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“Tell me what you’re feeling.” Impatience clipped through his Texan drawl.
“Nothing. That’s just it. Nothing is always something.” I stood halfway between the building and pond, giving serious thought to abandoning the bath. “I don’t know. This place creeps me out.”
He scanned the mirrored surface of the water, the border of woodland, and returned to me. “Do not move from this spot." He looked directly in my eyes, and a shimmer of anxiety reflected back in his, straining the inches between us. “I'll be extremely unhappy if you do.”
When I nodded, he jogged off toward the copse, keeping to the edge and remaining in sight. But the shade strewn by dead trees closed in around him. Dried-up husks splintered with broken branches, their dark silhouettes hunched over like spiny bones, like aphids crouched on double-jointed limbs, waiting to attack. I shuddered and rubbed my arms.
As Jesse moved in and out of the shadows, my nerves rattled around in my stomach. What was up with me? I wasn’t usually this strung out.
I pulled out a cigarillo, struck a match, and tied the pouch at my belt. A few seconds later, the burn of tobacco and smoke curled through the dark and relaxed my lungs.
Smoking grounded me, each pull and puff connecting me to an easier life, when stress was brought on by a traffic jam on the way to work or an argument with Joel about hanging up his clothes. Nicotine had a way of mellowing my mind and dousing my nerves.
But not now. A strange sensation nipped at my nape and tingled my scalp. I twisted to look behind me.
Nothing moved. Not the shadowy grassland around the animal clinic or the dense spaces between the clusters of buildings a few acres to the south.
As I exhaled the final drag, Jesse strode back to my spot, blasting me with those copper eyes. “There’s nothing out there. What do you feel now?”
I touched a hand to my cheek. Cold fingers on a warm night? I stomped out the cigarette, feeling light-headed, out of sorts, but… “Still nothing. Overactive imagination, I guess.”
A foot away, he bent his knees and put his face in mine, his eyes softening. “Or lingering shock from Doc’s revelation?”
I couldn’t have asked for a better opening. “Yeah, about that—”
“I don’t…” His jaw set, and his back straightened, as he scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Listen, I don’t want you fucking him.”
My eyes must’ve bulged out of my head. I was shocked speechless and completely unnerved on so many levels. I mean, Jesse didn’t acknowledge my sexual relationships. He made himself scarce when I was with Michio and Roark intimately. He never showed signs of jealousy. One would think he didn’t give a shit, or for that matter, didn’t even notice. I knew better, but for him to voice an opinion about it was huge.
He loomed over me, hands on his hips. “You need to replace your IUD as soon as possible.”
Wait. “What?” I knew he noticed more than he let on, but the IUD? “How do you know about that?”
He gave me a pointed look. “I make it my business to know everything about you.”
My pulse kicked up, and my chest thrummed with warmth. Why did I like hearing that so much?
I stared up at him and hoped my expression didn’t look overexcited. “Why?” When he started to shake his head, I rushed forward. “You have to give me something. Your secrets aren’t helping either of us.”
Shifting his weight from one boot to the other, he pinched his lips together and glanced away. I didn’t want to surrender to his silent treatment, to the closed-mouthed Jesse Beckett, who seemed to know everything about me but offered nothing in return. Something had to give.
“Do you want me to replace the IUD because you’re afraid of what kind of child Michio and I would conceive? Or do you have some premonition about what will happen if I became pregnant?”
Would my baby be something other than human?
He stared at the horizon for long seconds then slid that pensive gaze to me. His eyes roamed my face so intensely I wanted to shrink into my shoulders. But he seemed to be considering something. Talking? Sharing? Open your stubborn mouth.
I held still, examining his features as diligently as he searched mine. Stubborn jaw covered in reddish-brown whiskers. Strong cheekbones from his Native American heritage. Full lips that separated, just enough to reveal a restless tongue. And his eyes… Even when squinting in the dark, they had the power to heat my skin and pin me in place. Like now.
The current that ran through our shared look was staggering. He must’ve felt it, because he gripped the back of my head and pressed my cheek against his chest, breaking the spell. Holy hell, every inch of his body was solid rock, the ridges of his muscles so very warm and hard against my face.
