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The silence curdled.
‘I’ll be seeking joint custody,’ he said, all good humour gone.
Kelsi gaped. The temperature plummeted fifteen degrees with just those few words. ‘You’re kidding.’ He had to be. It would totally ruin his social life. Not to mention all his overseas adventures. This was just him not used to losing, right?
‘Not at all. I’m going to be involved, Kelsi.’
She shivered. The temperature was free-falling now—global warming was a myth, the ice age was back.
‘Well, okay.’ She inhaled. ‘You can try to do that.’
And if he actually did try, she’d fight him every inch of the way. But she rallied—sure that in a few months’ time he’d have lost interest—he’d be consumed by another competition, and another ten or so women to seduce into his bed. ‘But until this baby is born we don’t need to see each other again. You can contact me through your lawyer after the baby arrives.’
The silence was so long she wondered if he’d hung up. She looked at the phone.
‘Kelsi?’ He spoke with that sub-zero, too-controlled tone.
‘What?’ Her nerves snapped one by one, like the strands of a rope being rubbed over a sharp knife.
‘Don’t think about running away.’
She hung up on him and made herself get ready for work. She went with black contacts—reflecting her funereal mood. Leaving was not an option for her. She didn’t want to give up the life she was building here—the reputation for superb performance at work. More than that, she didn’t want to go home and confess all to her mother—she’d been so proud of Kelsi’s achievements. And Kelsi had done everything her mother had wanted—she’d got out of the small home town, gone to university, gone on to get a great job and rented the tiny-but-cute flat in a fantastic part of the city. She’d done everything the snobs her mother cleaned for had thought she’d never do. And her mother had been pleased and proud of her.
But Kelsi didn’t want to face the disappointment now she’d done the one thing her mother had warned her about most strongly. Kelsi knew it wasn’t that her mother regretted having her, but that she wanted her to have the freedom and opportunities she’d lost because she’d had an unplanned baby. Kelsi was supposed to do everything she hadn’t, not make the same mistake.
She figured Jack’s threat was just talk—it didn’t really scare her. What really scared her were the feelings she had for him. Too long in his presence and she lost her ability to say no. It was those mesmerising blue eyes, the charming smile, the made-for-pleasure body. His magnetism overwhelmed her, causing an undeniable, intrinsic reaction. From the marrow of her bones to the softness of her skin, desire rode in every cell—pushing her to get closer to him. But he lived on the edge, to the max, embracing the thrill...and he liked a lot of thrills.
That was why she didn’t want to see him again. She didn’t want to be hurt by him the way her dad hurt her mother—with infidelities and broken promises. She knew Jack was a playboy—which was fine for a one-night stand, or even a short fling. But he was not for having a family with.
But her own stupid lust confused her and could only make the situation even more complicated. So she had to avoid him. Maybe in a few months she’d be able to handle seeing him again. Surely when she was the size of a house and horribly uncomfortable she’d be totally over wanting him.
Jack’s day took a while to improve after his wretched call first thing to Kelsi. He’d hoped she’d have calmed down overnight. He’d tried to, but it had taken him hours to cool off after those last bitter words, but within two seconds of punching her number he was back to viciously angry and threatening things he didn’t even know if he meant. Joint custody? Where the hell had that come from? How did he think it could even work when he was out of the country for half the year? But all he knew was that he wasn’t going to be shut out. She needed his help, whether she liked it or not, and he’d insist she accept it—somehow.
He made himself breathe through the red-rage moment. Because he knew what was driving her anger, what it was that was turning her into such a damn stubborn fool.
She was scared. He didn’t blame her. Because so was he.
This was absolutely the wrong thing to have happened. The timing couldn’t be worse. He had to focus on getting optimum fitness back if he wanted to compete in the next lot of Southern Hemisphere comps—and he wanted to compete. Like most sports, snowboarding was a younger man’s game. If he was going to really pull out something new to take gold, it had to be now. Hell, he should be in Whistler working on the moves already. So he had to sort this out with Kelsi now.
Kelsi didn’t trust him. He didn’t blame her for that either. But while she barely knew him, she thought she knew enough to judge him—and that he did have a problem with. Because her judgement was all bad. She’d probably looked him up on Google—didn’t she know not to believe everything that was put up there? The injustice of it burned deep. He meant it when he said he’d support her. He already had a good idea about how to begin.
As for that lust? Yeah, it was still there. The rock solid hard-on he got every time he so much as thought of her pretty much proved it. But she thought he was some slut— that he had no standards and would sleep with anyone who offered. okay, so he had some fun but he wasn’t completely indiscriminate. More to the point, he liked his lovers—he valued friendship. He didn’t use people like that—he liked to give as much as take. Sure he didn’t—couldn’t—offer commitment, but he did do respect. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t had a good time with him—he very clearly remembered her screaming for him.
Truth now was he hadn’t had any for weeks—not since that hot day in the sun. The irony of it all was that she had no idea how badly she’d screwed up his ability to have fun. She wasn’t going to know either. He wasn’t about to tell her how deeply she affected him—not while she had such a sucksville opinion of him. He’d get over this bone-aching want for her all on his own. But while he cursed the weakness that had brought him back to her, he was grateful for it, too. Now he was here to make sure she would be okay.
He was just going to have to forget the want. Thing was, he was sure she still wanted him, too. For a few, too-short moments, she’d answered the kiss that he never should have taken.
Yeah, it was too bad for the both of them.
She was right about not complicating their situation even more but, added to that, her physical well-being was paramount—as much as he wanted her, he didn’t want to do anything that might hurt her or the baby. And while he knew sex was okay in pregnancy, he wasn’t going to risk it. No complications—physical or emotional.
But he did want her to get to know him better and realise she’d misjudged him. He wasn’t going to let her get away with thinking she was the only one who could sort this situation out. He had more to contribute than a couple of chromosomes.
Jack never walked away from a challenge—and her trying to deny him had made this so much more of a challenge. And he was damn well going to keep his humour, too—he was all for keeping it fun. That was the whole point of life, wasn’t it?
He talked to his lawyer for a while—applying the wax to speed up the ride. It was amazing how money could lubricate deals. They got into the building before lunchtime. The other three apartments were untenanted. As soon as he saw that he knew he needed to move immediately. Kelsi was vulnerable. He wasn’t having her stay alone in this big barn in the middle of the city for another night. It wasn’t safe.
She wasn’t like the other women he’d known: the ones who could throw 920s in the air and laugh about crashing out—strong, survivor types. Kelsi was petite and fragile. And she was carrying his child.
