Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
What if she offered it to him this weekend? He wanted it. He craved it, yet he never asked me to go to the tack room. Now … well, now, even if he asked me, I’d have to say no because I had another life in me to think about. When what we were doing started to bore him and he went back to his different women and his kink, I’d be left with our baby. My baby.
I tried to close my eyes and shove it all from my mind, but it was proving impossible. I needed to focus on the good. Not the bad or the what-ifs. I had money. Maeme had said I had a lot of money. When the Insantos were no longer after me, I’d be free to live life normally. I wouldn’t struggle to pay the bills, and I could give my baby a safe, comfortable home. I could love him or her enough for both of us if King chose not to be involved. Regardless, I’d have my own family. I’d have a child to love, take care of, raise. It wasn’t all bad. I had to remember that.
A phone rang, breaking the silence, and I jumped, startled. King tensed, then released me to sit up and reach for his cell beside the bed. I rolled onto my back, watching him as the screen lit up, illuminating his face. He took my breath away. My chest ached at the sight of him. I loved him. I had his child inside of me. That was more than I had ever had before. This wasn’t bad, considering the things I’d faced and overcome before him.
“Yeah? Okay, my dad will be there. Shit. Fine.”
He dropped the phone down onto the bed and muttered, “Fuuuck,” while rubbing his face with a hand before turning to look at me.
“Is something wrong?” I asked.
His scowl softened. “The alarm system outside the perimeter of my house went off. Scotlin is there and freaking out. My father is on his way, but I have to go meet them.”
Scotlin. I was beginning to hate that name. I swallowed the emotion suddenly clogging my throat. Was my new brink-of-tears reaction something that came with pregnancy? I didn’t like it. Making myself vulnerable and showing that vulnerability were two different things. The former I could normally hide well.
King leaned down and pressed a kiss to my mouth, then brushed some hair back from my face. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’re safe here. I’ll have Thatch come sleep in the room next door, and no one can get onto this property without permission and live for very long.”
I nodded, afraid my voice would crack if I tried to speak.
He climbed out of bed, and I turned back to face the wall, not wanting to see him get dressed and leave. Saving Scotlin seemed to be his number one job these days. What if it didn’t end soon? The more they were together like this, the more likely they’d rekindle their feelings for one another.
Pulling the blankets up to my chin, I closed my eyes again and tried to pretend I wasn’t upset over his leaving. Being clingy wasn’t going to encourage him to want to stay with me. He needed space, and I had to be understanding and patient if I was going to have a chance at keeping him. Although that chance was starting to look slimmer by the day. I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t sleep with her in Kentucky. I realized she could give him all the things I wouldn’t. She wasn’t damaged goods.
As I stood over the sink, brushing my teeth, a cold sweat slowly eased over me, and I paused, taking the toothbrush from my mouth. I spit, then stared at myself for a brief second before turning and running to the toilet. With just enough time to drop to my knees and grab the seat before the first heave hit me.
My eyes watered, and I tried to hold back my hair, but I failed at it mostly. When I was done, I flushed, then sat back, leaning against the wall. I held my head in my hands and rested it on my bent knees.
Why did I still feel nauseous? Wasn’t that feeling supposed to leave once you threw up? I didn’t move, afraid I would need to vomit again even though there was nothing left to come up. Dry-heaving was horrible, and I didn’t want to go through that.
Wasn’t it bad enough that I’d woken up alone? King hadn’t come back last night. Irrational thoughts of him getting in bed with Scotlin and holding her tortured me. Although I didn’t think he’d do that to me. Would he? No. He wouldn’t. I had to believe that. Maybe she had just been scared, and he’d slept in another room.