Because this is me, Tay.
Twisted as fuck. Wanting you every way I’ve never been allowed to. And using this to get it.
So see it.
Believe it.
Save us. From me.
‘But…’ Her voice shakes, her eyes dragging over my face. ‘Why?’
I shrug, but there’s nothing casual about it. ‘Because if I’m giving you that, I ain’t jerking off into a cup. I ain’t letting some stranger in a lab handle what we can do ourselves.’ I step closer. ‘You wanted real?’ Another step. So close, she has to tilt her head back. ‘Let’s make it real.’
‘And then?’ Barely a breath. ‘What happens then?’
‘You walk away with my baby inside you. Your baby. No strings. No mess. No confusion.’
‘And you?’ she whispers. ‘What do you get out of this?’
‘Ain’t that obvious?’
I let my eyes drop to her mouth, daring her to call my bluff…
‘I get you.’
Taylor
‘You getme?’ I whisper, wrestling with his meaning and the feral pull in the air.
Carved by moonlight, eyes black as night, Ax has never looked more dangerous… or more devastating. Like he’s one breath away from taking me apart. And God help me, I’d let him.
Because my body isn’t just thrumming with possibility over a baby; it’s thrumming withhim, with a fire I shouldn’t even be standing this close to.
‘Yes.’
The entire world tilts on that one word.
Yes.
It’s not soft. Not tender. Not protective – and Iknowprotective. It’s how he looked at me from the very first day we met.
But this… this is possessive.
Axel. Possessive.Over me?
‘What about the caterer? You said…’
My tease trails off, my throat closing around it. Christmas. Theo’s proposal. Our stupid camaraderie.Camaraderie, for fuck’s sake. Because we’re friends. We’re not— not?—
‘Turns out she wasn’t my type.’
‘And suddenly, I am?’ I try to laugh it out, but it cuts short when his eyes sweep over me, ever darker, jaw flexing as he refuses to answer. ‘This is a joke, right? Some twisted push to make me rethink the whole thing: the baby, being a mum?—’
My rambling quits when he plucks a strand of hair from my lip, the shake of his head so subtle, I might have imagined it. But there’s no imagining the continued heat in his eyes.
‘We’re friends,bestfriends,’ I say too fast, too breathy. ‘You really wanna risk all that?—?’
‘No.’
