Page 28 of This Time Around

Rafe climbed back in the driver seat, sighed heavily and adjusted his aching cock. “Fuck.”

Chapter Six

Jane sat wedged between her parents on the couch, watching a television program about wannabe bakers competing for the chance to win a golden egg whisk or something, and listening to her mothertskand mutter, “Amateurs,” every five minutes.

“Yes, dear,” her father said absently, flicking through a magazine about wooden boat designs. “I think them being amateurs is the point of the show.”

As time wore on and the next program began, Jane felt an unnerving sense of déjà vu crawl over her skin. She’d been here before, sat in this exact spot, listened to this exact conversation, wished she could be somewhere,anywhereelse.

The last time, she’d been a teenager and too polite to move off the couch before the required allotment of “family time” had come to an end.

Now she was a thirty-two-year-old woman who was quite simply over it and had better things to do with her time.

Wanting to be alone—or at the very least, needing to be away from the suffocating presence of her mum and dad—Jane excused herself and retreated to her bedroom.

Being careful of her belly, she flopped down on the soft bedding, then reached for her mobile phone… that she had no idea how the hell she was going to continue paying for.

Awesome.

Jane unlocked her phone and scrolled through her social media feeds for about ten minutes before morbid curiosity got the better of her and she pulled up her banking app.

It was only the hundredth or so time she’d checked it since her not-wedding, but she still foolishly clung to the hope that it had all been a bad dream, and that if she just wished hard enough, her money would reappear and everything would be all right.

But when she saw her available balance was only $47.28 instead of the $200,964.12 she’d had tucked away in there two weeks ago, reality kicked her right in the feels with the force of a Mack truck, and she thought she was going to be sick.

Yep, nothing had changed.

Her accounts were still empty.

She was still broke.

And she still had a whole other person growing inside her who would eventually need food and clothing and a mother who actually had half a clue about what the hell she was doing.

The urge to throw her phone at the wall and smash it into a million pieces set angry tears burning behind her eyes, mostly because she knew she couldn’t afford to replace it if she did.

Just like she’d known, as she’d listened to the dying throes of her Jeep after lunchtime, she couldn’t afford a new car either, or rent her own place, or provide even the most basic of needs for her child.

She was going to have to rely on other people, on her parents, on Rafe, and she wasn’t sure if she could. Or even if she should.

After all, there was a reason she’d never officially dated the lawman, and it wasn’t from a lack of attraction.

When her father had interrupted her and Rafe in the driveway, she’d been sure he’d been about to kiss her again, despite what he’d said about falling back into old habits.

Badhabits.

She’d not imagined the look of pure hunger in his eyes when he’d trapped her against the car door and asked if she was picking a fight with him. Nor had she imagined the thick erection he’d pressed against her belly.

He’d been going to kiss her.

She knew it. And she’d wanted him to kiss her—desperately! She’d wanted to feel his firm, hot lips pressed against hers as he mastered her mouth and stole her breath. She’d wanted to inhale his cologne, that heady scent of warm leather and rich spice, and lick the strong column of his neck, feel his Adam’s apple bob when he swallowed down a groan of desire….

Rafe Bennett was a confusing, contradictory man.

One moment he was pushing her away, telling her no. The next he was staring down at her, his fathomless blue eyes glazed with desire, his perfectly moulded lips quirked in a knowing grin and his big broad body looming over hers.

Making her heart race and her pussy wet.

And yes, admittedly, shemayhave been goading him into a fight. But who could blame her? She had itches that needed scratching, and she liked the way he scratched. And fights with Rafe nearly always ended in sex.

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