16. Mack

Chapter 16

Mack

I stroke Isabelle's hair until she falls asleep. It doesn't take long for her breathing to slow down, get steady.

It takes a hell of a lot longer for me to settle.

I curve my body around hers, feeling too big, too hard, too fierce to hold her when she's this soft.

Dealing with Isabelle's very physical needs when she's desperate, or wrestling her to submission when she's kicking and screaming…both of those things were startlingly new to me, but came naturally.

This?

Being a gentle protector? A provider who makes sure she takes a nap?

This isn't the Mack Emerson I've spent forty years perfecting.

I feel like a stranger in my own skin.

But at the same time, I can't let go of this woman. My woman.

Mine.

Gingerly, not wanting to wake her up, I curve my hand around her, wanting to hold her belly. Even through my heavy robe, it's a firm, slight swell, unmistakably not her normal waistline to the touch.

I did this.

Three months ago, on my desk, because I couldn't resist the wet, tight squeeze of her cunt around the tip of my cock.

It only took one mis?—

No.

Not a mistake.

It only took one moment of raw, unthinking desire to change the trajectory of her life forever.

Mine, too, although not immediately. And not necessarily. My own father walked away from the family he didn't want.

My absence for the last three months must have made Isabelle painfully aware that she's alone with the burden of my baby.

Now I have to show her that she wasn't alone all that time. I mean, she was. Fuck. She didn't know I was there, watching her with absolute hunger.

But my heart wasn't absent.

I've now told her twice that I love her, and she hasn't believed me. I need a new strategy to show her that it's true.

She twists in my arms, thrashing about in her sleep.

"It's okay, I'm here now," I murmur. God damn it. "I'm here forever."