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Looking tired, he sighed. “Are you sure you want to talk about this tonight?”
“Yes.” She should hire a lawyer, too. Then her lawyer could talk to his lawyer and two strangers could negotiate the fate of their baby. She hated it.
“That I’m a decent, upstanding citizen with a good job and have the means and desire to provide for a child.” He met her gaze, probably so she would see the honesty in his eyes. “If we fought over custody, she thinks I have a good chance of winning.”
“No,” Melissa gasped, placing her hand over her mouth. “I wouldn’t let you take my baby.”
“Our baby, and we’ve been through this. Our baby needs a mother and a father. I’m interested in joint custody, not full.” He averted his gaze, then shifted it back to her, his eyes dark and full of warning. “That is, unless you become neglectful.”
Which said it all. Why he’d shown up last night. Why he sat on her sofa now. James didn’t trust her with their baby.
If she didn’t meet his standards, he’d try to take away their baby.
“Is that what this is about? You want to move back in to spy on me? Build up information you can use as evidence later on?”
“I’ve already told you.” He stood, glared down at her. His face flushed an angry red. “My moving back in has to do with trying to keep you from harming our baby with your lack of consideration for how your actions affect it.”
CHAPTER NINE
JAMES couldn’t believe they were arguing again. It wasn’t what he’d wanted or planned, but maybe he’d been willing to do anything to get Melissa off his past.
Still, he’d decided to move back to Sawtooth to make her life easier. Not to argue. Why did she have to push his buttons and back him into corners where he came out verbally punching?
He hated fighting. Always had. Not that he and Melissa had ever fought much. They hadn’t, which might be part of the problem. Nothing to shake them out of the status quo. These days, things shook. Hell, earthquakes couldn’t jar him the way just being in the same room with Melissa did.
“Leave,” she spat, standing and glaring at him with what appeared akin to hatred. “Get out of my house and don’t you dare come back.”
James closed his eyes and counted to ten. A pillow whacked him across the face. Not hard, but enough to rile him further.
“I said leave,” she repeated when he remained silent. “I don’t want you here.”
“Like it or not, you accepted my offer. I’m not leaving,” he told her, just so there would be no confusion. He wouldn’t leave again until after their baby was born.
“Men.” She rolled her eyes. “First you won’t come home when I ask you to. Now you won’t leave when I order you to. Let’s see, maybe I should beg you to stay so that you’ll hightail it out the door so fast I’ll end up with windburn.”
“Maybe.” He stood inches from her, meeting her hot gaze head-on, but not once did her glare waver. Instead, her eyes glittered with stubborn challenge. A challenge that compelled him to accept. “Try me and find out.”
Only the slight dilation of her pupils gave credence to her surprise at his response, but she quickly masked it behind a fake smile.
“James, would you, please, stay?” she said in a syrupy voice, mocking him with her fluttering lashes. “Please, don’t leave.” More eyelash flutters. “How’s that?”
He’d had enough. He pulled her to him, pressing her round belly and slender body close. Her heat burned through his clothes, her smell inflamed his senses, but it was her eyes that tore him in two. They taunted. Teased. Glowed with the unique light inside this woman who’d bewitched him from the moment they’d met.
“Since when did you get such a smart mouth?”
“I’ve always had one,” she retorted. “You just failed to notice.”
“I notice everything about your mouth.” His gaze dropped to her slightly parted lips. “Everything.”
Her eyes darkened, besieging him with long-denied need. His gut knotted, his palms itched, his entire body yearned.
He gave in.
Kissed her.
Soft and slow for the first touch of his lips to hers. Tasting the dewy sweet ripeness as if for the first time, cherishing each play of his lips over hers. The slow caresses lasted only seconds before the ache in him took over and he devoured her mouth, demanding that she open, give him access inside.
Inside her mouth, her body, her heart, her soul.
