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“So?” She’s also wicked smart and intuitive, and she can obviously tell that whatever internal struggle I’m having with myself, a tug of war of sorts, I’ve either come out the victor or landed on my face in the muck. “Are we coming up with a plan?”
I grab the glass of water and drink it down in two big gulps. Hydration. Hydration is key. A little water helps the brain get churnin’ and burnin’, and in no time, voila, we’ll have a plan ready to rock.
I pound the counter with my fist. “I’m in. I’m all the damn way damn in.”
“Okay.” Ayana pounds her fist on the island granite too. “I’m also in. Uh, obviously. All the way. So, any ideas for how we’re going to break this to the rest of the world?”
“I’m not sure yet, but hopefully, it’s together.”
Her eyes get a strange sheen like she might be ready to cry, but there’s no way she’s going to let those tears fall. “Together. Yeah.” She sounds a little mystified. Perhaps as shocked and stunned and mystified as I feel too. Together. That’s a strange concept for two people who are obviously used to, aside from family and maybe friends, flying solo and having to face the world basically alone. “Okay, together.”
I’m fully aware that together is something we were never supposed to be. That one night was never supposed to turn into this afternoon and all the coming days. I’m also fully aware that I’m here to take down her dad, which was the whole basis behind the last six months, and if Ayana ever finds out, she’ll be so hurt, and she’ll probably never forgive me. I don’t like having to lie to her, but as long as I talk to Granny and tell her that we have to pull the plug on this mission ASAP, maybe she doesn’t have to know I had some pretty dark intent going on.
Right. Granny. Pull the plug. It must happen now. As soon as possible.
“Are you okay? You look like you might throw up again.” Ayana’s eyes rocket to the empty glass. “That was probably something that should have been savored, not chugged.”
Her whisky gaze lands on my face, and I feel my belly warm up. It’s not the only thing getting warmed up, but right now, my dick doesn’t factor in. The bastard’s already gotten me in enough trouble. Well, maybe not trouble. Wait, no. Yes. Definitely trouble. Because Hobart Timewell is going to be on my trail, blazing righteous dad indignation and breathing his dad fire all over my arse. I’ll be lucky if I escape with my butt hairs intact and not singed right off.
Holy buckets of blazing bananas, am I really worrying about my butt hairs right now?
“Okay, of course, you’re not okay,” Ayana goes on when I give her nothing but silence to work with. “Are you going to make it?”
I clear my throat and cough out a response. “Yes.”
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”
“No, but, uh, I do need to talk to my brothers and my granny.”
“I thought you didn’t have family?”
“I said I didn’t have parents. I’m actually adopted, but that’s a word I don’t use because it’s bullshit. They’re my brothers, and Granny is my granny.”
“I get that. The guys at the club are like uncles and second fathers to me.”
I can feel my belly warming up again, and a whole slew of other rather icy spots inside me that are residual after my childhood start to thaw when Ayana gets that happy, lovely, warm look on her face. “That’s…very sweet. I’m glad you had that. Any chance they’re wrapped around your finger?”
She laughs, and it’s another sound that sends those icicles inside my insides dripping at a very slow melting rate. “They are, but don’t tell my dad I said that.”
“Oh, good. Can you please tell them not to cut off my ears and toes and shove them up my butthole when they find out that I impregnated you?”
“Ugh, that word. I don’t like that word. That would imply I’m like a heifer or something that just stood there and was artificially done by. I mean, no offense to people who have to, uh, go through those methods…god, that sounds so bad. I’m not against any of that, or cows, or anything. I’m just trying to say that I was not impregnated. I was an active participant. A very active one.”
“Gah! Please don’t tell them that. I want to live to see tomorrow.”
“Okay, well, I won’t. I’ll just tell them straight up that I’m with someone, and we’ll be having a child.”
There’s a good chance that the very real fear ripping through my veins might make me pass out. “That is…that is not…oh god, whatever way this gets spun, I’m still going to get body parts shoved up my ass. First, because I dared to touch you; second, because people will think we kept it a secret, which is even worse because I’m working for your dad, and that’s two-timing; and third, because—”
