Page 54 of Wicked Attraction

I let out a bark of laughter. “I do one thing very easily, Jasper, as you well know.” I stopped as realization dawned. This wasn’t about my safety, not really. This little incident gave him the perfect opportunity to keep an eye on me. “That’s why you want me at Ashby Manor.”

His shoulders rose and fell with a dramatic sigh. “And why is that, Mo?”

“You want to keep an eye on me? Maybe get your doctor to get some DNA so you can figure out if this baby is yours or not?”

“Would that be such a bad thing?”

“You could try being honest, a thought that probably never occurred to you. I’m not asking you to be involved. If you think I’m lying, don’t worry, you can walk away guilt-free. Again, I’m not asking for anything from you.”

He folded his arms; a fierce, angry expression darkened his handsome face. “That’s not your call to make.”

“It damn well is,” I shot back, feeling my anger rise. “If it settles your mind, have your doctor stitch me up, and I’ll give himpermissionto take my blood for testing. Or however they do it these days. Then you can get your results and leave me alone.”

Humiliation burned deep in my gut at the direction my thoughts had gone, thinking that Jasper cared about me beyond my basic well-being. He was just protecting his empire, and if this baby was his, he would keep the child close, which meant—by default—keepingmeclose.

“Leave you alone?” Jasper let out a deep, rumbling laugh. It was light and free, unlike any sound I had ever heard from him.

The sound brought a smile to my face.

“If that’s my baby you’re carrying, we’re bound for life, Mo. For life.”

When he said it like that, it sounded more like a threat than a romantic promise.

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Jasper

“Where the fuck is Cal?” I convened a meeting with Terry and Virgil, and Cal had left us hanging as usual.

“He’ll be here,” Virgil assured me with an exhausted sigh. “Said he had to get a sitter situation settled for Ava Rose.”

I didn’t believe that shit for one second. “Yeah, right.”

Terry’s brows furrowed. “Is this meeting specific to something or just a state of the union type of deal?”

Terry sat back with his legs crossed at the ankles, relaxed as could be even though it was early in the morning and it was just us three inside the dining room. I wanted to meet without the staff listening in. Before Maisie and Kat woke for the day.

I sighed, grateful to Terry for trying to keep this shit show on track.

“Something specific. Some asshole attacked Mo in the parking lot of Emerald Isle. Claimed to have a message for me, but I beat the fuck out of him before getting the message. Later, he didn’t have much to say. It’s hard to speak without teeth, apparently.”

Terry and Virgil both laughed. “Who was he?” Virgil’s low growl told me he was as pissed off as I was, even though he didn’t have all the details.

“No clue. He didn’t say much before Hulu pulled all of his teeth and shipped him out of town in pieces.” I flashed a smile and sighed.

“The question,” Virgil said with a smile, “is why did this asshole come after Mo, and why did you just happen to be at Emerald Isle?”

He wiggled his eyebrows expectantly, and I dropped down in the chair with a sigh.

“I’ve been fucking her,” I growled in response. “And now she’s pregnant.” There was no point beating around the bush. I invited them here for a reason, and that was one of them.

Terry let out a loud roar of laughter first, smacking the table with his palm, and cracking up. “You sure the baby is yours?”

“Right,” Virgil added. “I mean, we are talking about Mo, and she gets around Jas.”

I knew what they were saying, and even though it pissed me off, they were right. There were no secrets about Mo. She fucked for cash all the time. Anybody. Anywhere.

“Yeah, well, we fucked, and we did it raw so the possibility exists that the child is mine.”

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