I swore off second chances after my brother died.
Grief had carved me hollow, left me chasing deals in this rain-soaked city just to feel something besides the ache.
Then she walked into my orbit - that fiercely guarded real estate shark, all sharp wit and eyes screaming for a place to finally belong, even as she armored herself against it.
One look across a tense diner booth, hunger crackling between us like unspoken lightning, and I knew I'd shatter my own rules for her.
We collided in her sleek studio apartment that night, distant traffic a low roar sealing us in.
Her defiance cracked under my mouth, sweat glazing our skin in the hushed aftermath as she arched into me, reckless and raw.
No promises. Just need. Her body yielding where her words never would, nails raking my back like she could claw her way to security through me.
I took her again and again, volatile and tender, burying the ghost of my loss in her heat - until dawn forced us apart, or so I thought.
The test strip changed everything.
Two lines. A baby. Ours. Surprise slamming us together when we'd both vowed emotional distance, professional friction be damned.
Her hand trembled as I traced the faint swell of her belly under city lights, that guarded vulnerability twisting something fierce in my chest.
She's fighting for her sanctuary, that dream apartment she clawed from nothing, while my buried rage simmers - ready to erupt if sabotage touches what's mine.
One wrong move, and her hard-won world crumbles. My grief could drag us under.
Or this tiny life forces us to trust - really trust - before it all tears apart.
A full-length surprise pregnancy erotic romance featuring a grief-haunted partner and a fiercely guarded beauty scarred by abandonment.
