Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“You tried to kill me,” Miles accused. “You were like a mountain of pain falling on me.”
“Good, you arsehole.” Brody struggled to his feet. He needed to eat something. It had been roughly twenty-four hours since he’d eaten a damn thing and it was catching up to him.
Then he remembered where he was. “I want to see him.”
Steph held a hand out. “Why don’t we go talk?”
So she could put him off? “I want to see him. Or are you going to deny that’s my child? Because I can get a DNA test very quickly.”
“I never once denied it,” she replied. “I left you several messages concerning the fact that I was pregnant. I believe I threatened you with lawyers.”
“I didn’t listen to the messages and I damn straight didn’t get any messages from a lawyer. Did you try anything else? Why the hell didn’t you come to see me?”
Steph leaned over and gently kissed the baby, who was now being held in the nursery worker’s arms, a bottle lodged firmly in his mouth. When Steph glanced back up, there was a steely look in her eyes. “Out, Mr. Carter. We can have this discussion but I’m not doing it in front of the kids. I’m not going to scare them.”
He looked around and the older kids were watching him with wary eyes. The Taggart twins were staring up at him like they were ready to jump into action if needed.
He took a step back. “All right, but we do need to talk. Tucker, go find something to do.”
Tucker nodded and started down the hall toward the kitchen.
Steph led the way out after assuring Miles that getting a knee jammed into his crotch didn’t necessarily mean he could no longer have children.
Bastard.
Steph walked into an office, Li’s office. Brody followed and closed the door behind him. They were alone for the first time in a year.
She’d had his baby.
“You didn’t even listen to the messages?”
He sighed. “I was afraid I would give in if I heard your voice.”
“Give in to what?” Steph asked, obviously exasperated. “You act like I’m some kind of temptress. I asked you to sleep with me once. I agreed to all your conditions. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant I would never have called you again.”
That hurt more than he’d like. And it was perverse. He’d wanted to disconnect with her and yet the idea that she didn’t want him made him ache inside.
She shook her head, leaning against the desk. “Don’t. You don’t get to look hurt. I was honoring your wishes. You didn’t want me to call. I wouldn’t have called unless there was an emergency. You couldn’t even find out if something was happening to me. That’s how little you cared.”
“That’s not true.”
“Oh, the evidence would say differently, Mr. Carter.”
He had to get through that wall. “Stop calling me that, Steph.”
“I’ll call you whatever I like,” she replied. “You wanted a polite relationship, this is what you get. We ceased being Brody and Steph the minute you decided to ignore my calls. And don’t you dare tell me I should have done more. You want me to show up on your doorstep? With what? I barely had enough cash to get out when someone was trying to kill me. I wasn’t wasting what I had on a man who didn’t care. And I certainly never dreamed you felt so little for me that you would erase my voice mails.”
God, he was in it up to his neck now. “That’s not why I did it, luv. It was the opposite. I felt too much for you.”
Her eyes rolled. “Yes, that’s why you haven’t reached out at all in a full year. Well, I feel better.”
“The minute I thought you were in danger, I flew here. Doesn’t that say something?”
“It’s too little too late.” She crossed her arms and winced slightly.
No one had even checked her out. Things had moved quickly, and then he’d been a dumb arse and passed out at the sight of his son. God, he had a son. “Let me see your arm.”
“I’m fine.”
“I said, let me see your bloody arm,” he repeated, his voice low. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Not this time. He’d fucked up horribly, but he was going to take care of her now. A year couldn’t have changed the heat between them. A year hadn’t changed his feelings for her. For an unknown reason, this woman had wanted him once before. He could find that magic again if he stayed close to her.
Suddenly, staying close to this woman was his main mission in life.
She shrugged out of the plaid shirt she wore, revealing a plain white sleeveless T-shirt underneath. She often wore layers. He could remember vividly sitting up in bed a few days after they’d met and thinking about how nice it would be to peel back those layers of clothing and get down to her skin, to unwrap her like the gift she was.