Page 66 of Risk

I ignore the stupid butterflies that gives me and focus on the latter part of his sentence. “What do you mean, when I come home at night?”

“We’re going to live together once the babies arrive. Well, before they arrive.”

“Are we?” My eyes are as wide as the plates stacked in my kitchen cupboard.

“It makes the most sense. You live in university housing.” He gestures around my small studio. “There’s not enough room here for you, let alone two kids. My place is bigger. It has three bedrooms. Plus, you’re going to need help through the final stages of pregnancy.”

“So, you just assume that I’m going to move in with you. What the hell, Kaden? You can’t just come in here and tell me that I’m moving in with you. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Come on. You can’t possibly think that you would live here with our two kids, and I’d live in my apartment with all thatspace, and we’d just bounce the kids between places. It’s not logical.”

I know it’s not logical. But I’m not feeling very logical at this moment. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s being told what to do.

My stubborn hands find my hips. “Okay, so let’s say we live together in yourmassive apartment.” There’s definite snark on those last two words. “What if I want to date? Once the twins are born and we all settle into a routine and I decide I want to move on with that part of my life, what happens when I bring that date home with me? Would you be okay with that?”

I wouldn’t do that because I’d never introduce my children to a man who’s not going to stay for the long-term, but this isn’t about sensible; it’s about pushing his buttons, which seems to be working.

If I said his face darkened, it would be an understatement. It’s like a Category Four storm has blown into his face.

“You plan on dating?” His jaw pops as he speaks.

“Well, not while I’m pregnant, obviously. But after, yeah. I’m not going to stay single forever.” The last part is true, but I won’t be thinking of dating until the twins are older and I’m done with school.

His brows push together. “You wouldn’t be single if you’d stop being stubborn and be with me.”

That pushes all of my buttons. “I’m not being stubborn! We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if I wasn’t pregnant! And I refuse to be with someone who only wants to be with me because I’m having their babies!”

“That isn’t why I want to be with you!” he fires back.

“Bullshit! You left after we had sex! While I was sleeping! You snuck out of that hotel room like I was some dirty little secret! And I didn’t hear a thing from you for four fucking weeks! Nothing! You didn’t want to be with me then, and you don’t want to be with me now.”

“Did you not listen to a word I just said?”

“I heard everything you said. I just don’t believe you.”

“What about Zeus’s party?”

“What about it? You were jealous, and your pride was bruised because you thought Aaron was my date. It’s the classic case of not wanting someone, but not wanting someone else to have them either.”

“Don’t pull your psychology bullshit on me.”

“Fuck off. It’s not bullshit. That is exactly what happened.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Beautiful.”

He walks—no, stalks—across the room toward me, stopping only inches away. I have to tilt my face to look at his.

“I’ve told you why I kept my distance. Why I left that night. You deserve better than me. You still do.”

His eyes are pinning me to the spot. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.

“Being inside you that night…feeling you, tasting you for the first time…it’s made it harder for me to find the strength to stay away from you, to not be selfish and just take you for myself. But things are different now. Yes, you’re pregnant with my children, but that’s not why I’m saying these things. I’m saying them because they’re true. They always have been, and being here with you, spending time around you, it makes it impossible for me to stay away for the reasons I used to.”

He leans in, and I bump back against the counter, my heart pounding in my chest. There’s zero space between us. He’s so close that I can feel the heat from his body, and it’s making my nipples tighten and my clit pulse.

Fucking stupid, hormonal, pregnant body.

It doesn’t take much to turn me on nowadays, and with Kaden this close to me, it’s impossible for me not to want him.

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