Page 141 of My Dark Protector

Cassandra dropped the towel to the counter. “Oh God, are youpregnant?”

Teagan’s mouth hung open for a long moment. “No, Mom? For goodness’ sake!” She reached down to press her hand against her belly for a long moment. “Why would you think that?”

“Sorry,” her mother apologized. “I was worried this entire evening that a pregnancy was the news you’d be sharing with everyone. I couldn’t get it out of my head. And good that you’re not, by the way. You’re still young.”

Smiling, Teagan added. “Yeah, and I don’t think I’lleverwant children.”

Cassandra spluttered, wiping at the countertop.

“I mean, how could I?” Teagan continued. “If I’m to be a virgin for the rest of my life.”

Her mother sighed. “Fine. Just… don’t be crass about it.”

“Again, speak with your firstborn.”

“Oh, I intend to.”

They left the kitchen after that, with Teagan rejoining Jaxon at the dinner table, where he, Owen, and Andrea were discussing Jaxon’s plans to loft the ceiling in the master bedroom.

They spent the rest of the evening in almost a blur of activity. With Seth showing her pictures of Sharon on his phone, Nolan dragging both her and Jaxon out to show them the work he’d done on the fort in the woods, and Shea promising her speedy demise for telling Mom about Frank.

At some point, Mom pulled Jaxon aside and spoken at him for a perfunctory amount of time. At the end of which, he nodded and returned to her side with a dazed expression on his face. “I think she apologized, but I can’t be certain. I’m cold, Teagan. I’m just so cold.”

She rolled her eyes and promised to warm him up when they left.

Which they did when the clock chimed nine and Seth started begging them to just stay over.

As fun as it was on holidays, Teagan had no inclination to do so now.

So she and Jaxon piled into her car after hugging everyone more times than was strictly necessary when they only lived about fifteen minutes away.

“Back to yours, Teags?” Jaxon asked as they pulled out of the driveway and onto the main highway that’d take them into town.

She inhaled deeply and shook her head. “No, I think we should stop by Brad’s and pick up your mattress. Try out that bed you built me.”

Jaxon laughed. “I didn’t build that for you. Honestly, make a girl come a few times and suddenly she thinks everything you do is for her.”

Deftly ignoring him, she continued. “Do you have sheets though? What size is the mattress again? We might have to go shopping tomorrow. I enjoy soft sheets.”

“No, my lady. All I have is sandpaper and dirt.”

Teagan reached over and swatted his shoulder.

“Blimey, yes. I have sheets. Clean ones. But we can head to the shops tomorrow and pick out new ones if you’d like.”

“I would like,” she replied. “Because you have horrible taste.”

Without missing a beat, he countered. “Right, I chose you, didn’t I?”

He was grinning in that shit-eating way that he had and she couldn’t help but smile back. “I love you. For some reason.”

“Probably those aforementioned orgasms. I hear I’m quite good at that.”

“I mean. You are. But you’re also pretty handy at fixing things, so it could be that as well.”

He reached for the hand she had resting on her lap. “Love you too.”

Chapter Forty-Four

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