Page 1 of Leverage - Part 2

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Pregnant? Julianna swung her startled gaze toward Boston and wondered if she’d somehow dropped down a rabbit hole into an alternate universe where doctors spouted impossible scenarios and enjoyed tea parties with people who were mad as fuck. “I’m sorry, I think I misheard you,” she said, looking past Boston to the doctor who was attempting to make a quick getaway but her near panicked tone stopped him. “Whoa, hold on there. There’s no possible way I’m pregnant. You’ve made a mistake.”

“There is no mistake. You’re very newly pregnant but pregnant nonetheless. I take it this is not a planned pregnancy?” the doctor surmised then took Julianna’s scowl and Boston’s dark glower as answer enough. “Well, you can look into alternatives if you’re not interested in carrying the pregnancy to term.”

“Thank you doctor, I’ll take it from here,” Boston cut in, shooting her a quick look that promised all manner of bad things if she opened her mouth again. She was tempted to throw something at him but there was nothing worth hefting at his head. When the doctor had exited, Julianna swung her legs over the side of the bed, ready to do the same. She needed some space to think. Her head was jumbled and there was no fucking way she was going to make heads or tails of this new development with Boston in her bubble.

“I will have my private physician attend to your needs as soon as we determine paternity,” he said matter-of-fact as if he had a say in anything she decided to do. She ignored him and grabbed her jacket, ready to blow the hospital and go back to her apartment. “In the meantime, I want you to rest.”

“You may go fuck yourself,” she retorted sweetly, incensed that he would even presume that he was allowed an opinion in this situation. “I think you knocked me up on purpose and I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think I should do. Right now, I have two things on my mind; one: get the hell out of this hospital and two: get something to eat because I feel as if my stomach is starting to cave in. And newsflash neither of those options include you.”

He chuckled as if her outburst amused him except his laughter didn’t reach his eyes and she fought a shudder at the ruthlessness she saw there. “Have you forgotten? I own you. And thus, I own whatever’s in your belly. For the time being anyway.” He took a step forward and she trembled at the rage in his eyes. Did he truly believe she’d cheated on him? Was he for real? What opportunity had he given her to run around? She’d been in his constant company since the day she’d signed her life away in a devil’s deal that now, more than ever, she realized had been the worst decision of her life. “Nothing has changed,” he said in a hard tone. “You belong to me.”

“Everything has changed,” she hissed, not backing down even though her stomach trembled. A life was growing in her body. A baby! She wasn’t ready to be a mother. But worse, she didn’t want to be tied to Boston for the rest of her life. Sudden tears blurred her eyesight and she cursed the onslaught of hormones playing hockey with her emotions. “You did this to me on purpose and now you have the gall to look at me as if I’d played you? I told you I didn’t want to get pregnant and you assured me that you couldn’t get me pregnant. Well,” she gestured angrily to her belly “joke’s on me, isn’t it? I believed you and now, I’ve got a bun in my oven!”

“I assure you, I’ve been told my entire life that the likelihood of fathering a child was so slim as to be considered a miracle if it happened. So forgive me if I’m not making the assumption that we’ve created a miracl

e together because the alternative is far easier to imagine.”

“The alternative being I cheated on you,” she supplied in an angry whisper. “Well, when could I have pulled off this feat? You never give me a damn moment alone. I’ve been with you for the past six weeks nearly every second of the day.”

“And that was a terrible hardship for you, wasn’t it?” he sneered.

She wanted to screech at him that yes! Being tied to him was a burden but she couldn’t manage the words, no matter how much it burned. The fact was, she’d become addicted to his touch, the feel of his body against hers, and the way he turned her inside out with mind-altering orgasms that were a brand of pleasure that she was sure wasn’t natural. But there was no way in hell she was going to admit that. Fuck him. Julianna started for the door but he caught her, hauling her against him in a cruel grip. “What are you doing?” she asked, pushing against him and hissing. “Don’t touch me.”

“If that baby is mine…”

“Quit saying that, you know it’s yours!”

His gaze roamed hers and for the briefest moment she thought she saw desperate hope glimmering in his dark eyes that caused a traitorous leap in her heart. No, don’t do that, she told herself, horrified that she would care about his feelings. He’d done this to her on purpose. He’d tricked her. That was the only answer. But even as she cursed him silently for what he’d done, she wasn’t prepared for the soft touch of his lips brushing against hers as he said, “If what you say is true…then we truly created a miracle and nothing will keep me from my child.” He deepened the kiss and her knees threatened to buckle, damn him. “Not even if its mother hates me,” he murmured and she swallowed a cry as he abruptly let her go. “Richard will take you home. I have calls to make.”

And then he left her to stare after him. Julianna wiped away the remnant of his kisses and ground the tears from her eyes. She ought to grab a cab and screw Boston with his dictates but even as the defiant thought blazed across her thoughts, she sank back down on the bed and knew she’d await Richard to ferry her back to Boston’s house because in a way, his place had become more like home than her apartment, even with the gaudy gold-plated bathroom fixtures that she hated.

Why? Ah crap, because as much as she hated to admit it…it was because at night, Boston crawled into bed with her and they slept entwined with one another, as if they were carved from the same block of wood to fit together. Dumb bad luck.

Julianna glanced down at her belly and her breath hitched in her throat as the sobering thought of motherhood weighed on her shoulders.

She squeezed her eyes shut and a tentacle of fear reached from a dark place and curled around her thoughts. Women died giving birth. It was rare — but it happened. It was a worst-case scenario…and it’d happened to someone she’d loved very much.

It might be irrational to fear the same fate but by the time Richard had arrived to pick her up, she was fighting the urge to lose whatever food remained in her stomach.

Bottom line? She was afraid of this baby.

And she was ashamed to admit it.

#

Boston had driven around for hours, trying to clear his head. How was it possible? The doctors had told him repeatedly after multiple invasive and humiliating tests that fathering a child was not probable. They’d tried to soften the blow by suggesting that in vitro might be an option but they were honest in admitting that isolating healthy enough sperm to inject into an egg would be a challenge. The news hadn’t been accepted with any sort of grace. He’d been angry and bitter at first but he’d gotten over it until Gigi had reopened that wound. To be truthful, although logically he knew it was no reflection on his manhood, the fact that he couldn’t father a child had bothered him more than a little. And the best way to avoid dealing with those feelings was to abandon the idea of being a father at all. And now? The answer awaited him in the form of a voicemail that he’d avoided listening to so far. Amazing how one simple DNA test had the power to affect so many lives, he mused. Just listen to the damn message and be done with it. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t want to admit how much he wanted Julianna to be carrying his child and that desire was in direct opposition with his dislike of anyone having that sort of power over him — particularly a woman who openly admitted to hating him.

But did she really hate him? In those moments when it was just she and him clinging to each other in the darkness he certainly didn’t get the sense that she couldn’t stand him. The claw marks on his back were evidence to the contrary. But even if she didn’t hate him, she clearly resented him for forcing her into a relationship using such heavy-handed methods. Try as he might, he couldn’t dredge up an ounce of regret because he craved Julianna in a way that baffled the logical mind. Her skin was like the softest silk beneath his fingertips and her impassioned cries were blazoned across his synapses. But now the game had changed. If that baby was his, there was no way in hell he was going to let anyone come between him and his child.

His phone chirped alerting him to a new text message and he knew it was from Richard. Time to stop being a pussy and just find out one way or another. Breath held tight, he lifted his phone and read the message: paternity matches, you’re going to be a father. Congrats.

Boston dropped the phone as if it’d scalded him. But in fact he needed both hands to grind the tears that’d sprung to his eyes. He was going to be a father. He and Julianna had created a miracle. A long moment passed as he tried to wrap his brain around the reality that the doctors had been wrong. He sat, stunned and trembling. A father. He was going to be some tiny human’s dad.

And Julianna was going to be their mother.

A wash of tenderness followed at the thought until he remembered the look of hatred directed at him flashing in Julianna’s eyes when she’d received the news. She didn’t want his baby. Hell, she barely wanted him. The only reason she was allowing him to touch her was because he’d paid her to do so.

“Fuck,” he murmured, closing his eyes and leaning against the headrest. Was there a way to fix this between him and Julianna for the sake of their unborn child? Had he damaged any hope of happiness for them both by forcing her hand? He didn’t know. The answers didn’t immediately jump in his face with a solution. Well, one thing was for certain, he couldn’t continue skulking around back roads while he figured this out. He needed to talk to Julianna. Maybe if he changed his tactics, he could fix what was broken between them.

Maybe.

And if he couldn’t fix it?

Well, he’d cross that bridge later.

Boston flipped a U-turn and pressed the throttle down, heading back in the direction of his home.

-2-

Julianna waited ten minutes after Richard dropped her off at Boston’s house and then began packing. She needed out of there. There was no way in hell she was going to sit around like his little pet, content to gestate as if it were no big deal that she’d ended up pregnant. He had to have planned this from the beginning, she thought, grabbing blindly at whatever clothing she could find of hers and stuffing it into a suitcase she’d found in the walk-in closet. It seemed just the kind of sick control game that someone like Boston would enjoy playing because he had more money than God and didn’t believe in following the same rules as everyone else. Her consent? Not necessary, as evidenced by their initial deal. Had she been willing? Of course not but he’d found just the right kind of leverage to turn the screws so tightly that he knew there’d be no way for her to back out. A wave of dizziness followed and she teetered on unsteady feet. Oh no, you’re too small to be bossing me around, too, she thought to the little Kincaid taking over her body. She fought the dizziness and forged on, slamming the suitcase shut and lugging it off the bed to hurry downstairs. She called for a cab and waited, desperately hoping that Boston didn’t show up before she could split. She didn’t want to see his face. Or hear his voice. Or remember his touch.

God no. She would not remember how he managed to turn her insi

de out and backwards with the force of his touch. Sure, she’d been a virgin and thus her experience level was pretty minimal but she knew how good it felt shattering beneath his touch and somehow she knew that not everyone enjoyed that kind of release with their lover.

Julianna groaned and dropped her head in her hands, shaking with the need to cry but she refused to cry. Not yet. Once she was out of Boston’s house and on the road, she’d bawl her eyes out but not a moment sooner.

The cab honked and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Scrambling to her feet, she grabbed her suitcase and practically ran to the door, flinging it open and wincing when the door gouged the wall behind it. She handed off the suitcase and then slid into the cab backseat, breathing the first shaky sigh of relief when the cab finally pulled away from Boston’s house and they hit the freeway, putting more miles between herself and Boston.

“Everything okay, ma’am?” the cabbie asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

Julianna glanced up and realized her eyes were wet. She wiped the moisture away and forced a smile. “Yep. Everything is going to be fine.” Maybe if she told herself that enough times, it would be true. So where was she going? She couldn’t go to her apartment — that’s the first place he would look — and she couldn’t go to a friend’s house because she didn’t want to explain what kind of mess she’d put herself into so that left her with very little options. A thought came to her. Boston was many things but at least his word was good. The moment she’d signed on the dotted line, he’d deposited a sizable amount in her checking account. She had enough money to fly wherever she wanted as well as enough to hole up for a while. That’s what she’d do. She’d disappear until she could figure out what her next move was. She’d always wanted to go to the Caribbean. A slow smile found her mouth as she said to the cabbie, “To the airport, please.”

“Yes ma’am.”

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