Page 61 of Unexpected Delivery

He bumps his cheek against mine, making his stubble lightly scrape across my skin. He gets very close to my ear before saying, “Once you’re all healed up, I’m going to lick and suck every goddamn inch of your skin. I can’t wait to have you stretched out under me. You’ll be completely at my mercy.”

My eyes fall shut, and I bite my lip to keep from moaning.

Hael Easton might be more than I can handle.

Once we’re in the car, I pull out my phone to check the messages. My heart races as I read through them. It says that she didn’t mention it today because she had an audience in the break room, but Adam has come by multiple times looking for me.

Becky still works at the golf resort where I worked for almost two years. Apparently, Adam even tried to convince a few of my old coworkers that he was worried I might do something to hurt myself or the baby.

That son of a bitch!

It’s not even hard to imagine him pulling something like that, and I’m so distraught that I miss most of the ride home. After I thank her for letting me know, she promises not to say a word about where I am.

It feels a little like Gracie and I are sitting ducks. I should have given birth somewhere, then bolted to a new town. That way, he wouldn’t be able to track me electronically. The last thing I want is a lengthy custody battle with that absolute garbage dump of a human being.

I’m so distracted that I jolt when Hael opens my door.

Shit.

I missed us arriving home.

His brow wrinkles as he studies my face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I lie, swallowing around the lump in my throat. “I had a great time.”

“Me too, beautiful.” He stretches over me, unbuckling my seat belt. “I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk about whatever it is that turned your scent so sour.”

I offer a smile that I’m sure he can tell is plastic. “I just really want to see Gracie.”

He nods, but I know he knows I’m lying.

It’s just way too much to get into.

I’m tucked under the covers in my pajamas with Gracie lying next to me. She’s such a ham. Her little cheeks have gained a fullness that speaks to how fast she’s growing, and I brush my pointer finger over one as she snoozes. She already ate and burped, but I didn’t have the heart to put her in her bassinet.

Adam is a nightmare waiting to happen, and I don’t have the first clue how to fix that situation. It’s so complicated. I want less than nothing to do with that man, but without him, I wouldn’t have Gracie. Not having her is something I can’t even fathom, so it makes me feel guilty to wish I had never met him.

The door to the primary suite opens, and my head flies up.

It’s easy enough to tell it’s Hael. His tattoos are a completely different pattern and vibe from Hayes’s, especially the ones on his neck, and the man is only in a pair of low-slung sweats.

He’s evil.

And a very distracting image as he swaggers closer. He comes to a stop at the side of the bed and lifts Gracie, patting her bum to keep from waking her. Placing her down in the bassinet, he turns back to me with a predatory smile on his face.

He climbs onto the mattress, rolls me onto my back, and traps me with his forearms around my head and his legs outside of mine.

“Now that I have you at my mercy, how about you tell me what happened on the drive home?” Hael brushes his nose against mine, and it’s a comforting move, even if my heart thumps erratically.

He’s been open and honest with me, and it feels shitty not to do the same, but it’s hard to open up to someone when I’ve seen what happens when I do.

I told Adam all about my past, and he used it against me when it was convenient for him.

Hael isn’t like that, though.

My eyes fall shut as I tell him about how my dads died. “…I wasn’t in a good place for a while after that. Once I left school, I lived with two other waitresses at my old job. They partied a lot, and I didn’t have anything better to do.” I sigh heavily and meet his gaze with my now-open eyes. “I vaguely remember them inviting me to a house party one night after work, but the whole night is kind of one big blur. I was wasted. The cops came because the guy who threw the party didn’t have permission from the homeowners. One of the officers detained me, but our entire conversation is missing time.”

“Shit,” Hayes says, sliding to lie next to me on the mattress. He turns toward me, and I twist to face him. “Did they arrest you?”

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