Page 75 of Nine Month Contract
“I don’t like boundaries,” Wyatt murmurs, and I see a flash of insecurity cross his face. “Boundaries feel like secrets.”
“Well, they aren’t,” I argue, and my brows furrow at that bizarre take. “If anything, they’re truths.”
He sighs heavily and watches me for a moment. “What’s this mean? I’m just at your beck and call? You call all the shots?”
“Since you seem to have the sex drive of a teenager, I’m afraid so,” I reply firmly. “Now…about your brothers.”
“What about my brothers?” Wyatt’s mood takes a sharp nosedive.
“What is it with you and your brothers?” I ask, trying to make sense of this obvious shift in his demeanor. “You chose to live on this mountain together, right? Why are you so weird about them?”
“I’m not weird about them,” he argues, his jaw taut. “I’m just weird aboutyouwith them.” His eyes tighten as he glances at me. “My brothers and I have a strange history with women.”
My brows shoot to the sky. “This sounds juicy.”
“It’s ancient history. It happened like ten years ago.”
I wait for him to elaborate, but he doesn’t. What does that mean? He’s…jealous? Insecure? Of me hooking up with his brothers? The thought of that causes my veins to simmer with excitement. I don’t enjoy torturing men for sport, but the fact that a strong, confident man like Wyatt Fletcher would think that I was some prize to win? That’s like…totally going in my fictional girlie diary.
My eyes narrow as I gaze at a now grumpy-looking Wyatt. “So was there some love triangle or something?”
He frowns.
I tilt my head expectantly. “Oh, come on…you can’t just drop a bomb like that and walk away. What was her name? Or was it multiple women? Did you guys fight over a girl?”
“I’m not going to talk about her,” he snaps, and I can see that I’ve crossed a line he doesn’t want me crossing, so I pull back instantly.
Just hearing him say “her” gives me a little flicker of jealousy. She must have been some type of woman to elicit this type of reaction. And she still has an effect on him…even a decade later.
I chew my lip for a moment and try to detach from the feelings that realization evokes. This is just sex. He’s going to be a single dad with the baby growing inside me in a matter of months. Wyatt Fletcher is not boyfriend material, so why should I care if he’s hung up on some girl from years ago.
I clear my throat and add firmly, “Well, I don’t want your brothers to know anything about what’s going on between you and me. I don’t want anyone to know, frankly. If they found out about our sexuationship, it would make me feel like you’re paying me for sex…which you’re not.”
“You’d be worth every penny.”
“Not the point, Wyatt!”
He holds his hand up apologetically, and then a thought hits me. A thought that I really don’t want to say out loud, but I must, or it will eat me alive. I swallow the lump in my throat and gird my loins. “And just because we’re having sex doesn’t mean anything with this”—I gesture to my belly—“changes.”
He frowns, watching my hand hover over my stomach. “I don’t follow.”
“I’m a cow.” I state my mantra out loud.
His face twists in confusion.
“I am an inseminated cow. A mere incubator. I’m not going to stick around after this baby is born, so don’t, like…fall in love with me or something.”
Silence descends over us, and I feel my face heat with mortification as he begins shaking with silent laughter. The act is so foreign to him I instantly regret my stupid fucking comment. God, I just should have stopped at the sundown rule. What an idiot! Of course this mountain man isn’t going to fall for me.
He’s him, and I’m…me.
“Okay, it’s not that funny,” I snap and feel my eyes prick with tears. I move to get off the bed, desperate to run away from this horrid feeling of rejection. I make my way to my closet to find some clothes because if there’s one thing worse than being laughed at, it’s being laughed at while naked.
As I aggressively rifle through my stuff, looking for something big and baggy to wear or a hole to crawl into, I feel Wyatt’s big arms wrap around me.
“Don’t.” My voice cracks as I shake out of his embrace.
“Hey,” he says in a concerned-dad voice. “What did I do?”
