Branding the Virgin(14)

He goes over to the closet, and in one big grab he pulls my clothes down. Then he grabs the luggage and leaves the room, weighed down with clothes and cases.

“Ty!” I yell and chase him, but he doesn’t head towards the front of the house. Instead he enters his bedroom. I follow him, holding the sheet to me as I watch him start putting my things away in his room.

“I wanted to go sweet and slow and make you fall for me, make you want to stay, but now slow isn't going to work,” he says. I’m not sure if he’s talking to me or himself. He opens his closet, moves some of his clothes out of the way, and hangs mine next to his. Seeing my clothes next to his makes something settle inside me. A sense of belonging, which I’ve never felt before.

“No fucker is going to show up here thinking you or my baby belongs to him,” he growls, stomping over to the luggage he dragged in. He opens my black bag and pulls out more of my stuff. He stops and looks at one of the baby books and moves to put that one on the night stand.

“You know what? I kind of hope he tries to show up here. This is fucking Texas, after all. Can’t just walk onto another man’s land and try and take what’s his without ending up with a few holes in you.”

He turns to look at me, his hard, possessive eyes focusing on me. I just stare at him, mouth open, eyes wide. Then he softens.

“I’m sorry, darlin’.” His long legs eat up the distance between us. “I’d never hurt you, don’t be scared.” He leans down and places a soft kiss on my lips. So much softer than you’d think you’d get from a man like him. Then he’s lifting me, carrying me to his bed and laying me down.

“You look good in my bed. Our bed,” he corrects himself. “Don’t move.” He pulls himself from the bed and walks over to his dresser, digs through one of the drawers, and comes back.

“This baby will be a Jennings.” I feel something slide on my finger. “You will be Mrs. Jennings. No one else will show up here trying to say otherwise. We’ll go to the courthouse tomorrow and make it official.” He glances over at the clock on the night stand. “Maybe we can still go into town today and get the paperwork started.”

He goes to pull back from the bed, and I grab him. “You’re going so fast. I can’t catch up,” I tell him. It all seems too good to be true.

“You don’t need to catch up. It’s happening.” His face grows hard again, and I can see the worry in his gaze. “Whoever he was let you slip through his fingers. I won’t make the same mistake, even if I have to tie you to this bed to keep you here. I’ll bribe a judge to sign off on our marriage. It’s happening.”

That should probably scare me, but it doesn’t. In fact, I feel my body heating all over again. “I’m not saying no, but there is more you should know.”

“We have our whole lives to catch up.” He leans in, placing his forehead against mine. “I need this. I have to know you’re not going anywhere. That I won’t lose you.” I think of how he lost his mom and dad, and that fear of losing someone else rides hard on him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I tell him. I reach up to run my fingers across his jaw, feeling the stubble against my fingers.

He nods and stands up. He reaches out for me to pull me from the bed with him. “Let’s get on the road then. We need to…” His words trail off, and his face turns white. I follow his line of sight to the spot between my legs, and I see a trace of blood on my thighs. Seeing it makes my face flush.

“Oh my God! Mary-Jane, you’re bleeding! The baby!” he shouts, panic clear on his face. He drops to his knees in front of me, inspecting the blood. “We have to get you to a hospital.” He stands, but before he can run, I grab his arm.

“Ty, I’m fine,” I try to reassure him.

“I don’t know much, if anything, about pregnancy, but I’m pretty fucking sure you aren’t supposed to bleed.”

“That blood's not from the pregnancy.” He stops and stares at me in confusion. “It’s because you were my first.” I can tell by his face he still doesn’t get what I’m saying. “You took my virginity.

“But—”

I cut him off just wanting to get the words out. “The baby.” I take a deep breath, getting my bearings. “The baby is yours.”

“Damn straight it fucking is.”

I have to bite my cheek from smiling at that.

“I mean, I was artificially inseminated, and there was a mix-up.” He just keeps looking at me like things aren’t adding up, so I continue. “I went to Caro Fertility Center to have it done. It’s actually why I’m here. I came to tell you.” It’s clear from his face that he knows the Center and things are clicking into place. “They gave me your baby.”