Once Bitten - C.M. Steele Page 0,13

could sell it and get enough money to find a place for me and the baby to live. This rock had to cost a small fortune.

Immediately the thought of selling it made my stomach churn, or maybe it was this little one causing havoc just like his daddy.

God, I really hoped he was on the mend. Was Mia telling me the truth? Was Devin really hurt? But the picture couldn’t have been clearer: his arm around another woman and her lips on his temple in a place he shouldn’t have been at. Fury boiled up in me. I wanted to gouge her eyes out and chop off her lips.

By the end of my shift, I thought of nothing but sleeping. I wasn’t going to tell my parents because at this point I didn’t need any of their disappointed faces. As their only child, I was supposed to make all the smart decisions, and so far I hadn’t. My heart dictated my actions as soon as I let my mind cave to it.

When I got home, my parents weren’t around so I went to change into my pajama short set and then I headed into the kitchen to make a sandwich. For as upset as I felt, I couldn’t keep not eating, especially because of this little one.

“What am I going to do?” I sighed out.

“For starters, you’re going to fucking talk to me,” Devin snarled, storming into the kitchen. He looked at my hand and then back up at me, anger and something else simmering in his light eyes. “And after you’re done with your sandwich, we’re flying to Vegas where we’re getting married.”

His words hit me like a fighter’s punch, and I wanted to scream and throw something at him. Instead, I pointed the butter knife at him. I wasn’t even sure I would use it, but I needed him to leave. “I’m not marrying you, you cheating bastard. Leave me the fuck alone and get out of my house.” My heart couldn’t take this.

He walked around the island with his sexy eyes messing with my heart and head. “What the fuck are you talking about? And put down the damn knife before you hurt yourself or our baby.”

“How did you…?”

He took the butter knife from my hand and placed it on the counter. “Sweetheart, let’s not talk about how I knew that I got the job done the first time, and talk more about this supposed cheating.”

“It’s not supposed. I saw you with her.” He denied it, and it made me angrier.

“Really? I don’t believe that for one fucking second.”

I grabbed my phone and flipped it around. “See, asshole.”

Roaring laughter ripped through him.

“There’s nothing fucking funny about this.” He caught my wrist before my hand reached his face. I hadn’t even realized what I was doing until I felt his thumb pressing on my pulse.

He rolled his fingers over my skin, massaging the racing pulse running just under his grip. “No, you’re right. There’s nothing funny about it. When I find out who sent this to you, I might call in a favor from my uncle. After all, it’s his daughter they used for this bullshit photo.”

“Wait. What?”

“Danny is my cousin. She works with us, but I can’t imagine why Ian didn’t tell you that before you went on believing I’d betray you.”

Danny, as in the one who texted him that morning. “Because they don’t know about the picture.” A sheepish feeling washed over me, followed by a completely insane sense of happiness. He hadn’t betrayed me and broken my heart.

“You know, this would have been all better had you seen me off at the docks. Then you would have met the crew, including my cousin. Fuck, if you’d returned any of my calls, answered my texts. If I didn’t know you were well and missing me, I would have come back and hunted you down to talk to me. Now, let me see this photo again.” He took the phone from my hand without releasing me from his grip. The longer he stared at it, the more enraged he looked.

“They fucking Photoshopped this picture to look like Miami, but I was in Bimini when this was taken. I distinctly remember the flash, and I thought the meds were playing tricks on my mind.”

“That’s the restaurant on the beach in Miami.”

“That’s not what’s there in Bimini. My bandaged hand is conveniently cut out of the image they sent. Who the fuck gave this to you?”

“My father sent it