Page 46 of The Hermit on the Hill

She walked around the desk and hugged me tight. "If you need anything. You call. And keep me updated about that baby."

"I will."

She didn't hug Sam, but she did shake his hand. "Congratulations, Sam. Be good to my daughter and my grandson or my boys will kill you and bury the pieces of you in ten different states."

"Fair enough," Sam said.

Together, we left that place and made it to the safety of his truck. Once there, I turned on him. "Why did you tell her we were dating?"

He stared at me, nonplussed. "Would you rather I told her I was so blown away by your beauty and your brain that I lost all my good sense and fucked you without a condom and never bothered to find you after the best sex of my life?"

"That's hardly the truth, either. You could have—"

"That is the truth, Jenna." He leaned into me. "I screwed up. I should have taken care of you. Should have used a damn condom. This whole mess is on me and it was up to me to tell a story about how we got together that put you in the best possible light."

"I'm perfectly capable of reminding a man to suit up. It was a mistake we made together. How did that happen, anyway? You pulled your plan off so smoothly, pretty stupid to forget the condom."

He looked genuinely confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You were so convincing, pretending you didn't know who I was, and seducing me so you could get into my room to steal from me. It seems like you'd thought of every detail, so it's odd you forgot the condom."

His confusion became a glare and, for the first time, I was a little scared of him. "Is that the story you've been telling yourself? Yes, I went to that party intending to steal someone's credentials so I could access the damn university databases that are kept so tightly controlled. I didn't want to pay because I'm a paranoid asshole, and I didn't want anyone to question why I needed that information. I saw you from across the room and you took my fucking breath away. I didn't know who you were, and I didn't care. I forgot all about my plan. I just needed to get close to you."

I snorted. Damn, this guy was good. "So it was a coincidence you just hit on the one professor currently working on a paper about the folklore of Appalachia? Don't lie to me, Sam. I was almost starting to like you."

He slammed a hand on the steering wheel and growled. Turning, he lifted me from the passenger seat, set me on his lap, and pressed down on my hips until I could feel the hard line of his erect cock against my core.

"Is this a lie? Is this some made up story? Because this is what you fucking do to me, Jenna. I get a whiff of your shampoo and I get hard. I saw you across that room, and the only thing I wanted in this world was to have you under me."

"No," I said, even as I desperately wanted to believe it. "I know what I am. I'm not the kind of woman a man sees from across the room and has to have."

"Bullshit." His voice was a low rasp. "You are exactly that kind of woman to me. Your big eyes, your perfect tits, your tight ass, and your sexy legs that go on for days. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Looking into his eyes, I almost believed him until he said that last bit. I had the body of a fourteen-year-old boy and my eyes were too big for my narrow face, my nose too sharp, by breasts too small.

"You're good with words. But I'm not even in the top ten of the most beautiful women. There's no way I'm the most beautiful woman you've ever seen."

"You're not listening, professor. You are the most beautiful womanI'veever seen. You're fucking gorgeous, but it's more than that, it's the intelligence in your eyes, your fierce independence, the way you gave your body to a gruff man with resting dick face and looked at him like you saw something more, something you wanted as desperately as I wanted you."

I wanted to believe him, but believing him meant seeing myself through his eyes. It was too much. "But you stole from me."

"That paper you were writing held clues I hadn't been able to find anywhere else. And once I'd stolen the flash drive, why not take your credentials, too? If I'd been a different man, I would have stayed in that bed with you for forty-eight hours straight. I never would have left you. But you're a good person, the best person, and I didn't want to taint your life with my bad."

A chill snaked down my spine. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you later. All you need to know is that I will be the best version of myself for you and for my son. I will take care of you."

I looked into his eyes and something warm and sure clicked into place inside me. Whatever else I knew about this man, whatever doubts I still held, I believed he'd take care our son. "Thank you."

"Good." He pressed a kiss to my lips like he had in the dressing room, but this time I kissed him back.

He startled like he was surprised to feel me react at all. He leaned back, his gaze wandering over my face. "You know, if you need help with that pregnancy sex drive you mentioned, I'm more than happy to volunteer. You can use my body, no strings."

I licked my lips, more tempted by his offer than I could say, and he groaned and closed his eyes.

"You are so damn sexy," he said. "You have no idea what you do to me."

"You were my first one-night stand. I'm not the type to jump into bed with anyone. I can't do sex with no strings, because I always catch feelings and end up with a broken heart."

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