Page 50 of Saved By the Mountain Man

I couldn’t resist him, and the truth was that I didn’t want to. He’d always been my weakness and lately, I’d struggled to remind myself of all the reasons not to get involved with him again, not to let him get so close that losing him would mean I had to put myself together all over again.

The small voice in my mind kept reminding me that I couldn’t do this—I was going to have to run again when the winter was over and leave all of this behind—but my heart wanted to live in this fairy-tale world where nothing else existed.

Just me and Tanner.

I carefully shifted, turning to watch Tanner as he slept. His face was relaxed, a peaceful expression softening his usual gruff one. My heart constricted with love for him, a love that kept growing stronger even though I tried to keep my distance.

I was such a fool to fall right back into the past with him, but I couldn’t stop myself.

The light snow falling outside added a magical quality to the morning, but it meant that I was slowly running out of time.

A sudden wave of nausea hit me, turning my stomach. I closed my eyes, breathing through it. Was it the food Tanner had made last night? It was always wild, gamey, the meat he hunted for himself. Maybe there had been something—

Another wave of nausea rolled over me, and I wasn’t going to be able to breathe through this one. I wriggled out from underneath Tanner’s arm as carefully as I could and scrambled to the bathroom.

I made it just in time, heaving into the toilet as the nausea rocked through my body, depositing the last of what was in my stomach from last night.

I never got sick. Not unless I drank too much, but I’d only had two glasses of wine. Not enough for this…

After retching again, my body dry-heaving when everything I’d thrown up was already out of my system and there was nothing left, I sat back, my hands trembling.

This was just a random bout of sickness, right? It was just the food. Or the fear of Jethro. It couldn’t possibly be anything else.

Could it? We were always careful, Tanner making sure that he wrapped up…

The memories of our nights together flooded my mind, our bodies tangling together, but every time Tanner had stopped us to do the responsible thing. Even last night, when I’d just wanted him to take me.

But there had been one time. The first time, when we hadn’t been able to stop, hadn’t thought about anything other than getting him inside me, pressing our bodies together, fusing our hearts together to fix the ache he’d caused when he’d ripped us apart.

My stomach twisted with dread and more nausea. I leaned over the toilet, but nothing came.

How long ago had that been?

I rested my head in my hand. I counted the weeks since my last period, since the first time we’d slept together… the facts hit me.

I was never sick.

It had been too long since my period.

We hadn’t used a condom that first time.

It only ever took one time.

I was almost sure I was pregnant.

Shit.

The room spun around me as I struggled to think through the waves of nausea and fear that kept washing over me.

How could I have been so careless? What was I going to do now? The thought of telling Tanner filled me with dread. I didn’tknow how he would react, but I couldn’t imagine it would be good. Besides, I couldn’t stay.

I would have to leave soon, and then none of this would have mattered.

Except that everything between usdidmatter.

And now I was pregnant.

You don’t know that, I tried to reassure myself, but damn it, Ididknow. I didn’t know how I knew, I just did.

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