Rev It Up (Black Knights Inc. #3)(62)

“Th-thank you for donating blood,” she whispered, hoping to put off the inevitable for a few seconds longer.

“Who is Franklin’s father?” he demanded, his eyes searing into her.

Her heart moved from her throat to her skull, pounding in her temples like the entire percussion section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

“W-who do you think?” she stammered through a throat which, now empty of her heart, was swelling with unshed tears.

“I have no idea!” he hissed. “It sure as hell isn’t Preacher. He was a universal donor. Blood type O negative. I know because he was supposed to be our go-to guy for battlefield transfusions. And since you’re type A, there’s no way the two of you could’ve produced an AB son.”

“You’re right,” she told him as the hall started closing in around her.

He blinked. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“I—” she began and then had to swallow. Her entire world, the world she’d finally managed to build for herself, the world she’d finally managed to build for her son, was crashing down around her ears. “I made the best decision I could at the time, Jake. I made the decision I thought was right for my child. What more do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me who the hell Franklin’s father is!” he demanded, nostrils flaring like an angry bull’s. The nurse manning the station at the far end of the hall glanced up, her brow furrowed. “Because before you hooked up with Preacher,” he lowered his voice, “I thought I was the only man in your life. I guess I was wrong, huh?” His expression turned ugly. “And then you married Preacher under the pretense of carrying his child and—”

“Steven knew the baby wasn’t his,” she interrupted sadly, even as she tried to grasp the fact that he really hadn’t put two and two together. It seemed impossible…

“And he agreed to marry you anyway?” he asked incredulously.

“Steven was a sweet, loyal, honorable man. If there was someone in need or in trouble, he was the first to lend a hand. I was both. In need and in trouble.” And she desperately missed her husband, her friend, during times like this when she needed a strong shoulder to lean on.

Steven had been her rock, her savior, and he’d deserved so much more than she’d been able to give him. Oh, she’d loved him, there was no doubt about that. But it was the kind of love she’d felt for many of the boys in Bravo Platoon. And then he’d died before she got the chance to give him her whole heart…

God, he was worthy of so much more…

And that was one of her biggest regrets in what was turning out to be a very long list of regrets.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake scoffed. “We all know Preacher was a saint. But that doesn’t answer the question of who Franklin’s father really is.”

She lifted her eyes to his angry face, sadness and regret and…yes, guilt threatening to crush everything inside her. “You really can’t guess?”

“Well, it wasn’t Preacher, and it certainly wasn’t me so—”

“Of course it’s you, Jake. Who else would it be?”

His chin jerked back like she’d slugged him. “But…but…” He shook his head. “That’s impossible! We never—”

“Didn’t we?” she asked. “Think back to that night at the Clover. I know you were pretty drunk, but surely you remember at least some of what happened.”

***

Remember some of what happened?

For f*ck’s sake, Jake remembered it like it was yesterday…

She was a bright, burning flame in his arms when he pulled her into the restroom. Scorching him down to his soul. Climbing all over him. Her hands, everywhere. Her mouth, hot and hungry.

His body was absolutely rigid with pleasure as he shoved her back against the wall. And she laughed, low and sexy in that way she had, wrapping her beautiful, mile-long legs around his hips.

When her skirt slid up around her waist, he felt the sultry heat of her sex through the thin, lace panties she wore. He felt it all the way through the tough denim of his jeans as his pounding erection settled into place.

“Shell, Shell,” he chanted her name over and over again, plying her mouth with his tongue, everything inside him warring with itself. He wanted this so much but…

“Jake,” she breathed in his ear. “Take me. Right here. Right now.”

And that was it. All thoughts, save her, her soft cries and hot tongue and grasping hands, flew from his head.

He groaned when she eagerly bit the side of his neck. Managing to snake an arm down between their bodies, he pushed aside the elastic of her panties, slipped his thumb between her plump female lips and…

Hot.

She was so damned hot, burning his skin.

And wet.

She was so wet, slick and ready.

He plunged one finger inside her tight sheath and pulled back to watch her gorgeous eyes drift shut. A deep blush stole up her neck and burned in her cheeks as he pressed his thumb against the hard knot of nerves at the top of her sex and circled slowly.

“Oh, wow,” she whispered and he thought, Oh, wow is right.

Because she was everything a woman was supposed to be. Lush and lusty. Sweet and sensuous. And she was his. His for the taking. His for the f*cking. His. His. His. The monster that’d grown inside him over the last few months roared with pleasure.