Page 10 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

“The Darryl thing will blow over. It’s business as usual until it does. But if he keeps yapping, then hit him where it hurts.” The will stipulated that we give Darryl a stipend of money each month, but we were allowed to withhold it if he started showing delinquent tendencies. His current actions sounded like they fit the bill. And if it didn’t, well, Sean and the lawyers could make sure it did.

Sean sighed tiredly. “You don’t pay me nearly enough for this.”

“Yes, I do.” I hung up without saying anything further, turning my attention back to Allie, who was staring at me, still wide-eyed.

Shit.

I didn’t realize how all that would sound without context.

Ireallyshould have fucking left before taking the call, but I was too lost in her to make that rational choice.

Since the moment I saw her in that dress, it’d been hard to concentrate on much else. Desire had swum inside me, so thick and heady that I felt it in my throat. As it is, I was barely able to speak above a growl.

Fuck, she’d filled out over the years.

While she still maintained her youthful, petite frame, there was now a pleasant layer of flesh padding her curves. Curves I wanted to sink my teeth into, to sink my entire self in.

Only self-control had kept me from kissing her right there on her doorstep, as I wanted to be on my best behavior. This wasn’t one of the faceless women in New York whose company I kept simply for sex. This was Allie. The woman was innocent as the sunrise. I didn’t want to scare her, so I kept my hands to myself all the way here.

Stop staring at her like that if you don’t want to scare her,I scolded myself.

She’d already looked away from me, studying the room. It was a sign of nerves, probably because I hadn’t said anything in the past minute and was just staring at her like an idiot.

I cleared my throat, burying my desire once more under social mores.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized. “Some guys from work are just throwing a tantrum.”

“It’s okay,” she said in a voice that sounded distinctly tenser than it had been earlier. I cursed Sean again. If he ruined this for me, I was going to take it out on him during our next boxing session.

Allie smiled weakly, gesturing to her lobster. “This is good.”

“Is it?” I had yet to take a bite. But rather than take one off my plate, I reached over and snagged one of her pieces with my hand.

Her eyes went to my lips as I popped the fleshy meat into my mouth, the taste exploding on my tongue. She was right. It did taste good.

But nothing was as good as seeing her eyes flare and go slightly darker when I licked my fingers after, taking my time to suck the juices off each finger.

She bit her lip, and I watched her squirm ever so slightly in her seat. And just like that, I was rock hard.

Fuck, calm down.

“So,” I said, trying to wrack my brain for conversation starters. I wasn’t very good at making conversation, and with most people, I didn’t care to try. But with Allie…I didn’t want to just sit here watching her like a creep, either. What would be the polite thing to say right now? “What are you doing these days?”

Good question. Not too invasive. General enough so she can talk about anything, and I can hear that soft melodic voice of hers go on and on for hours.

She shrugged. “Not much.”

I cocked my eyebrow.

“That’s it?” The woman I remembered could expound on even the simplest topics and would usually not let the conversation end with just two words.

“Yeah,” she said, and there was a hint of anxiety in her voice. I could also sense she was twisting her fingers in her lap and, once again, avoiding my gaze. “I haven’t been up to anything since you’ve been gone. Except I’m not a waitress anymore and now work for my family’s resort. But I told you that already. I don’t do much apart from that, and nothing else has changed.”

“You got married,” I said, proud that I kept most of the jealousy out of my voice. It was irrational to be jealous. After all, I was the one who left her, and I didn’t expect her to wait for me or anything like that.

I was never even expecting to come back.

Still, the thought of any other man being with her, touching her, holding her made me feel slightly psychotic. And if I were truly honest, I wanted to find this ex-husband of hers and demand what right he had to touch something that was mine.

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