Page 23

God, she’s beautiful.

I wait a few more seconds before giving up and carrying her to the passenger side of the truck, managing to open the door while still holding her in my arms. She scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I can walk, you know, you fucking barbarian.”

I grin as I glance down at her feet. “Without shoes?”

She huffs in annoyance but still refuses to look at me and a laugh bubbles out of me as she presses her lips into a thin line. Her little body is practically vibrating with her rage and I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing again. Most people who know Izzy would run for cover if she was angry with them but I’ve always thought the things that make everyone around her cower are the the things that make her magnificent. Plus, she’s pretty fucking cute when she gets all fired up. I may have even intentionally egged her on a time or two just to get a reaction out of her and she never fucking disappoints.

“Well, are we going to go or what?” she snaps, gesturing to the empty passenger seat and I sigh as I set her down in the truck, missing the feel of her in my arms as soon as I pull away. Why the hell does holding her feel so damn right? As soon as I take a step back, she grabs the door and slams it shut, once again refusing to meet my eyes as she crosses her arms over her chest and stares out of the windshield. I clench my teeth. At first, her ire was cute but now she’s starting to piss me off again. I sure as hell didn’t put her in this mess and she is the one who has been keeping secrets so she has no goddamn right to be mad at anyone else.

Shaking my head, I turn away from the truck and march back across the driveway and up the stairs to grab her duffel bag of clothes off of the front porch. Storm sighs and claps me on the shoulder, giving me a sympathetic look as he glances over at Izzy.

“Uh… good luck?” Ali says, shrugging like she doesn’t know what the hell to do with her best friend either and I scoff, nodding my head. I peek back at Izzy. She hasn’t moved a damn muscle since I left her sitting there and I turn back to my friends, releasing a sigh. Ali reaches forward and wraps her hand around my forearm, giving it a squeeze. “Don’t be too hard on her, okay? I’m sworn to secrecy so I can’t tell you why but just know that she has her reasons.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She shakes her head and drags her fingers across her lips like she’s zipping them. I arch a brow, waiting for her to say something else or give me a piece of advice, but she turns and walks back into the house without another word. Storm scoffs.

“Shit. Just give us a call if y’all need anything, all right?”

I nod. “Yeah… if you don’t hear from me in twenty-four hours, maybe come over and make sure I’m still alive though.”

“You got it, brother.” He laughs. “Keep your family safe and I’ll let you know once Streak finds something.”

I shake his hand before heading back down to the truck and tossing the duffel bag into the bed as I yank my door open. Slipping behind the wheel, I peek over at her. Her arms are still crossed over her chest and she refuses to return my gaze, staring out of the windshield like it’s the most interesting fucking thing she’s ever seen. I can’t decide if I want to grab her and shake her until she stops acting like a spoiled little brat or kiss the sass right out of her. Sighing, I scrub my free hand down my face as I turn back to the dirt road in front of me and start the truck.

Fuck.

What a damn morning.

As I pull the truck out of Storm and Ali’s driveway, my mind flashes back to the moment I realized the baby in Izzy’s belly is mine. I couldn’t process what I had heard but there was a tightness in my chest as I tried to wrap my mind around the news and as shocking as this whole thing is, I can’t say that I’m unhappy with this turn of events. I’ve wanted a family of my own for years but for various reasons, it never worked out and I was starting to think that it just wasn’t meant for me; that, despite all I had done to help people, I didn’t deserve a family. So, what kind of karmic joke is it that as soon as I give up on my dreams of being a husband and father, the world drops a baby in my lap?

Gripping the top of the steering wheel, I glance over at Izzy again. Her posture isn’t quite as rigid as it was before but her arms are still crossed and she won’t look at me, only flicking a quick glance in my direction before she turns away from me to look out of her window. With a sigh, I turn back to the road as my mind spins. As a kid, my parents were always this shining beacon of true love and despite our differences lately, they still are so when I imagined starting my own family, I figured it would be a woman who I was in love with, at the very least but now I’m here. What is raising a baby with Izzy going to look like anyway? In the six years since I first met this woman, she’s made it perfectly clear to me and anyone who will listen that she will never settle down with anyone so I can toss the idea of being married to my child’s mother right out the window now. My stomach twists at the thought as we near the turn-off for my place. I suck in a breath, trying to calm myself as my mind races with thoughts of only getting weekends with my kid, two Christmases, and arguing with a defiant baby mama for the next eighteen years.

That is not going to fucking work for me.

Sparing another glance in her direction, more memories from our weekend together pop into my mind, unbidden and completely unwelcome. But I can’t stop them as images of Izzy in the shower, water streaking down her olive skin, and a “come get me” look in her eyes bombard me before flicking to images of her completely naked in her kitchen, sitting on the counter and stealing kisses as I cooked for her. Then, there are the memories of us in bed together, not having sex, that sometimes seem like the loudest of them all - memories where we were just talking and laughing with each other. Fuck. In three days, she was able to burrow inside my mind in a way no other woman has been able to manage and I would find it intriguing if I wasn’t so damn annoyed by it. Gritting my teeth, I blow out a breath as I turn the truck down the gravel drive to my house.

I can’t be thinking about that shit now.

There is so damn much she and I need to figure out and the attraction between us is at the bottom of that damn list. We have to make our baby and keeping the two of them safe from this threat our priorities and maybe, when this is all over, we can explore other possibilities. I’m not getting my hopes up though.

Pulling up in front of the house, I park the truck and turn it off, peeking over at Izzy again. She’s restless, rubbing her hands down her arms and back up again as her knee bounces. Her teeth sink into her bottom lip and she sucks in a breath, still refusing to meet my eyes and Ali’s words ring in my ears.

Don’t be too hard on her…

She has her reasons…

I would love to know more, ask her what Ali meant by that, but I don’t imagine that she’ll let me be privy to that information anytime soon. It occurs to me that in all of the time that I’ve known her, she’s never revealed anything personal about herself or her life to me - not even over our weekend together - and I can’t help but wonder what happened to her to make her so closed off.

“Are you okay?” Izzy says, pulling me out of my thoughts. Her voice is quiet and she still won’t look at me but at least she’s speaking to me now so I’ll take it as a win.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I tell her and she nods, hugging herself tighter as she continues looking out of the window at my house. “Let’s head inside. We’ve got lots to talk about.”

She sucks in a breath before squaring her shoulders and nodding. “Yeah, well, I’m still not wearing any damn shoes so I’m gonna need a little help unless you want me to slice my foot open on the gravel.”

Right.