Page 39 of The Virgin's Baby
Dumphy agreed, “Yeah, let us be the judges. Don’t you respect our opinions?”
“I don’t need you to judge her. Nor do I want you to.” I had a huge rush of adrenaline all of a sudden and got up. “As a matter of fact, I won’t allow either of you to judge her. She’s perfect. I mean perfect in every way. She’s gorgeous, personable, even sweet most of the time. The hormone injections have made some temporary adjustments to her normal attitude, but that’s to be expected. And I will not have anyone say a bad word about Aspen. I mean it.”
Alejandro looked stunned. “Did you say that she’s gorgeous?”
“Out of all that I just said, that’s all you heard?” I flopped down in the chair again. “Good God!”
“Well, you can’t blame him,” Dumphy said. “You don’t like gorgeous women.”
“I know that.” I bit my lower lip as I thought about why I liked Aspen so damn much. “She’s different. She doesn’t try to use her beauty to get what she wants. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t even realize how beautiful she actually is. She’s a rare gem. I don’t expect you guys to understand.”
“You sound like you’ve fallen in love, Ransom,” Alejandro said in a whisper.
“No,” I said quickly. “I haven’t fallen in love. I don’t think it’s possible for me. And she deserves love. I know she does. But I still want her to be the mother of my baby. I still want her to live here with us. I still want all of that, but I know I can’t ever love her.”
Dumphy looked puzzled. “Then what the hell are you doing, man?”
“Respecting my grandfather’s wishes.” At least that’s how I looked at it.
Dumphy saw things differently. “I wouldn’t call what he’s doing ‘wishes’. I would call them ‘demands’. I would call what he’s doing blackmail. Do as I say or be poor as a church mouse. Maybe you should consider the reality of this whole thing. Not only for your sake but for the sake of this woman who you seem to think a hell of a lot of.”
Maybe he’s right. Perhaps I should give Aspen the chance to walk away from this.
Chapter Eighteen
Aspen
Lubbock, Texas – June 1st
My bedroom door opened at one in the morning. I knew it was Ransom, here to give me the shot. I lay perfectly still on my side, pretending to be asleep. The truth was I hadn’t even fallen to sleep yet.
I couldn’t manage it. I was so worried he would be taking off with his friends who’d shown up. I kept an eye on the window of my bedroom that overlooked the driveway. The car his friends came in had left around nine that night. I had no idea if Ransom was in that car or not.
And I wasn’t about to go looking around to see if he’d left either. I was playing it cool, the way Margo had told me to. Acting as if I didn’t care at all. But I did care.
Ransom moved the blanket off my shoulder, pulling it down then pulling up the hem of my t-shirt to expose my side and stomach. Pinching a small amount of flesh, he jabbed the needle in then pushed in the hormones.
My body jerked. Not from pain, but from something else. I wasn’t sure what to call it. His touch sent something akin to an electric current through me.
“I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?” he asked, quietly.
“Yeah,” I lied. Rolling over, I looked at him. He was wearing his pajamas, so he hadn’t gone out with his friends after all. But I had to ask anyway, “You didn’t go out with those guys who came over?”
“No. How could I? I’ve got to give you this shot.” He smiled at me, and the sight made my heart speed up.
But I had to remember to act bitchy. “You didn’t have to stay. I guess I could’ve figured it out by myself.”
“I didn’t want to go. I’m not in the mood for that kind of thing.” He went to the little red container where he threw the needle and syringe away. “If you’re up for it. I would like to talk to you for a little while.”
I sat up, nodding, plumping my pillows behind me and then resting my back on them as I pulled the blanket up to cover my nipples—they always seemed to get hard around him. “What would you like to talk about?”
“This.” He took a seat at the end of the bed. “This baby thing.”
“What about it?” I asked. His weight on my bed made me go wet. If he would just come a little closer, I could grab him. Kiss him. My body went hot, and I hoped he wouldn’t see the sweat sprouting on my brow.
“It’s come to my attention that I may not be doing this for the right reasons. My friends think my grandfather is blackmailing me into doing something I shouldn’t be doing.” He looked right into my eyes, the dim light from a nearby nightlight made them glisten.
“Although I haven’t spoken with your grandfather at length, I don’t think he is doing this as blackmail. I think he genuinely loves you and doesn’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life.” I wasn’t being bitchy the way Margo had told me to, but Ransom needed some sage advice. Games didn’t have a place at such a critical moment.
