‘I already said you don’t need to worry about it.’ Kelsi looked away from the wild expression in his eyes ‘I can manage just fine on my own.’ And she could. And she would.
‘Really.’ He looked furious. ‘OK, let’s say, for a second, that that’s true.’ He walked towards her, his anger surging ahead of him in an invisible cloud. ‘Let’s say you can manage just fine on your own and you don’t need me.’
Kelsi froze, despite her instinct screaming at her to run. And then it was too late. He swiftly pulled her into his arms—lifting her right off her feet. Her heart thundered at the feel of his hard strength pressed so close to her. And it almost beat right out of her chest as his mouth descended.
Her whole body convulsed as his lips pressed hard on hers. It was anger she tasted, but also passion. And she couldn’t do anything except put her hands around his neck and hold on. She tried so hard to stop the spinning inside but she couldn’t contain her response, couldn’t stop herself softening, opening for him and feeling the rush of desire for more. He was all strength, all heat. And all fury.
She shuddered deeply again as he ravaged, showing her no mercy, kissing her until she succumbed completely—not just to his desire, but to her own. Until suddenly she was kissing him back as keenly and as wildly. Until just as suddenly she panicked and pushed him away, hard.
He dropped her and she gasped.
‘What do we do about that?’ he demanded.
Kelsi quickly took three paces away, her emotions tossed about like corks on a stormy sea. What was he thinking kissing her like that? ‘You think complicating this even more is a good idea?’ she demanded shakily.
‘It’s that complicated already. I don’t think this is going to make much difference.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding.’
‘I still want you.’
Absolute fury overruled her. ‘You want anything that moves.’
His head jerked back, rigid with shock. Oh, she’d over-stepped it now. But she didn’t care. She could hardly speak for the anger. So angry with him but even more angry with herself—that in this moment, when her life was about to go through the shredder, she was still turned on by him. She was breathless from one itty-bitty kiss, she was thinking about sex instead of the far more serious issue she had ahead of her. That anger made her even bitchier. ‘How often have you done it? You take many women there? Is it your usual modus operandi? Take them to the beach and seduce them stupid in the sand?’
‘If that was the case, don’t you think I’d have had the sense to carry more than one condom on me?’ he shouted back. ‘Yes, I’ve had lovers, Kelsi, but I’ve never taken anyone else to that beach. I’ve never done that in the middle of the day like that before. I’ve never blown off meetings that I should have been in all afternoon just to spend a few more moments with some weird-looking woman who just tried to run me over. It was a first for me, too. These are all firsts.’
Weird-looking. Of course.
‘Why don’t you just walk away, Jack?’ she pleaded desperately. ‘I release you from any obligation. Walk away, forget about me. The baby and I will be fine.’
‘I can’t do that, Kelsi,’ he said furiously. ‘As much as I would like to take you up on that offer, I just can’t do it.’
As much as he wanted to.
Now she hurt even more. ‘Why not? You need your freedom, Jack. You like going from season to season. You said yourself your lifestyle doesn’t fit with family. And that’s OK. This isn’t about you. This is about what’s best for the baby. Walking away now is the best thing you could do.’
He had to see that this wasn’t going to work. That it wouldn’t be fair on any of them if they tried to force something that hadn’t been meant to be.
He froze, then took the three paces to tower over her again. ‘Walking away might be the best option for you Kelsi, but it is not for our child. And you will never get me to believe it is. A child deserves to have two parents who love it.’
What—as her father had ‘loved’ her? Who’d let her down time after time? Her father, a player just like Jack, who’d always put fun before family. And who’d then found a more perfect daughter to replace her.
‘Are you capable of loving it, Jack?’ she flung back at him, ancient hurts making her shrill. ‘Are you capable of being there for it? Of being responsible?’
When the silence became too uncomfortable she finally looked up at him. He was pale, the energy barely contained in his rigid stance. Kelsi knew his anger before was nothing on the blazing fury he was feeling now.
‘I don’t need you to lecture me on what kind of parent I should be,’ he said, scarily quiet. ‘You know nothing about me, Kelsi, but I can promise you that’s about to change.’ He turned. ‘I’m leaving now before either of us says something else regrettable. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.’
The heavy wooden door slammed, shaking the foundations of the building that had stood rock solid for the best part of a century.
CHAPTER SIX
SHE knew nothing? She knew enough. And Kelsi knew she was right. She didn’t want to trap Jack. He had his life, his plans and they didn’t fit with family. And she didn’t want her child to have a father who wandered in and out of its life—who let the kid down time and time again. She knew how much that sucked. So many times as a girl she’d hoped that her dad would show up when he’d said he would. But he never had. She knew how bad it had felt when he’d found another family he’d rather be with. Rejection like that dug in so deep it was a part of you. A part that was impossible to shed.
Kelsi would do whatever it took to prevent that from happening to her baby. Her baby would be better off without a father at all than one who hurt it like that. And while Jack’s intentions might be good, it was only a matter of time before he let them down. So she had to convince him it was fine for him to go—somehow.
But he rang first thing.
‘How can I help?’ she asked, as if she were a receptionist taking a customer service call.
‘Kelsi, don’t act dumb. We have to talk.’ How could he sound so good-humoured again?
‘Actually we don’t, Jack.’ She braced herself and made her move. ‘In fact I think it’s better if we don’t see each other again.’
‘You what?’
‘We should end it all here and now.’ She held her breath, waiting for the bomb to explode.
All he did was laugh. ‘You actually think that’s possible?’
‘Sure.’ She was so glad he couldn’t see her shaking.
‘You’re
not doing this on your own, Kelsi.’
‘Watch me,’ she said. ‘My mother managed. Millions of women manage.’
‘You don’t have to just manage.’
She gripped the phone harder. Oh, yes, she did. And she would.
The silence curdled.
‘I’ll be seeking joint custody,’ he said, all good humour gone.
Kelsi gaped. The temperature plummeted fifteen degrees with just those few words. ‘You’re kidding.’ He had to be. It would totally ruin his social life. Not to mention all his overseas adventures. This was just him not used to losing, right?
‘Not at all. I’m going to be involved, Kelsi.’
She shivered. The temperature was free-falling now—global warming was a myth, the ice age was back.
‘Well, OK.’ She inhaled. ‘You can try to do that.’ And if he actually did try, she’d fight him every inch of the way. But she rallied—sure that in nine months’ time he’d have lost interest—he’d be consumed by another competition, and another ten or so women to seduce into his bed. ‘But until this baby is born we don’t need to see each other again. You can contact me through your lawyer after the baby arrives.’
The silence was so long she wondered if he’d hung up. She looked at the phone.
‘Kelsi?’ He spoke with that sub-zero, too-controlled tone.
‘What?’ Her nerves snapped one by one, like the strands of a rope being rubbed over a sharp knife.
‘Don’t think about running away.’
She hung up on him and made herself get ready for work. She went with black contacts—reflecting her funereal mood. Leaving was not an option for her. She didn’t want to give up the life she was building here—the reputation for superb performance at work. More than that, she didn’t want to go home and confess all to her mother—she’d been so proud of Kelsi’s achievements. And Kelsi had done everything her mother had wanted—she’d got out of the small home town, gone to university, gone on to get a great job and rented the tiny-but-cute flat in a fantastic part of the city. She’d done everything the snobs her mother cleaned for had thought she’d never do. And her mother had been pleased and proud of her.