No condom. Gray looked up into Lori's horror-struck eyes.
How could he have been so reckless? He even carried one in his wallet that he'd bought after his and Lori's near miss a week ago. Other than that brief, almost encounter with her, he had never lost control. Never. He thrived on control and structure, one of the aspects he liked and needed most in his job.
An hour with Lori had him losing sight of that, and it scared the hell out of him.
She drew her knees to her chest, her dress shrouding her legs. "So much for our talk."
He stared at Lori, a normal occurrence for him, and couldn't help but notice how totally alone she looked. How strange, since he usually thought of her as so competent, in charge, strong.
The moonlight caressing her face, she flipped her whiskey-brown hair over her shoulder. Her dress flowed around her gentle curves without a wrinkle to hint at the wild abandon she'd indulged in only moments before. Lori rarely lost her cool. Except for those moments when her incredible legs had been wrapped around his waist and—
Don't go there, pal. He zipped his pants and reminded himself to start thinking with his brain again. There could be very real—tiny, living consequences from their slip.
He knew she could succeed no matter what life brought her way. But she damn well wouldn't be facing it alone if she was carrying his child. "I'll make it right. Whatever happens, I don't walk out on my responsibilities."
"Be still my heart." Sarcasm dripped from her words like the Spanish moss draping the branches overhead.
"Lori, damn it, stop being flip." The humid night air wrapped around him with claustrophobic weight. He forced himself to breathe. "This is important, and you're not helping."
"Sorry. I know that was difficult for you."
He listened for more sarcasm, hearing nothing but determination.
Tread warily, pal. Land mines ahead. He wasn't going to get anywhere with her now and could too easily make things worse. "Let's save this talk for later. Better to wait rather than to say things we'll both regret only to find out we never needed to say them at all."
"Of course. Why even consider marriage unless I'm pregnant?"
A reasonable stance. Why then did her every word stab at him as if he'd fallen short of the mark?
"I'm sorry for losing contr—"
"Did it ever dawn on you that maybe you're not calling the shots this time?"
He paused buttoning his shirt. "What does that mean?"
"I was the one who crawled across that blanket. I wanted you. Granted, I wasn't thinking straight or I would have remembered about birth control. My brain gets scrambled around you."
Her words fizzled as the air crackled between them. How incredible to think he could move the imperturbable Lori.
For an insane moment he wanted to be exactly what she needed, and that absurd notion warred with his deep-seated need to defend. Protect. Protect her. "Lori—"
"Stop! I knew what I was doing, and I'm the one taking responsibility. No need to worry about being tied down. Go fly your planes, Major." She scrambled to her feet, shaking the wrinkles out of her dress while she slipped on her shoes. "It's been fun, as always. But I've got a child to check on."
She darted into the woods before he could untangle his brain.
Child? The word so close on the heels of their discussion had him wondering how she could already know… Then he remembered Magda.
He knew full well Lori wouldn't be giving up Magda at the evidentiary hearing. And a single, pregnant foster mother wouldn't go over well with the courts.
She would have to marry him.
The air grew heavier, then sparse, not unlike the rapid decompression the day before. He pressed his hands against the ground, the bed of pine needles giving slightly beneath the force.
It was bad enough he'd let Lori down. Adding that impish little kid into the mess left him wanting to ram his fist into the tree trunk, a dangerous thought for a man who made his living with his hands. But Lori frequently had him thinking dangerous thoughts.>He thrust deep. Tension built, tightened, burned, then exploded free. A shout swelled behind his clenched teeth, and he pulsed within her, his face nestled in the vulnerable curve of her neck. Her hair draped around them as he let his hoarse cry slide free. In a downward spiral straight for earth at mach speed, Grayson surrendered.
* * *
He had decimated her. Completely leveled her defenses. Physically, Lori couldn't move so much as her pinky after the intense release Gray had given her.