Stricken Unveiled (Stricken Rock #2) Read Online Free Page B

and cedar. Deliciously
relaxing.
    “Thanks, now will you please tell me what’s
wrong?” he inquires caringly, coaxing me with his deep voice. I
never realized how nice his voice is until now.
    “Did Stacy tell you?” I squeeze him harder.
Maybe the more I hug the less pain I’ll feel.
    “That Johnathan’s supposedly impregnated some
woman? Yes. But that doesn’t explain why you’re in here sobbing and
throwing up.”
    I adjust in his lap and free one arm from
around him. I dip my hand into my gray yoga pants pocket and
withdraw an ultrasound photo that I stuck in my pocket after we got
back from the docs. I wanted to keep it close and I’ve pulled it
out and glanced at it five or six times since we’ve been home. I
slide it into his beefy hands. He pulls it into his line of sight
and then crushes his arms around me.
    “I knew something was up.” He says pressing
his face into my hair, his arms melding us together.
    “Yeah.” I shrug, in his loving embrace. I
never thought James liked me this much. But I guess so.
    “You went to the doctors today didn’t
you?”
    I nod.
    “I wondered because when you sent me grocery
shopping to pick up some particular things I found it a little
strange. But I know lately you’ve been eating more than usual. I
just thought it was stress and when I noticed you have that little
pooch. I figured it was from the stress eating.”
    “Are you telling me I’m getting fat?” I pinch
his side playfully with a giggle.
    “You could put on two hundred pounds Emily
and I will still think you’re beautiful.” He says with a sigh,
loosening his arms from around me.
    “You’re sweet you know that?” I tug him back
into a hold and snuggle my face back against his warm chest. I
can’t get enough of the way this man smells. It’s divine.
    “So let me guess Johnathan knows nothing
about your pregnancy? And you don’t want to tell him?”
    I shoot up quick and face him. “Please don’t
tell him!” I shriek, my eyes wide with worry.
    He chuckles deep and billowy in this chest
and reaches around to the back of my neck, gently coaxing my face
back against him. “Calm down I won’t tell him. Your secret is safe
with me. Or me and Stacy as it seems.” He reassures, patting my
back softly.
    I exhale deeply. “Thank you.” I murmur and
kiss his black t-shirt covered chest.
    “You’re welcome Emily. You’re my family now
and I protect my own. So just relax and calm down and we’ll go out
and see Stacy in a little bit. He’s on the phone. We don’t need you
to stress out like that again. I know it’s not easy. Johnathan’s an
ass but an ass who does love you. I’ve worked for him for the past
four years. I know love when I see it. And I know even though he
keeps hurting you, you love him too.”
    “How do you know all this? Are you some kind
of mind reader?” I tease and kiss his chest again. Jesus, James
smells so good. I inhale him again. It’s soothing. He’s like warm
milk, wrapped in a velvet blanket and dunked in hot chocolate, the
epitome of comfort.
    “No but I can tell with him because if a
woman gets under his skin too much he drops her like a bad habit.
What Stacy said about him doing that over and over again was true.
I’ve seen it for years. Two, three weeks of lots of sex, lots of
hot and heavy and then when he wants to get down to the emotional
level after the short-lived honeymoon stage is over, he gets bored
and realizes they don’t belong with him.”
    “Did he really give them money to leave him
alone?” I whisper like I’m divulging a horrible secret.
    “Yes, but it wasn’t to leave him alone. He
could make that happen with a restraining order. He felt bad.
Johnathan lives with a guilty conscious, more so than one would
think.”
    “How do you know all this?” I inquire, as I
run my finger up and down his thick back.
    “I’ve been his personal bodyguard for the
past almost four years, until he gave me to you.”
    “Did you do something to