Chapter 7
Dani
Dani had never been taken care of before, not really. Sure, Aliza checked on her constantly now, but that was different. Jonnas looked at her as if taking care of her was instinct, and honestly, that terrified her.
She sat in the break room staring down at the cup of ginger tea he’d somehow bullied one of the cafeteria workers into making for her thirty minutes earlier.
The poor cafeteria guy practically sprinted to make it after Jonnas gave him one sharp look and said, “She’s been sick all morning.
” The memory made warmth curl through her chest again—which was a problem.
It was a huge problem, because Dani Hart absolutely could not afford to start emotionally depending on a man she’d slept with exactly one time, even if he was the father of her baby, and even if he called her baby girl in a way that made her knees weak.
Even if he looked at her like she mattered.
“Why are you smiling at tea?” Dani nearly jumped out of her skin as Aliza dropped into the chair across from her.
“I wasn’t smiling,” she insisted.
“You absolutely were.” Aliza narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “And considering you look emotionally compromised, I’m assuming this involves Jonnas.”
Dani groaned. “That obvious?”
“Honey, you’re glowing,” Aliza said.
“I’m pregnant,” Dani said, as though that was her defense.
“No,” Aliza corrected smugly. “You’re flustered by the sexy man who got you pregnant.
” Unfortunately, Dani couldn’t even deny it, because she was flustered—constantly.
Every time Jonnas touched her, every time he looked at her stomach, and every time his voice softened when he thought she was overwhelmed.
It was getting harder and harder to remember why she’d been so angry with him in the beginning, which honestly felt unfair.
“He brought me tea,” she muttered weakly. Aliza blinked at her and then burst out laughing.
“Oh, you’re doomed,” Aliza said.
“It was just tea,” Dani insisted, but even she knew that it was more than just tea.
“Mmhm.” Aliza slapped a hand over her mouth to stop laughing louder.
Dani sank lower into her chair dramatically. “This is humiliating.”
“No,” Aliza corrected. “This is adorable.”
“It is not adorable,” Dani grumbled.
“You’re carrying his baby, and he’s already hovering.
” Dani’s stomach flipped at the word hovering, because that was exactly what Jonnas did now.
Not in an overbearing way, but in a watchful, caring way, like he was constantly monitoring whether she needed something.
The scary part was that she liked it way too much.
“He keeps looking at me like—” Dani trailed off.
“Like what?” Aliza asked.
“Like I’m something fragile,” Dani said.
Aliza’s expression softened slightly. “Do you think that’s what he sees?”
“I don’t know.” Dani stared down at her tea. “But I don’t want him thinking I can’t handle myself.”
“And yet?” Aliza asked, sensing that there was more to the situation. Her best friend could always read her well.
Dani sighed heavily. “And yet—” Her cheeks warmed. “I like it when he takes over.” There—she had said it out loud, and her world hadn’t imploded.
Aliza blinked once before grinning slowly. “Ohhh.”
“Ohhh, what?” Dani asked.
“That explains literally everything,” Aliza said.
Dani narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Aliza leaned forward. “Honey, that man radiates Daddy energy.”
Dani almost spat tea across the table. “Oh my God, stop saying that.”
“I’m serious,” Aliza said.
“You’re pregnant. Your hormones are making you weird,” Dani insisted.
“Nope.” Aliza looked entirely too pleased with herself. “You know what I think?”
“I’m afraid to ask,” Dani admitted.
“I think Jonnas figured you out the second you called him Daddy in bed.” Dani froze, and her face went nuclear instantly. Had she actually called him that? Everything from that night was still so fuzzy, but she remembered calling him daddy.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, horrified.
Aliza’s mouth fell open. “Wait—did you call him that? It was just a guess.”
“It was an accident!” Dani insisted, not that it made saying it any better.
“Oh my God,” Aliza said.
“I was drunk!” Dani shouted. Aliza looked like she might actually pass out laughing, and Dani buried her burning face in her hands.
“This is the worst day of my life,” she grumbled.
“You called the hospital administrator daddy,” Aliza said, still laughing.
“I didn’t mean to say it,” Dani said.
“Oh, honey.” Aliza wheezed. “That man probably hasn’t known peace since.
” Dani groaned miserably because the worst part was that Aliza was probably right.
Looking back now, that had definitely been the moment everything shifted between them that night.
She remembered it suddenly with painful clarity—the way Jonnas had gone completely still above her, and the dangerous look in his eyes afterward.
She remembered the way his voice dropped lower when he asked her to repeat it.
Thank God she’d been too drunk to fully process what was happening, otherwise she might’ve died on the spot.
“He remembers,” Dani whispered in horror.
“Oh, absolutely,” Aliza confirmed.
“That explains so much,” Dani said.
“Yep.” Dani stared blankly into space as realization slowly crashed into her. That was why he kept calling her “baby girl,” and why he reacted so strongly every time she admitted she liked being cared for. It was why his entire demeanor changed when she responded to his authority.
This was bad because she didn’t just want Jonnas physically anymore.
She wanted something deeper from him—comfort, guidance, and even safety.
They were things she’d never trusted anyone enough to ask for before, and the terrifying part was that a piece of her thought he might actually give them to her.
“What am I supposed to do?” she whispered.
Aliza’s teasing expression softened completely.
“You stop fighting the fact that he makes you feel safe.” Emotion tightened Dani’s throat unexpectedly.
Safe. That word again. Jonnas made her feel safe in a way that was becoming addictive, and Dani wasn’t sure whether she should run from that feeling—or fall completely into it.
Dani spent the rest of her shift actively avoiding Jonnas Black, which was difficult, mostly because the man apparently had a sixth sense when it came to finding her.
She’d barely escaped the break room conversation with Aliza before Jonnas somehow appeared outside the nurses’ station holding another cup of ginger tea like some terrifyingly attractive pregnancy-support ninja.
“You disappeared,” he said the second she walked up. Dani almost tripped over absolutely nothing.
“I was working,” she said weakly.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“No, I haven’t,” she lied.
“Baby girl.” The warning tone in his voice made her stomach flip violently.
God. Now that Aliza had pointed it out, Dani couldn’t stop noticing it—the daddy energy, and his calm authority.
She didn’t miss the way he looked at her like he expected honesty and obedience in equal measure.
It was making her completely dysfunctional.
“I’ve been busy,” she insisted.
“You’re a bad liar,” he said. That shouldn’t have sounded hot, it really shouldn’t, but it did.
Dani grabbed a random patient chart off the desk just to have something to hold. “Why are you here?”
“You forgot your soup for lunch,” he said, holding up a paper bag. Warmth spread through her chest instantly.
“You came all the way down here to give me soup?” she asked.
“You didn’t take a lunch break,” he said. Her pulse stumbled, because there it was again—that attentiveness, like he noticed every tiny thing that involved her now. Dani reached for the bag, but Jonnas didn’t let go immediately. Her breath caught as his eyes locked onto hers.
“You okay?” he asked quietly. No—she wasn’t all right, because every time he looked at her like that, she felt herself slipping a little more over the edge.
“I’m fine,” she lied.
“You’re flushed,” he assessed. She wanted to point out that she was probably flushed because she’d spent the last hour replaying the fact that she accidentally called him Daddy during sex. And now every interaction between them felt loaded with meaning.
“You’re staring again,” she whispered.
“You’re nervous again,” he pointed out. That deep voice rolled over her like heat, and his expression changed instantly. Not dramatically, but enough that Dani saw the exact moment he realized how her body had just responded to him.
“Dani,” he breathed, leaning closer to her. Her entire spine straightened.
“I need to get back to work,” she squeaked.
“You’ve been acting skittish around me since yesterday,” he said.
“I have not,” she demanded.
“Baby girl.” Her breathing stopped. Jonnas stepped closer slowly, shielding her partially from the busy hallway traffic moving behind him. No one could really hear them now unless they tried, which somehow made everything feel more intimate and more dangerous.
“You want to tell me what changed?” he asked quietly. Dani stared at his tie instead of his face, because looking directly at him felt too risky.
“I remembered something from our night together,” she admitted softly.
“What did you remember?” His voice had gone rough. Dani swallowed hard as heat flooded her entire body.
“This is embarrassing,” she mumbled.
“Probably.” One side of his mouth twitched slightly. “Tell me anyway.” That shouldn’t have made her feel warm, but it did. God, it really did.
She lowered her voice to barely a whisper.
“I remembered what I called you that night.” Jonnas went completely still.
The air between them shifted instantly, suddenly feeling heavy and thick.
His eyes darkened slowly as realization spread across his face.
Fuck. He remembered too. Dani wanted the floor to swallow her whole.
“I was drunk,” she blurted immediately. Jonnas didn’t respond. He didn’t move. Hell, he didn’t even blink.
“That’s what you’re panicking about?” he asked finally.
“Yes!” she spat. His gaze dragged slowly over her face and then lower—lingering and possessive.
“You think I’m upset about you calling me that?” he asked.
“I think normal men don’t react well to women accidentally calling them Daddy during sex!” A nurse walking past nearby choked on her coffee. Dani froze in horror. “Oh my God,” she breathed. She had not just said that out loud in the middle of the hospital, had she?
Jonnas closed his eyes briefly, like he was fighting laughter. “My office,” he said immediately.
Dani covered her burning face with both hands. “I’m quitting my job.”
“You’re not quitting,” he growled.
“I’m moving to another state,” she said.
“Dani,” he breathed.
“I can never look Brenda in the eyes again,” Dani insisted. A deep laugh rumbled out of him then—warm, real, and annoyingly sexy. Before she could completely self-destruct, Jonnas wrapped a firm hand around her elbow and guided her quickly toward the administrative hallway.
The second his office door shut behind them, Dani groaned dramatically into her hands. “I’ve ruined my life.”
“No,” Jonnas said calmly. “You overshared in public.”
“That’s worse,” she insisted. His laughter sounded deeper.
Dani glared at him through her fingers. “This is not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” he said.
“You’re evil.”
“I’m trying very hard not to enjoy how red you are right now.” That only made her blush harder. Traitorous body.
Jonnas stepped closer carefully, his expression softening as he looked down at her. “You’ve been spiraling over that memory all afternoon?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because it’s humiliating!” she insisted.
“Why is it humiliating?” he asked. Dani stared at him helplessly because he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how vulnerable that slip-up had been or how deeply it revealed her.
“You looked at me differently afterward,” she whispered. Something shifted in his expression then. She was sure that it was understanding—slow, dangerous understanding.
“Yes,” he admitted quietly. “I did.” Her heart slammed hard against her ribs. Jonnas lifted one hand slowly and brushed his thumb across her flushed cheek.
“You know what I remember most about that night?” he asked softly.
Dani shook her head. “The way you relaxed every time I took control.” His voice dropped lower. “The way you looked at me when I praised you.” Heat curled low in her stomach instantly. “You don’t have to be embarrassed by that,” he murmured.
“But—” she started. He covered her lips with his finger, stopping her from saying what she was going to say next.
“Baby girl.” His voice turned firmer. “Look at me.” She did instantly, and the second she obeyed, satisfaction flickered across his face, and that tiny reaction shattered her, because she liked that look.
God, she liked pleasing him. She liked the calm approval in his eyes, and Jonnas seemed to notice all of it.
“You trusted me that night,” he said quietly.
“I barely knew you,” she said.
“And you still trusted me,” he pointed out. Emotion tightened her throat unexpectedly because he was right. Somehow, even drunk and reckless, she had trusted him instinctively—more than she’d trusted anyone in a very long time.
Jonnas’s thumb brushed her cheek again. “You don’t need to be ashamed of wanting comfort, Dani.” The gentleness in his voice nearly undid her.
She looked up at him helplessly. “What if I want too much from you?” Something dark and possessive flashed through his expression before he leaned down slowly until his forehead rested lightly against hers.
“You let me worry about that,” he insisted.