The Trouble with Temptation Read Online Free PDF Page B

she lifted her head, pinning him with a level stare. Okay, Hannah was still in there. Maybe she didn’t remember him—or at least remember much about him—but everything that made Hannah who she was? All of that was still buried inside her. It made him feel a little better.
    Since he still didn’t know what to do with his giant hands, he shoved them in his pockets and inched a little closer. Hesitancy, tentativeness were just not things he was familiar with so it made it that much more awkward for him to ease closer. Like a bull in a china shop pretty much summed up how he was feeling just then.
    Hannah looked at him, her expression curious.
    He opened his mouth, again, to say something.
    But she beat him to it. “Were we dating?”
    “What?” The question threw him even more off balance than he already felt.
    “Dating. You know, romantically involved.” She eyed the distance between them and then shrugged. “You’re not exactly … acting like we’re involved.”
    Blood rushed to his face and he finally gave into the urge he’d been fighting and moved closer. Snagging a chair, he swung it around and sat as close as he could. He’d pull her onto his lap, cradle her close if he thought she’d let him. But she had her guard up. “We’re involved,” he said gruffly as he reached out and touched her knee. He didn’t even see it as a lie, because they were—she was carrying his baby, they’d had sex—the best damn sex he’d ever had and she had feelings for him. Yeah, like it’s one-sided, his conscience jeered.
    It wasn’t. It really, really wasn’t and for him to realize it while she lay in a coma was a kick in the balls. Now as he tried to figure out what to do and where to go, she sat there staring at him with so much apprehension in her gaze. Apprehension, he realized, that she was probably picking up from him.
    You’re not exactly acting like we’re involved.
    No, he wasn’t. He knew why, too. He was scared shitless and Brannon didn’t handle that well. This wasn’t the time for soul-searching, though.
    If he searched his soul, he’d just find her anyway.
    There was doubt in her eyes and it dug holes into him. Chances were, some part of her even remembered something. Maybe not the fight, but the hurt, because he knew he had hurt her. The memory of pain was one of those things that lingered long after the actual wound was gone. Even emotional wounds—or maybe most especially emotional wounds.
    He took her hand, slowly, waiting to see what she’d do. She didn’t do anything. She neither gripped his nor tried to take hers away. “We had a fight, Hannah.” Clearing his throat, he forced himself to speak, staying as close to the truth as he could without saying what had driven her to push him away.
    He had to fix that—all of that.
    “You were angry at me.” With a jerky shrug, he looked away. “We’ve…”
    He sucked in a breath and then said, “We’ve just recently gotten involved. Then we had the fight. You were angry. I left. Neither of us knew about the…” His eyes fell to her belly. There was no sign of the life that lay hidden deep inside her, but he wanted to go to his knees and press his mouth to the soft swell, promise that he’d take care of her, and the baby. “We didn’t know.”
    Hannah’s face flushed. “How did you find out then?” Her brows drew down low over her eyes. “The doctor shouldn’t have told you—that violates my right to confidentiality.”
    “He didn’t.” Brannon looked away. “Somebody else … let it slip.”
    “How did you feel?” The analytical, probing question hade him uncomfortable and he realized he hadn’t taken much time to think about how he felt, knowing about the baby.
    He stroked his thumb across the inside of her wrist, lifted it to his lips. Then he let her hand go, watching as she slowly drew away, fingers curling up into a fist.
    “How did I…” Rising, he moved over to the window and looked out over the streets of