Holiday Baby Scandal

Laney couldn’t help but lean into his touch. But then his hands moved back down. His hands covered her stomach.

“No matter what happens with us, this is all that matters. I’ll do everything to protect our baby.”

Laney nodded. There was so much uncertainty between them, but the baby’s security was top priority. Until the arrival of their child, Laney would show him just how much she loved him, how much he deserved to be loved.

“If that means you have to move to my house in London, then you’ll do it.” She started to say something, but his hard eyes stopped her. “I’m serious, Laney. We don’t know what we’re dealing with, and I’ll be damned if I take a chance with our baby.”

Fear fueled his words. She knew this unknown threat had him as worried as the rest of them. Now was not the time to bang her chest and be all independent. They were a team.

“I promise,” she whispered as she went up onto her toes to slide her lips over his. “Anything you want.”

Ryker’s hands shifted to her backside. Pulling her flush against his fully clothed body, he growled. “I want to take you up those stairs and keep you locked in your bedroom naked for the next week.”

Oh, if only...

“But all I can promise is right now.”

He kept saying that. All of these “right now” moments were adding up. Did he notice? He would. One day he’d wake up to the fact they were it for each other. Laney dared her brothers to even try to stop her happiness.

“Then show me,” she muttered a split second before his mouth came crashing down onto hers.

He lifted her with ease, carrying her toward the staircase as his lips demanded everything from her...and promised so much more. As if she weighed nothing at all, he took the four steps onto the landing. Just when she expected to feel him turn and head the rest of the way up, he stopped. Laney tore her mouth away, ready to ask him what he was doing, but she found herself being eased onto the built-in, cushioned bench.

She tipped her head back to peer up at him, the soft light from the lamp in the living room casting a perfect yellow rim around his frame. She had no idea what he intended to do, but he reached behind his neck and jerked his T-shirt over his head. After he tossed it behind him, he quickly rid himself of his black boots, sending them back down the steps with a heavy thunk.

Laney couldn’t take her eyes off that impressive chest. Spattered with dark hair, a scar over his left pec and a tattoo of a menacing dragon over his right, Ryker was all man...and he was still stripping.

“This is the best show I’ve ever been to.”

The snap to his jeans popped open, he drew the zipper down, all without taking his eyes from

hers. “I don’t want to hear about the time you and your friends went to Poppycocks.”

Laney gasped. “You know about that?”

“Baby, I know everything about you, and I sure as hell am not getting into this now, nor are we discussing the fact I had to do damage control with your father and tell him you were at the mall.”

Laney bit her lip to keep from laughing because Ryker clearly didn’t find the humor in her sneaking into a male strip club when she was only seventeen. Those fake IDs she’d made for herself and her friends as a joke had come in handy.

Laney opted to keep her mouth shut and enjoy the view as Ryker ridded himself of the rest of his clothes. Unable to keep her hands still, she reached out. She needed to touch him, explore him. Every time they were together her ache for him grew.

Ryker took her hands before she could touch him. Jerking her to her feet, he tugged her until she fell against him.

“I’m calling the shots here. No touching.”

Laney quirked a brow. “Then this night is a total bust if I can’t put my hands on you.”

Strong arms banded around her waist, and instantly she was lifted once again. Laney wrapped her legs around him as he continued up to the second story.

“I’ll tell you when you can touch me,” he ordered. “I’m going to lay you down and do this right. We’re always in a hurry.”

Laney rested her head against his shoulder. “Does this mean you’re staying all night?”

He reached the double doors to her bedroom and shouldered them open. Looking down into her eyes, Ryker nodded. “I’m staying. Saying no to you is becoming impossible. I don’t know what the hell that means, but for now, I’m staying.”

Laney knew exactly what that meant. It meant Ryker was hers, and he was finally, finally coming around.

Eleven