“When were you planning to tell me?” He was angry. That was anger in his voice, definite anger. He looked downright frightening when he was angry. Every bit the jungle beast. “Or were you going to tell me? You weren’t planning to keep it a secret indefinitely, were you?”
Now that just pissed me off. He had no right to judge. I speared him with a vicious glare. If my eyes were Starfleet issued phasers right now, I would have sliced him in two. Or vaporized him.
“Of course I was going to tell you!” I welcomed the anger. It chased away the threat of tears. The last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of him, but hormones were calling the shots these days.
“If you hadn’t ghosted me, you’d have known sooner.”
He had the decency to look ashamed, but he was clearly still angry with me. I wasn’t all too happy with him either.
“Seriously, what did you expect? It’s not as though you gave me your number and asked me to call or anything.” I added a casual shoulder shrug because I wanted to diffuse the situation, not escalate it. The whole thing was really not going the way I imagined.
Somehow in my mind when we had this conversation, I was a lot more confident and put-together, not nauseous and cranky and all affected by how hot and sexy he was standing a couple yards away.
Who wouldn’t be affected by him? Even first thing in the morning, he looked like he could be one of the Chippendale dancers. Whereas I had bed head and vomit breath.
I had to remember that he’d probably still be ghosting me if not for the major screw up by Patton and Mariah. As far as I was concerned, that was concrete proof about how he felt. Dylan didn’t want, nor had he ever wanted, anything to do with me. Nothing other than a quick hookup.
If he thought I would behave like my mom in a situation like this and throw myself at him, he had another thing coming.
“Thanks for the toast, but I’m not up for conversation this morning. I have a lot of baking to do and videos to film for my YouTube channel. Maybe we can postpone this conversation until later.” I had no intention of having a conversation later. I planned to avoid him later. I think he knew that too, if his scowl and intense gaze were any indication.
Time to make myself scarce.
I stood and headed out of the room. He was in front of me in a flash. I didn’t know a person could move that fast. Ahh, but he was no ordinary person, was he?
“You’re carrying my baby.”
I released a sigh. “Look, I haven’t had much time to process this myself. I was going to tell you once I fully digested it. But, one thing I can say for sure is that I love this baby with everything in me and I will protect this little nugget with my life.”
True, single motherhood was not what I’d envisioned when I’d dreamed of a family, but life threw curve balls and you either ducked and dodged, or you swung and hoped you didn’t strike out. I intended to hit motherhood out of the park.
“You’re carrying my baby.” He repeated himself.
I sighed. The last thing I wanted was to alienate Dylan from Nugget’s life. I knew from experience how it felt to grow up without a dad—with one who wished I never existed. A child deserved better.
But I wasn’t my mom either. No way would I sink my fangs into a man who clearly didn’t want me.
“If you want to be an involved parent, great, fine, dandy, as long as you realize that you and I are nothing. If you don’t want to be involved, that’s fine too. Either way, I’m doing this. Alone.”
“But you’re not alone.”
“I’m always alone.”
I brushed him aside and headed upstairs. When I reached the top landing, I glanced down. Dylan was still standing in the same spot, his jaw hanging open. He looked mind-blown.
11
Dylan
I was mind-blown.
A baby
Holy fuck.
My brain was ready to explode.
What should I do? How should I handle this? All this time I’d worked at keeping my distance from Elin—with considerable difficulty, I might add. I’d done it for her sake, but now…
My resolve just did a one-eighty.
A baby.
There was a war of emotions going on in my head.
Joy. Pride. Fear. Panic.
I was going to be a father. For the past two months, I had secretly stalked Elin. I had to. My lion wouldn’t rest unless we were near her and I knew she was safe. I followed her, keeping out of sight during the day, and at night I sat outside her cottage for hours watching over her.
The drive back and forth to Miami got to be too much, so eventually I just bought a place of my own here on the island. To be nearer to her. I knew she quit working at Jammies. And I knew her brand was taking off, because I followed her social media, YouTube channel, and blog.
A baby.
All this time watching, following, and it never occurred to me. I was never near enough to scent her like I did this morning. I could see it now. Elin’s curves were more pronounced. She was plumper—in all the right places. Her breasts had swelled and now strained against her clothing.
A baby.
I’d run from her to protect her from the devastation that a human woman with a lion shifter mate experienced. I wouldn’t let her be destroyed like that. Not Elin. I’d die before I allowed that to happen to her. But leaving her alone was no longer an option. I had to figure out what came next.
A baby.
I headed to Miami for a scheduled meeting, my mind whirling, and thoughts flying a mile a minute. When I returned to the island, the sun
