Where the Streets Have No Name(48)

Before heading up to the address he had for Amelia, Daniel needed to take care of a few things. First he bought a vehicle. Then he purchased some new clothes. The government gave him his choice of locations to choose from for a permanent dwelling, on their charge, but he didn’t know where he wanted to live yet. The next day he set off for Malin Head. To Amelia.

Daniel pulled up to the small, cozy cottage situated near the cliffs. A car was parked in the drive – not a rental. She’d bought one, which meant she might be staying. That in itself, he took as a grand sign.

He knocked on the door and swiped his palms on his thighs. Daniel’s pulse jumped in his throat. The sound of his own blood rushing through his veins blocked out every other sound. Tension coiled inside him until he was ready to explode.

What would she say? Could she forgive him for being such a fool?

No answer. Daniel knocked again, just in case he wasn’t heard the first time. Again, he received no answer. He walked around the cabin, peering through windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. No one was home. But why did she leave her car? The nearest dwelling was almost an hour’s walk from here. Unless…

Pain lanced his chest, right above his heart. She must have someone living with her then. He was too late.

“D-Daniel?”

He heard her voice and spun around, unprepared to see her standing behind him. Her hair was longer, hanging loose around her shoulders, over the swell of her breasts…

His eyes narrowed, scanning her abdomen. No longer flat. Grey fabric stretched taut over her stomach. Amelia’s hands smoothed over her pregnant belly in a protective and circular motion.

Pregnant.

Amelia was pregnant.

Was the baby his? Shite, he didn’t know enough about this kind of thing to get his head around it. All he’d ever wanted was a place where the streets had no name. To call the shots in his own life. To make decisions like he had all the time in the world to make them. Miles of rich green fields surrounding him. Freedom. And now…

Looking at her abdomen made him feel trapped. Daniel swallowed, hoping to clear the sensation of choking from his throat. Shite.

All he could think was pregnant.

Pregnant.

Baby.

Pregnant.





The last thing Amelia expected to see when she returned from her morning walk was Daniel Byrne standing on her doorstep. A little slimmer and more exhausted than she remembered. Just a little. He still had the same strong, broad shoulders, and those arms… He’d held her up in the shower and she felt his strength. Against the wall. Standing in the middle of the room, his arms banded around her and his hips pistoning his cock inside her.

Sweat gathered between her breasts at the memory, despite the chill in the air. Hormones made her crazy, but until she saw him, Amelia had been able to keep her body in check. Now, good lord, she felt like she couldn’t get him naked quick enough, and she’d never get enough of him.

All the hormones in the world weren’t reason enough for her to push past the ache in her heart at his rejection.

His eyes were glued to her stomach. Of course. He must be freaking out. She certainly did when she found out she was expecting. Amelia spent an entire day in bed, sobbing her eyes out. Not because she had to raise a child alone. Knowing that she’d conceived a child with a man who didn’t love her and he didn’t want anything to do with her tore a new hole in her chest where her heart used to reside.

At first when he sent her away Amelia came up here to her new cottage and sunk into a deep depression. She gave her heart and soul to a man who pretended to care, and in the end, he tossed her aside like yesterday’s trash. In his eyes, she wasn’t worthy much more than the wrapper to his take-out meal.

But the longer she spent alone, recalling the memories they made together, the more Amelia realised what he’d done. Daniel pushed her away on purpose. For what reason she had no way of knowing. She tried to come up with a reason, but none came to mind.

“You…” he said, staring at her abdomen.

Amelia placed both hands over the child growing inside her.

“Is it mine?”

Her eyes widened. Bile rose in her throat, coating her tongue. The ground beneath her tilted and swayed. Daniel caught her in his arms, hauling her to his chest, her back to his front. His scent seeped into her system, drugging her. And Amelia knew, no matter what happened in the future, she’d never be over Daniel. Try as she might, the man owned her heart and her senses.

“Are you all right?” Whether he meant to or not, Daniel’s hands moved from the small of her back to her sides, smoothing around her front to feel the firm bump of her stomach. “Jaysus.”

She heard him swallow but avoided his eyes like he was Medusa and she’d turn to stone if she looked up and caught him staring.