Tempting Danger

by Katie Reus

  She let out a light laugh. Definitely fake. And it grated against his nerves. “That’s not necessary. It wouldn’t make any sense when I can just ride with Nika.”

  “When are you coming back?” he asked bluntly.

  She lifted a shoulder and glanced away from him, clearly avoiding answering the question. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  Before he could push, the door opened. Declan nodded once at him. “Nika is ready to get home. Alena, have you decided what you’re doing?”

  She brushed past Andre, not bothering to give him a second glance. “I’m ready too.”

  “Did something else happen with Alena?” Andre asked Declan quietly as he followed him out into the hallway. The women were up ahead of them, out of earshot.

  “I don’t know. She’s been very quiet since I arrived at the station. She just said she wanted to go home with us.”

  Fuck. Fuck this whole situation. There was no way he could push her now even if he didn’t want to let her go. “Take care of her. And if you need anything from me, let me know.”

  Declan nodded and shook his hand once. “My cell is glued to me. Call me if you can’t get hold of her.”

  In other words, if Alena decided to ignore his calls, he could call Declan. At least that was what he took that to mean. “Okay. Thank you.”

  Watching her leave was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He wanted to go after her and demand answers. But she’d just seen someone killed. He wouldn’t have thought it would have bothered her so much, considering some of the things she’d done. But people dealt with things in different ways. Maybe… Hell, he couldn’t even analyze what was going on in her head right now.

  He just knew that he didn’t like the way she’d been pulling away from him, the way she’d decided not to come home with him. With this threat gone, he’d assumed… He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

  When he took in his surroundings and realized he was still standing in the lobby of the police station, he got it together. He needed to get out of here. And figure out what to do about Alena. He’d told her that he wasn’t letting her go, and he’d been serious.

  He wanted her at his side and in his life forever.

  Chapter 12

  Alena couldn’t stop the nerves humming through her as she sat in Dr. Freeman’s waiting room. There were only two other women, both pregnant, and Nika, who was filling out Alena’s paperwork for her. She’d been a mess the past two days, and was grateful for her sister’s presence now.

  She’d wanted to ask Andre to come with her, but they hadn’t talked in a couple days and she was still feeling conflicted about what she’d seen. She should talk to him about that email, but she didn’t want to hear him lie to her. She didn’t want to deal with anything right now. She wanted to stick her head in the sand like an ostrich and just ignore the outside world. Super mature, she thought wryly.

  Ignoring everything was pretty difficult to do since Harold Brady had been killed right in front of her—and he’d been trying to murder her. He’d apparently called in the tip about himself being near her New Orleans home. He’d wanted her guard down. The police had found a disturbing manifesto-type letter in the hovel he’d been staying in, in Miami. He hadn’t been planning to let her live. No, she’d apparently “betrayed” him by becoming engaged to someone else instead of waiting for him. Because in his deranged mind she’d been waiting for him to get out of prison—even though he never would have gotten out on parole. As far as the Miami PD could tell, him showing up at the time she was leaving with her sister was luck. Or he could have been staking out the house. They weren’t sure and would likely never know.

  The media was having a field day, dissecting him and his intentions, but somehow Declan had made sure no one knew where she was staying. And he’d driven both her and Nika to this appointment and was outside keeping an eye on the parking lot in case any nosy reporter showed up hoping to get a picture of her leaving.

  When Nika poked her in the arm with the top of her pen, Alena blinked. “What?”

  “Have you heard a word I’ve said?”

  “No.”

  Nika pointed to the part on the paper where it asked if she was single, married, engaged, etc. “I made an executive decision and said that you’re engaged.”

  Alena glanced down at the ring on her left-hand finger. She felt like a fraud wearing it, but had decided that if she was seen in public, it was better that she had the ring on. Less crap for her to deal with that way if the media assumed she was still engaged. Her agent had made a generic statement about how she was spending time with her family and just wanted privacy.

  “Are you ever going to finish that conversation we started in my car?” Nika asked pointedly as a nurse stepped inside and called for one of the other women.

  Alena knew exactly which conversation her sister referred to. “Yes. But not today.”

  Nika just gave her a frustrated look but Alena didn’t have the energy to get into anything. Especially not here with someone sitting in the room with them. Her sister handed her the clipboard and papers. “I’ve filled everything out,” she said, standing. “And you can get mad at me later but…” She nodded at the entryway and Alena turned to see Andre, of all people, walking inside, his expression wary.

  He nodded once at Nika—who left, the traitor—before sitting down next to Alena. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.

  Her spine went rigid. “No nausea today.” She didn’t know what else to say. And she nearly jumped when the nurse opened the door and called her name. As she stood, Andre stood with her.

  Even if she was hurt by his actions, she wasn’t going to keep him out of the room. She wanted him involved in their child’s life, even if he wasn’t involved in hers. Smiling at the nurse, even though it strained her to do so, she handed the clipboard over as she stepped into the private hallway.

  Taking her by surprise, Andre took her hand in his, linking their fingers together. She didn’t stop him, but only because she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself.

  “You’ll be in room five today,” the nurse said, as they stopped at a room marked five. “Dr. Freeman will be with you in just a bit.” The woman’s smile was warm as she led them inside.

  With an exam table, an ultrasound machine and black-and-white framed art against pale grayish-blue walls, the room was very soothing.

  “They’re doing an ultrasound today?” Andre asked, looking around the room curiously.

  “Yes. I’m at the point where we can find out the sex of the baby.” Her voice was almost monotone. She couldn’t dredge up the energy for anger right now. She was absolutely drained emotionally—and hurt. God, she was hurt. She hadn’t wanted to eat at all the last couple days and had only done so because she needed to.

  His eyes widened. “Do you want to find out?”

  “Kind of. Yes.” Though she didn’t care what she had, just that the baby was healthy.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking lost. “I can’t believe we’re having a baby.”

  She sat on the edge of the exam table. “I know.” Even with the pain of his betrayal, she was still excited.

  “Why haven’t you returned my calls the last couple days?” he asked softly.

  “Because…” She swallowed hard, trying to find the right words. She hadn’t even been able to tell her sister why. She’d holed up in the guest room and slept, ate and read books, avoiding social media altogether. And she’d most definitely ignored phone calls from Andre.

  The door opened then, and Dr. Freeman stepped inside. Her long black hair was pulled back into a braid and she had very little makeup on, but she was still the same stunning woman from the gala. She smiled warmly at the two of them. “How are the parents-to-be today?”

  Even thinking of herself as a parent made Alena feel weird. It was still too surreal. They both murmured “Good” at the same time.

  “Great,” the doctor said. Then she asked Alena to scoot
back on the exam table and lift up her shirt. She went over everything she was going to do, then asked, “Do you guys want to know the sex of the baby?”

  Alena looked at Andre. She could see in his eyes that he wanted to know. “What do you think?” she asked him.

  “It’s up to you.”

  “No, it’s up to us. I would like to.” And I want to know what that email was about.

  He let out a little breath of relief and nodded, a small smile pulling at his lips. “Me too.”

  “All right, let’s do this,” Dr. Freeman said, dimming the lights in the room.

  Andre stood by Alena’s head, and took one of her hands in his as Dr. Freeman spread a clear gel on her exposed stomach. It was cold, but not uncomfortable. And as she pressed the wand to Alena’s bump, they all looked at the screen.

  Alena sucked in a breath at the site of the little peanut, which looked more like a baby than the blob she’d seen at her last ultrasound. Andre squeezed her hand gently but she didn’t turn to look at him because she couldn’t tear her gaze from the screen.

  “Give me just a second,” Dr. Freeman murmured more to herself than them. Then she let out a little aha sound. “It’s definitely a girl,” she said, smiling at the two of them.

  Alena’s throat tightened as she stared at the screen. A girl. Holy crap, this was so real. Tears welled in her eyes, and this time it had nothing to do with hormones. She was just happy.

  “I’m going to get a few pictures for you guys and then I’ll give you some privacy.”

  Andre wiped away Alena’s tears as the door shut behind Dr. Freeman. “Whatever I’ve done to upset you, I’m sorry. How can I make it right?” There was a desperation in his voice that nearly undid her.

  Either he really was the best liar or… She couldn’t even think of a good reason for that email. She didn’t want to have this conversation now, but there was no way around it. “I wasn’t trying to snoop or anything, but when I was on your computer a new email icon popped up. I automatically clicked on it because it’s the same icon as on my computer. I started to close it out, but stopped when I saw my name. And then I definitely snooped and I read a letter from your attorney—”

  Andre swore softly then yanked his phone out of his pocket. Wordlessly, he typed in his code then pulled up something before turning the screen toward her. It took only a second to realize it was his response to the email. And the response had been sent before she’d read the original one. The message hadn’t been unread, so she knew Andre had seen it that day. She just hadn’t realized he’d already responded.

  I’ve told you more than once, this isn’t necessary. Like I said before, you’ve done your due diligence where I’m concerned. Now drop it or I’m going to find a new attorney. We’ve been friends for a long time, but I’m sick of this shit. I don’t want a prenup and I don’t want you to bring up anything about Alena Brennan again unless I bring it up first.

  She stared at it, reading it one more time before handing the phone back to him. Elation intermixed with regret swirled inside her. “I thought…”

  He pocketed his phone and took her hand in his again. “It makes more sense now why you’ve been so distant.”

  “I’m sorry. I saw that message, and the prenup doesn’t bother me. I’ll sign whatever you want—”

  “Wait, you’ll sign a prenup? Does that mean—”

  “No, I just meant—”

  “I’m pretty sure I know exactly what you meant. You just said you’ll marry me.” He crushed his mouth to hers, stealing her breath in the best way possible. When he pulled back they were both breathing hard as he gently cupped her cheeks. “And I don’t want a prenup.”

  Alena didn’t want to think or talk about that. Not when the man she loved hadn’t betrayed her. If anything, he was more perfect than before, something she hadn’t thought possible. “God, I’m so sorry. I should have trusted you, should have talked to you.”

  “From this point forward, no more running away. If I’ve done something, or if you think I’ve done something, talk to me. And I’ll talk to you.” His voice cracked on the last word.

  Making more tears well in her eyes. “I will, I promise. And no running. I really am sorry,” she whispered.

  “It’s done. I was angry but…I understand why you’d be upset. Let’s start fresh.”

  She nodded, swiping away her tears. “I want our engagement to be real,” she whispered. “I love you, Andre. I fell so hard and so fast for you that I thought it couldn’t be real. The last two days… I’ve been heartbroken. I thought…” It didn’t matter what she thought now. Because she’d been wrong. “I don’t want to waste any more time second-guessing myself or us.”

  “I love you too.” He cupped her cheeks again with his big hands, his expression so warm she wanted to melt.

  “I feel like we’re crazy for even being together.”

  “I don’t care. Because I’m crazy for you.”

  “That’s so cheesy,” she whispered even as more tears welled up. He got that panicked look again and she laughed. “These are happy tears, I swear.”

  He pressed his forehead to hers. “I can’t believe we’re having a girl. I’m going to have to lock her up until she’s thirty.”

  “Pretty sure that’s not happening,” she said, laughing.

  “Will you come home with me today? And we don’t have to stay at the estate. I can sell it and we can buy something together.”

  “I love your place.”

  “Then it’s ours.”

  “Andre—”

  “No. If you move in there, it becomes ours.”

  Oh hell, she had to force the tears back. “Well I love it. But I don’t care where we live.” The truth was, she would prefer Miami since it was close to her sister, but she had to take his feelings into account as well. “If you want to live in Vegas or even Biloxi, we can.”

  “I’ve been shifting a lot of things around the past few months. I can work in Miami just as easily as Vegas or Biloxi. I’ll still have to travel, but I’ll be in Miami the majority of the week. And…I didn’t plan to bring it up today, but I wanted to talk to you about a potential business relationship.”

  “You mean between us?”

  “Yes. I’m looking for a new spokesperson/face for my casinos. And I think you’re perfect for it. It’s a ten-year contract.”

  Her eyes widened. She’d have to run things by her agent and there would be a lot to figure out, but… “That’s incredible.”

  “One of the stipulations is that you sleep in my bed every night.” His voice was low and husky.

  She giggled at that even as heat pooled between her legs. “I think we need to get out of here. Two days without you and I’ve been going crazy.”

  “Same here. I don’t want to wait to get married, Alena.” His voice was suddenly serious.

  “Okay…but we have to wait until after Nika’s wedding.”

  “As long as it’s before this little girl is born,” he said, cupping her stomach.

  “I didn’t realize you were so traditional.”

  “Neither did I.” The heat and hunger were back in his gaze.

  She was ready to get out of here and back to his place. Immediately. She might have made a lot of mistakes where he was concerned but she wasn’t going to screw this up. Her need for revenge had almost ruined her life. She wouldn’t let her baggage get in the way of what she and Andre—and their daughter—could have. And she was going to have to stop being so damn suspicious and just accept the love he was offering. That in itself felt like a feat, but she could accept that this was real, that they were meant to be together.

  Epilogue

  One year later

  Alena sat down next to Nika on the bench swing by the pool, smiling at the sight of her sister holding Alena’s baby girl. Grace was so tiny and the perfect mix of her and Andre. “I swear you have the magic touch with her,” she murmured.

  “I love her so much.” Nika gently kissed her head be
fore continuing to rock her. “I can’t believe how much she sleeps.”

  Alena snorted. “She’s fooling you. I swear she puts on a show for her aunt. Which is fine with me because the only time she sleeps solidly is around you.”

  “Are you ready to let her have a sleepover at my house?” Nika asked slyly.

  Grace was a little over seven months old now and Alena thought she might be ready to spend a night away from her. Maybe. “I don’t know,” she said, laughing. She completely trusted her sister, but being away from Grace felt weird. “I’m pretty sure Andre isn’t.”

  As if he knew he was being talked about, the sliding glass door opened behind them and he and Declan stepped outside. Andre’s sister and Declan’s brothers would be there soon. As well as Nika’s father-in-law. They were having a Sunday night dinner, and this weekend Andre had volunteered their place since Kiley was in town.

  “Andre isn’t what?” he asked, before kissing Alena on the top of her head and sitting in the lounge chair right next to them.

  “Nika wants to keep Grace for the night.”

  “We’ve already got a crib and everything,” Declan said as he sat on the other side of Nika, a beer in hand.

  “Crib?” Alena asked.

  Nika rolled her eyes. “We were going to tell you tonight, but apparently that’s my husband’s way of letting you know that I’m pregnant.”

  “Oh my gosh, congratulations!” She wrapped a gentle arm around her sister’s shoulder, not wanting to jostle her too much.

  Nika smiled and looked down at her niece. “I’m getting plenty of practice with this little one.”

  “That’s fantastic, you guys. You’re going to make great parents.” Andre smiled at the two of them, a much more relaxed version of the man he was during the work week. He was so busy, but he made time for Alena and Grace. Always.