Wilde Edge (15 page)

With Greg locked away pending trial
on a number of charges that ranged from violating an Order of Protection to
weapons and assault, they were both feeling more at ease these days.
Jolena’s
ex wasn’t going to be free for a long time, if
ever. Men like him didn’t tend to do well in prison. In his darker moments Tag
wished Greg a short, unhappy life behind bars, followed by a painful death in a
prison shower somewhere.

One good thing that had come from
being at
Jolena’s
side while she went through the
grueling process of protecting herself from her ex-husband, Tag had discovered
there was a hole in the system. Not just a hole, a gaping maw that he was now
determined to help fill. He’d talked to
Jolena
about
it, and then gone to speak with members of volunteer organizations, victim
support groups and shelters for women seeking to escape abusive relationships.

When he was a cop, he’d only seen
one side of the battle, but now he’d been on the other side, and the experience
had inspired him. He wasn’t on the force anymore, but that didn’t mean he had
forgotten all his training. Now he was just free to use it differently. It had
started as a small thought, a barely-there idea, but as he’d talked about it
with
Jolena
and then with Nicky, it had grown into
something real.

Last week he’d invited his dad to
the garage, and the two of them had talked for hours as they’d worked on
Tiffany together. As a retired cop, Brian Wilde could understand what Tag was
trying to achieve, and as a successful business owner he had the experience to
help his son take his dream and forge it into something real.

Business plans, and bank meetings …
it was going to take more time to put it all together. Today though, it was
starting to feel real. He’d just picked up the preliminary drawings of his new
logo, and he couldn’t wait to show them to
Jolena
. He
had them spread out on the table, admiring them as he waited for her to get
home. She had left work early to go for what the doctor had promised would be
the last of her appointments.

Greg had been a lousy shot, but the
bullet graze had still done more than enough damage. The gash in her arm had
been full of fabric from her coat, dragged through the wound and contaminating
everything. It was healed now, but there would always be a scar.

Not that it bothered his angel.
When Tag had expressed his remorse that he hadn’t protected her, she had simply
touched the scar on his chest and grinned as she pointed out that they were now
a matched set.

There was a soft knock at his front
door, and he tore his gaze away from the new logo, a stylized image of a man
standing at the edge of a dark blue line.

“Tag?”
Jolena
opened the door and then stepped through, shaking
off a dusting of snow as she came inside. There were sparkling crystals of ice
in her red curls, and the cold had put extra color on her cheeks.

“Hey, angel.”
Tag covered the space between them in a matter of seconds, helping her with her
jacket and scarf before wrapping her in his arms. Every time he held her, there
was a moment when he remembered just how close he came to losing her. Since
she’d been attacked, Ben had been almost insanely protective of his fiancée,
and Tag had never understood why. Now he did, because he felt the same way
about
Jolena
.

Not that he was going to admit that
to his brother.

She burrowed into his arms, face
pressed to his chest and her arms squeezing him tight. “Hi.”

Her voice was muffled, but not
enough for him to miss the strain in it, and he couldn’t be sure, but her fair
skin seemed to be too red for it to have been just a bit of exposure to the
cold. “What’s with the power hug?”

“Nothing,” she said, but there was
still a quaver in her tone.

Doubt filled his head and he held
her tighter, burying his face in her hair and letting the subtle vanilla scent
of her fill his senses. “Is your arm not healing as well as we thought? Is
something wrong?”

“Squishing me!” she managed to
squawk and he immediately loosened his grip but didn’t let her go.

“Angel, what’s going on? And don’t
you dare tell me it’s nothing. I’ve got an advanced degree in avoiding talking
about shit I don’t want to, and I know when someone’s doing it to me.
So spill.
Did you hear something about Greg?”

No. I—we…dammit! I don’t know how
to even say this!”

Tag drew in a deep breath and
fought to stay calm. He managed it, barely. “Why don’t we start with this: I
love
you.
No matter what the news is, I’ll deal with
it. But I can’t fix this unless you tell me what the fuck is going on.”

Oh,
yeah. I’m one smooth talking charmer

Jolena
shifted in his arms and he backed off his hold a little more. She lifted her
head and flashed him an unsteady smile. “How about we start with letting me
take off my jacket, and then…then I’ll tell you what the doctor had to say.”

Fuck. He would kill anyone who
threatened his angel, slay fucking dragons for her and bring the sky down on
the head of anyone who hurt her, but when it came to medical shit, there was no
one for him to hit or threaten. He’d learned that when the doctors had told him
his knee was shot to hell, literally, and he’d never be back on the force.
“Okay.”

He stepped back, giving her space
to shed the layers of winter clothing. In the meantime Tag drifted back to the
kitchen, grabbing two beers out of the fridge. He twisted the cap off of one,
then
lifted the other in her direction.
“Drink?”

“Hell yeah,” she said and then
stopped, a strange expression on her face. Like she’d just remembered she’d
left the stove on or something. “On second thoughts, I’ll pass on the beer. You
got anything else?”

She was stressed out from the
doctor’s and didn’t want a beer… Tag had a nagging feeling that those things
together should mean something, but hell if he could figure it out. Whatever it
was, the thought blinked in and out of his head like a will-o-wisp, too quick
for him to hang onto it.

“Diet soda, water, milk…at least I
think it’s still good.” He dropped one of the beers back into the fridge and
checked the date on the carton. “Yeah, there’s milk.”

“Then that last choice will be
fine,”
Jolena
said. He was just pouring her a glass
when she made a startled noise and he glanced over to find her staring down at
the artwork he’d brought home. “Is this the logo? I like it.”

So she wanted small talk? Okay. He
could do small talk, for about two damned minutes. That’s all the time she had
to spit out whatever was bothering her. “Yeah, that’s it. You still like the name?
It’s not too late to change it.”

“I think it’s perfect. The Line is
a great name for a security firm. I mean, that’s what you are going to be,
right?
Protection for the people who need it, a line in the
sand.”

He loved the way she described his
idea. It had been her words that had put him on the path weeks ago, giving
shape to the whole crazy idea. He’d never be rich doing this, but that wasn’t
the point. He and the handful of former cops and military that he’d recruited
from the family pub, Leo’s, were going to split their work between standard
security gigs and pro bono work protecting women from their abusers. Children,
too, if there were any.

This was his future.
A new business, a new life, and
Jolena
.

* *
* *

How was she going to tell him? Jo
was still trying to process the news herself. Today was supposed to be a simple
checkup for her arm, and then she was going to surprise Tag by getting a
prescription for the pill. No more condoms. It was supposed to be simple. But
then the doctor had wanted to know if there was any chance she was pregnant,
and there’d been that one time they’d forgotten… so they’d done a quick
pregnancy test. It should have been negative.

Only it wasn’t.

She’d sat in the parking lot for
half an hour after that, just staring out at the gray sky and trying to put
together a coherent thought. So far, that wasn’t going so well for her, the
only words that seemed to fall into place for her just kept repeating over and
over in the back of her head.

I’m
going to be a mother.

Which meant Tag was going to be a
father, and she had no idea how he was going to respond to that bit of news.
Hell, she wasn’t sure how
she
was
responding yet, not really.

The milk she’d asked for appeared
on the table beside her, and Tag’s strong arm curved around her waist, tugging
her back against his body. With his lips just brushing the curls beside her
ear, he blew a stream of warm air across her skin and then murmured, “What did
the doctor say?”

Jo went quiet, her thoughts racing
as she tried to find a way to tell him. Finally, she opted for the simple
truth. She turned herself around in his arms so they were facing each other,
and she lifted one hand, settling it on his chest, right over his tattoo. “He
said that making love on the hood of a car without a condom can have some
pretty serious side effects. Like, uh, parenthood.”

“What?” Tag just stared at her, his
mouth hanging open.

“I’m pregnant. There was only one
time that we didn’t use protection, and the timing fits. I…I’m still processing
the news myself.” She stared up into his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of
what he was thinking, but all she saw in his eyes was amazement.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Uh huh.”

“Holy shit.
So, if it’s a girl, can we call her Tiffany?” His lips slowly turned up into an
arrogant grin and he slid a hand between their bodies, letting it rest on the
soft curve of her tummy.

           
“So
you’re not mad?”

Tag’s smile stayed in place, but
the green and gold of his eyes darkened until they were the same shade as a
forest at twilight. “You thought I’d be angry?”

Emotions boiled up and then spilled
over the walls Jo had been trying to build to contain them, and the words came
babbling out almost as quickly as the tears that coursed down her cheeks. “I
didn’t know. How could I? I’m still in shock myself.”

“
Shhh
,”
he hushed her, lowering his head to hers so they stood, eye to eye, foreheads
touching. “I’m not angry. How could I be? Are … are you?”

Jo blinked away the tears so she
could see him properly and was struck again by how handsome he was. He was
sexy, sweet, a little arrogant, and … the father of her child. The thought
brought a fresh wash of tears, but this time they were accompanied by laughter.
Out of the emotional train wreck she held in her heart and mind, a single
feeling finally rose above the others. Joy. “No, I’m not angry.”

“Good.” His eyes shifted back to a
brilliant green, and he smiled down at her, his hands coming up to brush her
tears away.

“I’m happy. At least, I think I am.
It’s just been so much, so soon. Most couples get a bit more time between their
first date, getting shot and getting pregnant. And no, we are not calling this
child Tiffany, at least not as a first name, maybe as her second.
If she is a girl...
He might be a boy, you know.”

He laughed. “Most couples skip the
getting shot part. You know, I sort of hope it is. A girl, I mean.”

“You want a girl? I thought you’d
want a boy! Or is this still all about naming her after the car she was
conceived on.”

Tag’s expression turned downright
wicked.
“Nope.
This is all about securing my place as
my mom’s favorite son for all eternity. She’s had five boys. If this is a girl,
then you and I are on the grandma gravy train for life.”

“You’re impossible.”

“I am. I’m also sexy, handsome,
witty, charming, and all yours. I’m taking back what I said about this not
being forever. It is. However you want me, angel, I’m there.”

“Forever?”

“And ever,” he vowed before
slanting his lips over hers. Slow and sensual, tasting and teasing, it was a
kiss that made her blood heat and her toes curl in her socks. God, how had she
gotten so lucky? He lifted her onto the table, his mouth leaving hers to kiss
his way to her ear.

“I love you,” she whispered and his
answer came on a soft puff of air.

“I love
you,
and the little imp too.”

“That’s so sweet…wait a second, I
see what you’re doing and the answer is no. ‘Impala’ is not an acceptable
nickname for our unborn child.”

He went back to nibbling at her
earlobe, but she could tell he was still smirking even though she couldn’t see
him. “You’re really sexy when you’re trying to tell me not to do something, you
know that? I hate to break this to you, angel, but I don’t listen very well.
Not even to you.”

“I know,” she said, snagging her
fingers into the waistband of his well-worn jeans and tugging him into the V of
her thighs. She had his pants undone in a matter of seconds, drawing his
already hard cock out of his briefs so she could measure his length with her
fingertips. She traced each vein with one hand while she stroked the pad of her
thumb back and forth over the slit.

“
Fuck, that
feels good. You are going to be the sexiest mom on the planet, you know that?”

“You say that now, but just wait
until I’m huge and my ankles are swollen and—hey!” Jo yelped as Tag growled and
nipped her earlobe.

“What did I tell you about saying
shit like that?”

“Oops,” she said, trying to hide
her grin. She loved it when he got all bossy with her. At work, she had to
prove herself, if not to the men she worked with, then to her customers,
suppliers, and everyone else who believed a woman’s place was in the kitchen
and not under the hood of a car. Tag was different. When he got all growly and
alpha, it was just because that’s who he was. When they were together, she
could let it go and trust that he would watch over her. He was her dark knight,
her guardian, and the one who let her step back from the edge and relax.