Waking Up Pregnant(65)
“No.” And then because she couldn’t stand the sight of the scowl he was wearing, she added lightly, “I shudder to think how your ego would take it.”
His mouth kicked up, and Jeff walked into the room, going straight to the coffee machine. “Hmm, I like how susceptible you are to his plight. With that in mind, what do you think about packing your things and coming back with me?”
“What?” She most definitely couldn’t have heard him right. Not with the way Jeff was standing there casually brewing himself a mug of coffee while he basically blew everything they’d agreed upon last night straight to hell.
“Turns out I’m the jealous sort. As it applies to you, anyway.”
Jealous. Where was this coming from? After her near-date with Grant?
“If my mom’s parading Southern California’s most eligible bachelors in front of you every now and then...” He shook his head, again running that wide palm over the scrub of his solid jaw. “Yeah, I’m losing it a little thinking about one of them catching your attention. Because you’ll catch theirs. Every one, Darcy. So, self-serving bastard that I am, I’m going to be driving out here seven days a week with the straight-up intention of sabotaging her efforts.”
“Jeff,” she tried again, needing to inject some reason where suddenly there seemed to be none. “I’m a high school dropout. They aren’t—”
“Going to care. Mom wouldn’t let some stuck-up prick with a hard-on for credentials within ten thousand feet of you. But the men who would appreciate how easy it is to carry on a conversation with you about virtually anything—the ones who would respect that you’ve been steadily working your way through my old textbooks since you got here and read two newspapers a day. The ones who earn that laugh of yours—” Breaking off, he looked away muttering a coarse expletive.
“So yeah, even after I run the lot of these great guys off, the ego you keep indulging is still going to have something to prove. Which means...I’m going to be pulling out every dirty, low-down trick I can think of to seduce you back into my bed. And, Darcy?”
The dark look in Jeff’s eyes did things to her she didn’t want to think about. Didn’t want to acknowledge.
Didn’t want to stop. “What?”
He stepped behind her and, gathering her hair in a loose twist over one shoulder, ran his lips and then the stubble rough edge of his jaw along the sensitive exposed length of her neck in a way that made her breath catch and a needy ache stir low in her belly.
“I’ve got a lot of tricks. And I already know several that work on you.”
“So what are you saying?” she asked, fighting the purr and moan trying to slip out with her words. “If I move in with you, you won’t be compelled to seduce me?”
His hands slid down the length of her arms, then slowly back up as the low rumble of his laugh vibrated against her back. “No. I’ll seduce you either way. But for a change, once I get you into my bed, I’d like to wake up to you still there the next morning.”
A weight settled in her chest.
“Jeff, we talked about this. We agreed last night.”
“You can’t hold me to anything I said last night. I hadn’t slept in days. This morning, though, I’m seeing things clearly. I know you’re worried about complicating a relationship we need to sustain for our child’s sake. But it doesn’t need to get complicated. What’s between us—”