She felt him shift behind her, hoping that he would just leave so that she could lay here wallowing in self-pity, but instead of leaving, he curled his large body behind hers and wrapped his arm around her. He reached over and placed his hand over hers.

“I don’t like the effect these shots have on you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss against her nape as she closed her eyes and prayed that this day would end.

God, she hated shot day.

“It’s fine,” she said mumbled with a soft sniffle.

“No, it’s not,” he said, tightening his hold around her. “No more shots, Marybeth.”

“I need them.”

“No, you don’t,” he said, pressing a kiss to her neck. “I’ll start wearing condoms, sweetheart. There’s no need to keep putting yourself through this.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s fine.”

“No,” he said, pressing another kiss against her neck, “it’s not. I don’t want you taking the shots anymore.”

“It’s not your decision,” she said, part of her wishing that she’d just ended this thing between them years ago so that she wasn’t forced to lay here in his arms while he made everything worse by being so damn understanding.

He sighed heavily as he reached up and pushed her hair away from her face. “Would it really be so bad?” he asked, brushing his lips along her jaw as he once again placed his hand over her stomach, making her close her eyes and struggle not to cry. “We’d make beautiful babies, Marybeth,” he whispered, kissing her jaw.

“I don’t want children, Darrin,” she said, forcing the lie as she swallowed back the bile that threatened to send her running for the bathroom.

“Have you even thought about what it would be like?”

Only every waking minute of the day.

“Not every woman was meant to be a mother,” she said, repeating what the nurse had said to her when she was fifteen and devastated to find out that she would never be able to have a child.

“You would make a wonderful mother,” he said, tightening his arms around her. “Any child would be lucky to have you.”

“Stop, Darrin, just stop,” she said, pushing his hand away as she crawled off the bed, needing to put some space between them before she did something stupid like tell him the truth just so she could put an end to this nightmare.

He sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed as he shoved his fingers through his short hair. “I didn’t come here to upset you.”

“It’s fine,” she said, shaking her head absently as she glanced at the clock. It was just after nine o’clock and unfortunately, most places would be starting to close for the night, limiting her options for an escape.

“How about a bath and a late dinner?” he suggested, looking exhausted and making her wonder how long it had been since he took a day off and got some rest.

Too damn long, she decided as she grabbed one of his old shirts and a pair of his boxers that she’d helped herself to the other day and headed for her bathroom. He followed her, but didn’t say anything as she turned the water on. He reached over her and adjusted the water before he grabbed the shower nozzle and rinsed the tub out as she stepped back so that she could kneel in front of the small ornate cabinet that he’d built for her when they were fourteen and searched through the bath salts that he’d given her over the years until she found her favorite, black raspberry and vanilla.

Without a word, she handed the small bottle of scented salts to Darrin. While he sprinkled the salts in the bathtub, she took off her clothes and tossed them in the hamper. When she saw him doing the same, she considered telling him that she needed space, but the look he sent her told her that he wasn’t letting her push him away, not tonight.

But soon, she wouldn’t have a choice.

Chapter 10

“Marybeth?” he called as the front door clicked shut behind him.

There was no response. Not that he actually expected one. He considered sending her a text message to see how much longer she was going to keep this up, but he already knew the answer.

Oh, he knew…

For the past two hours she’d been sending him pictures to drive him out of his fucking mind. More than once he’d found himself sneaking off to the bathroom at the station, pulling out his phone and scrolling through all the pictures she’d sent him. God, she was such a fucking tease, he thought with a groan as he opened his apartment door and walked inside, not bothering to shut the door behind him.

A chime alerted him to a new text message. He pulled his cellphone out, licking his lips in anticipation and swiped his finger across the screen. The image that popped up on the small screen forced him to grab hold of the back of the couch when his legs threatened to give out.

“Goddamn,” he growled, licking his lips hungrily as he stared at the picture of the juicy, succulent breast.

He would give anything to sink his teeth into it. A new picture popped up accompanied by a small chime, showing him a picture of a beautiful leg that had his breaths coming a little faster.

Damn her!

He could happily wring her fucking neck for this!

“Oh, shit,” he groaned when another picture popped up and then another.

He couldn’t take much more of this, not without losing his fucking mind and doing something that he was going to regret. It took all his willpower, but somehow he forced himself to look away from the picture of the large plate of lasagna that he knew was going to go to waste.  She’d never be able to eat all of it and she knew that was going to piss him off more than anything.