Chapter 3
Jonnas
Jonnas hated waiting. He paced the length of his office for what had to be the hundredth time that morning, his tie loosened and his coffee cold on the desk behind him.
Five days—it had only been five fucking days since the test at Mercy Hospital, but it felt like five years.
Every time his phone buzzed, his stomach tightened.
Every time a nurse knocked on his office door, he half expected it to be Dani standing there with tears in her eyes and the final verdict in her hand.
He’d always thought he was good under pressure.
Years of running a hospital taught him how to stay calm while everyone else panicked.
But this had him wound so damn tight he felt like he might snap.
A sharp knock sounded at his door, and Elias walked in without waiting for permission, setting him on edge.
“You look like shit,” Elias announced.
“Thanks,” Jonnas muttered.
Elias dropped into the chair across from him. “I’m betting that you haven’t stopped pacing since I left here this morning.”
“Didn’t realize you were keeping track,” he said.
“You’re wearing a groove into the carpet,” Elias said.
Jonnas scrubbed a hand over his face and sat down, finally, leaning back in his chair. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” Elias said. Jonnas glared at him, but Elias just shrugged. “You’re freaking out.”
“I’m not freaking out,” Jonnas said.
“You alphabetized your desk pens,” he said.
Jonnas looked down at the perfectly lined-up pens and cursed under his breath. “Fuck.”
“Exactly,” Elias said, as though he proved his point.
Silence stretched between them for a moment before Elias leaned forward. “So what’s really going on in that head of yours?”
Jonnas exhaled slowly. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“That’s new,” Elias drawled.
“Shut up,” Jonnas grumbled. Elias smirked but let him continue. Jonnas stared out the window overlooking the parking lot. “I keep thinking about her showing up here with that pregnancy test.” His jaw flexed. “She looked terrified, man.”
“She is terrified,” Elias said.
“Yeah.” Guilt twisted hard in his chest. “And I made it worse.” Elias didn’t argue with him there. “I accused her of lying.”
“You asked questions,” Elias countered. “Any man would.”
“I treated her like she was trying to trap me,” Jonnas reminded.
Elias sighed. “You were blindsided.”
“That doesn’t make it okay,” he insisted. It didn’t. The truth was, Dani Hart had looked him straight in the eye and told him she was carrying his baby, and his first instinct had been self-preservation instead of protecting her. That realization sat ugly in his gut.
“She’s what—twenty-four?” Jonnas asked quietly.
“Twenty-five,” Elias breathed.
Jonnas laughed bitterly. “Jesus Christ.”
“What?” Elias asked.
“She’s young enough that I probably should’ve been asking her what she wanted to drink instead of taking her home.”
Elias snorted. “You’re being dramatic.”
“No, I’m being honest.” He leaned forward, elbows on his desk. “I’m forty-two, Elias. Forty-fucking-two. I shouldn’t be knocking up nurses young enough to still have student loan debt.”
“That’s oddly specific,” his friend drawled.
“She mentioned her student loans,” Jonnas said.
That had stuck with him for some reason.
Dani didn’t come from money. She worked doubles and picked up extra shifts.
She drove a beat-up car that sounded like it might die in the parking lot at any moment.
Meanwhile, he wore thousand-dollar suits and signed off on million-dollar hospital budgets.
They lived in completely different worlds, and now they might be tied together forever.
“You know what the weirdest part is?” Jonnas muttered.
“What?” Elias asked.
“When she was in my office—” He hesitated. “She looked at me like she expected me to hurt her, and that’s exactly what I did by telling her that I didn’t believe her.”
Elias’s expression hardened slightly. “That bothered you?”
“Yeah.” His voice roughened. “More than it should’ve.
” Because he’d spent most of his life making sure women felt safe with him.
He tried to make them feel wanted and took care of them.
Even in his worst moments, he’d never wanted a woman to fear him, but Dani seemed to.
Not physically, but emotionally, and he hated that.
His phone buzzed against the desk, and both men looked down at it instantly. Dani Hart’s name flashed across the screen. Jonnas’s pulse slammed hard against his ribs. “Well, are you going to answer that?” Elias asked.
Jonnas picked up the phone, suddenly feeling like he couldn’t fucking breathe. There was only one message.
Dani: The results are in.
His stomach dropped. Elias stood slowly. “You want me to stay?”
Jonnas stared at the text for a long second before shaking his head. “No.”
“You sure?” his friend asked.
“No,” he breathed.
Elias laughed softly. “Fair enough.” He clapped him on the shoulder as he walked past him.
“For what it’s worth, I think this kid is gonna wreck your entire life.
” Jonnas flipped him off without looking away from the phone.
The office door clicked shut behind Elias, and Jonnas read the text again before finally typing back.
Jonnas: Where are you?
The reply came almost immediately.
Dani: Outside your office.
His head jerked toward the door. Fuck. When he opened the door, Dani was standing there clutching a large envelope against her chest. She looked pale—nervous, and so damn beautiful. Suddenly, he couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of his own heart.
Her eyes lifted to his. “We need to talk.”
Jonnas had delivered bad news to families before. Terminal diagnoses, budget cuts, lawsuits, even deaths. But none of it had ever made his hands shake the way they did when he looked at the envelope clutched against Dani’s chest.
“We need to talk.” Three simple words, but they hit him harder than they should have.
He stepped aside automatically, letting her into his office.
The second the door shut behind her, the room suddenly felt too small, too warm, and too fucking tense.
Dani stayed standing near the door—Jonnas noticed everything immediately.
The dark circles under her eyes, the oversized cardigan swallowing her tiny frame, and the way one of her hands rested protectively over her stomach without her seeming to realize she was doing it.
Jesus Christ. That gesture did something to him—something dangerous.
“You got the results,” he said carefully. She nodded. “And?”
Her fingers tightened around the envelope, and Jonnas realized he was holding his breath. “You were right,” she said quietly. His stomach dropped straight to the floor.
“Right about what?” he asked. He wasn’t sure what she was referring to. Was he right about her lying? Or about him not being the father? He was surprised that both relief and disappointment twisted together so violently inside him that he couldn’t separate the two.
“Dani—” he started.
“The baby is yours,” she whispered. Everything stopped around him.
Every sound, every thought, every goddamn thing.
Jonnas just stared at her. The baby is yours.
He was going to be somebody’s father. A strange rush slammed into his chest so hard it almost hurt—fear, panic, and even possessiveness.
Mine. The thought came out of nowhere and nearly knocked him on his ass.
Dani must’ve seen something shift in his expression because she swallowed hard and looked away from him.
“I told you the truth.” Guilt hit him like a punch to the throat.
“Dani—” he breathed.
“No.” Her voice cracked slightly. “No, you don’t get to smooth this over because a piece of paper proved I wasn’t lying. You humiliated me.” He flinched. “You looked at me like I was some stupid little girl trying to baby-trap you.”
“I never said that,” he insisted.
“You didn’t have to.” The disappointment in her voice was worse than if she’d screamed at him.
Jonnas dragged a hand through his hair. “I was blindsided.”
“So was I!” she snapped. Silence crashed between them.
Her breathing was shaky now. “I found out I was pregnant and completely alone,” she whispered.
“I spent weeks terrified before I even worked up the courage to tell you.” Tears filled her eyes, making his chest tighten painfully.
“And then you looked at me like I disgusted you.”
“I did not—” he said.
“You asked if I was sleeping around,” she reminded.
He closed his eyes briefly because, yeah, he had done that, and hearing it back now made him sound exactly like the asshole he’d been.
When he looked at her again, she looked wrecked, and somehow still standing there trying to hold herself together while carrying his child.
Something deep in his chest shifted hard.
He felt protective—dangerously protective of not only the baby, but of her, too.
He moved closer slowly, careful not to crowd her. “Look at me, baby girl.” The second the word slipped out, both of them froze, and Dani’s eyes widened slightly. Jonnas felt the mistake instantly—but strangely, he didn’t regret it.
Her breathing changed, just slightly, but enough that he noticed because he noticed everything about her now. “I shouldn’t have questioned you,” he said quietly. “I should’ve handled this differently.”
“You think?” she whispered.
“Yes.” His voice roughened. “I do.” She stared at him for a long moment like she was trying to decide whether or not to believe him.
“I’ve never done this before,” he admitted.
A watery laugh escaped her. “You’ve never gotten someone pregnant before?”
“No.” He paused. “I’ve never mattered to someone this much before.
” That clearly caught her off guard. Hell, it caught him off guard, too, because the truth was sitting heavy in his chest now.
This wasn’t some fling anymore. This wasn’t a one-night stand.
This woman was carrying his child, and suddenly, nothing about Dani Hart felt temporary.
“You said you wouldn’t walk away,” she whispered. Jonnas stepped even closer to her—close enough to smell her perfume. And close enough to see the fear she was trying to hide.
“I meant it,” he said.
“You barely know me,” she reminded.
“Then I’ll fix that,” Jonnas promised. Her lips parted slightly.
“I’m not disappearing, Dani.” His voice lowered.
He sounded steadier now, even though he felt anything but.
“You’re carrying my baby. That makes you mine to take care of.
” The second the words left his mouth, heat flooded her cheeks.
There it was again—that shift between them.
It was something deeper than attraction—something heavier.
Jonnas saw the way her thighs pressed together subtly, and realization hit him fast enough to make his pulse jump.
Fuck. He remembered now. He didn’t remember everything from that night, but he knew enough.
Like the way that she melted when he took control, and the way she’d looked up at him with those big eyes while he told her exactly what to do.
But he especially remembered the way she’d trembled when he praised her.
His cock twitched painfully behind his zipper, and Dani seemed to notice. The tension in the room thickened instantly. “You can’t just say things like that,” she whispered.
“Like what?” he asked.
“That I’m yours,” she whispered.
His eyes darkened. “Did it upset you when I said it?” She didn’t answer, and that was answer enough. Jonnas took another step forward until she was backed lightly against the door.
“Tell me something honestly, Dani.” Her breath hitched. “That night—a” His voice dropped lower. “Do you remember asking me to take care of you?” Color flooded her face instantly.
“You were drunk,” she whispered.
“So were you.” His gaze locked onto hers.
“But you remember it.” She looked away, and that tiny reaction told him everything.
A dangerous calm settled over him then, because suddenly, he understood why this pull toward her felt so intense.
He understood why it felt instinctively natural, and why the words “baby girl” had fallen out of his mouth so easily.
Dani wasn’t just young and overwhelmed. She craved structure, comfort, and care.
And deep down, some primal part of him wanted to give it to her.
He wanted to take control. He wanted to soothe every ounce of fear off her face until she stopped looking at the world like it might hurt her.
His voice softened. “How scared are you right now?” That question nearly broke her. He saw it happen. Her eyes glazed over, and her shoulders trembled slightly.
“So scared,” she admitted. Something fierce rose inside him immediately. Jonnas lifted one hand slowly, giving her plenty of time to stop him before brushing a strand of hair away from her face.
“You’re not alone anymore,” he said quietly. And for the first time since she walked into his office, Dani looked at him like she wanted to believe that.