Nobody's Hero (49 page)

As realization dawned on her, Karla’s eyes
widened. “I hadn’t even noticed, what with everything that’s
happened in the last few weeks.”

Fuck
. Sounded like a distinct
possibility he would soon become a father—only to a tiny baby, not
a grown man like the father he’d become for Damián after the
war.

"How many periods have you missed?"

"Just one."

She sure did have the symptoms awfully early,
but he'd still lay odds that's what was going on. How did Karla
feel about having his baby? Hell, Adam would be seventy by the time
the kid went to college. She may have sole responsibility for the
child for many years without him. How could he have been so fucking
irresponsible as to put her into a life-altering situation like
this?

He reached out and cupped her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Karla.”

* * *

Tears stung the backs of her eyes. Well, at
least now she understood the frequent waterworks. Haywire hormones.
“Don’t say another word, Adam. Just take me home.”

Obviously, he regretted they’d made a baby
together—and Karla didn’t need a pregnancy test to know that’s what
was happening to her body. She'd never missed a period, not even
with the stress of Ian’s funeral and those subsequent
grief-stricken months.

She remembered how she’d felt after Adam had
taken her virginity, hoping they’d made a baby, but just hadn’t
given it another thought. For him to express regret now was too
much to bear. She wanted to get back to the house and just lock
herself away in her room to have a good cry. Oh, God, she was going
to have a baby.

Adam’s baby. Her hand pressed against her
abdomen. She was growing his baby inside her body. A tear splashed
onto her wool coat and soaked in. And he didn’t want it.

“I love you, Karla.”

She shook her head. The words she’d wanted to
hear forever didn’t mean anything now. He was just saying them out
of his sense of duty; what he thought he was supposed to say to the
future mother of his child, even his unwanted and unplanned
child.

“Take me home, Adam, before I get out and
walk.”

He sighed. How much more could she be
expected to take from this man? Adam reached across her and she
braced herself for his touch, but he just took the seatbelt and
pulled it across her, buckling her in like a child.

Adam closed her door, walked around the back
of the car, and took his seat behind the wheel. He looked over at
her, huffed, and started the engine. What did he have to be angry
about? They drove a few minutes until he pulled into a strip mall
and parked near the drug store.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

He closed the door and locked her in, then
walked into the store. Within minutes, he’d returned to the car
with a small package in his hand. She resisted the urge to peek
inside. None of her business. He placed it on the floor at her
feet.

Thank God her parents were working today. She
needed time to regroup before she could face them. What were they
going to say about her getting pregnant and not being married—or
attached even—to the father? She’d never wanted to disappoint them
for anything.

He double parked in front of her house, but
didn’t cut the engine. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Get your
things packed, then pack mine. We’re leaving when I get back.”

“Adam, I’m not…”

“Don’t make me punish you, Karla. Just do as
I said.”

Ka-thunk
.

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

“Isn’t this called kidnapping?”

Grrrrr. Her heart pounded against her chest.
Had he just growled at her, like some kind of animal? She nearly
grinned, but fought the urge.

“I have to say good-bye to my parents.”

“Leave them a note or call them from the
road. You’ll see them again soon enough.”

He wasn’t making any sense. Maybe he was in
shock, just like she was. “But—”

Adam handed her the bag from the drug store.
“Here. I want to see the results when I get back.”

She saw the familiar initials for the popular
home-pregnancy test when she looked inside the bag. Was her being
pregnant contingent on him wanting her? What if she wasn’t? What if
she faked it and told him she wasn’t?

His fingers clamped around her chin and drew
her in his direction. “Don’t. Even. Think it.”

Ka-thunk.

Well, it wasn’t like she’d lied to him. She
was just playing the “What If” game. Still, she wished she could go
back to his thinking she was really sick or something. He’d taken
such good care of her then. Now he just bossed her around as if he
were her…Master or something.

Time she got one thing straight.

“Adam, I’m never going to be your slave
again, except maybe in the Arabian Nights room. That role might
have worked for Joni, but I’m not Joni.” Her throat and chest
constricted. She’d said the words she’d been dreading since she’d
left Denver Sunday. Maybe now he’d realize she wasn’t the right
woman for him, baby or not. “I won’t keep you from your baby,
though. I want him or her to know you.”

You’ll make such a great father
.

“You’re damned right about that.” The
ferocity of his tone caused her to look over at him and into his
piercing green eyes. She didn’t want to do battle with this man
over what he thought was his. He’d crush any opponent without
batting an eye. “Now, hurry up. I want to get on the road as early
as possible. We have a long drive ahead of us.”

Karla reached for the door handle, opened her
mouth to argue, then shut it again. No way was she leaving Chicago
today, especially not now. She really needed to talk with her mom.
But there was no point in arguing with him out here. She opened the
door, got out, and walked up the steps. As she let herself inside
the house, she thought how flimsy the front door would be if he
decided to break it down.

Oh, who was she kidding? He wasn’t going to
have to break anything down. She wanted to go with him, even under
these circumstances. Maybe he’d come to admit he loved her someday,
as well as the baby.

No!
Karla paused in front of the
stairs with one foot on the first step. She’d tried to settle for
less than Adam’s love before. She wouldn’t go there again. If he
didn’t love her, she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Then why did she climb the stairs, go to her
room, pull out her suitcase, and begin packing? When finished, she
went to Ian’s room and packed Adam’s duffel bag. He’d been living
out of it mostly, so there wasn’t a lot to pack.

Last, she returned to her room, picked up the
pregnancy kit, and headed to the bathroom. She was looking down
over the stick, waiting for the results, when she felt Adam’s body
heat behind her. She jumped and nearly dropped the stick in the
toilet. Her hand shook so badly, he placed his hand over hers to
steady it and curled his body against hers. Tears pricked her eyes
as his other hand came to rest on her lower abdomen.

“Mine.”

At that moment, the test strip revealed what
they’d both already known. A sob tore from her chest, even though
she’d fully expected that result. A baby. She and Adam were going
to have a baby. No, she was going to have Adam’s baby. She didn’t
have Adam. He dropped the stick into the wastebasket and wrapped
his arms around her midriff, holding her against him as she
cried.

“I have you, kitten.”

“But I don’t have you, do I?” she whispered.
Adam grew tense. She remembered the last time she’d asked and
wished she hadn’t spoken those needy, pathetic words again.

“I want this baby, kitten.”

She waited, but no further declaration was
forthcoming. “You want the baby.”

“You’re fucking right I do.”

“But what about me?” She shook her head and
another sob wrenched from deep within.

“I’ve wanted this baby’s mama a lot longer
than I even knew about the baby. You’re both mine."

What was he saying? Her head hurt too much to
process so much information. She wriggled free and turned around to
look up at him, but his facial features swam before her eyes. His
hands trembled as he cupped her cheeks and bent down to brush his
lips over hers, sending a delicious tingling throughout her
body.

“I love you, kitten. Forever.”

He’d finally said the words she’s been
waiting to hear her whole adult life. Standing here in her
childhood home, in the bathroom. And she couldn’t think of anything
more perfect. Her arms reached up and wrapped around his neck,
holding him closer before she’d even realized what she was doing.
His tongue teased at her lips, rather than roughly invading her
mouth as he normally did, and he pressed lightly with his tongue
and she opened up, welcoming him.

He held her as if he were afraid she’d break.
Karla pressed him against the wall and fumbled with the buttons on
the fly of his jeans. She’s missed him so much. She needed him.
Right here. Right now.

He stilled her hands. “No. Not here. Not
now.” She groaned and he chuckled. “Hang on, baby tiger, but you’re
going to make an honest man of me before I touch you again.”

Karla pulled away and met his gaze.
“What?”

He knelt to one knee and took her left hand
in his. “I’m not going to risk having anything else happen before I
say these words. Karla Paxton, will you marry me?”

The room began to swim and she was afraid she
was going to faint, but realized it was only swimming because she
had more tears in her eyes. From the thousands of scenarios she’d
fantasized about of having Adam propose to her that had flitted
through her mind since she was sixteen, never in a million years
would she have scripted it like this.

She just needed to make sure of one more
thing. “Adam, I have to know. Would you love me, even if I wasn’t
pregnant?”

He stood and his big hands gripped her
shoulders to the point of pain. “Kitten, I know it’s taken me a
while to figure things out, but I came to Chicago to bring you
home—to our home. Things just haven’t gone quite the way I’d
planned. It’s taken me a lot longer to realize that I’ve been
falling in love with you inch by inch since I saw you standing on
the stage at the club auditioning. But haven’t I been showing how
much I love you for almost two months now? Do you really have to
ask?”

True enough. Only now he’d finally opened his
eyes and admitted it. “You’ve been showing me how much you love me
since I was sixteen.”

The sheepish grin on his face won her heart
even more. “Hold on, kitten. I want to be perfectly clear that I
didn’t see you as anything more than a pesky runaway and a kid back
then. I’m not a perv. You just needed someone to rescue you.”

“Yes, Sir. I know—and it drove me insane. I
so wanted you to notice me as a woman.” She narrowed her eyes. “You
don’t still see me as a kid, do you?”

He gently cupped her breast. “Fucking right,
I don’t.”

Her breath hitched as his thumb brushed
lightly over her sensitive nipple.
Squeeze it, Adam
. But he
didn’t get rough or show any indication this would go anywhere
sexual, even if they did have the house to themselves. He really
intended to make her wait? For how long?
Damn him
.

She reached up to stroke his whiskered cheek.
“Maybe it wasn’t romantic love, but I’ve felt your love, all the
same, since I was sixteen. You protected me from harm. You took
care of my needs. You even let me down gently when I declared my
love for you on our front porch and scared the shit out of
you.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“Don’t interrupt.”

He lowered his head and cast a glare at her
that sent her stomach tilting and whirling again, but she
continued. “You wrote to me faithfully for more than eight years,
always expressing your concern for my welfare, your interest in my
life, your hopes for my future.”

“Karla, just like I said in the airport all
those years ago, you were the one who rescued me. You became a
lifeline for me when life had become so empty. But I still was in
guardian mode with you then. You need a caretaker more than anyone
I’ve ever known, hon.” She glared at him and he smiled, but didn’t
say more.

“Then, when I came to you in July all broken
and so alone,” her voice cracked as she remembered how low she’d
been less than five months ago, “you took me in, watched over me as
I slept, chased away my demons, and introduced me to grown-up love.
You encouraged me to fulfill my dreams. You showed me things about
myself I never would have known without you. You let me love you,
Adam. And you most definitely loved me back.”

“I started falling in love ever since I came
out of my nice, safe little office to find this bewitching siren
auditioning at my club. I’m not sure it qualifies as romantic love
at that point, though, because I got a raging hard-on as I imagined
having rough sex with her—pulling her hair, holding her
down...”

She leaned closer to him. “Oh, it counts for
me. Please, Sir. I need that now.”

He chuckled and held her by her upper arms to
keep her from getting too close.
Now he’d better not start that
again.

“No, kitten. I’m not finished.” He grew
serious and she felt a knot form in her stomach. “I just had some
things to work out about Joni and my past.”

“And have you…worked them out, I mean?”

“Yeah. I have. I think Joni wants us to be
together.”

“I more than think so.” He cocked his head
and she continued. “Nine years ago, when I followed you to Lake
Michigan on that freezing cold Thanksgiving Day, I heard this
unfamiliar and very disembodied woman’s voice telling me to watch
over you.” His eyelids narrowed, but he didn’t interrupt. “Then
when everything had fallen apart for me after Ian died, I heard her
again saying, ‘Go to Adam. He can help.’ Adam, I’ve heard the voice
more times than I can say since you came into my life.”