Chapter 16

I let out a sharp gasp and whirled around to find a rather amused James crowded in the open doorway. His arms folded over his broad chest as his gaze remained fixed on the pile of scanty clothing and personal bedroom toys.

An inaudible squeak slipped past my lips while the whites of my eyes grew large.

Oh, good God. There was no way I was going to mentally, and certainly not emotionally, recover from this.

“J-James?! I—No! What are you doing?!” I stuttered horribly, my face notably turned several shades of red the longer he kept staring.

He curled a suggestive brow while jutting his chin toward the promiscuous pile behind me. He sauntered closer, causing my nerves to coil even tighter.

“I could ask you the same thing, sweetheart,” he said low in his chest.

I tore my eyes off of him and dropped my gaze to the floor, feeling mortifyingly embarrassed. My hands curled into tight fists at my sides, not caring for the pain of my nails biting into my palms.

“It’s not what you think,” I hissed under my breath.

“Isn’t it?” he prompted.

Christ, I wished I had the power to disappear on the spot. I was desperate to find a way out of this situation before my nervous system would give out on me!

James continued to move closer, gradually closing the space between us. I tried, and failed, to cover up the effect he had on me. I could feel the intense hum of his body heat radiating off of him which caused me to tremble.

He reached out to grab my wrist and curled two of his fingers under my chin, forcing me to lift my head up. James’ eyes were filled with that familiar look of intense lust that I saw earlier that morning.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that you were unwittingly trying to seduce me,” he acknowledged.

I still couldn’t trust my voice. “Well...I-I wasn’t,” I stated.

His eyes grew hooded as he searched for my tense features. My heart nearly fell into my stomach when he brushed the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip.

“Such a pity,” he noted. “I’d bet you’d look utterly magnificent in that lingerie. Now, that's all I can think about.”

My shoulders curved inwardly on each other as I tried to pull myself out of his firm grasp. A different kind of feeling came over me. Instead of pure embarrassment, I was able to add doubt to the list.

Part of me did want to go through all the various garments to find out what I’d look like in them; however, I wasn’t entirely confident enough to believe that I could successfully pull any of them off.

I was pregnant after all. My body was already starting to stretch and pull into different directions to accommodate the new life I was growing. What use did I have for lingerie?

“Mia.” His voice was stern and commanding. “You cannot possibly believe that you’d be unsuited for these things.”

I gently shook my head in denial. He narrowed his eyes and purposely placed my hand on his lower abdomen, slowly letting it rest over the noticeable bulge in his pants.

I practically choked on the one breath of air I struggled to take in.

“Do you feel that?” he asked huskily.

I numbly nodded my head and swallowed back the gasp in my throat.

“Ever since this morning, I’ve been sporting this inconvenient hard-on,” he grumbled. “And you dare to have the audacity to think that you’re not tempting?”

Oh my God. My breathing wavered.

“James—Mmh!”

He grasped the back of my head and yanked me into a fierce kiss that caused my toes to curl. He snaked an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against his hard chest. I melted into him as he took control of my mouth.

I grabbed his shoulders as a means of steading myself. My whole body felt off-kilter as a strange feeling began to swell at the center of my chest. It was that same magnetic pull I felt this morning.

It was pulling me under the same passionate, lustful fog with no means of escaping.

‘Good,’ I thought to myself. I didn’t want to pull away. I didn’t want to let go of the incredible feeling that was simmering inside of me.

A chill raced down my spine when James slipped one of his hands beneath the hem of my shirt. He unfastened my bra while continuing to kiss the inner curve of my neck. As his skillful fingers roamed back down toward my abdomen, my whole body went stiff.

I was suddenly snapped back to reality and reminded that I was currently carrying a child.

‘My baby is so little, what if we accidentally end up getting too carried away? Won’t it get hurt?’

I pressed a solid hand against his chest. “James, wait. Stop,” I breathed.

He let out a furious breath and halted his actions. He pulled back to reveal a look of displeasure, having been interrupted mid-way through his ministrations. Amongst was deep uncertainty, a big part of me felt guilty for pulling away.

I didn’t like the feeling of him being disappointed in me. And although I didn’t exactly have a whole ton of experience in that department, I wanted to ease the pain he’d been feeling.

“How about, instead, you let me try and make you feel good?” I asked.

My hand stroked his hardened length through his pants, eliciting a low growl from his chest. I was partially hoping that James would have recognized the uneasiness in my tone, but no. His eyes were blazed by fire.

"You're saying you'll help me resolve this?"

I was slightly buzzed with renewed embarrassment. I felt overwhelmed and knew there was hardly any chance that I could possibly back out now. Right as I went to undo the buckle on his pants, a sharp voice sounded through the intercom on the wall.

“Alpha Derek! You have an unexpected visitor from the whitelist.”

The tension in the room was broken, allowing me to take my first breath of relief. James, on the other hand, appeared thoroughly pissed off. He stomped over to the intercom and smacked the button.

“Name and purpose?" he snarled.

"The visitor identifies himself as Chris Johnson, and he claims his purpose is to 'kick James Derek’s ass thoroughly'."