Yvonne stared at him, shell-shocked by Xander''s blunt, forceful words.


    She looked down at him, her voice tentative. "Yours?"


    "The baby is mine. So stop making Dan''s life miserable, all right?”


    Yvonne opened her mouth, searching for a retort, but a sudden rush of guilt made her falter. Her eyes turned on him with an unfamiliar softness. The change in her expression only made Xander more baffled.


    "You..."


    "You don''t have to do this," she interrupted in a low voice, guilt woven through every syble.


    Xander felt a pounding headache building, worse than any he''d ever seen Danin about. "Yvonne_"


    "Book me a doctor''s appointment. I want to terminate the pregnancy."


    The words hit Xander like a p. His whole face changed.


    He knew Yvonne-once she decided she was through with someone, she wanted them erased from her world. She''d never keep Dan''s child; her passions burned hot, and her grudges ran deep. The very idea was unthinkable.


    But this was different.


    Xander felt like numbness was spreading through his body. "The baby is mine. You''re not getting rid of it!"


    She turned to re at him. "Honestly, what''s with you? Is covering for Dan an addiction at this point?"


    "Do I strike you as someone who takes the fall for other people?" he shot back, exasperated.


    Yvonne wavered. Actually... no, that wasn''t Xander''s style at all.


    Her thoughts tangled into knots.


    Without warning, Xander stood and closed the distance between them. He wrapped an arm around her slim waist and tilted her chin up, then crashed his lips onto hers in a kiss that brooked no argument.


    Yvonne''s breath seized in her throat. Her eyes flew wide in shock. “ You—”


    She twisted in his arms, trying to break away, but he held her fast, refusing to give an inch. His hold was absolute, a wall of heat and muscle that pinned her in ce until she couldn''t tell where she ended and he began. He didn''t let go until, she was desperately gasping for air. His gaze bore into her, wolfish and intense, making her swallow instinctively. "You, I—what are you—"


    “Listen up and don''t forget it," Xander said, his voice pitched low andmanding.


    "The baby is mine. You are not getting rid of it. Got that?”


    Yvonne''s brain sputtered out. What the hell is going on? Xander was iming the child as his... Was he just covering for Dan, or... could it be true?


    No, if he wasn''t lying, then that night—!


    She stared at him, dazed. "Is the baby really yours?"


    Her thoughts, already jammed up, spun into utter chaos. She looked at Xander, mouth half-open in bewilderment.


    Seeing how stunned she was, Xander''s frustration boiled over, and he leaned in to nip at her lips.


    "Ow!" Yvonne gasped as the sharp pain snapped her out of her trance. "Xander, what the hell is wrong with you? Stop biting me!" The ferocity in his kiss gradually softened. He wavered back and forth between: roughness and a tenderness that slowly, relentlessly, wore down the defenses she''d built around her heart.


    After a while, Xander leaned in and buried his face in the crook of her neck, his warm breath mingling with her skin.


    "Yes, it''s mine," he repeated, each word etched with a finality and seriousness she couldn''t deny. He was dead serious-no joke, no cover.


    But Yvonne''s mind was a raging storm. Why would Xander, of all people—someone who would never take the me for anyone—be doing this for Dan? There must be something more beneath the surface.


    Noticing her sudden,plete


    stillness, Xander assumed she''d finally epted his truth. He


    couldn''t have been more


    wrong she was lost, her thoughts spirating far from the moment and nowhere near an answer.


    On the other side of town, Dan.