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“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Holding her ground, Lily shifted her stance. “Why are you acting surprised? Didn’t you tell the pretty blonde that there was a possibility I’d come by?”
Damn it, she hadn’t been able to hold back that stab of jealousy in her tone, and from his amused smirk he’d picked up on her green-eyed monster, too.
“She’s my maid,” he informed her, swiping his forearm across his forehead.
Lily rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what she is. What you do in your time now isn’t my business.”
Silence settled between them until a horse shifted in its stall. She hated the uncomfortable cloud that seemed to hang over them.
“You do care,” he told her, dropping the pitchfork into the stall. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”
Oh, that ego she once found attractive was so damn maddening right now.
Tilting her chin and taking a step forward, because Lily knew who really held the power here, she stopped only a few feet from him and cursed herself when her eyes dropped to that sweaty, chiseled chest. She couldn’t hold on to her control if she was being tempted by the devil himself.
“Actually I’m here because I just had a checkup.” Lacing her fingers just below her stomach, Lily held his gaze. “She said my blood pressure is still high and I need to start taking precautions to keep it down. There’s some concern with me and the baby, so she said she wants to see me again in two weeks instead of the usual four to make sure the condition is under control.”
“Damn it.” He raked a hand through his damp hair, rubbed the back of his neck and met her gaze. “What can I do? I know I’ve caused you more stress, that can’t be helping. Tell me what I can do to fix this.”
The worry etched over his face almost moved her. But that worry was for the baby.
“Actually I’m not here to get help from you,” she said. “I’m here to ask what you paid the doctor to care for me. I’m reimbursing you.”
“Like hell you are.” Jake closed the gap between them, the tips of his boots nearly touching her bare toes. Those bright eyes were now blazing, the muscle in his jaw clenching. “You’re not paying me a dime. This is my baby, too.”
“I had a feeling you’d say that,” she muttered as a wave of dizziness swept through her. Lily closed her eyes for just a moment, waiting for it to pass before she opened and met his still-angry gaze. “So I’m at least paying half.”
“I pay for what’s mine,” he all but growled. “I will take care of my family, no matter what the needs are. It’s best you realize that now.”
Black dots danced before her and Lily shook her head, wiping the sweat from the back of her neck. “Could I get some water?”
In an instant Jake’s hands were on her shoulders, touching her face, brushing her hair back. His eyes instantly held concern and worry. “Are you dizzy?”
Damning herself for showing weakness the one time in her life she needed to be the strongest, Lily could only simply close her eyes and nod.
Before she knew what was happening, Jake had swept her up into his arms and was carrying her out of the stables.
“Don’t,” she protested, but even to her own ears the plea sounded feeble. “I just need water. I’ll be fine.”
Ignoring her completely, Jake reached the back door to his house and squatted down far enough to turn the knob. Once inside where the cool air-conditioning hit her, Lily was already feeling as if the world had stopped tilting so much.
Jake closed the door with his foot and took her straight to the living area where he laid her on the oversize leather sofa.
“Jake, is everything all right?”
Lily didn’t open her eyes, but she recognized the female voice from the lady who had answered the front door. Tossing her arm over her eyes, Lily wished she would’ve just phoned Jake instead of coming there. She’d wanted to show him she was just fine without him, wanted to prove she could get along alone.
And here she was, flat on her back, depending on him and now his girlfriend/maid was taking part in Lily’s humiliation.
“Could you get a bottle of water, please, Liz?”
“Of course.”
The cushion next to her dipped and Jake’s hand covered her stomach, then his fingertips were at the base of her throat. She missed those hands, missed how they could go from showing strength caring for horses to dominating her body in the bedroom.
“Your pulse is out of control.”
“I just got hot,” she defended, ignoring her betraying hormones. “Once I get some water and sit for a minute, I’ll be fine.”
