Karin Baine - Healed By Their Unexpected Family

‘I said, we’re going to have to do a grocery shop or I’ll starve to death here.’

Kayla blinked away her glistening-wet, semi-naked fantasy to centre on the fully dressed version of Jamie, whose mouth was twitching as he tried not to laugh. It was then she realised she’d been staring, and it hadn’t gone unnoticed. She blamed the sudden heat consuming her body on the rise of her blood pressure at having an unwanted visitor going through her things. Not due to any thoughts of Tom’s big brother with his wet hair curling at the nape of his neck or water sluicing over his naked body.

‘You—you don’t live here. My cupboards are none of your business,’ she blustered, slamming shut all the doors he’d opened during his plundering.

‘Well, here’s the thing, Kayla. It was one thing being the biological father only and Tom taking responsibility for raising this child. Now he’s not here, the baton passes to me and I’m afraid I’m not going to sit back and let your hippy-dippy ways dictate my baby’s life.’ He folded his arms and rested his backside against her worktop as casual as he liked.

Meanwhile, she was sure she was about to combust into flames. His baby. Calling her hippy-dippy. He’d wiped out her credibility as a mother in one insult. She didn’t think being a vegetarian and using meditation as a form of stress relief justified anyone making fun of her. It was her way of taking back her life and being at peace with herself.

Kayla opened her mouth, then closed it again before she said something very unladylike. Once the moment passed she called upon her rational self to counter his ill-judged argument.

‘First of all—’ her voice was louder than she’d intended so she dialled it back before he accused her of being hysterical ‘—this baby is not a baton. It is a human being that has been growing inside me. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say you’re not going to let me do anything. I’m its mother.’

‘And I’m its father.’

The man was infuriating beyond words.

Count to ten, Kayla, and don’t even think about launching that frying pan at his head, even if it is within arm’s reach.

Jamie levered himself off the worktop and walked towards her. Kayla immediately backed away. She didn’t enjoy confrontation. Usually, she did her best to avoid it when raised voices and tempers brought back memories of a childhood best forgotten.

Unfortunately, Jamie brought out the worst in her and vice versa. In all the time she’d known Tom he’d never shown anything but adoration for his older brother. He’d talked about him in such glowing terms Kayla had expected him to be a saint. From her perspective he was purely an annoyance.

Especially when they both knew she’d been prepared to walk out of that coffee shop and engage in some sordid afternoon shenanigans if their brothers hadn’t turned up that day. She didn’t like him knowing he was a weakness where she was concerned in case he used it to get the upper hand.

‘Look, Kayla, I’m not here to fight with you. I just want to make sure you and the baby are healthy. This is the last link I have to Tom and the only family I have left.’ It was a heartfelt plea, but there was no way she was giving him room to start dictating to her. She’d had enough of that growing up.

‘So, what are you going to do? Draw up a contract and a diet plan according to what you deem a suitable lifestyle? We’re not in some weird relationship where I’m happy to submit to your dominant will. I’m not that kind of girl.’

‘Wow.’

‘What’s wrong? Have you never had a woman talk back to you before?’ With his looks and his status as a partner in his GP practice, no doubt he was used to people doing his bidding with no questions asked.

The rumble as he laughed did things to her insides she wasn’t prepared for. ‘No. It’s just interesting that’s where your mind went.’

‘Liam and Tom might have left you half of this house, but you have absolutely no claim on my body.’ Her mind chose to interpret those words differently than they were intended. Forbidden images of Jamie’s mouth and hands possessing her sprang from nowhere, causing chaos within.

This pregnancy brought more problems than heartburn and weight gain. Especially when these feelings were so rare she didn’t think she’d experienced them even with her exes. A problem that had ended all her relationships and made her consider this surrogacy in the first place.

Sex wasn’t something she’d been able to fully enjoy when she couldn’t find it in herself to give control of her body completely to someone else. The same could be said about love.

Now a few arrogant words from a man who had a knack for getting under her skin were already wreaking havoc on her insides again.

One thing was for sure, she had to find some way to get Jamie out of her life so she and the baby could live the life Tom and Liam would now never be a part of.

‘Technically, whilst you’re pregnant with my child, I do have an interest in your body.’ Jamie couldn’t help himself. There was more than a hint of truth in those words and not solely for the baby she was carrying.

Small and curvy even before she got pregnant, Kayla physically wasn’t his usual type. Her honey-blond hair fell in messy natural ringlets around her shoulders, as chaotic as her rolled-through-a-jumble-sale fashion sense. The layers of mismatched vintage clothes she favoured, most people would have consigned to the dustbin.

Personality wise there was a major clash between them, as this current exchange would attest to. She was hard work, a pain in the backside he could do without. Yet, since losing Tom and Liam, he hadn’t been able to keep away from her. He knew it was more than their shared grief but hoped his sudden interest in her would end once the baby was born. Anything else would have disaster written all over it. Her shudder of obvious disgust at his comment was proof of that.

‘My body is absolutely none of your business.’ She folded her arms across her blossoming cleavage and Jamie tried to avert his stare.

‘Ditto. So, I’ll thank you to stop looking at me as though I’m a piece of meat.’ By the way she’d been ogling him earlier he’d say her pregnancy hormones were running riot. It was a reminder of that day in the café when they’d come close to succumbing to temptation. Thank goodness they hadn’t, when things were complicated enough between them.

‘I was not!’ Her reddening cheeks gave her away.

‘Let’s get one thing straight here, Kayla.’ He flicked the kettle on and lifted a mug down from the cupboard. ‘My only interest is in the baby you’re carrying.’

‘Mine too.’ Composure regained, she walked right up to him. Close enough for him to drink in her floral scent. It was likely something she made herself from daisies and buttercups under the light of a full moon.

Kayla opened the cupboard above his head, lifted out a handmade, slightly wonky, blue-glazed earthenware mug and set it down on the counter.

‘I assume you have a birth plan in place? I don’t imagine the event is something either of our brothers would have left to chance.’ Even if Kayla seemed the sort of person to let nature take its course. There was a very bohemian quality to her. As though she’d be more at home in some hippy commune living off the earth and communing with nature than working nine-to-five and living in a suburban semi.

‘I’m having a natural birth. At home.’

He should have known.

‘Not happening.’

‘Excuse me? It was what your brother, Liam, and I wanted. You can’t just swan in here—’