He blanches. “You said there wasn’t a chance of pregnancy.”
“I know what I said but that’s because Gabriel wants kids. Badly. If I tease him with this and it’s not true, he’ll be disappointed. But If I am, yes, he’ll be happy, but it also complicates his campaign.”
“Because you’re not married yet,” he assumes.
“Right.”
“Have you taken a test?”
“Not yet, but I will at the doctor on Monday. Just please don’t bring this up to him just yet. I don’t want him to fret at the party tomorrow night. It’s a big deal.”
“Yes, of course.” He returns the injection to his bag and settles the bag on his shoulder, removing a card from inside and offering it to me over the table. “I’m going to be your staff physician when Gabriel takes office. Let’s go ahead and get that moving for you as well. Call me after you talk to your doctor.”
I accept the card. “Of course.”
Thankfully he moves toward the door and I follow, offering a formal goodbye, before locking the door. Hurrying back into the living room, I find Rick standing on this side of the couch. “Why go there, Candace?”
“I couldn’t let him give me that shot and I knew you couldn’t either.”
“Pregnancy gives him a reason to come after you. So does that ring on your finger.”
“I didn’t want the ring on my finger. I had to wear it and you know it.” I pull it off and drop it to the ground. “And I did what I had to do. Killing the doctor killed our Saturday night operation. And I know you were thinking about it.”
He closes the few spaces between us, his long legs making short work of him stepping in front of me. He doesn’t touch me which tells me he’s pissed. “I would have given him his own shot. If it killed him, then fuck him.”
“And then he’d be dead, and we’d be screwed.”
“Pregnancy gives him a reason to follow you when we leave.”
“We both know he’s going to come after me and you. Isn’t that why you got Kane Mendez involved?”
“Yes. That’s exactly why.” And then suddenly he’s giving me exactly what I want. He’s touching me. His hands slide under my hair, and he drags my mouth to his. “Do you know how much I hate thinking about you with that man?”
“I’m not with him.”
“Do you know how much hearing you talk about being pregnant with his baby kills me?”
“I told you—”
“You will never fuck him again.”
The raw command has my nipples puckering and my sex clenching. “No. No, I will not.”
“Just me. Say it.”
“Just you, Rick Savage.”
And then his mouth is slamming down on mine, one hand molding me close, and I know this part of Rick Savage. I know where this is leading. I know the part of him that’s unleashed right now. This is the dark, gritty, damaged part of him, that I know better than anyone. I believe that. The part of him that can’t be leashed and I won’t even try.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Savage
I don’t just kiss Candace, I ravish her, I drink her in like a man lost in a desert, dying of a thirst he cannot quench. And I was until I found her again. What’s worse is, that desert was of my own making, a desolate fucking desert I’m done with because, thank fuck, she’s not done with me.
Hugging her close, I hold her like this moment is it, like this is the last time I might ever hold her again. I kiss her just the same, like I will never kiss her again. I’ve never kissed her with that kind of desperation before now, and not because I didn’t love her. I just always took for granted that tomorrow would come. And I always intended to come back, but I didn’t and now I know, shit happens. People die, tomorrow is not always guaranteed.
She knows this kiss is different, too. It’s in the way she kisses me back, the way she twists her fingers around my T-shirt. In the way she jerks back, parting our lips, searching my face. In the intensity of her green eyes when they meet mine, the sudden parting of lips, now swollen from my kiss, at what she finds, she orders, “Do not kiss me like this is goodbye, Rick Savage, damn you.”
She tries to dislodge herself from my grip but I hold onto her. “Don’t run.”
She gapes. “Run? Me? I’m not the one who ran.” I physically flinch with those well-deserved words, but she’s not done. “If you want to say goodbye, just say goodbye, Rick.”
“I’m not saying goodbye, Candace.” I catch her hair around my fingers and drag her gaze to my unguarded gaze. I let her see the torment in me. I let her see the guilt. I let her see the dark need in me that isn’t going away like I’m not going away. “This is not goodbye,” I repeat. “This is me making sure that you’re properly kissed, fucked, licked, and loved, the way you deserve to be.”