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As I glance toward her room, I consider waking her up and demanding that we get to the bottom of this right now. I want to know if she’s pregnant and more importantly, I want to know if the baby is mine.
Neither of us have agreed to be anything with each other. We aren’t dating or exclusive in any sense of the word — though there hasn’t been anyone else for me since she walked into my life.
I look back down at the note, dragging my hands down my face. I don’t know what this means or what I am supposed to do about it.
Since I lost my family, I haven’t given much thought to creating a new one. At no point in time did I ever consider having a child with a woman I barely know.
I don’t have the time or the mental capacity to think about this right now.
When Hadley wakes up, we can talk about it. I want to believe that she has a good reason for not telling me that she might be pregnant. Maybe she wanted to confirm the pregnancy before she said anything.
After all, she can’t be too far along. Unless the baby isn’t mine.
Even the thought of her being with another man has me seeing red.
The primal part of me wants to claim her as my own. To whisk her away from where anyone else might interfere with our relationship.
The other part of me is too busy being fascinated with the ground she walks on too ever consider locking her away. Hadley is a free spirit, meant to live as she pleases.
Outside of the bedroom, there is no controlling her.
I crumple the note in my hand and stuff it in my pocket before going to check on the soup. As I ladle it into a bowl, Hadley walks into the living room. She stretches as she yawns and I’m pleased to see a little more color in her cheeks than there was before.
“Feeling any better?” I ask, my voice tight as I hand her the bowl of soup.
“A bit. Thank you for this,” she says as she pulls open a drawer and grabs a spoon. “You really didn’t have to. I would have been fine.”
“Well, I figured that we had some things to talk about too.” I pull the note out of my pocket and put it on the counter between us. “Starting with this. What is this, Hadley?”
“You were going through my things?” she asks, putting the bowl on the counter and glaring at me. “You had no right to do that. Just like you had no right to break into my apartment.”
“I hardly broke in. if you can’t be bothered to pull the deadbolt across, then you are asking for someone to enter. You’re lucky it was me instead of anyone else.”
Her eyes widen and her cheeks turn a bright shade of red. “You have got to be fucking kidding me. You don’t mean that.”
“I do mean that.” I scowl and cross my arms. “Now, stop avoiding the question. What the hell is that? Are you pregnant?”
Her gaze flits away from me. “Yes.”
“Is the baby mine?”
“As far as I know.”
I pace away from her, heading over to the window to look down at the city below. “Now isn’t the time for jokes, Hadley. Were you planning on telling me or were you just going to keep this a secret until the baby popped out?”
She shrugs like it doesn’t matter. Like what she was going to do with the baby wouldn’t matter to me.
It’s only the flash of uncertainty that I see in her eyes that lets me know she is as worried about this baby as I am.
“I don’t know what I was going to do, okay? You have to admit that with your line of work you aren’t exactly the most ideal father.”
A pit opens in the bottom of my stomach. “You’re right about my job being dangerous. That’s why you’re packing your shit and moving in with me until the baby is born. I’m not going to have the two of you living in this shit hole and waiting for some criminal to break in.”
She gives me a flat look. “That already happened. I don’t see how anyone can out-criminal you.”
“Funny. Finish your soup and then go pack your shit. You’re under my protection now, kitten.”
“Look, I’ll keep you involved with the pregnancy, but there is no way that I’m going to move in with you. We barely know each other, and to be honest, I don’t want to wake up and see your flavor of the week sneaking out every night.”
