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All she wanted to do was walk away. It hurt being with him, like a knife twisting in her stomach over and over again. But there was more than her to think about now. It didn’t matter how complicated their history was—her baby would know his or her father. Daniel will be a good father. She’d always known that, and apparently she was going to get a chance to see it in real time.
Hope inhaled deeply and took his hand. “Tone down the possessive crap—starting now.”
“I’ll try.”
It wasn’t much of a promise, but it wasn’t like she was an innocent in this, either. She’d known things between them were too intense, full of too much potential to blow up in her face, and she’d still had sex with him. More than once.
Truth be told, she kind of wanted to go there again.
And, damn it, he knew. Daniel’s smile made her stomach do a slow flip. “You’ve got that look in your eye, darling. I’ve been an asshole. Let me make it up to you.”
Even though she knew better, she followed him back into the house. “You’ve set a pretty high bar for yourself if you’re going to try to fix every fight we have with sex.”
“Believe me—I’m more than up for the challenge.”Chapter TenHope kept a hold of Daniel as he led her into his bedroom, feeling like she was in the middle of the storm and he was the only thing keeping her from being swept away. Ironic, since he was the one responsible for the storm in the first place. But with him looking over his shoulder at her with those dark eyes, and his calluses rubbing against the palm of her hand, she couldn’t think of a good reason to put a stop to this once and for all.
It’s too late. There’s no stopping it now, no matter what I do.
She touched her stomach with her free hand, wondering how so much could have changed and yet nothing at all. They’d barely crossed the threshold when he swept her into his arms. In the back of her mind, she knew it was because he wanted her to be careful with her knee, but her pride had nothing on the feeling of being this close to him. This is really happening. She couldn’t blame this on hormones getting the better of her, or on an impulse she had too little self-control to resist.
She was making the choice to have sex with Daniel Rodriguez.
He set her on her feet and stripped her shirt off. She could barely comprehend the way he looked at her, like he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He used to look at you like that. Yeah, before. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, silently demanding a kiss he seemed all too ready to deliver. His hands sifted through her hair to cup the back of her head and his lips brushed against hers, teasing her mouth open. She opened for him. She was helpless to do anything else.
His skin was so damn warm beneath her hands. She cautiously slid them up his sides to his chest, not pushing him away, not pulling him closer, just relishing the ability to touch him to her heart’s delight. Daniel made a sound that was damn near a growl at her nails dragging over his skin, so she did it again.
“We’ll go slow this time.”
She barely had a chance to register the words when he toppled them back onto the bed, twisting just enough that she didn’t take his full weight. She could have told him it didn’t matter. She wanted everything he could give her, wanted to lose herself in the feel of him, wanted to just stop thinking for one fucking second and enjoy this.
Of course, he knew. He always knew. Daniel shifted to kiss along her jaw. “Turn off that beautiful brain of yours, darling. We’ll figure it out. I promise. But right now I’m more concerned with getting you out of these pants.”
Fear, cold and irrational, rose to close her throat. Taking off her pants meant baring her scar to him and being forced to witness that horrible guilt on his face. Then she wouldn’t be the only person thinking too much. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
He kissed her again, his hands going to the waistband of her pants and underwear, and she lifted her hips to allow him to slide them down her legs. His movement hitched when his fingers made contact with the top of her scar, but it was such a small hesitation, she wouldn’t have noticed it if every fiber of her being wasn’t focused on him. Daniel tossed the clothing aside, quickly followed by her bra. “Tell me about the tattoo. An anchor.”
