Page 38 of Desire Me
King spoke for the first time since she’d come into the kitchen. “That you’re not married.”
For a second her mind went blank, frozen, before the full meaning of his words hit. She stared at him, stunned. “I—” Oh God. She hadn’t even considered the possibility, though it made sense in a weird way. She’d obviously been hiding everything about herself from the man she’d been living with. Had she been running from a husband? Was she the kind of person who would sleep with one man while making promises to another?
There was no real way of knowing, was there?
She hadn’t realized she was shaking her head until Saint took it between his palms, holding her still. “It’s okay, cariño. It’s gonna be okay.”
“How can you say that?” Her voice cracked. “What if I—if we— What—”
Saint squeezed the slightest bit, drawing her focus back to him. “Rae.” He leaned in until his lips brushed hers. Rae tried to jerk away, but he wouldn’t let go, wouldn’t allow her to escape those gorgeous hazel eyes that seemed to see right down to her soul. “It’s gonna be okay, no matter what,” he whispered, mouth to mouth, his breath filling her lungs. And God help her, but she savored every breath she got of him.
“Don’t assume the worst,” Elliott said, breaking the moment. She moved to the fridge and started pulling out sandwich fixings. “We’ll know soon enough with your name. Don’t borrow trouble, Raegan.”
“Easy for you to say,” but the emphasis on the second syllable of her name felt like a warm blanket despite the chill inside her.
While they worked on throwing together lunch, King and Saint finished setting up a huge mound of equipment in Saint’s dining room, transforming it from a warm gathering space to a high-tech command center. After everyone ate, King went to work on the computer. Saint worked beside him on a laptop, as did Elliot on the opposite side. Dain watched her pace along the windows at the back of the house while he spoke quietly on his cell phone. After about ten minutes, he hung up and stood. “Wanna go for a walk, Rae?”
“Me?”
“You.” The smile he gave her transformed his face from hardened warrior to tempting alpha. “Unless you don’t feel like it, but I figure you could probably use some air. Just an easy stroll down the driveway.”
In that moment she wanted desperately to feel the sun on her face. “I’ll grab my shoes and coat.”
Saint wore a frown when she joined Dain at the door of the dining room, but he didn’t protest. If she had been capable of skipping, she’d have done it as they crossed to the front entrance and headed down the stairs. Dain stayed quiet, his presence a balm she hadn’t expected—the man was nothing short of intimidating when he wanted to be. Right now, he apparently didn’t want to be.
They were halfway down the long driveway before he finally spoke. “You know, my wife, she’s been walking every evening with some ladies she met in our new neighborhood. Helps her get to know people and helps keep her active with her pregnancy, especially the farther along she gets.”
Rae wondered which objective, relational or physical, Dain was after with her. She decided to go with relational. “Your wife’s pregnant?”
She swore the guy’s chest puffed up with pride. “Due any day.”
“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“No idea.” His laugh was gruff, but Rae imagined it gave his wife good shivers every time she heard it. Kind of like Saint’s grin did with her. “Olivia has this running joke that she won’t tell me until the baby pops out.”
“So she knows but you don’t? Does that bother you?”
Dain scooped up a flat rock from the driveway and gave it a skip along the rough pavement. “No. She knows I could find out if I really wanted to. I thought I might, but I realized pretty early that I don’t care either way. I just want the baby to be here. It’s our first, after thinking for several years that we couldn’t get pregnant. A healthy baby is gift enough.” He gave a little huff. “I’m more worried about the kind of father I’ll be than what gender the baby is.”
She’d seen no evidence that Dain had issues that might impact him being an adequate caregiver, although she could understand being nervous at his age—he had to be in his early forties—and not having had a kid before now. But then there was also the fact that you never really knew someone else deep down, right? “Why would you worry about not being a good father?”
He shrugged. “I’ve spent most of my life around violence. First in the military, then in private security. Not to mention there’s a mindset that comes with this job, of watching for danger around every corner, expecting the worst. Who’s to say how the life I’ve lived will translate into fatherhood?”
That was an easy one. “How do you treat your wife?”
Dain chuckled, grinning down at her. “You sound like Olivia. I treat her like the queen she is, and that’s exactly what she said when I was ‘philosophizing’ last night.” He grabbed another rock and sent it flying. “I have a feeling you’d like her.”
Rae agreed.
“The thing is, I think what she said to me would also apply to you.”
“Apply to me?” Rae definitely wasn’t becoming a parent. The hospital would have discovered that one.
“Of course.” Dain turned serious quick, his eyes narrowing on her as he came to a stop. “Do you think I didn’t see the look on your face when Saint said something about being married? You’re doubting yourself.”
“I—”
He held up a hand. “Don’t get me wrong; I totally understand how doubt might be playing a part for you right now. I mean, this isn’t exactly a normal situation, and not knowing anything about yourself might have thrown you for a bit. But”—his voice gentled—“having amnesia doesn’t change who you are, Rae. It just changes what you remember.”
