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And, for fuck’s sake, if her brother got wind of that, Dyna might end up fatherless.
She licked her lips and swallowed her worry to give him a slight smile. “Yes, I’m good. We were just out here enjoying the warm rain. When we were kids, we used to strip down to our underwear and play in the rain, jumping in the puddles and... stuff.” Her added laugh sounded dry and forced.
She hoped to fuck he didn’t go to any of the rest of the Fury kids, like Trip or Stella, and ask them to confirm that lie.
Shade, with his hair pulled back tightly against his head, most likely due to the rain and the ride, focused on her for way too long. Even in the dark, the intensity of his stare sent a shiver sliding through her, and not the same kind Cage had caused. “That’s what it was?”
She opened her mouth, but Cage answered first. “Yeah, just a little reminiscin’.”
A soft cry came from the baby monitor on the chair. That was her cue to escape. She snagged it and bolted inside.
Cage could handle Shade. It would be in his best interest to make sure Shade believed her. That it was nothing other than them goofing off.
She ran into her room, quickly stripped out of her soaked panties and bra and pulled the T-shirt she slept in over her head. She yanked a pair of dry underwear out of the dresser, yanked it up her legs and hurried out of her room, across the trailer and into his, where Dyna was crying.
She lifted the baby from the bassinet and cooed to her, trying to figure out what she needed. She realized it was a diaper change. She should make Cage do it since it was his “shift,” but simply holding Dyna settled her nerves a bit.
She had fallen in love with Cage’s daughter. And she’d be the reason Jemma would be heartbroken when she accepted one of the job offers coming in. It would be hard to say goodbye and not watch her grow up. To be with her through every stage of her childhood.
Simple things like crawling, getting her first tooth, standing and then walking.
Oh God, and hearing her say “Da-Da” for the first time.
She also wanted to see Cage’s face when Dyna finally said it. Simply imagining that moment made her eyes leak at the corners a little bit.
“Do you need your diaper changed, monkey?” With one hand, she cleared a spot on Cage’s messy bed and laid a waterproof pad down on the mattress. She settled the baby in the center of the pad and kept one eye on her while she located a small stack of clean diapers on the floor under the bassinet.
She cooed and made silly baby talk as she cleaned her up and put on a fresh diaper, wiggling the baby’s feet and hands, and blowing raspberries on her bare belly. She wrangled her back into the onesie, and, as she picked her back up for some cuddles and kisses, she heard the front door to the trailer slam shut.
Shit.
She was hoping Shade would’ve kept him occupied long enough for her to make her escape back into her bedroom. But maybe Shade didn’t consider standing out in the rain a cleansing of his soul.
“Jem,” came from the doorway. Deep. Rough. Even a bit tortured.
Her heart began to pound again, just like it had done outside while he touched her, kissed her, made her shatter from the inside out.
She couldn’t look at him. Not yet. Not when her emotions were still simmering along the surface.
She needed time and space to bury them deep again.
To remind herself of the reality of the situation.
She pressed a kiss to Dyna’s forehead and carefully placed the baby back in the bassinet. She stared down at her, her hand covering the baby’s chest and belly, making a connection through touch.
A warmth hit her back, even through the cotton of her oversized T-shirt. He now smelled like damp heat and a touch of sex, not from her, but his own release caught in his boxer briefs.
She avoided direct eye contact as she turned and began to push past him.
“Jem, wait.” He went for her arm and she pulled it out of reach before he could stop her.
She noticed his blue eyes appeared troubled and his wet hair was slicked back from raking his fingers through it.
Clenching her jaw, she steeled herself against the pull between them she could no longer deny.
The weirdness was no longer weird. Tonight it became something else.
She realized for the first time in her life that a person could fall in love with someone without sex bonding the two. She had mistakenly thought intimacy was needed to make a true connection. The problem was when there was a connection established and intimacy was added, it only made the bond stronger.
