Billy's Baby - Annie J. Rose Page 0,64
be destroyed. Maybe not the same kind of blown-apart-by-a-roadside-bomb destruction Mason had suffered, but close enough. Getting serious about a woman, giving her that kind of power over your heart and mind and concentration was a death wish plain and simple. And here I was. I had fallen and hurt my ankle, and I’d still gone back to her, arrogant of my own abilities to compartmentalize and carry on with my life and still have her for a couple of weeks. But, no. Now here we were. Riding out a storm in a beach-access cabin with a sheet of plywood between the glass and the hurricane-force winds.
I was going to lose my mind. Insanity was hovering close by. I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t even think straight. There was a decent chance that I’d get us both hurt or killed because I wasn’t clear in my head. I could make poor decisions, behave rashly because of my sheer, bone-chilling terror that something might happen to her. I had to get her out of here, out of danger and out of my sight. A hard roll of thunder shook the cabin, rattled the glass in the windows. That did it. I shook her shoulder.
“Morgan, get up. Get dressed.”
“What’s wrong?” she murmured sleepily.
“You’re going inland right now. You’re sheltering at the safe house until the all clear sounds.”
“No way. I’m staying here with you. We settled that last night. We even sealed it with a kiss and a couple orgasms. Go back to sleep, Billy,” she said.
“No, goddammit. You’re going right now. I’m taking you. I can’t stand to have you in danger. You have to go.”
“I don’t have to, Billy. You’re not in charge of me. Grown woman, member of the press corp. I have my own apartment and my own money and I even have limited diplomatic immunity due to my journalistic status. So don’t think you can treat me like a misbehaving child,” she argued, sitting up.
Lighting sprayed the room in yellow brightness and I saw her wild, messy hair, the fire in her eyes. I shook my head grimly.
“Get up.”
“No.”
“Morgan, I’m warning you. You’re going now.”
“Or what? You’re throwing me out in the rain? Do it. I can handle myself, and if I have to prove it because you went apeshit and threw me out in the middle of a storm, fine!” she shouted.
“No, it’s not fine. None of this is fine. You’re going to fucking get us killed because you’re so fucking stubborn!” I yelled back.
She leaned back from me a little, as if I’d startled her with the force of my assertion, the violence of my statement.
“What do you mean I’m going to get us killed? I’m not out there dancing in the storm with aluminum foil on my head trying to get hit by lightning. Refusing to obey you isn’t a death sentence!”
“It is!” I said raggedly. “You’re going to get us both killed because I can’t focus with you in danger. I’ll fuck up and get us hurt or get someone else hurt because I’m so focused on protecting you. I can’t lose you, goddammit. I’m in love with you!” I blurted out.
Her hand flew to her mouth, “You’re what?”
“You heard me. I fucking love you, you stubborn, hard-headed—" she cut me off, her mouth on mine, her arms flung around me.
“I love you, too, you bossy asshole,” she said. I kissed her, held her, folded her in my arms and wished I could keep her there forever.
“Now please, go to the safe house. I can’t do anything when I’m afraid of losing you. If I split my focus like that, it puts all of us in danger. I’m sorry that I’m putting you in a position where you feel like I’m asking you to obey me. But I just want you to listen to reason on this. I’ve weathered storms here before. This is going to get bad really fast. I need you out of the line of fire, okay?”
She nodded, and I kissed her, tasting tears on her lips. I hugged her harder. I kissed her neck. I’d never needed anyone the way I needed Morgan. I knew we didn’t have time, not even five minutes to slake our desire, but I needed her so much, and I knew she needed me. She climbed onto my lap, straddling me, and I kneaded her back and shoulders, my mouth going to her nipples, hard peaks through my white t-shirt she was sleeping in.
Then I heard