“I want to see my child, Alex.” Daniel pushed the words out from between clenched teeth.
“He or she will arrive in only seven months’ time. How will us moving in together or getting married help you with that right now?”
Daniel opened his mouth to issue what she knew would be a hot retort only to have the words die on his tongue. Ha! He didn’t have an answer to that argument! And there wasn’t a reasonable answer because he was being an idiot!
She dropped her feet to the ground and rested her forearms on her thighs. “Daniel, I have no intention of denying you access to our child, but this idea you have of you being a full-time dad—that’s not going to happen.” Alex caught the flash of pain in his eyes, knew that her words were harsh but it was better to clear this up now before expectations were created that could not be fulfilled.
She was not eighteen anymore and dreaming of this man, fat babies, horses and a life on the ranch, filled with laughter and love. Dreams were for children, for the naive, and she far preferred cold reality. “We’re not going to be a couple and we are not going to live together. I’ve had a business offer. I’m probably going to take it. It’s lucrative and it’s in my, and the baby’s, best interest for me to accept it since my bills are going to quadruple.”
Daniel’s eyes turned cold. Oh damn. Now she’d properly insulted him.
“I am fully capable and prepared to pay for everything you or the baby need.”
Of course he was, the guy was a millionaire fifty times over. That wasn’t the point! “And I am an independent, successful woman who can earn her own money and support her own child,” Alex stated, her voice dropping ten degrees. Standing up so that she did not feel like Daniel was looming over her, she slapped her hands onto her hips and handed him her most ferocious scowl. He didn’t look remotely intimidated, dammit.
“I do not need you, or any other man, to pay my way.”
“Goddammit, woman, you are so contrary!”
“Pot. Kettle. Black.” Alex threw his words back in his face.
Daniel threw his hands up in the air, whipped around as if to leave and, before she could blink, he’d spun back and he was in her space, his fingers tunneling through her hair and his mouth falling toward hers. Alex knew that she should stop him but instead of pushing him away, she stood on her toes so that she could feel his lips against hers a second sooner. Waiting even a moment longer than she needed to was torture. She wanted him, of course she did, always had. Probably always would.
He drove her nuts. Nobody had the power to annoy her as intensely as Daniel could but, God, when he kissed her, he morphed from Irritant Number One to Sex God to Have-to-Get-Him-Naked-Immediately.
Those amazing lips moved over hers and his hand on her butt pulled her into him. Denim rubbed against denim and underneath the fabric she could feel the evidence of his desire. They might not know how to be friends and had even less idea of how to co-parent. But, God, this? This they knew how to do.
Daniel’s tongue slid into her mouth to tangle with hers, and she groaned deep in her throat. She should stop this; it wasn’t sensible. This would just further complicate a crazy situation, but instead of pushing him away, her hand skated up under his T-shirt to find hot, hard skin. Daniel had the same idea, since his hand was down the back of her loose jeans, cupping her bare backside with his big calloused hand.
He yanked his mouth off hers to speak. “I’ve got to know, were you wearing panties last night? Under that sexy dress?”
It took Alex a moment to make sense of his words. She’d worn the tiniest thong she had and really, she still didn’t know why she bothered. But she wasn’t about to admit that to Daniel. He wanted to hear that she’d worn nothing more than that silver slip dress. “No.”
Alex felt him tighten and harden, saw the fire in his eyes and knew that there was no going back. They were headed for the bedroom, or the sitting room. Hell, they might not even make it inside.
Daniel pulled her long-sleeve T-shirt up and over her head, looking down at the sheer lacy bra she wore. She was in the early stage of her pregnancy, and she’d yet to feel different, but Daniel was looking at her like she was made of spun glass, of delicate platinum strands. His index finger gently traced the outline of her nipple and she sucked in her breath, watching his dark hand against her lighter skin. Even in winter he looked tanned, courtesy of his Hispanic heritage. So sexy, Alex thought as he pushed the lace away to touch her, skin on skin. Daniel bent his knees, wrapped his big, powerful arms around her thighs and lifted her so that her nipple was in line with his mouth. Holding her easily, muscles bunching but not straining, he tongued her, pulling her nipple into his mouth, nibbling her with his teeth. She ran her fingers through the loose curls he hated, tracing the shell of his ear, the strong cords of his neck.