Denise A Agnew [Heart of Justice 04] Within His Embrace (pdf)(1)

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He could have crawled in bed. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t slept together. She moved,
digging from under the covers until she shoved them down to her waist.
His eyes popped open, and he shifted up on his right forearm to look at her in the
dim light from the bedside lamp. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Great, actually. I don’t feel hot or achy. My headache is gone.”
He didn’t smile, but she thought she saw relief in those intense eyes. He sat up and
touched her forehead. “Your fever is gone, I think. Whatever was wrong, you’ve fought it
off.”
“Amazing what a good sleep can do.” She glanced at the clock on the nightstand.
“Four in the morning. Wow. You’ve been here the whole time?”
“I went home and got an overnight bag.”
“So why are you lying on top of the covers fully clothed?”
His smile held mischief. “I’m a man of honor. I don’t take advantage of damsels in
distress. And if I’d climbed in bed with you all the way, I would have been tempted to
make love to you.”
“Oh.” The word came out breathy. “My own knight in shining armor.”
“You know you can always count on me, right? Whatever it is, you can trust me. If
you ever need anything, just call me.”
Her heart warmed, feelings rolling around inside her with force and intensity. “I have
news. I should have told you the moment you walked in. I took a pregnancy test this
morning.” His face stiffened, as if he waited for a blow. She hastened to reassure him.
“I’m not pregnant.”
The relief on his face mingled with another emotion she couldn’t identify. Regret?
Could a small part of him have wanted her pregnant? The idea set off crazy feelings
inside her. Dangerous longings she couldn’t name. Hopeless wishes. She had no business
having a child without first settling things in the rest of her life. She didn’t want to do
things backwards. Boyfriend, marriage, then maybe a baby. Of course, life didn’t always
go according to meticulous plan. Especially when you didn’t have a plan.
“I also owe you an apology,” she said.
He frowned. He sat cross-legged next to her as she propped on the pillows behind
her. “For what?”
“When I left the other day after we had sex, I wasn’t thinking straight. I should have
just told you the rest. There’s a deeper reason for why I freaked after we made love
without protection.”
“Of course you freaked. It was a stupid thing for us to do.”
She lay back against the pillows, sinking into the cushioned surface with resignation.
“Back in California, I lived an entirely different lifestyle. Remember, my parents are
filthy rich. You name it, they’ve bought it. New cars, new houses—two new houses—
clothes, etc. A real Prada and Gucci lifestyle. All of that would be okay, but their
personalities did a three-sixty along with it. The money went to their heads.”
Craig frowned. “You said they were good people, even though they worked in the
porn industry.”
“Yes, and no. They thought they should run my social life. I think they were worried
that I couldn’t make good decisions about boyfriends. They decided they needed to pick a
husband for me.”
“What?” Incredulity filled his eyes. “You’re kidding?”
“No. Chad was a dick. A wealthy dick. Very smart, though, and handsome in this
outdoor adventure sort of way. He used to be a Navy SEAL or some whoo-whoo super
secret military guru. He’d left the Navy and gone into sea salvage. He made a lot of
money at it. He was clever and at first I thought he was my dream guy. He was
competent, strong, a take-charge kind of guy.”
Craig’s eyes had focused to laser-sharp—she’d obviously caught his full attention
with the story. “And?”
“He was also bossy and controlling. He tried telling me what to wear, how to wear it.
He undermined me at every turn, and I was so stupid. I let him do it. I overlooked all of
that because of his other qualities. It started to wear away at my self-confidence.”
Understanding spread over his face. “You thought I was like Chad. That’s why you
reacted to me so strongly.”
She nodded. “Physically you guys are somewhat alike. He has blond hair cut
military-short. He’s about the same height, though his build is not as good as yours.” She
sat up straighter against her pillows. “We made the same birth control mistake. Only that
time, I did get pregnant. When I told him about it he said it wasn’t his and left the area. I
was pissed. Not only had I made a monumental mistake, the guy I’d fallen for was an
asshole. A big asshole. My parents flipped out because I’d gotten pregnant.”
“Shit.” Craig winced.
“Yeah. A big steaming pile of it. It gets better. My sister Trina, who is two years
older than me…” She couldn’t complete the sentence at first. “…she’d always liked
him.”
Comprehension blazed in Craig’s eyes. “That mother—” He caught himself. He
drew in a deep breath. “He ran off with your sister.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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