Page 24 of Claimed By the Damned

She groaned and rolled onto her back, scrubbing her face with her hands. He was not making this easy, but she was too tired to fight him right now. “You can’t just up and move in here, you know,” she grumbled under her breath.

“If I had my way, you wouldn’t be living here at all.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that would go over great with my father. And with Drake.”

There was an edge to his voice when he replied, “Fuck them. You’re mine.”

She looked over at him and gave him a small smile. “You’ve made that perfectly clear.” She wasn’t mad about it either. She was just worried. “And I’m not denying that.”

Satisfied with that answer, he took a look around the room, an eyebrow raised. “Have an obsession with pigs?” he asked, taking in all her figurines scattered on her dressers and floating shelves.

“What? They’re cute,” she said defensively. She’d had some strange obsession with them since she was a little girl and she got her first stuffed pig from her mother.

Not wanting the conversation to turn in the direction of her mother right now, she decided to change the subject. Talking about her mother was still painful for her because it was after she left that her father’s demeanor toward her changed. She didn’t want to ruin the mood by discussing all that, though she knew she would need to at some point. They deserved to know the truth.

“Are you planning on making this a routine, Knox? Randomly sneaking into my place in the middle of the night?”

He grinned at the challenge, surely seeing it as a dare. “Who is going to stop me? Are you?”

She rolled her eyes in response. She knew that she had no chance of stopping him from doing anything he wanted to do. He was the kind of guy who always got what he wanted; she knew that now. “No. I’m asking so that I can make sure I keep condoms on hand, you ass.”

She was mentally smacking herself for not considering that sooner. She needed to be smart about this until she could talk to her father and figure some things out.

“Condoms are for pussies,” he deadpanned.

“Technically, they are for dicks that go into pussies,” she countered. “You know, to prevent pregnancy and STDs and stuff. Responsible people use them, especially ones not on birth control.”

He flicked his gaze to her lower abdomen. “I’m clean, and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t having kids the next step in this sort of situation?”

“Oh my god,” she muttered to herself. She couldn’t even think about the ‘next steps’ when she hadn’t cleared the first hurdle of telling her father. And there were several other steps before they even thought of the whole kid thing; moving in together, going on dates, maybe actually being together instead of whatever weird limbo they were currently in.

His brows pinched together as he lowered his hand to just below her belly button.

“What?” she asked when his hand lingered there.

“I’m not sure I’d be a good father though,” he admitted. She didn’t realize he could be so serious, so vulnerable, and frankly, open.

“Why do you say that?” she asked him softly. She didn’t want to push him if he didn’t want to talk about it, but the sadness in his voice was suffocating, and she wanted to take it away.

He flicked his gaze back to hers but kept his hand where it was. “You may have only known me for a short while, but I think you know that the way I lead my life, my personality even, isn’t good for being a father.” His jaw flexed. “I’ve never had a good example of one either. I wouldn’t know how to handle a kid.”

Her heart squeezed in her chest at his admission, and she covered his hand with hers. “First of all, no one knows how to handle a kid, Knox. That comes instinctively. Secondly, you wouldn’t be doing it alone. And in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t had the best parental example either.” She let out a small sigh. “As for your personality, you actually have a lot to offer a child, whether you want to believe it or not. You could teach them to be strong and resilient, to always go after what they want, to stand up for themselves. Those are amazing qualities to have, you know.”

He scowled a little. “So you’d want to have my kid?”

She swallowed hard. It was not an easy conversation to have, but if this was going to work, they needed to be honest with each other. He had just made himself vulnerable to her; she could do the same for him. “If it were any other situation, I would in a heartbeat. But right now, my situation is complicated, Knox. It’s . . . it’s not as easy as accepting you as my mate.” She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Seeing as how you already marked me though, we obviously have a future together. So, yes. Somewhere down the line, I would love to have your kid, if that’s something you want.”

He didn’t say anything back for a little while, probably thinking over what she had said. Eventually, he shook his head, slid on top of her, and scooted her knees apart to settle in between them. The unstable Knox returned with a wicked grin, and he said, “Doesn’t hurt to practice.”

She laughed and shoved against his massive chest. “Don’t even think about it. I have to get ready for work.”

Wordlessly, he rocked his hard erection against her center. She gasped, and he demanded, “Be late.”

He was not making this easy for her. She was seriously considering giving in to him and being late to open the shop when there was a loud knock on the front door of her cabin. She knew the sound of that knock as well as she knew her own face.

Her eyes widened, fear spiked, and she shoved Knox off of her. “Shit,” she cursed under her breath.

She jumped out of the bed, grabbed her robe, and looked back at Knox, who appeared completely unfazed. “Please,” she begged softly. “If you care about me and the bond between us at all, stay here, and be quiet.”

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