Knock Out (The Billionaire's Club: New Orleans) by Mallery Malone Page A

came from it.
    She wanted more. She needed more. She needed Bas to love her as much as she’d loved him then, as much as she loved him now. If he didn’t want her for everything, she couldn’t give him anything.
    “Why Rennie?” he prodded when she remained silent too long.
    “Several reasons. It’s us we’re talking about here. It’s one thing to train and have sex. It’s a whole other thing to have you impregnate me.”
    “You still haven’t given me any reasons why not, Rennie,” he said with infinite patience as if she were a stubborn child. “Given the amazing sex and the amount of practice we have, I think I could manage the impregnating part with no problem.”
    She shook her head in disbelief. “Why are you willing to be my sperm donor?”
    “I’m not.”
    The slash of pain was so sudden and sharp she couldn’t breathe for a moment. “Of course not. So there’s really no point in continuing this conversation, is there?”
    “You’re misunderstanding me.” He pulled her closer. “I don’t want to be your sperm donor. I want to be the father of your children. I’m going to give you children, Renata. But I’m giving them to you as your husband.”
    “Husband?” She needed to sit down. She needed a drink. She needed to escape whatever weird alternate universe she’d slipped into. “You want to be my husband?”
    “All this disbelief is hell on a man’s ego. If I’m going to be a father, especially of your children, then I’m damn well going to be a husband too. Why is that a shock to you?”
    “Because we haven’t gone a day without yelling at each other.” She shook her head. “Hell—I used you as a punching bag my first week here!”
    “A punch I deserved,” he reminded her, a slight smile on his lips. “You’re not planning on punching me again, are you?”
    “Of course not!” She backed away from him, fear spilling like ice into her veins. Fear that she loved Bas too much. That he only wanted her because he’d made a mistake in letting her go in the first place, and he hated making mistakes.
    It was so tempting, so very tempting to take his offer. She loved him enough. But while she knew he wanted her now, it wasn’t enough. She didn’t want to be owned. She didn’t want to be a possession like his titles, his cars, his company. She wanted to be cherished, wanted their children to be a product of love, not a business transaction. If that’s all it meant to him she’d rather be alone, as painful a prospect as that was.
    “Bas,” she choked out. “We can’t do this.”
    “Yes, we can.” Determination hardened his features. “We are.”
    “I can’t,” she whispered, the only way she could force the words out. She shook her head, straightening her spine. “I can’t. You want to father my child because you don’t want me to turn to anyone else. You offer marriage because you don’t want me to be with anyone else.”
    “Damn right,” he snarled at her. “You’re mine. You’ve always been mine!”
    “Yours.” Pain chopped through her. “A possession like your championships, your cars, your money? A wife and kids are not possessions, Bas. A child needs to feel like he’s cherished, not owned.”
So does a wife
.
    “I know that!” he roared.
    “Do you? Do I? We’re so different from when we were together. We don’t know each other anymore. We have no idea if we could have a real relationship.”
    “We’re living together. We’re having the best sex of our lives. We’re working together toward the common goal of getting you that championship title.” He folded his arms across his chest, irritation marring the perfection of his features. “Sounds like stuff married couples do all the time.”
    “And what’s supposed to happen after the championship?” she demanded, her voice cracking as her fears spilled out. “A husband is not the same thing as a trainer. And managing dozens of companies and billions of dollars is not the same as being a