Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 130(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
He led us to the back of the house and out onto the garden patio. I remembered this from the spread. It was one of my favorite parts of the house. A marble patio surrounded by a jungle of trees and flowers with a waterfall leading into a humongous pool.
He sat me at the outdoor table and took the seat next to mine. “Do you need anything? You haven’t had anything but tea yet today. I know it takes a while for your tummy to settle, so whenever you’re ready, the refrigerator and cupboards are fully stocked.”
“About that.” I cleared my throat and looked at him before going on. “How did you know about the baby?”
“It’s like I said, I know everything about you. I probably knew before you did, or at least I suspected. It was your breasts, they were fuller. Even more so than when you’re ovulating. I didn’t think much of it because you were on the pill, but then I found the test box in the trash.”
Geez, had I really been that careless or was he really that observant?
“I waited for you to tell me, and then when you didn’t I couldn’t figure out what your angle was. I knew you weren’t trying to play me, I knew you well enough by then to know that, but it took me a while to figure it out, and then I was mad as hell at you for not telling me.”
“But you said no children in the contract you had me sign, and I wasn’t... wasn’t sure how you’d take the news.”
“I know, but I’d forgotten all about that blasted contract by then.” Forgotten? What does that mean? Even when he’s talking I still end up with more questions than answers.
“You’d forgotten?”
“Yes, within three weeks of our little arrangement I stopped seeing you as my mistress.” He stopped talking and got up to move around. “Look, I may not have been fair to you. There are things in my past that have made me more cautious when it comes to relationships of any kind.” He’d discarded his suit jacket and now shoved his hands into the front pockets of his pants as he turned to look at me.
“The first time I saw you, it was like a shock to the system. I don’t care how clichéd that sounds, it’s the absolute truth. I took one look at you and everything I’d told myself I’ll never want again, never have, came crashing down on my head. It took me days to get my head together, to figure out how to play it.”
“I didn’t want any part of you, didn’t want to get too close to anyone ever again. But those first few days I couldn’t get you out of my head. I took one look at you sitting there, so unassuming, so disinterested. You were the only one in the room who wasn’t trying to catch the eye of the ‘great Jonas Harp’. I found it intriguing. And once I had you checked out, once I was convinced that it wasn’t an act, my interest only grew.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.” He smirked before coming back to the table and regaining his seat. “They were mostly true. But I never had anyone sign a contract before you. That was my way of tying you to me without taking the more logical step.”
“I didn’t want to ever fall in love again, didn’t want the responsibility of another human being since I’d fucked up the last time I tried. But then I had you and the more I had the more I wanted. So I fought it and you. That’s why I refused to share your bed for anything more than sex, why I kept a cold distance between us even though it killed me.”
“Then I found the test in the trash and I realized I could be happy again with someone. I was afraid you see, afraid of feeling too much. Afraid of losing…” He broke off then and I felt the pain of his loss. How could I not have seen it? Jonas is so passionate about everything else, but when it came to me, to us, there was this wall, this great divide. And yet when he touched me, I felt it in him; that passion that he tried so hard to keep leashed.
“I was waiting for you to come to me, to tell me about our child. I was scared but excited at the same time. For the first time since the accident, I believed I could have it all. And then that day I couldn’t find you. The day you went out to dinner on your own.” He explained at my questioning look.
“I almost lost my mind. I didn’t know what was going on with you but I knew there was something. I didn’t know you were jealous of my damn seventeen year old niece.”