“Tell me something honestly, Dani.” Her breath hitched. “That night—a” His voice dropped lower. “Do you remember asking me to take care of you?” Color flooded her face instantly.
“You were drunk,” she whispered.
“So were you.” His gaze locked onto hers. “But you remember it.” She looked away, and that tiny reaction told him everything. A dangerous calm settled over him then, because suddenly, he understood why this pull toward her felt so intense. He understood why it felt instinctively natural, and why the words “baby girl” had fallen out of his mouth so easily. Dani wasn’t just young and overwhelmed. She craved structure, comfort, and care. And deep down, some primal part of him wanted to give it to her. He wanted to take control. He wanted to soothe every ounce of fear off her face until she stopped looking at the world like it might hurt her.
His voice softened. “How scared are you right now?” That question nearly broke her. He saw it happen. Her eyes glazed over, and her shoulders trembled slightly.
“So scared,” she admitted. Something fierce rose inside him immediately. Jonnas lifted one hand slowly, giving her plenty of time to stop him before brushing a strand of hair away from her face.
“You’re not alone anymore,” he said quietly. And for the first time since she walked into his office, Dani looked at him like she wanted to believe that.
Dani
Dani’s entire body felt hot by the time she left Jonnas’s office. Not just embarrassed hot, and not emotional hot. No—this was worse, because somehow, in the middle of a conversation about paternity tests and life-changing responsibilities, Jonnas Black had looked at her like he wanted to put his hands all over her again. And the worst part was that a part of her wanted him to. God, she was messed up.
She barely remembered making it to the elevator before the tears started burning behind her eyes again. Everything about today had been too much. The positive paternity test. Jonnas calling her “baby girl” in that deep voice of his. Him backing her against the office door and making her feel small in the best and worst possible ways. Her pulse jumped just thinking about it.
“You’re carrying my baby. That makes you mine to take care of.” No sane woman should find that attractive. Especially not from a man she barely knew, and not from the father of her child, who had basically accused her of lying less than a week ago. And yet, the memory of his voice wrapped around her spine like warm fingers. Dani groaned softly as the elevator doors opened into the underground parking garage. This was bad—very, very bad, because she recognized what she’d felt in hisoffice. Submission, need, and safety. Things she had spent years trying to bury.
She hurried toward her car, fumbling for her keys as her thoughts spiraled out of control. She’d always known she was different. Even in college, while her friends hooked up with frat boys and experimented with wild sex, Dani found herself craving something softer and stronger all at once.
The few times she’d tried explaining it to ex-boyfriends had gone horribly. Hell, one guy laughed at her, and another called her childish. After that, she stopped trying to explain to anyone that she craved control and care. She stopped talking about it altogether and stopped letting herself want things she couldn’t have.
Then came Jonnas. He was older, confident, and naturally bossy. He was the kind of man who took over a room without even trying, and somehow, during one drunken night neither of them fully remembered, he’d seen through her immediately.
The memory hit her hard the second she slid into her car. “Look at me while I’m talking to you, baby girl.” Her breath caught. Oh God. She remembered that—not clearly and not every detail, but enough to remember how her entire body reacted to him. It was enough to remember how safe she’d felt curled against his chest afterward while he stroked her hair. And enough to remember waking up panicked the next morning and sneaking out before he could realize what a disaster she was. Now she was pregnant with his child.
A hysterical laugh escaped her as she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. “Good job, Dani,” she muttered. “Really nailed your life choices.”
Her stomach rolled suddenly. “Shit.” She barely managed to throw her door open before morning sickness hit again. By the time she finished getting sick beside her car, she was shakingand exhausted. Tears burned her eyes from the strain of it as she wiped her mouth with trembling fingers.
“You okay?” Dani froze instantly. No, she wasn’t all right, because there was no fucking way that she had just thrown up in front of Jonnas. She slowly looked up and saw him standing just a few feet away from her car, near the elevator doors, his expression dark with concern. Mortification flooded her so fast she thought she might actually die.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, covering her face. “Please leave me alone.”
Instead of leaving, he crossed the parking garage toward her. “Dani?—”
“I’m fine,” she lied.
“You’re crying,” he said.
“I’m hormonal,” she insisted. That was the truth because her hormones were completely out of control since taking the pregnancy test.
“You were just throwing up,” he said, as though she didn’t already know.
“Congratulations,” she snapped. “You understand pregnancy. I cry and throw up all the time.” His jaw tightened slightly, but he didn’t take the bait, and that somehow made it worse.
Dani tried to stand fully, but dizziness hit her almost instantly. Jonnas caught her before she could stumble, his strong arms wrapped around her waist—solid, warm, and safe. The sensation nearly made her burst into tears all over again.
“I’ve got you,” he said quietly. The words settled somewhere deep inside her. Dangerous and comforting—too comforting.
“You need to let go of me,” she whispered weakly.
“No,” he breathed, tightening his hold around her waist. Her breath hitched, and Jonnas looked down at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. “You almost fell.”
“I can stand on my own,” she insisted. Although she was pretty sure that was a lie, too.
“Not right now, you can’t,” he insisted. The calm authority in his voice sent heat curling low in her stomach. God. There was something seriously wrong with her.
