Page 34 of Burning Love (Looking For Love #7)

YOUR RESOURCES

“ W e should get married,” Jace said four days later.

“What?” Talia turned around from where she was rummaging around for something to eat in his pantry. She wanted salt. She snatched the bag of chips and stepped out.

“I said we should get married.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re pregnant,” he said.

She laughed. “And you’re old-fashioned.”

“Talia. Be serious. You haven’t wanted to talk about this and I do. Enough is enough.”

“What is there to talk about?” she asked. “I’m pregnant. We’ve got a baby coming. We get along well, we are spending time together, but still learning about the other.”

“We could learn about each other more if you moved in.”

“You didn’t ask that,” she said. “You said get married.”

He frowned. “What’s the difference?”

She threw her hand up and sent a chip flying that she’d just pulled out. “Are you serious? Marriage is a commitment. Moving in isn’t. And you didn’t ask that either.”

He was telling her what to do. Like West.

“You think I can’t commit?” he asked.

“I’m still reserving judgment and it’s my prerogative to do that.”

“I don’t understand that,” he said.

“Jace. I’m going to lay it out to you. You’re not damaged.”

“Oh, here we go again,” he said. This time his hands went in the air.

She ground her teeth. Guess they were going to learn how to fight too.

Something they hadn’t done once.

The last time it started out that way, she left.

It was wrong of her to do that and she wouldn’t this time. At least not without trying to talk it out first.

“Don’t cut me off,” she said. “I’m saying you’re not damaged, but you think you are. You haven’t been in any kind of relationship longer than three months by your own admittance. We haven’t even hit that yet.”

“We’re close.”

She crunched on some chips while she figured out the next words out of her mouth.

“That’s right. We are. Yay for us. I want it to be longer, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to change my name or put a ring on my finger. You can’t get there until you get past other things.”

Maybe if he said he loved her, she’d think differently about it.

But the reasons he wanted to get married were ludicrous.

He ran his hands through his hair. “You’re not taking my child from me,” he stated firmly.

Her jaw dropped. “What the hell, Jace?! Do you really think I’d do that to you? Is that the type of person you think I am?”

“No,” he said.

“But you said it so you think it deep down.” Like if her last name was Rigby he’d have a hold on her. What a horrible way to be wanted by a man.

He was pacing. “What I know is I want to talk about this and you don’t. You waited days to tell me you were pregnant. You’ve got a lot more than I’ve got. This is what happened with my mother and father. She worried that would happen and she took me away.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “You’re crazy. We’ve been together almost every night that you’re not at the firehouse since we found out.”

“Talia. You work out of New York. Who is to say you won’t take our child there, or decide to do it? I’ll fight you not to go, but we both know where this would end up. I don’t have your resources.”

It was breaking her heart he thought she’d do that.

“I wouldn’t. I can tell you until I’m blue in the face, but I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t get the support there that I would here. I love my family, but they are all crazy busy. My mother is here. You’re here, but you can’t seem to see what is in front of your face.”

“Obviously I can’t,” he said. “And you’re so stubborn and won’t talk to me.”

“I’m talking now,” she said, putting the chips down and folding her arms. “You don’t just tell someone to marry you because they are pregnant.”

How much clearer could she be without having to come out and say the words to him?

“That’s not the only reason,” he argued.

“Then what else? What am I to think?”

He held her stare. “I want to be in my child’s life. I want to be there for you. Isn’t that enough?”

“No.” Yep. There it was. It was about the baby and not her. Exactly what she feared. She ran her hand under her nose. “It’s not. Until you can figure it out, it’s on you.”

“Figure what out? Are you going to leave on me again?”

He ran in front of her before she could get to the door.

“Get out of my way,” she said. “You’re a smart guy, but you’re not seeing this.”

“Will you fucking talk to me and stop playing games?”

“I want to know how you feel about me . You don’t know. I get it. You’re trying to do the honorable thing, but I don’t need that. I only need you and for the right reasons .”

His lips stayed shut for five seconds before he said, “Maybe I need the same thing.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that all you said was that you needed help and you’d get that from your mother and me. So that is what you want? If that was the case then you’d move in with me at the very least.”

“It’s like talking to a brick wall.” How much clearer did she have to be without asking if he loved her?

He obviously didn’t and she didn’t need to have that confirmed.

She nudged past him to grab her purse. He was blocking the door though when she went back.

“Move. Now!” She was staring him down and almost growling at the same time.

He stepped back with his hands in the air.

“Don’t do this.”

“Do what?” she asked desperately. She saw the tears gathering in his eyes just like the ones in hers.

“I need space and you need to figure your life out and what is really important to you. Not honor, not doing the right thing if it’s not right for you.

I’m not your mother. I’m not going to steal our child away from you and I’m completely insulted and disappointed that you’d even think that. ”

She marched to the door, flung it open, and drove home with tears running down her cheek.

Rather than go through the garage, she went to her entrance.

It hadn’t stopped her mother from rushing down the stairs.

“Why are you home? What happened, Talia?”

“He’s such a jerk.”

“What did he do?” Her mother came toward her for a hug.

She stepped back. She didn’t need to cry any harder than she was.

“We talked. He forced it and it went exactly as I thought. Nothing I wanted to hear!”

She ran to her room and shut the door, then dropped on the bed sobbing.