Nauti Intentions (22 page)

She talked to a fucking cat. He’d bet a hundred bucks she had never talked to another human like that in her life, and he realized he wanted her to

talk to him like that.

It would have been dangerous if he hadn’t already decided the course he was taking. She would fal in love with him easily, he thought. He’d

like having Janey’s love. And he’d make sure she never lacked for the petting she needed. Or someone to talk to. To dream with.

He’d fil ed her twice last night. Pumped his cum inside her until he thought he was dying from his release. He’d found her little calendar that

morning in a kitchen drawer. Organized little thing that she was, she had the first and last day of her most recent monthly cycle marked.

She was in the best possible time of the month to conceive. There wasn’t a chance in hel that she wouldn’t.

He ran his hand over his hair. Zeke had picked him up at dawn as arranged, and Alex had returned to the house for his laptop and a few more changes

of clothes. When he wasn’t on a mission, he liked to dabble in Internet security, tracing and hacking the secured sites he was paid to try to crack. It

was a nice sideline.

He’d been working on one of the new sites when he heard Janey talking in the bedroom.

He hadn’t expected her to be talking to that damned cat. And he hadn’t expected the loneliness, the need to share that he had heard in her

voice. She was tel ing that cat secrets that she should have been sharing with close friends. Women needed to share those things; he knew that from

raising Crista. They needed a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen.

And that was something Janey had never had.

He sat back down in front of the laptop at the kitchen table and turned his attention back to hacking into the site he had pul ed up. The owners were

worried that several new programs might have created some vulnerabilities. Alex hadn’t found any yet, but he’d reached the third level into the

secured areas without too many problems. That wasn’t a good sign. It wasn’t the programs that were the issue so much as a lack of dedicated

attention to keeping certain areas of their network blocked.

He was backing out of the programs when he heard Janey in her bedroom, teasing Fat Cat again. He wondered if that scruffy, fat-assed feline had any

idea how lucky he was.

Securing the laptop and closing it up, he looked up as she rounded the corner into the kitchen and came to a dead stop.

Light green eyes widened as a rosy flush fil ed her face. She was wearing an oversized T-shirt and a pair of socks. He doubted she was wearing

panties, and the thought of it had his cock hardening again.

Unfortunately, they needed to talk before he took care of that.

“What are you stil doing here?†She tucked several curls behind her ear as she moved past the table and glanced at the half-ful coffeepot.

“Coffee stil fresh?â€

“Coffee’s fresh.†Alex leaned back in his chair and watched her, hiding his smile as she let her gaze lick over him. “We needed to talk,

though.â€

Her gaze became shuttered as she shrugged and moved to the coffee. “What do we need to talk about?â€

Janey couldn’t imagine anything from the night before that needed discussing. Repeating, maybe, but not discussing. And finding him in the kitchen

this morning made her nervous, especial y considering the fact he probably heard her talking to the cat. His expression was too stoic, his eyes too watchful.

“What are your plans for the day?†he asked her.

Janey shrugged. “Restaurant opens at four. We have a ful reservation list. I need to type up the ad for the newspaper, cal the col ege.â€

She’d cemented that idea in the shower. As much as she loved being home, being around her brother, she was bringing too much grief to al of

them. She’d return to California and see if it wasn’t easier there. Maybe a few years down the road, she’d manage to find someplace that

reminded her of home.

“That’s not going to work, Janey.†His voice hardened.

“Of course it is.†She set her coffee on the table before reaching into the cabinet for the pack of sticky cinnamon rol s she kept there.

Pul ing it down, she stared at the nearly empty pack before turning narrowed eyes to Alex. “You ate my rol s?â€

His grin was unapologetic. “I was hungry. I worked up an appetite last night.â€

And her face flamed again. Damn him.

“And that’s one of the things we need to talk about,†he told her as she set the package on the table and pul ed out a chair.

“Why dissect it?†she mumbled. “Leave me alone.â€

He leaned forward, braced his arms on the table, and stared back at her, his expression hardening now.

“The condom broke, Janey.â€

She shook her head, feeling her brain go numb. “You’re not serious.â€

He leaned back in his chair. “I’m very serious. It ripped to hel . Now we need to deal with it.â€

She swal owed tightly. “It was just one time . . .â€

“Twice.â€

“It ripped twice?†Her eyes widened as she grappled to understand what he was saying.

His lips tilted in a strange half smile. “No. I just didn’t bother with one the second time.†He lifted his coffee mug and sipped as though they

were talking about nothing more important than the weather.

She was in shock. There was no other explanation for it. Janey felt her lips go numb, but she felt a wild, impossible surge of excitement racing through

her. She did a fast mental calculation and knew, she knew the chances of her becoming pregnant couldn’t be any higher than right now.

She licked her lips nervously. “Was it my fault?â€

She had rol ed the condom onto his heavy erection. She had loved doing it, but it wasn’t as though she had any experience at it.

His brows lifted. “How could it have been your fault?â€

“Wel .†She swal owed tightly, feeling the blush burning across her cheeks as she lowered her eyes to her coffee. “I put it on you.â€

“It wasn’t your fault.â€

Was there a vein of amusement in his voice? She couldn’t lift her eyes to see. Confusion jumbled through her mind. She hadn’t expected that.

She wasn’t certain what he wanted her to say or what she was supposed to feel. She had a feeling this hard surge of joy, anticipation, wasn’t it.

“It doesn’t change anything.†She lifted the cup of coffee and sipped at it, ignoring the heavy silence that fil ed the room then.

“Excuse me, but I could have sworn you just said it didn’t change anything,†he stated, his voice dropping, lowering.

Janey forced herself to lift her gaze, to meet his hard, flinty one.

“That’s exactly what I said. If I’m pregnant, I’l deal with it.â€

“And how exactly wil you deal with it?†His lips thinned. “You wouldn’t consider getting rid of my baby, would you, Janey?â€

Shock raced headlong through her. She stared back at him for a moment in disbelief. It took critical seconds for the accusation to fire inside her brain

and disbelief to burn away beneath anger.

Cold, brittle mockery curled at her lips. “Your opinion of me sucks, Alex.†She pushed back from the table, abandoning her sweet breakfast as

anger curled through her. “No. For your information, I’d never consider harming our child.â€

The accusation hurt. It sliced through her soul with a ragged edge and left her bleeding, aching in pain. She had forgotten; she had let herself forget to

hold back with Alex. She had slipped up last night. Realizing she was in love with a man softened a woman. Made her weak.

“Good. Then I’l talk to Natches tonight. We can get married in the morning after securing the license at the courthouse.â€

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at her cool y. None of his emotions showed; she had no idea, one way or the other, what he even

thought about a child.

Janey looked at the cup of coffee, wondering for one insane moment if it had been drugged. Or if Alex had just lost his ever-lovin’ mind.

“No,†she final y said careful y. “We’re not getting married.â€

This was happening too fast. Too many emotions were crowding inside her now, racing through her brain, making it impossible to make sense of

everything.

For one moment, wild, impossible joy had fil ed her. Alex wanted to marry her? She could keep him, hold him close to her. For how long? Until he

realized the cost of marrying her? A woman everyone in the county wanted to convict as a traitor? How long would it take him to hate her?

“Janey.†He came out of his seat, his finger pressing into the top of the table, so commanding, so dominating. It was equal y sexy and irritating.

“I won’t al ow my baby to be raised without me. Period. You don’t want to test me on this.â€

“Until we know whether or not there’s a child, the point is moot.†She had to force the words past her lips. “Until then . . .â€

“Until then, I’l be fucking the hel out of you daily,†he growled, moving around the table to jerk her into his arms. “And I think I’m

addicted to the feel of your pussy bare, Janey. There won’t be any more condoms. How long do you think it wil take you to get pregnant if you’re

not already?â€

“I think you’re crazy,†she gasped. “Listen to yourself, Alex. This won’t work. You know it won’t work.â€

“Why?†He pushed her against the wal , not ungently actual y, the move too damned sexy. It made her wet. Made her want to weaken, to surrender

to him then and there. “Tel me why it won’t work, Janey.â€

“Do you love me, Alex?â€

Janey already knew the answer. She knew, but it stil tore a hole in her heart to see the answer in his face.

“Don’t believe in fairy tales, sweetheart.†He sighed, touching her cheek with his fingertips. “Sometimes I forget how young you are.â€

How young she was? As though age had anything to do with love. Since when?

Janey jerked away from him, barely restraining the urge to throw something at him. Glaring at him instead, raging inside, she faced him, her fists

clenching at her side.

“Wel then, remember,†she said scathingly. She wasn’t going to bother to even try to hide the anger. Screw it. She’d been in Somerset

six months, and hiding beneath that damned mask of unconcern wasn’t fooling anyone, least of al Alex. “Remember how young I am, Alex,†she

told him, mocking anger twisting her lips. “Because I won’t marry a man who doesn’t love me. Screw it. You and this damned town. I deserve

better than a man who thinks loving a woman is a fairy tale or a town that thinks I’m such a tramp I’d sleep with that disgusting excuse for a father

that I had. You know what? You can al go to hel .â€

His arms went over his chest as he stared back at her silently, cool y. She recognized that posture. Did he real y think that flashing those impressive

biceps of his was going to change her mind?

From the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of that bite on his neck, and the shiver that rushed through her, barely hidden, almost weakened her

knees. She had one on her neck as wel . Her shoulder, across the tops of her breasts. Her stomach.

Her breathing became shal ow. Okay. They’d snacked on each other like ravening beasts the night before and broken a rubber. She could deal.

That didn’t mean she was going to marry a man who didn’t love her.

“You know it’s not going to be that simple.†He final y spoke, and when he did she wished he had just kept his damned mouth shut. His tone

was implacable, his expression determined.

“Yes, it is going to be that simple,†she informed him. “Starting today, Alex, my life is going to simplified exponential y. Number oneâ€â€”she

held up one finger—“I’m no longer pretending to be some damned robot that doesn’t mind the little strikes and barbs that come my way.

Number twoâ€â€”she held up the second finger—“I’m not going let you or anyone else dictate to me how I walk, talk, dress, or act. And number

threeâ€â€”before she knew it, she had her finger buried in his chest and her voice had risen—“I wil not marry any man who doesn’t love me.â€

The finger came back to her, to her chest, and determination struck a hard, fierce blow there. “I’m not unworthy of love, no matter my age or who

the hel my biological parents are. So stuff that along with your arrogance and go straight to hel .â€

She turned on her heel and stomped to her bedroom. She had work to do. She’d wasted too much time in the past months letting people, people

she didn’t know and who didn’t matter to her damned life, affect her. She loved Somerset, but she could leave. She could go anywhere she

wanted to go now, and there was nothing and no one to stop her.

Except herself.

She slammed the door shut, locked it, then leaned against it and slowly placed her hands over her stomach as her eyes closed.

She could be pregnant. That changed her plans. Until she knew for certain, Alex was right—she couldn’t leave. But if she was pregnant, there was

no way she could stay either. She wouldn’t let her child be subjected to the prejudice and cruelty this county was heaping on her. Especial y Alex’s

baby.

Alex was considered one of Somerset’s favorite sons. A Special Forces soldier who had survived untold wars. He returned home wounded,

healed, and went out to fight again. He was a hometown hero, sleeping with a traitor’s daughter.

Funny, how those same people saw Natches as a hero as wel . Wel , not funny perhaps. They had stood aside al those years that they knew Natches

was getting the hel beat out of him at home. When Dayle had disowned him, many had turned their backs on him as wel , until Dayle’s arrest. Now he