by Tami Lund
The accidental charge on Gabe’s Amex had been straight up a result of not enough z’s. There was no other excuse. And she’d been so damn careful, too, ever since she discovered she was pregnant, four months into this mission to find Gabe’s mother.
Why hadn’t she told them? Any of them—but especially Noah. He was the father, after all. He had a right to know she’d given him a daughter. He had a right to know his life would be forever altered.
She didn’t have an excuse, not a good one, anyway. Not one that wouldn’t infuriate Noah when he finally found out. Which he would, one of these days. Eventually, she’d have to go back, whether or not she figured out the answers she’d been sent down here to seek. Hell, she was surprised Gabe had given her this long without demanding concrete answers.
Gods, she’d been so irritated with herself when she realized the reason she was so nauseous and her boobs hurt like fucking hell was because she was growing life inside her womb. Why in the name of the gods had she seduced Noah anyway? What had she been thinking?
As per her usual, she hadn’t been, at least not clearly. Why had she seduced him? She’d asked herself that question a thousand times over the course of the past year, and the best answer she’d come up with wasn’t a particularly good one.
She’d been caught up in the result of the conversation with Gabe. The one where he had attempted to convince her she actually was good enough to complete this mission he’d sent her on. She’d momentarily had a bit of self-confidence, and as soon as she saw Noah, her dragon sat up and started begging like a dog, and Petra had wondered if she could do it.
Could she seduce him? Could she finally do something right?
Except she hadn’t—done it right, at any rate. Oh, sure, the moment had been spectacular; that orgasm unquestionably the best of her entire life.
The resulting child was the part she’d screwed up. Sadie’s existence made her life infinitely more complicated, and not just for the typical reasons first-time parents generally encountered.
She should have called Gabe as soon as she figured out she was pregnant. He no doubt would have told her to come home. Except that would have defined her as a failure—again.
And, yeah, she definitely should have let Noah know that he was going to be a father. But that, well, therein lay the real problem. Petra had sworn to herself a long, long time ago that she would not take a mate for any other reason except love. Any other reason actually meant getting pregnant without being mated first. That was where she truly messed up. She’d had the baby first, and once her family found out, they’d push her to mate with the father, and Petra refused. She would not complete that circle; she would not be like nearly everyone else in her family.
She would not be part of a loveless relationship for the sake of the kid.
So she’d avoided telling anyone and avoided going home and done her best to ignore the guilt she felt over not telling Noah.
She sighed and shifted Sadie to the other breast. Even though she dreaded going home, she also really, really wanted to. To sleep in her own bed. To get back to her own life. To raise her daughter within her own colony.
Which meant it was time to get back to the job she’d been sent down here to do in the first place. Even if that also meant she was now juggling two jobs and raising an infant, alone. It was her own damn fault, so no pity party for her.
Luck had, for seemingly the first time in her life, been on her side shortly after she’d realized she was pregnant. She’d wandered into Nola Kids, taken one look at all the totally adorable baby clothes, and burst into tears. Pacey Jorges, the owner, had rushed up to her with a box of tissues and a hug and hadn’t let Petra leave until she’d confessed her story.
Not all of it, of course. Pacey was human, so Petra left out any references to dragons and curses. Had she not, the woman likely would have sent her to a mental institution instead of offering her a job and cheap rent to live in the tiny guest cottage tucked behind the significantly larger 1860s Greek revival house Pacey called home.
Bonus that Pacey’s niece, Rebecca, was living with her while attending college at nearby Tulane University. Not to mention Rebecca loved children and was available to babysit anytime she wasn’t in class.
One would think Petra lived a charmed life. If only it was the one she wanted to live.
“Okay, baby girl,” she murmured as she lifted the child onto her shoulder and gently patted her back. “Let’s get that gas out and then fall back asleep for at least twenty minutes. I need a shower.” Never, until three months ago, had she considered showers to be a novelty, a privilege, a damn-near euphoric experience.
For once, the bundle of adorableness decided to comply, belching loudly enough to make a grown man jealous and then promptly sighing and closing her eyes. She was so damn cute, Petra was tempted to just hold her like this, but reality called in the form of being clean for the date she’d managed to line up for tonight.
Gently placing the sleeping babe in the bouncy seat that was already parked on the bathroom floor, Petra quickly turned on the water and stripped down, ignoring the soft paunch she glimpsed in the mirror before climbing into the shower.
Sadie started crying five minutes later.
“Oh come on,” Petra complained as she rinsed conditioner out of her hair. “I need to shave. It’s been way too long. Birds are starting to look at my legs as possible relocation options.”
Sadie stopped crying.
Petra paused in the act of turning off the water. When the baby didn’t start up again, she picked up her razor, quickly lathered her leg, and got to work scraping off enough hair she worried the drain would clog.
Good thing she was able to get through the task, because she couldn’t wear long pants tonight even if she wanted to. She didn’t have any that were clean. Her choices were shorts or a skirt. Because she sure as hell couldn’t fit into the dozens of outfits she bought for Sadie. Working at a kids’ clothing store was probably not the wisest choice for someone who wasn’t good at self-control.
Clean and freshly shaved, she turned off the water and shoved aside the shower curtain, reaching for her towel.
And saw a man standing in the bathroom, holding her daughter in his arms, his body gently swaying to some silent beat.
Petra immediately summoned the magic, ready to shift into dragon form and scare the living daylights out of whoever the hell dared sneak into her house and pick up her baby girl and…
Her dragon, in stark contrast to Petra’s reaction, was doing a jig, a rather seductive one, at that. Why the hell wasn’t her dragon roaring in her head and demanding to come out so she could rip this guy’s limbs from his body?
The internal confusion gave the man enough time to turn to face her, and Petra’s heart stopped for a long moment, then kicked into triple overtime.
Oh. My. Gods.
Noah.
And jeez, did he ever look good, holding her baby like that.
Their baby.
Oh shit.
“Uh…” She finally tore her gaze away from the man she’d been fantasizing about pretty regularly ever since she sauntered away from him after the most amazing sex ever in the woods behind Gabe’s house. She snagged her towel and quickly wrapped it around herself, hiding her mom bod from view.
His gaze dropped south of the hem of the terrycloth. “Did I give you enough time to shave?”
Her face heated. “Uh…” Crap, was she incapable of forming words? Standing in the tub, water dripping from the ends of her hair, clutching the towel above her heaving breasts, she finally managed the concept of actual speech. “Wha-what are you doing here?”
He indicated the child sleeping on his shoulder. “Meeting my daughter. She is mine, isn’t she?”
Petra cleared her throat. “Um…yeah.”
He squinted down at the little girl. “She looks a little like me.”
“A lot, actually,” Petra said.
“What’s her name?”
“Sadie Ren
ee.”
His eyes widened. “Renee? That’s my mom’s name.”
Petra shrugged.
“Did you name her after my mom?”
She shrugged again.
“How did you even know?”
Petra rolled her eyes. “Your grandfather was my uncle’s personal chef. We both spent plenty of time at the reeve’s mansion. You can’t tell me you don’t know a thing or two about me.”
“No, I can’t. But I never imagined you actually paid attention to anything about me.”
She huffed. “Can you leave so I can dry off and get dressed?”
He arched one dark brow. “We have a baby together.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re close enough for you to see me naked.” Especially now, after I’ve given birth and breastfed for three months.
He opened his mouth, and she expected him to argue, because face it, if they had a baby together, they’d obviously gotten pretty damn intimate, but he snapped it closed and left the bathroom—with Sadie in his arms.
Petra quickly dried off, skipping the lotion she diligently applied to her boobs and stomach in an attempt to make the stretch marks go away but not forgetting to add gel to her hair to combat the never-ending frizz courtesy of the thousand percent humidity in this city.
Since her clothes were in her bedroom, she had to wrap the towel around herself again and hurry out of the bathroom, catching a glimpse of Noah standing in the living room, flipping through the photo album she’d had made for when she finally got up the nerve to tell him about Sadie.
Crap. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She pulled on a fresh camisole and panties, then topped them with an orange sundress. She needed makeup and time with her blow dryer and straight iron, but first things first. Throwing back her shoulders and sucking in a deep breath, she strode into the living room.
“Would you like something to drink? Or eat? Or, uh, do you need anything?”
“A shower would be great, but go ahead and do what you need to do first.”
“So, ah, how did you find me?” she asked.
“I overheard Gabe mention a charge on your Amex to some place called Nola Kids. And he mentioned you hadn’t really done much work on your assignment in the last three months. And we hadn’t used protection the one time we were together. Put two and two together, made an assumption that you hadn’t done that with any other guy around the same time—”
“Of course not.” Her voice rose a couple octaves, and she cleared her throat while willing the heat blossoming across her exposed chest to go away. She was always careful. Always, always, always.
Until she wasn’t. Damn it.
“—so I flew down here. Once I got to the city, I looked up Nola Kids and asked where you lived.” He shrugged. “Here I am.”
She stared at him. “Pacey told you where I live?”
“She did after I told her I was your baby’s father.”
Petra groaned. If ever there was a bleeding heart, it was Pacey. And if ever there was a person who desperately believed in happy endings, it was Pacey. She was probably imagining Petra and Noah making up and swearing to love and hold and all that crap right now.
As if.
“Look, Noah, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but—”
“I’m thinking a lot of things. But let’s start with the basics. Why am I just now finding out I have a daughter?”
There was an edge to his voice that would scare a lot of people. Not her, but probably most others.
“It’s complicated.”
“Picking up the phone is complicated?”
Petra ran her hand through her hair. She needed to dry it soon or else it would resemble a poodle, and the plans she had for tonight required her to look as good as she possibly could, mom bod notwithstanding.
“I hate to do this to you, but I sort of need to get ready to go.”
“Where?”
“Out.”
“Out where?”
“Jeez, you aren’t my dad.”
“No, but I am the father of your child.”
“Which does not give you any rights over my life at all.”
“It sure as hell gives me rights over her life.” He indicated the child who was perched in the crook of his arm, awake now and watching their interaction with wide, dark eyes. Ugh, why did she have to look so flippin’ cute in her daddy’s arms?
“Fine. You want rights to her? How about you babysit tonight?” Rebecca was supposed to do it, but Petra doubted the college student would mind having an unexpected free evening.
“While you do what?”
Petra flung her arms in the air. “What is with you? Why do you care?”
“Initially, I honestly didn’t. But now that you’re making such a big deal about it, well, I’m damned curious.”
She gnashed her teeth and tried counting but only made it to five before blurting, “I have a date.”
His eyes widened for a moment before he quickly masked his reaction behind a façade of calm. Or hell, maybe he really was calm. Maybe he didn’t give a shit about what she did with her spare time. They’d spent a few minutes up against a tree in the middle of the day. Hardly enough to warrant anything at all.
Well, except a child, and therefore a permanent bond, for the rest of their lives. Gods above, when she moved back home, was he going to fight her for custody? The reeve had final say in such matters, and considering Petra hadn’t yet completed her mission and therefore was probably on Gabe’s shit list, she ought to make an attempt to get along with Noah.
“Moving fast, aren’t you?”
“Huh?” She blinked, as if that might clarify what he just said.
Noah nodded at the babe in his arm. “She’s three months old, right?”
“As of yesterday.”
“And you’re already on the hunt for a new man?”
“A new man? I didn’t have a man in the first place.” Oh shit, he wasn’t seriously thinking that just because they had a kid together meant they should be together, was he? That wasn’t how it worked. Petra knew that better than anybody. She needed to set the man straight, pronto.
“All I had was a fit of temporary insanity, during which I convinced you to fuck me—without protection. That’s it.”
“Hey,” he said, cupping his hand around Sadie’s head. “Watch the language.”
She almost cracked a smile at his overprotective instinct. Almost. “She has no freaking clue what we’re saying right now, so relax.”
“She will soon enough. And for the record, I wasn’t implying that you’re moving on from me.”
Sure sounded like that, but okay.
“I meant, so soon after having a baby. Are you—are you ready to start dating already?” His gaze skimmed down her body, and even though it felt like he was focusing on all the spots she hated about herself, it made her skin sizzle and spark, much like it had the day they’d conceived Sadie.
She took a step back, lest she lose control again and try to climb him or something equally dangerous. Oh, she was most definitely ready to revive that aspect of her life. Not that she’d been getting laid on the regular before she got pregnant. Which was exactly the reason she’d ended up in this situation. Blind lust led to poor decision-making.
Which meant she needed to keep a little distance between herself and Noah, because for some damn reason, her dragon was currently recalling every single second of their brief encounter and most definitely wanted a replay.
She should tell him the truth: that her date was part of her assignment, an attempt to infiltrate the Rojo dragon colony, to seek inside information. While she hadn’t done nearly as much as she ought to have associated with this mission to break the curse, she had uncovered a few clues that indicated Gabe’s mother was, in fact, connected to that colony.
Petra suspected the guy she’d procured a date with had firsthand knowledge of the woman’s whereabouts. Her plan was to flirt the actual location out of him and make a quick exit. If it wa
s early enough in the evening, she might even head to said location and do a preliminary check. With any luck, she could be heading home before Halloween. And if Lady Luck were truly on her side—for once—her family would stay off her back about mating with Sadie’s father.
Okay, yeah, she recognized that was asking far too much.
“Yes, actually,” she said. “I’m more than ready to start dating.” She forced her gaze away from Noah’s windblown hair, those dark eyes, the scruff—she’d never found facial hair overly attractive before and yet her dragon was panting like she was in heat.
Down, girl. We don’t need to go there. One lifelong bond with this guy is plenty. Too much, in fact.
Who knew dragons could pout?
And this was before her gaze dropped to his chest, those forearms, those thighs, that bulge—was it getting bigger? Petra gulped and forced her gaze north, to meet his eyes.
Which were narrowed and stormy. Was that because he’d missed her perusal of his body or because he’d caught it?
“Fine,” he said, biting off the word like he hated the taste of it. “I’ll stay here and watch our daughter while you go seek my replacement.”
Her jaw dropped. She was surprised it didn’t hit the floor. “Replacement? What the hell are you talking about?”
“She’s mine, Petra,” he said, as if she needed the reminder. He stabbed his thumb into his chest. “Mine. You’d better make sure whoever you decide to sleep with understands that.”
“Uhhhh, right. To be perfectly honest, Noah, I have no intention of introducing her to anyone, so you can relax. The guy would have to be pretty damn special to get to that point, and that’s going to take time. So no worries about tonight.”
The bunched muscles on his shoulders did appear to relax, marginally. But he tightened up again as he narrowed his eyes and said, “Do you have condoms?”
She threw her arms in the air. “What kind of woman do you think I am?”
Which was a dumb question, right? His only intimate experience with her was a moment of crazed lust in the woods in which neither of them had been thinking clearly and as a result, they now had Sadie.