Page 29 of A Temptation Too Great

Pushing up off the desk, I grab his hand and place it on my belly. “You’d better never give me up. I love you. Daddy.”

His eyes flare wide, and he looks down at his hand before his fingers curl against my stomach. He pulls out, and I groan.

“Don’t you forget about me.”

“Never, spitfire,” he says, then kisses my stomach, over and over. “Is the baby okay?”

“They did ultrasounds. The baby is safe and sound. After you get done showing me how much of a badarse you are, you can see them.”

He chuckles, and I can’t help but laugh too.

“I’m going to show you a badarse. I love you too, baby.”

He slides back into my body and starts moving with more purpose and deeper thrusts. Before I know it, I’m coming and crying out his name. He groans and lies over me.

“I don’t want to discuss this while you’re still inside me, but you need to know I was going to choose you, even before I found out about the baby. I just needed time to process everything I’ve been realizing.” I take a breath before continuing. “Today, I found evidence that my brother might have had something to do with my mam’s murder. And I found out my father has been on the take for several years. He’s the reason Britain found Giselle. He could be helping Britain’s father go after Shane. We need to warn him.”

He slides out of my body and pulls up his jeans before heading to the attached bathroom. When he returns, he helps clean me up, then leans down to kiss my stomach again.

“I messed with your alarm,” he confesses.

I turn to look at him as I pull the scrubs back on.

I can’t even be mad at him. I just shake my head. “Yeah, I wondered if it was you. But why? Why would you bring a baby into this crazy mix?”

“I needed to tie you to me in every way I could. I had a feeling you were going to run. I just didn’t expect you to do it so soon. You and our baby are the most important things in my life. I’d give up everything here”—he gestures around the room—“for you. You are all I need.”

I step back into his space and reach up, my hand brushing along his scratchy cheek. I love the feel of his stubble against my palm as much as I do between my legs.

“I want you just the way you are. Leather cut. Bad boy and all. I love you for the man you are, both bad and good.” I press my hand to his bare chest, right over his heart, where the tattoo for his mam sits beside the flowers that represent the month I was born.

He reaches down and kisses me, long and deep, before releasing me.

I dig into my bag and pull out my old mobile. When I hand it to him, he glances at it, then at me. I take out my new one and slip it into the pocket on my thigh.

“I got an email. They threatened to kill you and Fiona if I didn’t leave you. I’m sure it was my brother.”

Brody

* * *

I look down at her mobile. I never checked her email, and now I regret it. I would have seen this message sooner. She thinks it’s her brother, but I know who it’s really from. I know how my brother felt when his girl became the focus of this madman. Now my girl and our unborn child are caught in the crossfire too.

Lifting Moira up, I sit her down on the desk again. She smacks at my hands.

“Brody, we need to get this figured out. We can’t shag again.”

I push past her knees and pull her into my body, holding her tightly as the panic washes over me. She feels me trembling and wraps her arms around me.

“Brody? Brody, what’s the matter?” I hear the panic in her voice, but right now, I can’t rationalize my fear.

We hold each other for a few silent minutes, taking in everything. Then, finally, a switch snaps in my head as I hear my mam’s voice.

Being with your da is hard, but every day I wake up and decide I’m going to fight for my marriage. That I want this to work. Someday you’ll have to make that choice too. When it happens, you’ll know that everything you did was for that lass you love, for that woman you made a vow to. The Knights will be here tomorrow, but will she? Prove to her you want her there. That she means the world to you.

Mam was right. I’m not going to let anyone take Moira away from me. She is my everything.

I lean back and cup her cheeks in my hands. “I love you. I’ve told you I’ll choose you. You said you’ll choose me. Let me protect you.” I hold up her mobile. “This right here is not your brother unless he’s working with an extremely dangerous man. A man named?—”

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