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Emma pulled her gaze from his and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. “It’s like I told you that night—I’m not the woman you think I am. I knew that you wanted her, the wild and passionate anonymous stranger, not me. I couldn’t bear to see the look on your face when you realized that I was that girl and the fantasy was shattered forever. I’m just boring old, stick-in-the-mud Emma. And to make matters worse, then I’d have to tell you that we were stuck together for the sake of our baby.”
“Stuck together?” Jonah flinched at her choice of words. Is that how she saw her situation? She was stuck with him because they screwed up and she got pregnant?
The waiter returned with imperfect timing, placing each of their appetizers in front of them and disappearing silently when he sensed the tension between them.
“You know what I mean!” Emma leaned in and whispered harshly across the table at him. “Even if you were disappointed beyond belief to find out it was me, even if you never wanted to lay another hand on me again, I’m having your child, Jonah. I would hope that you would want to be a part of his or her life, even if I’m just on the periphery.”
Jonah didn’t know what to say. He honestly didn’t know how he wanted to move forward where Emma and the baby were concerned. His thoughts were spinning too quickly to light on one in particular. His strict upbringing nagged at him to marry her on the spot. Mother would insist when she found out. Noah could embezzle three million dollars, but it would be Jonah’s scandal of an out-of-wedlock child that would be the biggest family disgrace in her eyes. Emma wasn’t the only one constantly worried about gossip.
At the same time, his rebellious nature insisted that people didn’t get married in this day and age just because they were having a baby. He and Emma hardly knew each other, much less loved each other. Coparenting was a more popular thing for people who didn’t want to make the previous generations’ mistakes and stick out a miserable marriage for the sake of the children.
What did he want? Jonah had no idea. He’d barely become accustomed to the concept of fatherhood, but he certainly never imagined that Emma would just be on the periphery, no matter the scenario.
“Emma...to start off, you’re not a disappointment. Look at me,” he demanded, and then reached across the table and took her hand, gripping tightly so she couldn’t pull away from him again. Once she reluctantly met his gaze with her own, he continued. “I mean it. While this is all a surprise, I can assure you that disappointment has never crossed my mind.”
She studied his face with disbelief lining her weary eyes. How had he not noticed how tired she looked? He’d been blinded tonight by flawless makeup and the silky jumpsuit he wanted to run his hands over. Now that he was really looking, he could see the sense of overwhelming stress and exhaustion in her eyes. She was working too much, and too hard, in her condition. They’d discuss that before long.
“But I’m not the woman you wanted, Jonah. I’m not wild and sexually adventurous. I’d never done body shots or had a one-night stand before. I’d certainly never have a tattoo if it weren’t for that night. Everything you saw and liked about me was out of character. I mean, I... I don’t even know what I’m doing here. Coming with you tonight was a mistake.”
Emma moved fast, slipping out of the booth and taking the nearest door out to the back patio that overlooked the water.
“Emma?” Jonah rushed after her, catching her wrist as she leaned over the railing seemingly looking for an escape. What was she going to do? Swim away from him? All the way back to New York?
“Emma! Would you just stop and listen to me?” he demanded as she tugged at his grip. She finally turned around to face him, leaning her back against the railing. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist. He knew immediately that pressing against each other like this wasn’t the best idea to keep his focus, but at the very least, he could convince her that he was attracted to her.
“Jonah, I want to go home.”
“If that’s what you want, I will, but not until you hear me out. I sat there and listened to all your excuses for lying to me. You owe me the opportunity to tell you how I feel, whether you believe me or not.”
Emma finally stilled in his arms, although her gaze was fixed on the buttons of his shirt. He breathed a sigh of relief that he could finally focus his thoughts on telling her how he felt. This was important.
“I want you to know that you’re totally and completely wrong.” Jonah pulled aside the blue silk strap of her jumpsuit to expose her shoulder and upper chest. He placed his hand over the curve of her breast as he’d done that first night. Their tattoos aligned, creating one heart again at last. Emma looked down at the heart with tears shimmering in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.
“These tattoos weren’t just something I suggested on a whim, Emma. They were supposed to be instruments of fate. This heart becoming whole again would only happen if it was meant to. Yes, we don’t know much about each other, but now is our second chance to make that happen. Not just because of the baby, but because we’ve been brought together again to do just that.”
“Jonah...” she started to argue.
“No,” he silenced her. “From the moment I saw you sitting in my office, I’ve had this pull towards you that I couldn’t explain. It was the same feeling that led me to rescue a pret
ty stranger from a creep at a party. I didn’t know why then and I don’t know why now, but I know I’m not letting this second chance slip between our fingers. I don’t know how it’s going to end. No one ever does. This might not be forever. It might not turn into the love affair of the century. But we owe it to ourselves, and to our child, to at least try and see where it can take us.”
She sighed and relaxed into his touch. “And what if my company finds out? I’ll lose my job. They’ll never believe that I can be impartial. I have a vested interest in the successful business dealings of my baby’s father.”
Her mention of the audit was enough to remind Jonah of why he started romancing his auditor to begin with. Yes, he’d been drawn to her, but he’d stuck it out to cover Noah’s ass and keep from botching the Game Town deal. He hadn’t heard from his accountant in days, and that wasn’t good. Sooner or later, she was going to find the discrepancy. If he couldn’t keep it from her, there was a part of him that hoped maybe she wouldn’t mention it in her report as a favor to him. That he could explain it away somehow.
“Can you be impartial, Emma?” he asked.
Her green eyes met his with a hard glint shining in them. Her spine straightened and her pointed chin thrust forward in the defiant response he seemed to coax out of her so easily. “Yes. Despite what Tim thinks, I’m first and foremost a professional and I will do my job.”
Jonah didn’t doubt that at all. That’s exactly what he was afraid of. But for now, he needed to salvage tonight and worry about Noah’s mess tomorrow. “Then there’s nothing your boss could say or do to prove otherwise. Now come back inside and eat that amazing-looking dinner with me.”
Emma sighed and nodded. She slipped the strap of her jumpsuit back over her shoulder, hiding away the tattoo and removing the temptation of her bare skin.
They went back inside, crisis averted, and yet Jonah couldn’t help but feel a new sense of worry. The audit for Game Town was at risk and it had nothing to do with Emma and everything to do with Jonah.
Eight
Thankfully, the rest of the dinner went well. Jonah had been worried that the whole evening would be ruined, but the opposite turned out to be true. Uptight Emma seemed to finally, truly relax. All her secrets were out in the open and lifting that burden had an almost-physical impact on her. She smiled more, flirted happily through dinner by sharing bites of her food and making eyes at him, and didn’t once refer to him as Mr. Flynn.
