Page 74 of Break Out

His jaw ticked. “You aren’t funny, Simone. No, I’ll be in the parking lot. Jackhammer should be here soon.” His gaze moved past me. “Later, Steel.”

Steel lifted his chin. “Let me know what you decide.”

Part of me wanted to call Aunt Trixie, but more of me wanted to call Alexandra. In the end, I was too damned tired to call either. I stifled a yawn and moved toward the master bedroom. “I’m taking a shower and going to bed.”

He grinned and twisted the top off his beer. “No, we’re taking a shower and then I’m taking you to bed.”

My lips twisted. “Fine. But it’ll have to be a quickie. I’m not kidding, this baby is draining my energy.”

I woke up tangled in Steel, his legs were twined with mine and his arms were wrapped around me. Under any other circumstances, I’d have loved this, but my bladder felt ready to burst.

With careful and precise movements, I adjusted his arms, slid my legs free, and extracted myself from his grip. After doing my business in the bathroom, I spied the blue digits of my alarm clock. Two-o-two in the morning. That was a little later than I normally had to go pee, but then I’d gone to bed a little later compliments of Steel’s insistence to take care of my sass.

The sheets rustled, and Steel’s husky voice filled the air. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Go back to sleep. I had to pee, that’s all.”

He rolled out of bed and came toward the bathroom. When he drew even with me, his hands cupped my cheeks and he gave my lips a peck.

That was surprisingly sweet.

I climbed back into bed and wiggled around until I was comfortable again. The pregnancy books all warned me that in my third trimester, getting comfortable would be a serious challenge. I made a mental note to buy more pillows.

Steel came back to bed and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his hands sliding down to my belly. “Make me a promise, Jade.”

“A promise?”

“Yeah. Promise me, you won’t fall for me,” he whispered.

My lungs froze. I rolled toward him, but he held me in place. “I can’t do that, Steel.”

“Do it anyway.”

I bit my tongue, unsure how honest I could be. It was the middle of the night. We were both tired. Still, I couldn’t make that promise because I’d already started falling for him. At this point the question was how much farther did I have to fall? Because it already felt deep – deeper than anything I’d ever experienced.

“Can you do that for me, stubborn woman?”

“No, and not because I’m stubborn, but because I’m already in free-fall.”

He lowered his forehead to my shoulder and sighed.

Never one to leave well-enough alone, I asked, “Why shouldn’t I fall for you? Is there a reason or something?”

He pulled his hands away, allowing me to roll toward him. In the dim moonlight streaming inside, I saw the seriousness in his eyes. He cupped my cheek. “I could name at least five reasons. One reason is that I’m not invincible, Jade.”

“Nobody is, Steel.”

“Most men don’t get guns pulled on them at the grocery store.”

“And most men don’t interest me.”

“Simone.”

“Raymond.”

His head reared back. “How do you know my name?”

I grinned just thinking about putting his credit card back in his wallet earlier and spying his driver’s license while I was at it. “I have my ways.”

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