Page 31 of Falling for the Werewolf
Bess looked ashamed. “I’m sorry, Amos. I know that. And so does Amanda, which is no doubt why she’s doing it. Oh, Amos,” she said, leaning into him. “What are we going to do?”
Dani turned and walked silently back to her room. Minutes later, she stared unseeingly out the window as she tore the thin cardboard box into tiny pieces until it was impossible to tell what it had been. The little white stick was snapped, wrapped in toilet paper, and stuffed inside a paper cup.
There was no more guessing, no more waiting. Dani was pregnant.
“Mr. Stevens?”
Amos and Bess both started as Dani called to him from the stairs. Amos had his hand on the door, ready to leave.
“Dani!” Bess exclaimed, rushing to her side. “Are you feeling better, sweetheart? Can I get you anything?”
“I’m fine, Aunt Bess,” she said with a weak smile. “I really need to talk to Jace. Can you give me a ride, Mr. Stevens?”
“Of course.”
Dani fidgeted during the short ride over, trying to work out exactly what she was going to say. By the time they arrived, she still hadn’t quite figured it out. She decided to just tell him and take it from there.
Her heart pounding, she knocked on the door to Jace’s apartment over the garage. It nearly stopped completely when he answered the door, looking every bit as miserable as she was.
Scruff covered his strong jaw, and his handsome features were haggard and weary, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well, either.
“May I come in?” she asked quietly.
Jace wasted no time. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as if he had never expected to do so again.
Warmth flooded through her. She had missed this so much. Missed him.
“Jace, we need to talk.”
“Yes, but later. Right now, I need to hold you.”
The moment his lips touched hers, she melted into his arms.
He scooped her up and held her against his chest, kicking the door shut before turning toward his bedroom. Dani wanted to tell him to stop, that they needed to sit down and talk, but she wanted this more. Wanted to feel his strong arms around her, wanted to feel him moving inside her, telling her without words that everything was going to be all right. That they would find a way to work through this together.
Jace carried her to the bedroom, never losing contact with her mouth. Clothes were discarded rapidly; everything else forgotten as they reached for the haven they found in each other.
Dani tensed as her climax began to overtake her, letting herself get carried away in the perfect storm of their passion. Jace was close, too; she could feel it in the urgency of his strokes. She took him deeper, craving the feel of his release within her, knowing that it would sate her as nothing else could.
Words were cheap. This was what she needed. She needed to know that he loved her, needed to feel it with every cell in her body.
Just as she was about to topple over the crest, Jace cursed and pulled out. She felt his sudden absence keenly, her orgasm fizzling as she felt his release hit the inside of her thighs.
Confused, she sought his eyes. Dark, tormented gray-green eyes filled with regret.
And then she knew. Jace didn’t want to release within her. He didn’t want to make another mistake. If only he knew it was too late for that.
Even though the rational part of her understood, the rational part wasn’t in control. There was nothing rational about what she felt, or this insane connection between them. She was a woman in love with a shifter. He was part of a world she could never be in.
Her heart cracked and bled as a tear slipped unbidden from her eye.
Jace collapsed next to her, spooning her tightly against him. She was glad he couldn’t see her face.
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears away until later, when she could cry alone.
She had come over to tell him about the test she had taken earlier that morning, but her shaky courage fled her now. She should have told himbeforethey ended up in bed. Before she knew that things had irrevocably changed between them, after all, when she believed they had a chance of weathering the storm together.
“I missed you so much,” Jace whispered behind her.
