“First, if you even see Miles, you get away from him and you call me immediately.”
That curl of fear did an ugly little twist.
“What does that mean?” Belle asked.
“This isn’t question time, Belle. This is me talking to you, you listening and giving a definitive indication that you understand exactly what I’m saying to you.”
Belle went silent and just stared.
Definitely weirding her out.
“Do you understand what I just said to you?” he enquired.
She understood.
Oh boy, did she.
All she could do was nod.
“Good. Second, you’re avoiding me and it’s pissing me off. I didn’t ask you to move here so you could enjoy the seaside. I asked you to move here so I could share in the experience of your pregnancy.”
“Actually, you didn’t ask at all. You told –” Belle started to correct him but then clamped her mouth shut when his brows drew together in a scary way.
When he was assured she wouldn’t be foolish enough to utter another word, he continued.
“You’ll spend time with me. You’ll eat breakfast with me. You’ll eat dinner with me. If you’re in the mood for a walk and I’m in the house, you’ll find me and, if I can, I’ll go with you. I’ll take you to your shop. When you’re finished, you’ll phone and I’ll come and pick you up.”
As he spoke, Belle realised she was having difficulty breathing.
“Now, is that understood?” he finished.
“James –” she whispered and his eyes started glittering with anger so she stopped speaking (she didn’t know what she was going to say anyway).
“You called me Jack yesterday,” he informed her tersely.
Did she?
She didn’t remember that.
“I did?” she was still whispering.
“Yes, you did,” he returned.
“Oh,” she breathed, his eyes cut to her mouth and for some strange reason, his face darkened (this, she found, his face did a lot at the weirdest times) before his eyes came back to hers.
“Apparently, if I kiss you, you’ll call me by my f**king name.”
She didn’t want to be reminded of that kiss. In fact, last night, when her mind wasn’t occupied with worrying about Joy (and, she had to admit, James, and, she further had to admit, Miles), it had been occupied with doing anything but thinking about that incredibly delicious, mind-blowing kiss.
Therefore, in an attempt not to discuss the kiss, she did something unwise.
“I thought your name was James,” she said and she was still whispering but, even so, she’d forgotten to keep quiet because his eyes narrowed unhappily.
Therefore, she again clamped her mouth shut.
“I’ll bear that in mind,” he muttered.
She knew he was ignoring her idiot comment and talking about his kissing her causing her to call him Jack and her eyes grew round at what that might mean.