly in his teeth, tugging. When she made one of those breathy female sounds and opened for him, Jax sealed his mouth to hers with a groan and kissed her. As he discovered her with his tongue, he drank her sighs and whimpers down like they were his reward.
When Andie shuddered and melted into him, Jax felt like he could conquer the world. With another groan, his hands arrowed up her lush body and fisted in her hair as he turned and backed her against the closest wall. “God! Andie, Christ.” He breathed the words into her mouth as he surged his hips into the cradle of hers, and the generous mounds of her breasts pressed against him with the promise of heaven. Jax had never wanted a woman more.
“Wait.” Andie broke away from his kiss with a gasp. Jax trailed his mouth across her cheek to her ear, where he nipped at the lobe.
“I’m done with waiting,” he told her, pumping his hips and feeling her shudder again. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for you all my life, Andie.”
“Oh, God.” Her hands clutched at his hair, and she kissed him with a hunger that seemed to match his own. The kiss was too brief though; in seconds, she was pulling away again. “No. Wait. God, Jax, we have to talk.”
He didn’t want to talk. He wanted her naked and under him. He could see everything he was going to do to her in his mind like strobe flashes against his closed eyelids. On his knees with his mouth fused between her legs and her pretty skirt over his head, trapping the scent of her in with him and blocking out the rest of the world. On the floor with her naked breasts moving on her chest like the ebb and flow of the ocean as he thrust within her. Pulling her lush body up until she straddled him on his knees so he could grip those plump ass cheeks and pull her into his every plunge. He saw her bent over the table, on all fo
urs, and every other way imaginable.
“Jax,” she pleaded. “Stop.” It was one of the hardest tests of his control to step back. He held off with her, because what he felt was so intense he knew the moment he touched her he wouldn’t want to stop. And he’d been right.
Looking at her now was another test of his control. Her lipstick had given way to their kisses, leaving her lips even plumper than they normally were and sex-smudged. Her artfully styled hair was a tousled mess tumbling around her face and shoulders. Andie stood against the wall as if she feared her legs wouldn’t hold her, while she panted and pressed one hand to her heart as if she could slow its thundering beat, and since the moment he stepped back, her legs shifted restlessly like she was trying to ease the aching need between them. If ever a woman’s body was screaming “fuck me now and fuck me hard,” this woman’s was.
“I’m listening.” Jax let everything he was thinking show in his expression. “For now.”
“For now?” Andie looked at him with her forehead crinkled in confusion.
“Yeah. For now. You got about thirty seconds, but then I’m spending the rest of the night finishing what we just started here.”
“Oh.” A flush spread from her still heaving breasts up to her hairline, and Jax saw the muscles flex in her neck as she gulped. Fuck, she was hot.
“Before I moved here. Right before my uncle died, I was in Minneapolis for my old job. I had a training session there,” she told him. It was the last thing he expected to hear at a time like this.
“Okay,” he answered, unsure where this was headed.
“I went to the lounge in the hotel on my last night. I wanted to have at least one evening out before I left. The place was full, and I was going to give up and go back to my room, but just when I turned to leave, a man who was sitting alone offered to share his table with me.” Her voice, which had started out strong, was a shaky whisper by the time she finished, and it caused a sort of foreboding in his gut.
