Page 33 of Protecting Her Secrets

“I need to go.” I try to get him out from between my legs, but he’s an unmovable object.

“No, you don’t. I’m not letting you off this counter until you tell me why you’re suddenly desperate to get away when, only seconds ago, you were ready to let me help you.” He easily pins my arms to my sides, stopping my thrashing. When I say nothing, he gives me a little shake. His nostrils flare, and his jaw ticks. “Tell me.”

I might as well get it over with. Walker’s loose hold on my arms gives my hands just enough freedom to cover my lower belly. His gaze shifts lower, but there’s a lack of understanding as his brows pinch together, so I say the words I’ve only said twice since the day I took the test. “I’m pregnant.”

Just like I thought, he immediately backs off, shoving a hand through his hair as he paces. “Pregnant?”

“Three months.” My tone is flat.

“Andhe’sthe father?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck,” he spits out, still pacing, his gaze downcast. “That changes everything.”

I laugh humorlessly as I hop off the counter. “I knew it. I fucking knew it.”

“Knew what?” he asks.

“Just forget it.” I walk over to the crumpled papers that have sat on the kitchen counter this whole time and thrust a pen in his direction. “Sign these, and I’ll go. The snow is beginning to melt, so surely I can get someone up here.”

“What? Why would I do that?”

“It’s fine, Walker. Now that you know I’m carrying another man’s child, you want nothing to do with me. It’s not a big deal; I’ll survive.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Will you please just shut up for a minute?” He takes the pen from me and chucks it across the room. Sprocket appears out of nowhere and chases it. Once he finds it, I expect him to return it to his owner, but instead, he trots away happily with it between his teeth.

“Should I go get that?”

“The pen? No, it’s fine. He just collects things like a little hoarder. He buries all kinds of shit under his bed, and I have to get it all out once a week and put everything back. He should’ve been named Klepto instead of Sprocket.” We both chuckle, but only for a second before the seriousness of our conversation resurfaces. “Look, Sunny, I think our wires got crossed somewhere because I don’t want to sign those fucking papers, and I sure as shit don’t want you to leave.”

“You don’t?”

“Hell no. I can see why you’d think that based on my reaction, but the only reason I backed off was because I don’t want you anywhere near me when I’m that fucking pissed off. I saw red thinking about him hurting you while you’re carrying his baby. He deserves to burn in hell for what he put you through.”

Is this man for real? I can’t even process his words because they’re so opposite to what I prepared myself to hear, so I address one part of his statement while I let the other sink in.

“He doesn’t know,” I say before nibbling on my lip as the smallest amount of hope blossoms in my chest.

“You haven’t told him? That’s probably for the best. He might find out at some point, but we’ll deal with that when the timecomes. In the meantime, I need to make some phone calls to rally the troops.”

“Troops?”

“Yeah. Ridge, Wilder, and Rowan will want to be brought in. They can help us come up with a plan.” He digs his phone out of his back pocket.

“Walker?” I stop him before he can leave the kitchen.

“Yeah, Sunny?”

“Why are you doing this? Because for the life of me, I do not understand.”

He eats the distance between us in three long strides before hauling me off my feet into his arms. “Before you walked in my door, frozen to the bone and demanding a divorce, I never understood why I was alone. It wasn’t because I couldn’t find someone, but no one held my attention for more than a night.”

“Okay, I get it. You’re a big, sexy mountain man.”

---