Page 22

I try to yank myself out of his hold but his grip is firm and when I struggle, he pulls me tighter to him. I wish I could say that it didn’t make my resolve disappear just a tiny bit but my weekend with Diego was, without a doubt, the hottest, most intense sexual experience of my life and I would be lying if I said that I hadn’t been laying awake at night for the past six months thinking about doing it again.

But I don’t do that.

I don’t go back for seconds or thirds because that’s how you get your damn heart broken. That’s how you end up in an unfamiliar city, hundreds of miles from home, all alone and crying because some little fuck boy took advantage of you and your inexperience. I refuse to go back there again. With that in mind, I level a glare at him and hold tight to my resolve, hoping it’s enough to win against him.

“Let me go.”

“Iz… maybe it’s best if you go stay with him,” Ali says from behind me as Diego continues staring down at me, his eyes just as determined as I feel. Perfect. “Y’all obviously have a lot to work out.”

“No.”

Using his grip on my wrist, he maneuvers me around so he’s standing behind me with both of us facing the front door and a shiver racks my body as he leans down and his lips brush my ear. “Go get in the fucking truck, Isabelle.”

God, the way my name rolls off of his lips is enough to make me drop to my knees but I have to stay strong and resist my attraction to him if I’m going to win this fight.

“Make me,” I whisper back before the less defiant part of my brain can tell me that it’s a very bad idea and his answering chuckle makes everything south of my belt line clench with desire as he scoops me up in his arms. Pain I had forgotten about swamps my body and I hiss, making him stop in his tracks as he carries me out of the house.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his eyes tender and full of concern as he searches my face and, just like that, some of my anger falls away as I nod.

“Just really sore from last night.”

Satisfied with my answer, he starts walking again, careful not to jostle me too much. But I can’t make it that easy on him. I try to struggle against him but my ire doesn’t hold the same fire as it did back in the house and I’m quickly losing control of this situation.

Or maybe I never really had it.

“Put me down,” I grumble, slapping my hand against his broad chest and he flicks a glance in my direction as he fights back a smile.

“No.”

“God damn it, Diego. Put me the fuck down, right now.”

He stops in the middle of the driveway, skidding on the gravel a little bit as his gaze connects with mine. “Will you get in the damn truck and let me take you home so I can keep you and our baby safe?”

Behind the anger shining in his eyes, there is a tenderness peeking through as he waits for my answer and I sigh. I could continue to defy him but what’s the point? This may not be the way I saw all of this working out and I still have no clue what the future is going to look like when our baby comes into this world but I know that I trust Diego to do whatever it takes to keep the two of us safe. The rest we’ll just have to figure out as we go.

Chapter Eight

Diego

“Will you get in the damn truck and let me take you home so I can keep you and our baby safe?” I ask, coming to a dead stop in the middle of Storm and Ali’s driveway and resisting the urge to grit my teeth at the maddening woman cradled in my arms. I don’t think I’ve ever been this pissed off in my damn life and there is a part of me that wants to tie her up and toss her lying ass into my truck whether she likes it or not. I don’t give a single shit if she doesn’t want to come stay with me. Not only did she lie to me and everyone else around her, it seems, about this baby for the last six months but she’s also managed to get herself into a world of fucking trouble in the meantime. There is a lake at the front corner of the property and she’d have to chain me to the bottom of it to stop me. And even then, I might still find a way.

My mind feels like it’s loaded with bricks as I try to process the news Storm just inadvertently dropped into my lap but it still doesn’t feel real. I’m going to be a father. When I try to picture it, the only thing that comes to mind is an image of my own father and thinking of him sends a pang through my chest. There was a time in my life when I would have called the man my best friend but in his eyes, I’m no longer the person he raised me to be and seeing me decked out in my cut, covered in tattoos, only reminds him what a disappointment I am. The thing is, when I look back over the last three years, I can see that my life has changed a lot but I haven’t changed. I’m still the same man I was when I was a cop, just better able to help people now. He can’t see that though. At this point, we barely speak to each other and I can’t remember the last time we were in the same room as each other that didn’t end in a screaming match and my mother crying. My stomach twists and I close my eyes to block out the painful memories before opening them again and dropping them to Izzy’s belly.

It’s small but there is a definite bump under her shirt and I still can’t quite believe that’s my baby in there. Maybe if I had been here, by her side through this whole thing, then it would feel more real. God knows I wish I could have been there, could have watched our child grow each month. It’s something I’ll never get back and I don’t even know how to go about forgiving Izzy for that no matter what her reasons were for keeping this from me.

Fuck.

What the hell was she thinking?

Was she ever going to tell me that I’m about to be a father?

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so damn hard on her since I haven’t exactly been the kind of man a woman would be proud to call hers and having a baby with a guy like that sounds like asking for trouble. If I’m being honest with myself, maybe she was better off before I knew about all of this, before I knew about my child, because now that I do, she won’t be able to get away from me. I refuse to be anything other than a damn good father and I will do whatever it takes to protect the two of them. She’s just going to have to be okay with that because I’ve already lost too many people that I’ve cared about to leave her care in the hands of anyone else.

Her honey eyes snap to mine, as stubborn and infuriating as ever but just underneath that is the same white-hot attraction that led to seventy-two hours of the most earth-shattering sex I’ve ever had. My pulse spikes and I hold her gaze, remembering the way she stared at me that first night as she slid her dress off her shoulders so confidently, like she knew she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever laid eyes on. Shit. It was so damn good that I’ve been using the memories of that weekend to get myself off for the last six fucking months because nothing else has worked for me since the moment Izzy put her hands on me. When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is the image of her on top of me, her head thrown back and her fingers digging into my chest as she rode my dick like it was her salvation. My gaze drops to her lips for just a fraction of a second, and I can’t help thinking about how easy it would be to just lean in and claim her mouth.

She lets out a little huff, snapping me out of my thoughts and I glance up, meeting her eyes again as I shift my weight from one foot to the other. My cock aches and I grip her body a little tighter against mine. Just when I think she’s going to defy me again, she sighs and nods before turning away from me. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeat softly, relieved as fuck. If she’s with me, in my home, I can do what it takes to keep her and our baby safe. That’s the only damn thing that matters to me anymore. Well, that and maybe having a repeat performance or two of our hot as fuck weekend. Izzy has made it clear to anyone who will listen that she doesn’t do relationships and I’m not looking to change that but there is definitely still something between us, something I desperately want to explore. I hold my ground in the driveway with Izzy in my arms, hoping she’ll glance in my direction again but she refuses to meet my gaze, staring off into the distance with a defiant tilt to her chin.