Page 4 of Rough Patch

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” She might have been able to help.

He brushed her bangs off her forehead, and her heart sped up again. Damned machine. “I’m a traitor, Fiona, remember? And our relationship isn’t exactly a fairy tale.”

“This was club stuff. You should’ve told me.”

He nodded and turned his gaze away. “I wanted to prove to you that I’m… in with the club again. I wanted you to trust me.” He shook his head. “And then it all got away from me. Now I don’t know who has the computer. If it’s at the FBI… I can tell them it was me… all me. I can keep the club safe. If anyone else has it, they’ll know to come to me and only me. I didn’t want this to… touch you until I could fix it, until I could show you I would protect you.”

This was a lot to digest. “So we’re looking for a video that may or may not make you look guilty of… something.” She didn’t want to even contemplate. “An asshole that tried to…” Okay. She still couldn’t say that word. She shook her head instead. “And someone inside the club and whoever they’re telling our business to. Do I have that right?”

Grier nodded. Stared at her with eyes he couldn’t have hidden a lie behind. At least, she didn’t think so. “I wouldn’t sell out the club, Fiona. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or the baby or the club.”

And God she wanted to believe him, wanted him to be the loyal guy he said. but the FBI? And Max knew and never said? Even to her? Or Hamilton. This wasn’t just Max’s business. It was club business. And the club should’ve been informed. If it was even true.

She didn’t answer with more than a nod because her head was too full, and a woman wheeled yet another machine into the room. This was too much to think about with a tech lifting her ugly gown, removing the bands attached to monitor two and squirting gel on her belly. Grier sat beside Fiona still but turned to see the screen where a rounded bottom triangle of black and murky white changed dimension with every swipe of the flat-edged scope.

“All right. There… is your baby.” The woman used her free hand to point out a white blob in the center of the black. A beautiful white blob. But this time, she could see a face… kind of. Holes where the eyes should’ve been, a head too big for the body, and a perfect little nose and mouth.

She glanced at Grier, saw his teary smile, and her own eyes brimmed. “Can you see?”

He nodded and swallowed hard, even squeezed her hand as the tech pushed some buttons on the machine and moved the scope again. The baby, from another view, appeared on the screen, and nothing in the world mattered more to Fiona than her little family and keeping it together.

* * *

Grier kept his arm around Fiona as if he moved it, she would collapse. For all he knew, she might have. Between being sick and everything he’d laid on her, she’d been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours. Another collapse wouldn’t have been unwarranted. And it would have been his fault. Again.

Her lingerie still draped on the stair rail and the couch was still cock-eyed from the ambulance guys pushing it out of the way to make room for the stretcher. He gave it a shove with his hip, and Fiona laughed as it slid a foot too far.

“Just leave it.” She tried to shrug him away as he guided her to the stairs. “I’m hungry.”

“I’ll make you something. Or I’ll order something, but you need to be in bed.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Doctor said I was fine. Just to drink a lot of water. He didn’t say anything about bed.”

No, he hadn’t, but no way were they taking any more chances. He grinned. “I think you might be looking at this all wrong.” He turned her so her chest pressed against his then he swung her into his arms and carried her upstairs before he spoke again. “Any woman who has my baby is entitled to the royal treatment. That means no cooking, no cleaning, breakfast lunch and dinner in bed, round trip service to and from the bathroom, and so much more that I’m sure will come up in the next few days.” And as much as he wanted to kiss her, he set her in the middle of the bed instead. This hands-to-himself thing was going to be a lot tougher than he thought. “You earned yourself an all-access, twenty-four-seven personal valet.”

Fiona pursed her lips and shucked the gown she’d worn home from the hospital. Grier’s tongue grew thick and his heart rate sped toward the danger zone.

“Thank you, but no thank you. I am capable of going into the office, seeing to my own meals, and if you so much as try to carry me to the bathroom, I’m probably going to kill you in your sleep.”

“Which I’ll be doing on that pillow, right there.” He pointed to the left side of the bed—closest to the door in case of intruders, which in light of all recent events didn’t seem as scary as it sounded. “Now, let’s get you into some comfy jammies and snuggled into bed.”

She looked him up and down, her gaze leaving a path of fire everywhere it touched, and he had to remind himself that she had a baby inside of her that probably didn’t need Daddy’s dick upsetting everything in there. But when she knee-walked to the end of the bed and tugged him by the collar, he didn’t resist. “The only way I’m staying in bed for even one day is if you’re in it with me.” She rolled them with a ridiculous amount of strength for someone so small then kissed him softly. “And we need to talk.”

They did. And they would. But not now, not when she’d just come from the hospital. Not when she kissed her way from his mouth to his jaw to his ear. Not when she threw her thigh over his cock and glided it back and forth.

“Talk is way over-rated.” He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her against him, the brush of her fingers under his shirt as she reached for his zipper.

With her mouth against his ear, her warm breath heated him from lobe to gut. Her words took care of the rest. “I want you to put your dick in my mouth.”

Oh, God, yes.

But if she… if he… then the baby… no.

He pulled away and sat up. Fiona grunted out a frustrated sigh and threw herself against the pillow. “What the hell?”

The images in his head made his stomach churn so he closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t…”

“Don’t what? Want me?”