High-Stakes Bachelor by Cindy Dees

Author:Cindy Dees
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Jackson turned to face Ana. She looked like a guilty child standing in the middle of his bedroom staring down at her toes. He wanted to make love to her so badly he could hardly stand upright. That kiss in the library had been out of this world. If he so much as touched her, he would lose whatever modicum of control he had and fall on her like a beast.

Being careful to stay well out of arm’s reach of her, he took tight hold of his surging lust and asked low and grim, “What the hell was that circus downstairs all about?”

Ana exhaled hard. “You tell me. I had no idea your grandmother was into fortune-tellers and soothsayers.”

“Exactly what triggered all of that?”

“I have no idea. This morning, she did bring up the subject of wanting a great-grandchild. I didn’t say anything to lead her on, though. It’s not like I told her I’m pregnant or anything.”

Holy Mother of God. Just hearing those words out of Ana’s mouth did crazy things to his gut. The idea of a baby—their baby—was shocking, and strangely...exciting.

Not good exciting, he told himself hastily. Scary exciting. Yeah, that was it. That knot twisting in his gut was an instinctive threat reaction. That was all. It wasn’t possible that Ana was pregnant. Well, technically, he supposed it was—

Alarm slammed into him. “Last night. Christ. You are using birth control, aren’t you?”

“Yes, of course,” she answered quickly, matching his alarm. “I’m on the Pill. It helps keep my...my cycle...regular.”

His gut twisted at how appalled she sounded at the idea of actually having his kid. He wasn’t that bad a guy, was he? He wouldn’t be the worst choice on the planet to be a father. Not that he blamed her for not wanting to be saddled with a baby. She was single and just starting a demanding career. A baby would be a huge inconvenience for her.

Thank goodness she wasn’t one of those women who would use a pregnancy to trap a star into coughing up millions in child support...or worse, demanding a wedding ring. No child deserved to be used that way.

God knew, he’d been an inconvenient child, himself. No way would he do that to any kid of his. After his father died, his mother had drifted without an anchor. He and his siblings had bounced from crash pad to crash pad with Linda while she got stoned and tried to sleep her way into acting jobs, when she was cleaned up enough to know what day it was. Had Minerva not finally stepped in and taken them away from her, had his grandmother not given them stability and fierce love, who the hell knew how things would have turned out for any of them. If he had a kid, by God, he would be there to raise it.

The idea of watching his own son or daughter—son if he was to believe Yogi What’s-his-face—grow up was seductively appealing. Good thing there was still plenty of time for him to settle down.

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