Page 61 of King of Hearts

I closedthe door and locked it, keeping to the shadows. Taylor’s sunshine hair was muted by the dark, all of it fanning out on the pillow behind her. She only wore a sheet across her body, barely covering the swell of her breasts, her swollen stomach outlined. My heart did this strange fluttery, panicky thing. I could feel tears burn the backs of my eyes as I tried to wrangle the rogue emotion invading my chest.

She was beautiful, so innocent lying there in my bed, completely at peace. Not a single worry in the world, and soon she’d have a baby. I already thought of what she’d look like, omitting any thoughts that the baby might have Holden’s looks. In my mind, that little girl would only look like her mom.

Dragging a hand down my face, I began to strip out of my clothes, carefully placing them on the foot bench so I wouldn’t wake her. Once I stripped down to my boxers, I grabbed a blanket from the end of the bed, gently padded toward my spot, and reached for my pillow. I’d sleep in the chair again, to give her the space we both needed. I’d seen it in the way she’d backed away when we were in the closet earlier, when I mentioned our walls…though part of me had hoped she’d press in and deny it. I wanted her to fight for me, like I had fought for her. I wanted her to want me, plain and fucking simple. She knew what she was doing, just as much as I did, and still she wanted distance.

“Hey,” she whispered, moving a fraction to pull the sheet up over her shoulder.

I shifted, pulling the pillow free. “Hey, sorry I woke you.”

Suddenly she sat up, the sheet falling to her breasts. “What are you doing?”

“Just grabbing my bedding for the chair.”

It was too dark to see if hurt flashed in her eyes, but her tone revealed as much. “What are you talking about? I told you this bed is big enough.”

I couldn’t sleep next to her. It would start to feel too real.

“I’m okay on the chair.”

She moved, losing the sheet, revealing she wasn’t wearing anything except maybe some underwear. I swallowed, thankful the shadows were mostly concealing her.

“I’ll throw on some pajamas so you’re not uncomfortable.” She turned, tossing the sheet aside.

“No. It’s not that—get back in bed.” I moved until I was next to her.

My hands were on her shoulders, her face tipped back, looking up at me.

She whispered, “I want you to sleep here…I feel safer when you’re next to me.”

I pushed a few stray strands out of her eyes and tucked them behind her ear before leaning down and kissing her on top of her head.

“Okay.”

Her smile was enough to get me moving until I was crawling across the mattress and settling in next to her. She pulled the sheet over us and snuggled into the crook of my arm.

“Please don’t try to sleep apart from me again.”

I smirked at how tired she must have been, her little slur evident. I rubbed her shoulder, staring up at the ceiling. My chest was doing that strange ache where all I wanted was for this to be real. Eventually I closed my eyes and said the only thing I could.

“Always.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Getting backto normal was an effort.

Juan had promised he was handling the deal with my father even after I offered to be the point of contact so he didn’t have to, or go any further into this thing than he needed to. Juan had laughed, kissed my hairline, and told me not to worry about it, But I did, and I couldn’t stop. I was planning a way out of this; I just needed to know what my father was planning and where he was staying while in North Carolina.

Resuming school was key to feeling back to normal. Juan had told me his men would be watching from afar, but I never saw any of them. He, however, was ever present.

My feet ached, and my back too, so I sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair with my eyes closed in front of a plate full of food I was slightly too exhausted to even eat.

“I think you might be ready for maternity leave, babe.” A smooth voice skittered down my spine as warm fingers brushed along the nape of my neck. My eyes popped open right as Juan spun the chair next to me and straddled it.

“I am taking it in November. I can hold off until then.”

“You just yawned twice.” He smiled, brushing his knuckles down my face.

I still wasn’t sure how to react around him. He’d held me and touched me the other day, at my request. Since then, he’d been careful to treat me as if I was made of glass and a single press of his finger to my skin would shatter me. At night, he’d slide into bed late, and I always woke up each morning, somehow cocooned in his arms, but he’d merely let out a heavy sigh and quickly get out of bed so nothing would happen between us. It was getting annoying.

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