Page 255 of Knot What I Expected

My body practically sings.

“Rowan, I need you.”

His entire body trembles.

“I know.”

“No. I mean⁠—”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

He cups my face and makes me look at him. There is so much hunger in his expression it steals my breath. But his hands remain gentle.

“Honey Girl, listen to me.”

I nod.

“I can take the edge off. I can use my mouth. My hands. But if I knot you tonight—really knot you while you're like this—there's a damn good chance you're going to conceive.”

Everything inside me stills. The heat remains. So does the aching need. But suddenly there’s room for Gabriella again.

For me.

“You mean conceive as in a baby?”

His thumb strokes my cheek.

“Yeah.”

“I’d get pregnant by you.”

Something fierce flashes through his eyes.

“By me. Only me.”

The words hang between us.

A child.

Rowan’s child.

My hand drifts down to my stomach.

I picture Matteo.

Then, without permission, my mind gives me something else.

A baby with golden eyes.

Maybe blond hair.

A tiny little thing wrapped in Rowan’s enormous arms.

My chest aches. But fear follows right behind it. Because this is insane.

We barely know each other. Except that doesn't feel true anymore. The matebond hums between us.

I know the darkness inside him. He knows mine. Even if he doesn’t know everything. He knows enough. What Ethan did. Why I ran.