Her Unexpected Hero (Unexpected Heroes #1)(44)
Author: Melody Anne

She couldn’t stay with him. Her resolve wouldn’t last a day, let alone a week. Her morning sickness was long gone, and in its place were raging hormones.

Sex!

She wanted sex, day and night. If she slept under Jackson’s roof, she would go to bed with him, no matter how hard she fought it. Hell, the smallest touch from him, and she’d be ripping off his clothes.

“I can’t stay with you, Jackson.” There. She’d said it. She could find a cheap hotel, couldn’t she? The problem was that Sterling didn’t have any hotels. Crap! Maybe Cody had a spare bed.

No. She remembered him talking about how much he wanted to get out of his parents’ house. His dad drank too much, and the more the man drank, the rowdier he became. That wasn’t an option.

And staying with Samantha would be even worse than staying with Jackson. Alyssa didn’t think either of the women would survive it if they attempted to room together. Alyssa did have a ton of customers, and she could possibly ask one of them about a spare room, but she really didn’t want to look for someone to house her. That was asking too much of them. If she weren’t living at her parents’ now, she wouldn’t be in this mess. She should have had her own place before the fire, dang it. It was mortifying that she’d had to return home with her head down, a failure. Oh, this was so bad.

“I have a few extra bedrooms, Alyssa. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do,” he said as he held up his hand in a “Scout’s honor” salute.

“Yeah, I’m sure you won’t.”

She noticed he’d said that he wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to do. He could probably tell there was a hell of a lot she wanted to do. The never-ending ache in her body could be soothed only one way, and Jackson would certainly be able to give her more pleasure than she could handle.

“What’s it going to be, Alyssa? My place . . . or your car?” he asked as he leaned against the side of his truck, just oozing confidence.

“My mom probably wouldn’t approve of my staying with you . . .”

“For one thing, Alyssa, you’re a grown woman who can stay with anyone you want to stay with.” He had to laugh before continuing. “For another, your mother was the one I spoke to. She asked me if I had a spare room.” He was triumphant while delivering that message.

All Alyssa could think—not for the first time!—was that her mother was a traitor. Teresa knew Jackson was the baby’s father, even though Alyssa hadn’t come right out and told her. Her mom was trying to be a matchmaker.

Still, she hated having to do this. Hated that Jackson was so damn pleased about the entire situation. This was working out real well for the guy.

“Fine, Jackson,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ll come for tonight. But tomorrow I’ll figure something else out.” She brushed past him and began walking toward her car.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll follow you. I’m not leaving my car here.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll bring you in to work tomorrow night. I was planning on coming in anyway,” he said, and he took her arm and steered her back toward his truck.

“I don’t need to be coddled, Jackson,” she told him, and she yanked her arm away from his.

“I’m not coddling you. But I live up in the hills, high enough that there are still some slick areas in the parts of the road that are always in the shade. You’ll be much safer if we’re in my truck.”

He sounded so logical. So why did she feel that he was once again saying whatever he needed to in order to get his way?

“I’m tired, my feet hurt, and I’m starving,” she said, feeling on the verge of tears. Shouldn’t she try to fight this harder? Wouldn’t it be better to sleep in her car? No. And she knew that. With a sigh, she began moving toward his truck. “You win for now. But I’m staying only one night!”

Jackson just grinned as he opened the passenger door of his truck and helped her up into the ridiculously tall vehicle. When he joined her inside the large cab, it didn’t seem so big anymore. As he started the engine and country music blared from the speakers, Alyssa sagged back against the headrest.

What had she gotten herself into now?

Just one night? As she sat up in bed, Alyssa mulled over that particular failure of hers. Not only had she been in Jackson’s home for three nights now, but she was also in terrible shape.

True to his word, he hadn’t made a move on her, hadn’t touched her—not once! And she was ticked off. She wanted him to drag her into his arms, kiss her, strip off her clothes, and relieve the burning ache taking over her body.

But no. All of a sudden he’d turned into Mr. Nice Guy. He was making her meals, smiling and whistling, and he’d even patted her on the head once. She wasn’t his freaking dog!

Well, his other dog, anyway. He had the most beautiful yellow Lab she’d ever been around, and the two of them were becoming very close. Poppy was currently keeping Alyssa’s feet warm. Her devastating brown eyes were barely open now, their lids drooping so sweetly, and then the pup would almost wake up again. Alyssa was head over heels in love with Poppy.

As she’d never been much of a dog person, she was thoroughly surprised by this form of love at first sight, but she knew that when she had to settle in elsewhere, she would miss this golden beauty of a dog terribly.

“Maybe Jackson thinks I’m too fat now,” she said to Poppy, who opened her eyes and looked at her as if she could understand every word.

“I mean, I like my curves. I personally think they’re sexy, but when I saw myself in the mirror last night, my stomach was sticking out. I’m going to have to break down and buy maternity jeans. I really don’t want to, but I can’t keep leaving the ones I have unbuttoned. What if they start to slip while I’m carrying a tray?”

Poppy let out a low, sweet little whine, and Alyssa took that as agreement.

“I don’t know why I haven’t gotten a dog before. I don’t know why I thought I wasn’t a dog person. You keep my feet warm, you’re the perfect companion at bedtime—especially since I can’t seem to sleep—and you listen so much better than a man ever does.”

Poppy’s head tilted, and then her tongue came out and swiped the bottom of Alyssa’s foot.

She giggled. “If it wasn’t for you, I would have gone crazy by now. Should I just give in and climb into Jackson’s bed?”