The Plan (Off-Limits Romance, #4)(34)

I can tell I’ve well and truly stunned him, because he just blinks. “What does this have to do with me?”

I laugh. “You could offer me that.”

“What?” He glances down. “My… You want me to get you pregnant?”

“It’s not crazy. People have been doing things like this since there were people. I’m a woman, Gabe. It’s not strange for me to want a child. I mean, it could be natural not to, but for me—I do.” I blink back tears, then have to wipe them because they’re falling too fast. “I want to be a mother. It’s one of the only things I really want. And I can’t do it by myself.”

He blows his breath out. “Jesus Christ, Marley.”

“Don’t say it like I’m crazy.”

“You are crazy! That is crazy. You’re my ex-wife!”

“Yes, and you know we’re compatible—in bed.”

“Are you having a mental break?”

“That makes me want to slap you.”

“Don’t do that,” he warns in a growl.

“Or what?”

He steps closer. “You know what you’re doing, don’t you? You know how to get me hard.”

“Are you hard right now?” I whisper.

“You want me to fuck you, Marley. You want to be fucked. By me. And then you want to have the baby. And do what, then?”

“Raise it. I would raise the baby.”

“And me?”

My heart clenches at the pain on his face. “You could do whatever. You could just bow out—or you could be the baby’s father.. You know I would love my child to have a father.” Because I didn’t. Gabe knows how I feel about this.

“Marley…no.”

“You don’t want another child?”

I see my mistake reflected on his face: the way his features fall wide open and his cheeks lose all their color. His hand comes up to his face, and I feel ill with shame.

“It was an accident,” I say, meaning I’m not sure what. “I’m sorry.”

His face is blank now. Flawlessly emotionless. “You should go. Go back to your place, Marley.”

“I’m so sorry. That’s not why I had the idea. Having a baby has been the focal point of my life for a lot longer than the last few days. But by the way, your ex is a real cunt.”

He laughs—or at least, his face does. Then he’s shaking his head, looking at me like I’ve sprouted horns. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I could leave.” I swallow hard, imagining all the things he used to do to me. All the delicious things. “Or you could punish me. I’ve been so bad, Gabe. Very, very bad to come and tempt you like this. I can’t seem to stop invading your space in this house we’re sharing. What am I but a menace?” I smile like a vixen, and am rewarded by his flashing eyes.

“You are a menace. Do you know how many times I fucking hear you up here? I can’t go four hours without hearing your footsteps. I changed my run time so I wouldn’t see you. Then you take a shower when I do, you stumble home wearing that fucking bug suit.”

“Alien,” I murmur.

“Does it have an opening in the back?”

“Of course it doesn’t,” I say primly. “Aliens are chaste.”

“I can’t imagine what could make you want this,” he says softly. “Who was he? The older man?”

“My ex? Nothing awful happened. I’ve been just fine single but…I really want a baby. It’s what I want the most in life. I never thought about you until I saw you in the bed just now. Your chest,” I whisper.

“What about it?”

“It looks virile.” I laugh. “And I thought about what’s under the sheets.”

“What did you think about?” he asks darkly.

“You, Gabe. You between my legs.”





7





Gabe





Marley has never been a normal girl. When I met her, that’s what I loved about her. Unlike other girls who slapped you in the face with rebel bad girl sentiments, Marley appeared normal. Just another girl. Except you’d talk to her and you’d find that she wasn’t. She used to say that when she died, she wanted me to leave her in a grassy field so animals could eat her. So she could be “part of the energy of things.” When she grocery shopped, she used to calculate her total expense as she dropped things into her buggy. She would add it all up in her head, just as a game. When I fucked her that first night in Vegas, she lit me up like the motherfucking Strip; she cleaned my clock like a fist in a cage fight. Marley burned out what was in me and made me feel cleaner. Lighter.

At the time, I’d never felt so free before. And so I married her.

What happened next—how we unraveled—was not her-specific. We fell on the swords of youth and my addiction. My not-normal girl was maybe needier than normal. She wanted more than average, while I was capable of giving so much less. It was like math, what happened. We just didn’t add up. Marley removed herself from the equation.

“You want me between your legs?” I ask her now. “You want my cock inside your cunt?”

I wait for her to flinch at my crass language. When Marley nods slowly, I can’t hold back a groan.