One-Mile lifted a sharp brow at her. “You should have figured out by now that nothing will keep me from you.”
She hesitated, rosy lips parted as if she meant to speak…but she didn’t have a comeback. “What do you want?”
“To make a few things clear. First, you’re marrying Bryant over my dead fucking body.” As he stormed into the bedroom, he thought of her wearing the Boy Scout’s ring and warming this very bed. Rage bubbled in One-Mile’s veins.
He kicked the door shut behind him. Darkness enveloped them.
She trembled. “Pierce—”
“I’m not done.” When he reached the mattress, he laid her down, feet dangling off the side, and flipped on the nightstand lamp as he straddled her, caging her flat. Then he reached for her nightgown.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to see.”
Confusion settled between her brows. “See what?”
“Your body.” He shoved the thin cotton up her thighs, over her hips, and dragged it halfway above her belly—before the hem trapped under her refused to stretch any more.
“Don’t!” She shoved his hands away. “I’m not getting naked for you.”
“I’m not looking for a cheap thrill.”
“Then what—”
“I’ll give you one chance to be honest with me.” He held up a finger and pressed his relentless gaze down on her. “One, pretty girl. Are you pregnant?”
Her eyes went wide. She paled. The panic he’d heard in her voice earlier spread across her face. “W-why would you think that?”
One-Mile tamped down his frustration. He’d scared her by walking away. He hadn’t given her the reassurances she’d needed. Fine. He accepted responsibility for that. But he’d be damned if he left here before she admitted the truth.
“I’m not playing twenty questions. Yes or no?”
She sent him a defiant lift of her chin. “Why do you care?”
“Don’t yank my chain. Are you pregnant?”
“Pierce…”
“Answer me,” he snarled.
“Yes.” Anger tightened her lips even as tears trembled on her lashes. “Yes, I’m pregnant. Now you know.”
He let out a rough breath. Since she was finally talking, maybe they’d get somewhere. “Oh, I already knew. Just like I know the answer to this question, but I want to hear it from your mouth. Who fathered that baby?”
She pressed her lips together. “Does it really matter to you?”
“You fucking better believe it does. Who?” He grabbed her shoulders. “Tell me.”
Brea trembled in his grip. “You. There’s only ever been you.”
So he’d been right. And she might have accepted Bryant’s proposal, but she hadn’t taken his cock.
Even as One-Mile’s triumph roared, he saw her fear. Was she afraid of him? Or of facing everything without him? Either way, he’d reassure her…eventually.
“That’s right. It’s my baby. You got pregnant that first night, didn’t you? Back in August?”
She nodded. “But I only found out for sure a little over a week ago.”
Everything about the way she answered told him that she’d believed he was gone from her life and she’d panicked. So she’d turned to Cutter.
“I want to see.” With a growl, One-Mile lifted her off the mattress with one hand and gave the gown a savage yank with the other, dragging the cotton up her belly and over her breasts. Since she wouldn’t be needing that tonight, he sent it sailing across the room. Same with her panties, so seconds later he tore those off, too.
Then he dropped her back to the sheets and stared.
Her hips had begun to round out. The slight bulge of her belly wasn’t as pronounced lying down, but her tits were heavier and riper, her nipples seemingly darker. They were definitely calling his name as he cupped them in his hands and felt the change in their weight.
“Oh, pretty girl…” He could barely fucking breathe as he swept his thumb over her crest. Then he dragged his palm down the slight curve of her abdomen. The gravity of the moment felt a million times heavier than air. He couldn’t drag enough into his lungs. Instead, they worked like a bellows as he cataloged the changes pregnancy had wrought on her body. “So beautiful.”
Fuck, he couldn’t stop touching her. And like every other time he did, his most primal urges compelled him to get close to her, touch and claim her. Never let her go. Seeing her pregnant twisted his impulses into biological imperatives. He could not walk away from her now and live.
“My body is changing.”
It was, and he was loving it. “We have a lot to talk about, and we’ll get to all that. But I need you. So bad.”
One-Mile dragged his lips over the swells of her breasts, then worked his way down the valley in between before lifting one heavy globe to his waiting mouth and sucking her nipple inside.
“Pierce.” Her breathy cry said she’d missed him and needed the hell out of him, too. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“What, touching you? Reminding you how good we are together? Want me to stop?” He circled her begging bud with his tongue before sucking it deep again. “Do you, baby?”