Page 42 of Savage Temptation

Atticus launches from the stool and pulls me off my own.

I can breathe again.

He positions a fist to launch into my stomach, when I gasp, “STOP!”

He freezes. “Are you okay?”

After finishing the wayward bite, I say, “I will be, as long as you stop making me laugh.”

“I was just stating facts.”

“And to answer your question, spending the day curled up in bed sounds divine.”

“That certainly puts a lot of pressure on me. I’m going to have to call in an order of Horny Goat Weed to make sure I’m up to the challenge.”

I furrow my brow. “Horny Goat Weed?”

“You know, the gas station aphrodisiac?”

I burst out laughing again, this time with no risk of food lodging in my throat.

“I’m going to have some clothes dropped off as well.” He brings up his phone. “Do you need anything?”

“Um, not that I can think of…”

His thumb pauses on the screen. “One…more…thing…” he says carefully.

“What is it?”

“Our first time together, we were both drunkish. Our second, emotions were running high as I’d just sprung you from jail. And last night…we were admittedly sloppy.”

My mouth gapes in shock. “Are you giving me a performance review?”

He chuckles. “No, but if I were, you’d be getting straight tens.”

“Um, thanks, I guess.”

“It’s just there’s this thing called pregnancy that occurs and some people like taking precautions against it.”

“I’ve been on the pill since I was fifteen. For acne, because obviously, I wasn’t getting any.”

“Well, that’s one worry assuaged.”

Again, I’m reminded that I’m his secret, and that if something were to pop up like an ill-planned baby, it would be considered a mistake.

Not that I want a child. Right now, I care about my career, friends, and seeing the world.

But thinking of Atticus on daddy duty sure does melt my heart.

Shit, girl—now is not the time to be an emotional mess.

Atticus’s phone buzzes, and I watch as his fingers dance along the screen.

“Crap,” he mumbles as he furiously pounds his thumbs across his phone.

I wait with bated breath as he spends the next few minutes in his own world, his face contorting with each received message.

Finally, he pockets his phone and looks at me with a stoic expression.