Page 79 of Undeniable Temptation

It wasn’t a threat toward him, it was a defense for her. His look was terrifying, informing her this situation was something she couldn’t handle on her own. “I don’t know which hat to put on. Is this a professional issue? Is it personal? Talk to me.” She bridged the space between them and pleaded with her eyes. “Please, Ryan. You’re scaring me.”

His face crumpled, the lines etching his brow digging deeper the longer he stared at her.Oh, God.She couldn’t take this. She didn’t know how to help him.

He fell to his knees before her, his shoulders slumping, his hair framing his cheeks. “I’m drowning, Leah.” His head fell back and he peered up at her, his eyes stark, his face bleak. He reached for her, latching on to the material of her blouse, and tugged her down to the floor. “I can’t breathe.” He began to hyperventilate. Big breaths. Rasped, labored exhalations.

“I need to call Mason.” She made to run for her cell and he stopped her with an arm around her waist, dragging her down to the floor.

“Stay with me.”

“Then tell me what to do.” She pressed her palms against his chest, placing space between them. “Talk or I’m getting straight on the phone.”

His face crumpled, the man she knew nowhere to be seen. “She’s pregnant.”

Time stopped.

Her throat closed.

The world condensed to three things–Ryan, his ex, and a child. There was no Leah. No love. With two words he’d shoved her from his life whether he wanted to or not.

“No.” The denial slipped free, giving pain a chance to sink in its place.

He simply stared at her, those shiny eyes all the confirmation she needed to give in to sorrow. “Five months. That’s why she’s been trying to call me.” He sat back on his haunches, his arms limp at his sides.

“Five months,” she repeated.

“It could be mine, Leah.”

The clarification washed over her, an invisible landslide destroying everything in its wake.

“The baby could be fucking mine and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to make this right. She wants me to move back in with her. She wants us to be a family. She wants all these things I can’t give her and can’t turn away from either.”

Each announcement wrapped barbed wire around her heart, making each torturous beat harder to bear. “And what do you want?” she whispered. “Where do you fit in to all of this?”

“I don’t know.” His sorrow begged at her, demanding the answers he couldn’t find. “I wanted this with you. Not her. I want this to be our baby. Our family. Our future. I don’t care that we’ve only been together for weeks. In my heart, I’ve always been with you. I can’t go back.”

“Hey.” She ran her hands through his hair, making him focus. “You’re in shock. You need to give this time to sink in.”

“I can’t do this without you. I’m drowning, my lungs are burning, but I can handle the suffocation if I’m with you.” He began to ramble, the words tumbling in quick succession. “Leah, help me. Tell me how I fix this.”

“Shh.” She clutched his shoulders and dragged him forward, squeezing him against her chest. “We’ll figure it out.” She didn’t know how. She didn’t have a clue. There were only platitudes and useless words to fight the anguish. This was what he’d always dreamed of, with the one woman neither one of them wanted to be tied to.

Heaven and hell.

Dreams and nightmares.

Opposites forced together to create anarchy.

“I want you.” He pulled back and cupped her cheeks. “I want a family with you. I want babies.With you.”

“Ryan,please.” She was in too deep, drowning right beside him with no one to save her.

“I need you.” He kissed her, his alcohol and fear colliding with her pain and resignation. “I just need you.”

His lips melted everything inside, leaving her in a worthless pile of nothingness. His tongue entered her mouth, increasing the insanity. Anguish turned into desire with every swipe of his mouth. Numbness built into warmth with the press of his body against hers.

She couldn’t deny him. There was no power to push him away. She craved him, too. Yearned for the passion to temporarily hide the truth. She gripped his shirt, tugged it over his head, only to have him smash his lips back over hers, the kiss possessive.

They didn’t stop, didn’t break for air. Together, they stood, mouths connected, chest to chest. She touched him everywhere, unable to get enough of him, wanting to claim everything as her own before someone else could. When he pulled back, she fought not to crumple under the adoration in his eyes as he stripped her. First her blouse, button by button, then her pants, her underwear, each item removed with delicate finesse. The more skin he exposed, the more vulnerable she became to his touch. She was bare.

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