Page 37 of Inked Craving

“I want to believe that. But I feel like I’m trapping you in this with no end in sight.” She bit her lip, her eyes filling.

I took her hand, needing her touch and knowing this conversation was far overdue. “I don’t know why you would feel that way.”

“Because it’s the truth. You came to me because you saw me crying in the rain, and then I never let you go.”

“Or maybe I just didn’t leave.”

“I hate him,” she whispered.

“Colton?” I swallowed hard, trying to catch up.

“I hate him so much. He’s happy out there and stringing me along because I don’t want my child to feel neglected. And it makes me think that I have the worst taste in men.”

“You slept with me, Paige. I can’t say that you have the worst taste.”

She shoved at me half-heartedly. “But you don’t want a family.”

“I didn’t before…” I said out of the blue, and she stared up at me.

“What?”

“I didn’t want a family I could lose. And that’s what I told myself. What if I were to fall in love, have a baby, have a family? And I ended up like my dad. It doesn’t make any sense, but that’s what I always had in my head. So, when I said that none of that was in the cards for me, that’s what I pictured. But we’re not that cookie cutter. We’re far from it.”

“Lee.”

“Shh,” I whispered, putting my finger to her lips. “I don’t want to say we start over, but maybe we talk to one another. I don’t want you to hate me like you hate Colton. But I haven’t run away yet. I’ve been here through all of it. Through the cravings, the setting up your baby shower with your sisters, through dealing with the odd looks your brothers give me because they don’t know where we stand. I’ve been through all of it. Through your mood swings that led to my mood swings,” I joked, and she pushed at my arm.

“Watch your step.”

“See? Mood swing.”

“Lee,” she whispered.

“Just don’t hate me like you hate him.” And then I leaned forward and cupped her face. Our bodies were touching, the baby kicking against my stomach, and I knew this was wrong. This was the wrong time. It always had been. Because before Paige was with Colton, she had been off-limits. And then after, she was pregnant, and both of us had done a very good job of not fucking things up.

Yet it had always been too much.

And then, I didn’t want to walk away. But I also didn’t know what any of it meant. When she parted her lips, and I lowered my head, making another mistake I knew we would have to get through, she moaned.

Then she gripped my waist, and I kissed her hard, each of us groaning into one another.

“I should blame this on the hormones,” she whispered.

“So are hormones catching, then?” I teased and kissed her again.

“We really need to talk about what we’re doing.”

“We will. Later.”

She kissed me again, and I kissed her back, knowing that this was the worst decision we could be making. We’d been so close to discussing who we were to each other, and then those fucking emotions.

Only when she put her hands on my chest and pushed me away, I took a step back, my eyes wide.

“Paige? What is it?”

She put her hands over her belly, her eyes wide, her face going pale. “My water broke.”

I looked down at her feet, and then up at her face, and the ground fell out from under me.

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