"You're more than welcome to stay at your own place. You're the one insisting you stay here, not me."
"It's for your safety."
Jo threw her arms out to the side. "And what safety is that? Last time I checked, no one is actively after me. You just keep saying they are."
Annalee was right. I needed to stay calm if I was going to make any headway with Jo. It was getting harder and harder the longer we spoke.
"You can't really believe that. Vanessa had an active blackmailer looking to discover your identity, and now they know who you are. It's only a matter of time before they come for you."
"Again so you say."
We were talking in circles at this point. Clearly we weren't going to get anywhere while she was mad about the coffee.
"What can I do to make this situation better for you?"
Jo dropped her head back and groaned. "Stop being so damn understanding and perfect. It's really fucking annoying."
That brought a smile to my face. "Sorry, no can do."
"This isn't going to work."
"What's that?"
"This arrangement. You. Me. You staying here. Us having a baby together. None of it's going to work."
I didn't know the first thing about pregnancy, so I was definitely going to be looking up if this was normal and how I should help. Although, it didn't seem like she wanted my help at this point.
I walked over to Jo and pulled her into my arms. I was surprised when she didn't fight me on it. "How about we take things one day at a time and see how they go? We don't need to make any final decisions today."
Jo nodded her head against my chest. "Okay."
I took the small win for what it was.
A damn miracle.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jo
"Do you really need to go to work this early in the morning? Shouldn't you be resting?"
There wasn't enough decaf coffee in the world to deal with Maverick at this ungodly hour.
"I'm pregnant, not on my deathbed," I snapped at him as I took my first hit of coffee. It was decaf, so it wouldn't do shit to wake me up and put me in a better mood, but it was better than giving up the habit altogether.
"Maybe not but you still can't keep food down. You need something besides coffee in your system."
"What I need is for you to stop mothering me." I placed the ceramic mug down on the island a little harder than necessary. It was any wonder it didn't break.
"I'm not mothering you. I just want what's good for you and the baby."
"No, you care about the baby. You made it very clear that I disgusted you the last time we were together."
I didn't give Maverick a chance to respond before I was storming out of the house and heading straight for my car that was parked several houses down from mine.
Screw Maverick and his obsessive need to control everything. If I wanted to park farther down from my house, then I would.
I started the car and took off recklessly, not even stopping at the one stop sign at the end of my street. No one else was awake at this time in the morning to care anyway.
