Page 27 of Saved by Him

Thirteen

“How’dyou know I was at Jenna’s?” We’d been riding next to each other in silence for at least ten minutes before I finally asked the question. “Did she call you?”

He cut me a sharp glance. “No. Jenna would never do that.”

“Then how?” I pressed.

A bit of color crept into his cheeks. “Rylan. But in his defense, I’m very persuasive, and he probably didn’t even think that you might not want me to know.”

“It’s not that,” I protested. “I mean, it wasn’t that I cared that you knew, I just…” I shook my head. “Shit. A week and a half talking to myself and various hallucinations and I completely lose my ability to carry on a normal conversation.”

Jalen laughed, and the awkward tension between us eased a bit. After a few more seconds of silence, he spoke again.

“I know you’ve been through a lot, and maybe I should have waited until you came to me, but I…” He glanced at me again. “I missed you, Rona. Yes, I was terrified when you were gone, but once you were safe, it hit me how much I missed seeing you, talking to you.”

I couldn’t help it. No matter how much my brain told me to keep my hands to myself until we talked things out, I reached over and put my hand on his arm. “I missed you too.”

“Can I ask something?” He seemed to steel himself. “Why didn’t you come to me to talk? I would’ve listened to you about everything. I could have held you while–”

His voice cracked, and his hands tightened on the wheel. A moment later, we pulled into his garage, and the moment the car was still, he turned toward me, a foreign, pleading expression on his face.

“All I’ve been thinking since I left the hospital is that you’re going through all of this, and I’m not there to go through it with you.” He took both of my hands in his. “I failed you. You were on that street because of me. You werealonebecause of me. I should have stayed with you. Better, I should have taken you back inside and told Elise to leave. You should have been my priority.”

I shook my head and gently pulled my hands away. “Your child should be your priority. I would never ask you to choose me over him or her.”

He opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again. He got out of the car and came around to my side to open my door. He held out a hand, and after a moment, I took it, letting him help me to my feet. His eyes met mine as he threaded his fingers between mine and tightened his grip, and I knew he was waiting for me to pull away again. This time, I didn’t.

“I brought you here because I wanted to show you something.”

He didn’t expound as he took me into the house. As we walked through, I looked around, half expecting it to be different than I remembered. A week and a half had to have been enough time for Elise to leave her mark, especially since she’d lived here not too long ago. Other than a few additional dirty dishes, everything looked the same. Either Elise hadn’t made any changes in this part of the house yet, or something else was up.

We went up the stairs, and a flash of heated arousal sparked low in my belly. Logically, I knew there were things to talk about before I could fall into bed with him, but my body craved the contact, no matter how much I told myself that I needed to be strong.

We walked past his bedroom door and went into the second door on that side of the corridor. What had once been a guest room was now empty and painted a pastel yellow. Even without furniture, this would obviously be a nursery. A door to the right stood open, revealing the master bathroom that was attached to Jalen’s bedroom. Another door on the other side of the room was open as well, this one to a smaller bathroom.

“Once the paternity test is done,” he finally broke his silence, “I’ll know whether this needs to be a nursery connected to my room and to a guest room, or if I can find another use for it. Maybe something a bit more… adult.”

I shivered at the heat in his voice but pushed my desire down, so I could focus on the important part of what he’d said. “Has she moved in yet?”

“No. It won’t be like that.” He pulled me through the master bathroom and into his bedroom, leading me over to a chair. I sat down, and he let go of my hand, so he could sit on the edge of the bed. “I did some research, and there’s a non-invasive paternity test that’s ninety-nine percent accurate, and it can be done any time after the eighth week. As soon as I knew you were safe, I scheduled an appointment for Elise and me to go to the doctor and get it done. I haven’t gotten ahold of her yet to tell her about it, but by this time next week, we should know if I’m the father or not.”

A week. Just a single week more of not knowing. I supposed if Jalen could handle that, so could I.

“And if you are?”

“Then I’ll go to doctor appointments with her. I’ll make sure she’s taking care of herself. I’ll furnish and decorate the nursery.”

“And the other room?”

“I’ll make sure it has everything a mother would need, but if Elise wants anything more than that, she’ll have to bring it herself.”

“She’ll be living here then.”

Jalen moved into a crouch and took my hands. “She will have a guest room while the baby’s young so that neither of us has to try to do the feedings and all that alone. And if I need to get a nanny because Elise wants to travel around modeling again, that’ll be the nanny’s room.”

I loved that he wanted to be involved in his child’s life instead of just sending a check every month, but my feelings were tempered by the fact that I still didn’t know where I stood.

“What about me?” I asked softly. “What role do I play here?”

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