Damaged Billionaire Daddy Bear - Leela Ash Page 0,40

mistake the matter, Harris, or did you play a prank on us?”

Theodore stepped between her and the Sheriff by simply stepping around him and planting his large body in between them. “She was right. I did fall unconscious for a bit there. But thanks to Connor’s military background and experience with reviving wounded soldiers, I was revived just fine.”

One of the medics, a young woman with cat eyes, smiled up at him, batting her eyelids. “Maybe you need to sit down for a bit there, Mr. Cooper, and let me listen to your heartrate.”

Jessica bit back a grin when she saw the deer in headlights look that immediately crept into Theodore’s eyes. He was a wealthy man and sinfully handsome so it was a given that women came onto him all the time. But, in that moment, he looked so panicked that it was adorable.

Solicitously, she came forward and smiled up at him, “Theodore doesn’t like anyone else to listen to his… heartbeat apart from me. I’m afraid we’ll have to pass. He’s just fine.”

She half-expected him to object, but to her shock, Theodore moved closer to her, his body heat almost singeing her as he echoed, “Yes. I am fine. Jessica is here.”

The cops and medics exchanged surprised glances and then, with shrugs, they left. Jessica turned to face Theodore with a sharp-eyed stare as soon as they were alone again.

“So, I have seen weird in the past, but I’m starting to think yours is a whole new level,” she began.

Something swift and indecipherable passed over his face and he leaned back and looked at her. Then, his expression became blank and mysterious.

“First of all,” she forged on, “I saw something weird when we were making love. As if your hands developed fur on them for a minute there. Then, you fainted after the whole thing, marring me for life and turning me off sex because what does it say about me that a man makes love to me and faints? And next, you almost had a panic attack when that paramedic offered to listen to your heartrate. Why? What’s going on?”

His eyes hardened, and even though he hadn’t moved so much as a muscle, she could suddenly feel as though a great chasm yawned between them.

Without blinking, he responded in the chilliest tone she had ever heard, “I am in no way responsible for whatever you think you saw, Jessica. This was just sex; it doesn’t give you the right to a confessional.”

Chapter 17

Those were the worst possible words he could have ever said to Jessica, Theodore decided for the umpteenth time, fighting the urge to kick, slap, or beat himself. It didn’t matter whatever else she was, she was still a woman, and he had made love to her. At the very least, she deserved some answers. He could have easily told her a bit about the PTSD that sometimes reared up years later, which was why he had fainted. At least that would have set her mind at ease that he wasn’t totally crazy or something.

Why had he said such mean words to Jessica? For a minute there, it had seemed as though she were fighting tears and then she had, without a word, sauntered off toward the children’s section. It wasn’t long until he had seen her leading Arizona and a petulant Kal out of the party and wrestling them into her car.

He had come to his senses, almost at once, but when he had run out to her car to apologize, she had spared him one last vacant look before she had punched the gas and driven off, spewing gravel.

He needed to see her, he thought. Ever since she had gone away in a huff, he had not been able to forgive himself. He didn’t know what it was but the fact that he had managed to make her angry, not long after she had made him a very happy man, chaffed. He had always been able to manage women. He wasn’t a player, but he liked women and they liked him right back.

But with Jessica… Nothing was ever simple with Jessica.

He had called her home at least a zillion times after she left the party, but there had been no response. He had even managed to dash out when Carla was down for the night and had knocked until his hands would have been sore if he had been human; still, no response. He would have been worried if he hadn’t seen her