Page 22 of Secret Wolf Baby

“Thanks,” Claire muttered. She gave him a suspicious look as she grabbed her suitcase and walked up the steps.

Jackson watched her go. When her footsteps had faded, he turned to me. “Is she always this shy? Or does she just not like me very much?”

“She doesn’t know what to make of any of this yet,” I said.

“And I’m guessing you don’t, either,” Jackson commented.

I shot him an uneasy look, then looked away. “It’s been a long time since we knew one another.”

His hand went to my shoulder. The small, intimate touch sent shivers radiating through my body in a way I hadn’t felt since… well, since the last time he had touched me. The conflicted desire of wanting to be close to him and still hating him drove me insane. I wanted to step away from his touch, but something kept me rooted to the spot. Despite myself, despite all my hurt and rage, part of me wanted to be close to him. My wolf wanted to nuzzle against him like she had that night all those years ago. To my chagrin, part of my human side wanted to as well.

“Hopefully, we can get to know each other again,” he said.

The words brought me crashing back down to reality. I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t let myself get close to him, not after everything he had put me through, all the hurt. I was stuck here. I knew that much. But that didn’t mean I had to grow close to him. I still hated him for what he had done, for what his actions had put me through, even if he didn’t understand the full scale of it. The worst part was, I couldn’t even tell him everything he had done to me, not without him learning about Claire. And I refused to let him discover the truth about her.

I bent down, pretending to adjust my dress as an excuse to move from his touch. The space where he’d touched my shoulder felt cold and empty, as if it was missing something.

“My bedroom is over there,” he said, nodding down a hallway. “But if you want your own bedroom, especially while we’re getting used to each other, then I would understand.”

I opened my mouth, then hesitated. Part of me, my wolf in particular, wanted desperately to curl up next to Jackson every night. Despite my own feelings, she had missed him. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with him, to be by him always.

But the other, more rational side of me hated the idea of being anywhere near the man who broke my heart. I didn’t hate him. I didn’t have the anger to hate him, not the way I used to. But I didn’t trust him, and I couldn’t sleep next to a man I didn’t trust.

“I think separate bedrooms would be a good idea,” I said.

He nodded. I could see disappointment in his eyes but also acceptance. “In that case, you might want one of the rooms upstairs.”

“I’ll wait for Claire to pick first.”

Giving a short chortle, he inquired, “Is she the type of person who will take the biggest room?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

She’d never had the chance to make that decision before, so even if she did take the biggest room, I wasn’t going to stop her. She deserved to have some perks after getting dragged away from the life she knew.

“So, you have a daughter,” he said after a long pause.

I closed my eyes, doing my best not to wince. I’d been anticipating and dreading this conversation since this whole mess had started. Of course he was going to ask about Claire. I just hadn’t entirely decided how I was going to handle the unpleasant inquiry.

I had flip-flopped back and forth about whether to tell Jackson the truth about Claire back when I had first found outwe were going with him. After all, there were enough physical similarities between them that if he noticed, he would figure it out on his own. In the end, though, I decided to keep it to myself. All I could think about was how much he had hurt me when he rejected me. What would happen if he learned about Claire and did the same thing to her? I didn’t think I could bear it.

Claire didn’t know who her father was, either. I had told her only the bare essentials whenever she asked about him. I had decided I would tell her the whole story when she turned eighteen. Though, now I wasn’t sure I would be able to do that. But that was still years away, and based on how Jackson had used me and dumped me, I doubted he would stay interested in us for that long.

“Yeah,” I finally said.

“She seems sweet.”

“Yeah,” I repeated.

“I know she’s probably shaken up about moving here, but she’s taking it in stride,” he said.

“She’s good at adapting,” I said.

“I’m sure her father isn’t too happy about her leaving town, though,” Jackson said.

I finally turned to look at him and was surprised at the intensity in his gaze. “You’re fishing,” I accused.

His lips quirked upward in that absurdly attractive way that had always made my stomach lurch, ever since we were kids. “And you’re as perceptive and blunt as always,” he shot back.

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