Cadence blew out a breath as she stared at herself in the mirror. After she washed her makeup off—which was even worse than she feared it was after her crying jag—she changed into her night clothes. No big deal, right? At least, it normally wasn’t.

But she wanted to go back downstairs. Spend more time with Jameson. Maybe even touch him, and, if she didn’t panic… maybe even do more than innocently touch him.

Shit, she never imagined she’d want to do that with any man again. Ever. But Jameson wasn’t just any man. He proved that 2every minute of every day. Being with him was incredibly easy, and touching him felt like she imagined touching a livewire would be. It was electric. Just holding his hand sent desire shooting through her, and she tingled. Tingled. She hadn’t known that was even possible.

The only part that bothered her a little was how close to him it made her feel. Like their hands twined together bonded them emotionally. Well, if she were being honest, it wasn’t technically that that bothered her. It was how much she liked it. She was leaving at the end of the week, and it wasn’t smart to get attached to him.

But if there was any man she’d want to get attached to, it was Jameson. She couldn’t image anyone better. Being close to him felt good. Better than anything had in a long time.

And she hadn’t missed how emotional he’d been over Old Alice’s words, either. He loved knowing her baby was a girl. Loved knowing she was healthy, if a little on the small side. She couldn’t imagine him being happier with knowing those things if he was the father.

And whoa, holy shit. That was dangerous thinking there, and she needed to put that far, far from her mind.

But despite all that, she wanted to go back downstairs. Wanted to spend more time with him, see where this could lead. And she was looking at herself with a critical eye because she wanted him. Physically. And she wanted him to want her back.

Cocking her head, she looked at herself in the mirror again. She was wearing shorts and a top. The shorts weren’t the problem. Her legs were toned from years of dancing—a little skinnier now but toned—and that hadn’t changed much since she quit stripping.

It was the shirt that was the problem. It was one she wore pre-pregnancy, and it used to be baggy on her. It wasn’t exactly tight now, not really, but her baby bump was clearly visible. The fabric hugged it, not too snug, but enough to almost highlight her belly.

She didn’t know why she was dithering about it. It wasn’t like it was a big deal. He knew she was pregnant. He had his hand on her stomach last night, felt the baby move. It wouldn’t be a surprise to him.

But he hadn’t seen it before, not really. Sure, he probably could tell even with her baggy shirts on, but not like this. It felt completely different.

She watched in the mirror as she rolled her eyes over her thoughts. Enough of this. If he had a problem seeing the evidence of her pregnancy, it was better she knew now. If things heated up even more between them and went where she was suddenly longing for them to go, she’d be devastated if he called a halt to it once he got an eyeful of her belly.

Inhaling deeply, she left the room and went downstairs. It was quiet, only a lamp on in the living room, and she thought he already went to bed. Shit. She waited too long, spent too much time worrying over what she was putting on, and of course he didn’t wait around on her. She implied she was coming back, but she didn’t say it outright. Men could be dense. Most of the time, things needed to be spelled out for them.

She was just starting to turn back for the stairs when she spotted him. He stood up from the couch, stretching, his shirt raising with the motion. Swallowing hard, she stared at the strip of skin between his shirt and his jeans. Lord Almighty, this man was gorgeous as all hell.

“Cady?”

Whipping her eyes up, she saw him facing her, eyebrows high with surprise. Whether it was over her presence, what she was wearing, or the way she’d been looking at him, she didn’t know. She was so busted.

“Hey. I just… wasn’t ready for bed yet, I guess,” she said lamely.

Eyeing her, he smiled slowly as he walked around the couch and came to a stop in front of her. He looked her over, running his eyes up and down her frame, and she shivered, feeling his look like a tangible caress.

“I’m glad you came back down. And you look gorgeous.”

Her eyebrow cocked as she looked down. “In this?”

Raising his hand slowly, he brushed her hair back. “You always do, no matter what you’re wearing. But I like this. It’s not your usual baggy shit. You can actually see your belly. I like it.”

Eyes narrowing, she stared at him. “Are you, like, a pregnant woman chaser? Do you get off on it, or something?”

“What? No,” he said, eyes wide as he looked at her like she was crazy. “Of course not. I just like that you don’t feel like you have to hide it from me, when you’re here in my home. That’s all.”

“Whew, that’s a relief.”

He studied her, his dark blue eyes intense, the lighter swirls slowly appearing. “What do you want, Cady?”

“Just some company, I guess.”

“Is that all?”

Swallowing, she searched his eyes, trying to find her courage. His gaze was reassuring, open, and full of the same desire she felt. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and it was blazing from his eyes. And seeing it gave her courage.

“And because—because I want you, Jameson.”

His eyes widened, and he started to reach for her. He paused, arms still extended. “Can I touch you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I know I’ve shied away from you a lot since I showed up here. But come on, Jamie. I just said I wanted you. Of course you can touch me. It’s kind of a requirement for what I’m hoping we’ll do.”

He smiled and then he finally touched her. He caressed her arms for just a moment, before pulling her gently forward and lowering his head. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she raised up on her tiptoes to meet him as his mouth touched hers.

Holy mother of God. He was barely kissing her, just softly moving his lips against hers, but it lit up her body, every part of her tingling as her knees went weak. She couldn’t stop from gasping, her lips parting slightly. But he didn’t take advantage, just parted his own and gave her long, open mouth kisses that had her leaning fully onto him, her knees going from weak to the consistency of jelly.

The feel of his hard body against hers set off an even more intense reaction. Fucking hell, nothing had ever felt like this. Nothing and no one. It was only a kiss, but it was already better than any sex she’d ever had in her life.

Groaning, he moved a hand to her ass, squeezing before pulling her in tighter against him. Sweeping his tongue across her lips, he asked for entry, and she was more than happy to grant it. Opening wider, she waited impatiently for him to make use of it, and when his tongue swept in, hers was ready to greet it.

It wasn’t long before they were trying to devour each other. His tongue explored freely as his hands tightened to the point of pain, but it was a sensation she reveled in.

For the first time in her life, she wanted a man to mark her. With her past what it was, that was nothing short of shocking. But the fact that this was Jameson made all the difference.

Thrusting her hands into the long strands of his hair, she pressed in, wanting to get even closer, but it wasn’t possible. They were already plastered together as closely as they could be. But damn, if she could freakin’ crawl inside him, she would.

He had an erection trying to rip through the fabric of his jeans, and it was impressive enough that she half thought it actually would. Unable to help herself, she circled her hips, grinding against it and smiling a little when he growled deep in his chest.

Pulling away, he panted hard, and she reveled in pulling that reaction from him. The kiss had affected him as much as it had her, then, and she loved that. His dark blue eyes had the light blue swirls in them, and they were brighter than she’d ever seen them. So damn beautiful.

“Fuck, Cadence. That kiss was Earth shattering. You’re fucking potent, sweetheart.”

Pleasure washed over her, and then what he said registered, and she froze, ice water freezing her veins. Suddenly scared shitless, she put her hands to his chest and pushed him away. She backed up slowly, hands raised defensively. Anger and fear were swelling up inside her, making it hard to think. Jameson had a puzzled expression on his face, and he looked so sweet, so handsome, so amazing standing there.

But it was a lie. It was all a fucking lie. She let a man dupe her a-fucking-gain, and she couldn’t believe she’d been such an idiot.

“How—” pausing as her voice caught, she cleared her throat and tried again. “How do you know my name? Do you know Winston? It doesn’t make sense, but how else could you have known? Answer me, Jameson. How the fuck do you know my real name?”

Oh, fuck. Jameson squeezed his eyes shut. He screwed the hell up with that one. He hadn’t meant to let it slip, but it just came out. He stared at Cady, his heart breaking. She looked scared as shit, and he hadn’t seen that expression on her face since she first got here. And he hated that it was on her face again because of something he did. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Fix it, please. Whatever it takes. Get on your knees if you have to, I don’t care, just fix it, his tiger said urgently, shredding the hell out of Jameson’s chest, making him wince from the ferocity of it.

Calm down. I’ll fix this or die trying.

“It’s not what you think, sweetheart.”

To his horror, her eyes welled with tears. Angrily scrubbing her hands over her eyes, she glared at him. “You do not get to fucking call me sweetheart.”

“Okay. I won’t. Listen, I don’t know who Winston is. I swear. I know your full name is Cadence because some stuff fell out of your box when I was bringing it in. Your birth certificate and some photos. I know I shouldn’t have read it, but I glanced down and saw the name, and then wondered about it. But I didn’t know it was a secret or even a big deal. I just thought Cady was a nickname for Cadence. Like Tarun calls me Jamie.”

She studied him intently for long moments, still held so stiff he thought she might break. They were the longest minutes of his life, but, eventually, she slowly relaxed just a little.

“That’s it? That’s really why you know my name?”

“I swear on all that’s holy, that’s the only reason why. I would never do anything to hurt you, Cady. We haven’t known each other long, but I kind of hoped you’d know that by now.”

“I do,” she said softly, the tension draining from her body. “It’s crazy to me, what with my past and only knowing you for a short time, but I do. I just freaked out. Not going by Cadence is like another layer of the disguise I wore today. Besides, Cady really was a nickname, although no one’s called me that in years.”

“I’m dying to ask why you feel like you need a disguise, and who the hell Winston is, but I won’t. I just hope you’ll feel comfortable enough with me to tell me on your own. Is Daniels your real last name? I thought, when I first saw it, that maybe you were married, and that’s where Alexander came from.”

She shuddered, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Hell no, I’m not married. So that’s why you asked me out of the blue the other day if I was married. Yeah, Daniels is my last name. Alexander is the name of a foster family I stayed with when I was young. And I’m not sure I’ll ever want to talk about my past, Jamie. I don’t want to ever relive it.”

“I understand. But if you ever want to talk about it, I’m a great listener. And there will be zero judgment.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She paused, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, and then suddenly paled. “Did you say pictures fell out?”

Brow furrowing, he nodded. “Yeah, a few.”

“Did—did you look at them?”

She looked like she was fighting panic, and he frowned. “Yeah, I glanced through the ones that fell out. I’m sorry. I know it was all an invasion of privacy, and I shouldn’t have done it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.”

Her voice when she spoke again was a whisper he wasn’t sure he would have heard without shifter hearing. “So you know.”

His frown turned puzzled. “Know what?”

“What—what I used to do for a living.”

Realization dawned and he watched as she hunched in on herself, expression ashamed. “I figured it out, yeah.”

“Is that why you wanted to have sex with me? Because you know I was a stripper and think I’m easy? I’m sure the pregnancy is another reason to think I am. But I’m not, I swear. And if that’s the only reason, we can just forget about this right now.”

“What? Hell no. Cady, you’re gorgeous. I wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you, before I ever knew what you used to do or that you were pregnant. Besides… you came back down here, remember? You told me you wanted me. I wanted—want—this, make no mistake. But I didn’t initiate it.”

Her cheeks pinkened, making the freckles he loved so much stand out even more. “Okay, yeah, there’s that. Look, stripping was never anything I wanted to do. Trust me, I didn’t dream of doing it when I was growing up. And I never enjoyed it. But it pays well, even at the seedier joints. More than I could make doing anything else. And I worked as a waitress during the day, as well, until I started working at Silk and pulled in really good money. I wanted to be a nurse, and I was putting myself through school. I never would have been able to do that with a regular job.”

Taking a chance, he stepped closer, relieved to his core when she didn’t flinch or move back. “Hey, Cady, take a breath, okay? I’m not judging you at all. Even if you had enjoyed it, I wouldn’t judge. It’s your business. I’m sure there are people who would look down on me for training fighters, but it’s my job, and I actually enjoy it, unlike you, who didn’t like how you earned your money. But it’s no one else’s business.” Pausing, he studied her, taking in the relief from his words in her chocolate eyes. “So you want to be a nurse?”

“I always have, and I came really close. Even making good money, and working two jobs sometimes, it was still hard to come up with the money for school. I had rent, utilities, basic living expenses. But I slowly chipped away at it, and I only had a few more classes left to take when I got pregnant. It’ll never happen now, but that’s okay. This little girl is the most important thing.”

“Why will it never happen?” he asked, confused.

She laughed wryly, cupping her belly. “It was hard enough to find the money to pay for classes when it was just me. And babies are expensive. Things will be really tight, even without school. That expense is impossible to fit into my budget. Besides, when will I ever have time? I’ll be working as much as I can to make ends meet, and taking care of this baby in every spare moment. I want to be there for her as often as I can. Nursing school just isn’t in the cards, not anymore.”

Well, shit. He wanted to tell her that if he had his way, she’d never leave here. And she didn’t have to work if she didn’t want to. She’d have time to devote to school, if she wanted. He didn’t have a whole lot of money, but he had enough saved back, and he made good money now. It was doable. He could support her, the baby, and still have enough for her to finish school.

But, of course he couldn’t tell her any of that. Not yet, anyway. But one day. One day, he’d not only tell her, but show her. If it was the last thing he did, he’d do it.