Damn it, he was sticking. Why couldn’t she see that? He’d thought they were getting closer, that she was finally letting him in, opening up to him the way she had at her apartment last night. If she’d needed help, she should have come to him. Instead, she tossed his offer back in his face, refusing to believe he wasn’t going to abandon her or their child.

Instead of turning to him, she’d gone to his brother.

It stung. More than it should have. Somehow, he’d given her the power to hurt him.

And wasn’t that what this whole episode was about? Power. Control. This was Ivy’s method of pushing him away.

Kane joined them, seeming to enjoy C.J.’s pain and suffering way too much. “I have some paperwork you need to fill out,” Kane said. “In my office.”

“Lead the way.” She turned back to C.J. “See you later, cowboy.”

The hell she would. They weren’t finished. Not by a long shot. Kane brushed past C.J., heading toward a set of swinging doors behind the bar. Before Ivy could follow him, C.J. snatched her wrist and pulled her through the first door he came to.

That it was the men’s room and possibly not the best choice didn’t occur to him until he’d slammed the door shut behind them and locked it.

Too late to go back now.

Ignoring the three urinals lined up against the wall, he widened his stance in front of the door and crossed his arms. “Now. Let’s talk about this.”

* * *

“YOU MUST BE wearing your cowboy hat too tight,” Ivy said as she gaped at Clinton. “Because you have done some serious damage to that brain of yours.”

He didn’t look mentally deranged, she had to admit. He looked...well...hot was the only word to describe it. He was all glowering and broad-shouldered and sexy as he blocked her path to the door. The door he’d locked.

Okay, maybe she was the mentally deranged one for finding it sexy that he was taking control like this. She wasn’t afraid of him. She knew he’d never hurt her, but she had to admit having him all alpha male was sexy.

Except for the part where he dragged her into the men’s room, of course. That part was just disgusting.

“You are not working for my brother,” he said as that brother pounded on the door.

“Damn it, Junior,” Kane called. “Open the door.”

But Clinton didn’t even glance back, just kept advancing on her as if he was some well-groomed lion and she one of those baby gazelles or whatever it was lions stalked in the savanna. “I don’t know how the hell Kane convinced Charlotte to marry him,” Clinton muttered.

Ivy couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Yes, that’s a toughie. Let’s see, your brother is extremely good-looking, completely sexy and has that dangerous, bad-boy vibe girls—especially good girls like Charlotte—can’t resist. It truly is a mystery.”

Clinton went still, his eyes narrowed. “You think Kane’s good-looking?”

“Have I gone blind? Of course I do.” She gestured to the door where the knocking had stopped. “The man is a walking fantasy.”

“He’s an ass,” Clinton spit out. “He’s irresponsible and cocky and needs a goddamn haircut.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re jealous.”

The idea was completely crazy and absolutely wonderful.

“I’ve never been jealous of Kane, not once in my life.” But he frowned thoughtfully, as if considering her words and his own. “All my life I’ve heard about how wild he was, how dangerous, how magnetic. That go-to-hell attitude and the huge chip on his shoulder has attracted women to him his entire life, but it never mattered to me because any girl I wanted wasn’t interested in him. But now, hearing you say that...” He shook his head. Lowered his voice. “It kills me, Ivy.”

She blinked. Holy cow. She’d been right. Which wasn’t all that horrible, but she’d also hurt him. She hadn’t meant to, hadn’t realized she had the power to, but seeing his reaction... Well, she didn’t like knowing she could make him feel bad.

Liar, her inner voice whispered. She’d known what she was doing by coming to Kane. Knew it would upset Clinton. Wasn’t that part of the reason she’d done it? To let him know, in no uncertain terms, that she was going to do what she pleased, whether he liked it or not?

“Kane is sexy, and he’s exactly the type of guy I’ve avoided most of my life,” she admitted. “Men like that, they’re heartbreak waiting to happen.”

Clinton edged closer, his voice a whisper. “And men like me?”

Men like him? There was no other man like him. Not to her. She’d never had this much of an attraction to a man last this long, never had it grow. “You’re the most dangerous of all,” she heard herself admit.

“I won’t hurt you, Ivy.” He touched her hair, his fingers trailing along her jawbone and down the side of her neck. “I would never take the baby from you.”

“You would,” she said, “if you thought I wasn’t a suitable mother, and honestly, I may not be. At least by your definition.”

And that was the rub. If she did something he didn’t like, if she acted in a way he deemed unacceptable, he’d swoop in with his team of high-priced attorneys.

“You’re never going to give me a real chance, are you?” he asked quietly.

She couldn’t. It was too dangerous. There was too much at stake. Her child. Her heart.

“If you need help, financial or otherwise,” he said, his voice all growly, his brows lowered, “you will come to me.”

“First of all, Junior,” she said, realizing she was backing up and she couldn’t do that. She had to stand her ground. “You are not the boss of me.” And, dear Lord, was that the sort of attitude she was going to have to put up with from her own kid someday? Worse, did she have to resort to acting like a teenager, just because she was out of sorts? “I do what I please. I would have thought you would have figured that out by now.”

“I’ve figured out that you’re incredibly stubborn,” he said. “That you’re so worried about someone taking advantage of you that you don’t trust anyone.”

The words stung. Possibly because they were close to the truth. “I trust people who have earned it. You are not on that list.”

“What do I have to do to get on it?” he asked, frustration clear in his tone. “What, Ivy? I’ve apologized for my reaction when you told me you were pregnant. It was just that—a reaction. I’m here, trying to get to know you, trying to work with you so we can come up with an agreement, some sort of relationship that works for the baby and for both of us, but you insist on throwing my mistakes in my face, pushing me away in every way you can.”

She went still because he was right, but she was too scared to admit it. Too scared to change. “We don’t need to have a relationship of any sort as far as I’m concerned.”

“Because you don’t want me to have anything to do with this baby. You want me to be some asshole who’s more than willing to just throw some money your way and leave you and the baby alone.” He looked and sounded frustrated, his mouth a thin line, his shoulders rigid. “But that’s not going to happen. I’m not going to walk away from my own child.”

But when he was tired of her, when he was done with her, he’d walk away from her. And she couldn’t risk getting close to a man, couldn’t risk giving him that much power over her. The power to break her heart.

“If you didn’t trust me to be a part of the baby’s life,” he asked, “if you didn’t want money, why did you tell me about the baby in the first place?”

“Because I didn’t want my child to grow up like I did, wondering who I came from, who my father is,” she admitted starkly. “I don’t even know his name. My mother refused to tell me. I was a mistake, something that ruined her life, took away all her choices, all her chances.”

“That’s bullshit,” Clinton snapped.

Ivy nodded. “I know that, but she had all the power. While I’m left wondering what happened between her and my father. Was he an asshole? Did she love him? Did he love her? What would he do if I found him now? I didn’t want my child to grow up with those questions. Good or bad, it will be better for the baby to know the truth.”