Chapter 4
Dani
Dani’s entire body felt hot by the time she left Jonnas’s office.
Not just embarrassed hot, and not emotional hot.
No—this was worse, because somehow, in the middle of a conversation about paternity tests and life-changing responsibilities, Jonnas Black had looked at her like he wanted to put his hands all over her again.
And the worst part was that a part of her wanted him to. God, she was messed up.
She barely remembered making it to the elevator before the tears started burning behind her eyes again.
Everything about today had been too much.
The positive paternity test. Jonnas calling her “baby girl” in that deep voice of his.
Him backing her against the office door and making her feel small in the best and worst possible ways.
Her pulse jumped just thinking about it.
“You’re carrying my baby. That makes you mine to take care of.
” No sane woman should find that attractive.
Especially not from a man she barely knew, and not from the father of her child, who had basically accused her of lying less than a week ago.
And yet, the memory of his voice wrapped around her spine like warm fingers.
Dani groaned softly as the elevator doors opened into the underground parking garage.
This was bad—very, very bad, because she recognized what she’d felt in his office.
Submission, need, and safety. Things she had spent years trying to bury.
She hurried toward her car, fumbling for her keys as her thoughts spiraled out of control. She’d always known she was different. Even in college, while her friends hooked up with frat boys and experimented with wild sex, Dani found herself craving something softer and stronger all at once.
The few times she’d tried explaining it to ex-boyfriends had gone horribly.
Hell, one guy laughed at her, and another called her childish.
After that, she stopped trying to explain to anyone that she craved control and care.
She stopped talking about it altogether and stopped letting herself want things she couldn’t have.
Then came Jonnas. He was older, confident, and naturally bossy. He was the kind of man who took over a room without even trying, and somehow, during one drunken night neither of them fully remembered, he’d seen through her immediately.
The memory hit her hard the second she slid into her car.
“Look at me while I’m talking to you, baby girl.
” Her breath caught. Oh God. She remembered that—not clearly and not every detail, but enough to remember how her entire body reacted to him.
It was enough to remember how safe she’d felt curled against his chest afterward while he stroked her hair.
And enough to remember waking up panicked the next morning and sneaking out before he could realize what a disaster she was. Now she was pregnant with his child.
A hysterical laugh escaped her as she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. “Good job, Dani,” she muttered. “Really nailed your life choices.”
Her stomach rolled suddenly. “Shit.” She barely managed to throw her door open before morning sickness hit again. By the time she finished getting sick beside her car, she was shaking and exhausted. Tears burned her eyes from the strain of it as she wiped her mouth with trembling fingers.
“You okay?” Dani froze instantly. No, she wasn’t all right, because there was no fucking way that she had just thrown up in front of Jonnas.
She slowly looked up and saw him standing just a few feet away from her car, near the elevator doors, his expression dark with concern.
Mortification flooded her so fast she thought she might actually die.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, covering her face. “Please leave me alone.”
Instead of leaving, he crossed the parking garage toward her. “Dani—”
“I’m fine,” she lied.
“You’re crying,” he said.
“I’m hormonal,” she insisted. That was the truth because her hormones were completely out of control since taking the pregnancy test.
“You were just throwing up,” he said, as though she didn’t already know.
“Congratulations,” she snapped. “You understand pregnancy. I cry and throw up all the time.” His jaw tightened slightly, but he didn’t take the bait, and that somehow made it worse.
Dani tried to stand fully, but dizziness hit her almost instantly. Jonnas caught her before she could stumble, his strong arms wrapped around her waist—solid, warm, and safe. The sensation nearly made her burst into tears all over again.
“I’ve got you,” he said quietly. The words settled somewhere deep inside her. Dangerous and comforting—too comforting.
“You need to let go of me,” she whispered weakly.
“No,” he breathed, tightening his hold around her waist. Her breath hitched, and Jonnas looked down at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. “You almost fell.”
“I can stand on my own,” she insisted. Although she was pretty sure that was a lie, too.
“Not right now, you can’t,” he insisted. The calm authority in his voice sent heat curling low in her stomach. God. There was something seriously wrong with her.
“You can’t just order me around,” she muttered.
One dark eyebrow lifted. “Can’t I?” That shouldn’t have made her thighs press together.
It absolutely shouldn’t have, but her body reacted instantly to him anyway.
Jonnas seemed to notice—of course, he did.
His eyes darkened slowly as realization flickered across his face, and Dani’s entire body went still.
Oh no—he knew. Maybe not everything, but enough.
“You remember more about that night than you’ve admitted,” he said softly.
Dani looked away immediately. “That’s not your business.”
“It became my business when you got pregnant with my child,” he growled. Her pulse jumped hard. The possessiveness in his voice should’ve irritated her. Instead, it wrapped around her like a heated blanket.
Jonnas brushed a strand of hair behind her ear again, gentler this time. “Did you eat today?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Food, Dani. Did you eat?” he asked again.
The question caught her completely off guard. “No,” she admitted quietly. His expression immediately turned annoyed. Not angry, but concerned.
“You’re carrying a baby and getting sick in parking garages because you haven’t eaten?”
“I’ve been stressed,” she insisted. “Plus, food and I are not getting along right now.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” he said. The subtle firmness in his tone made her stomach flip. God help her.
“You sound bossy,” she mumbled.
“I am bossy,” he admitted as though it wasn’t a big deal. That shouldn’t have made her heart race, but it did.
“You can’t just decide you’re going to take over my life because I’m pregnant with your baby,” she insisted.
“I’m not taking over your life.” His gaze locked onto hers. “I’m taking care of you.” The sincerity in his voice nearly broke her, because no one had ever said things like that to her before and meant them.
Dani swallowed hard. “I don’t know how to do this,” she admitted finally.
For the first time since walking into that parking garage, Jonnas’s expression softened completely.
“You don’t have to know yet.” A tear slipped down her cheek before she could stop it, and Jonnas wiped it away with his thumb.
“Easy, baby girl.” The nickname shattered something inside her.
She looked up at him helplessly, and for the first time in a very long time, Dani wanted to let someone else carry the weight for a little while.
Dani had made exactly three mistakes in her life that she considered catastrophic.
The first was taking out student loans at eighteen without understanding how badly they’d follow her around after she graduated from college.
The second was getting blackout drunk at a hospital mixer.
And the third was letting Jonnas Black drive her home.
Because now she sat in the passenger seat of his ridiculously expensive SUV while he drove through town in complete silence, and somehow that felt far more dangerous than any of her other mistakes.
“You don’t have to take me home,” she muttered for the third time.
“I know,” he said.
“Then why are you?” she asked.
“Because you’re pale, shaky, and haven’t eaten,” he said.
She crossed her arms. “I’m pregnant, not dying,” she insisted.
“Today isn’t over,” he said. Despite herself, a tiny laugh escaped her. Jonnas glanced over briefly, clearly pleased with himself for managing to get a reaction out of her, and that annoyed her almost as much as how safe she felt sitting beside him.
His SUV smelled like cedar and expensive cologne.
The inside was spotless. Meanwhile, her car had a fast-food bag on the floorboard and made a weird rattling sound every time she turned left.
Their lives couldn’t have been more different, and now, they were going to have to figure out how to become coparents.
“You’re thinking too loudly,” Jonnas said suddenly.
She blinked. “What?”
“You get this wrinkle between your eyebrows when you’re upset,” he said. Her hand immediately flew to her forehead, and his mouth twitched.
“Oh my God,” she groaned. “You’re making fun of my face now?”
“I’m observing your face,” he corrected.
“That’s worse,” she grumbled. Another flicker of amusement crossed his expression before his focus shifted back to the road.
Dani studied him quietly. Everything about him felt controlled—even the way he drove screamed confidence and authority.
One hand rested loosely on the steering wheel while the other sat near the center console close enough that she was hyperaware of it.
She was hyperaware of him, which made her feel ridiculous because she barely knew this man, and yet her body reacted to him like it had known him forever.
The memory of him calling her “baby girl” earlier replayed in her head again, making heat creep into her cheeks.
“You’re doing it again,” he said.