Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
A few days ago, one of the managers got caught on the security camera, hooking up with a college intern, and everyone has been gossiping about it. Julian thinks once we return, no one will even remember what happened between us. I hope he’s right.
“It’s getting hot,” he murmurs. “What do you say we go upstairs to cool off and take a nap?”
Since I know that’s code for Julian wanting to fuck me on our private balcony, I hop up, but when I do, the world around me slightly spins. Since I haven’t drunk any alcohol, it’s not from being drunk, which makes me think it’s …
“Red, you good?” Julian asks, glancing at me with concern.
“Yeah, just got up too quickly.”
I laugh it off, throwing on my bathing suit cover-up and sliding on my flip-flops.
The moment we’re inside and the door is closed, Julian backs me against the wall and attacks my mouth. One hand cradles my face, and the other comes up to massage my breast. I wince in pain before I can stop myself, and because he has his eyes open, he notices.
“Was I too rough?” he asks, his brows dipping in concern.
“No.” I shake my head, not wanting to have this conversation with him—hell, I’m not ready to have this conversation with myself yet. “I was just thrown off.”
I pull him back to me and kiss him, knowing it will get him back on course.
But the entire time we make love, I can’t help thinking about what Nora said at dinner. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to feel nauseous twenty-four/seven? To have aching breasts and a sore body and be emotional all the damn time?”
It makes no sense. I’m on birth control. I’ve had the IUD for the past two years.
Julian comes, but the second he does, he notices that I didn’t.
“What’s going on with you?” he asks.
“Nothing, I’m just in my own head. I have a lot on my mind.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“Not right now,” I tell him truthfully.
“Okay, well, my wife isn’t going without an orgasm, so it looks like I’m going to have to work twice as hard to get you out of your head so your only thought is coming all over my mouth and fingers.”
And with that promise, he spends the next half hour making me come not once, but twice. And for a brief time, he does in fact get me out of my head.
Until the high wears off, and while he’s sleeping, I go to the bathroom and feel for the strings that should be between my legs but are missing.
And then I spend the next hour researching doctors in our area so that I can make an appointment when we get home to confirm what I’m almost positive I already know … I’m pregnant.
chapter thirty
ANASTASIA
“The pregnancy test came back positive.”
“Blood work shows high levels of hCG.”
“The IUD fell out.”
“It rarely happens, but it’s possible.”
Dr. Bowen’s words play on repeat in my head as I lie on the medical table and she pushes a wand into me to do a transvaginal ultrasound to confirm what all signs point to—I’m pregnant.
She clicks around on the computer and then turns the volume up. And like in every movie and book with a plot twist of an unexpected pregnancy, I hear the whooshing of my baby’s heartbeat.
She walks me through everything on the screen while I try my best not to cry. I’m due in May. The heartbeat is strong. It’s recommended I start taking prenatal vitamins. I need to schedule my next appointment.
As I walk out of the doctor’s office, I’m so lost in my head that I don’t see the car coming around the corner as I step into the street.
He honks, and I jump.
I’m physically okay, but mentally … I drop onto the edge of the curb and sob.
I’m pregnant. This isn’t what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to become CEO of Kingston. Prove to my dad that I’m capable of running the company.
Yet I’m pregnant. I glance down at the ultrasound picture, and my heart swells because despite this being unexpected, I already love the baby growing in my belly.
Which sucks because I can’t have both the company and the family. My dad tried that, and look how it turned out. And I can’t become my dad. I refuse to.
But also, Julian is so much like my dad, so what will that mean for us? Will I become my mom and he, my dad? Will we grow apart while I beg for attention? Will our child crave his love and affection, only to be given breadcrumbs of what they deserve?
While I’m sitting on the curb, crying, wondering what I’m going to do, a text comes in from Julian’s mom, Helen, confirming dinner tonight.