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Amir seemed to realize he’d been offering her his damaged palm before she took it in both of her hands delicately. Leaning down, she kissed his mostly clean wrist. Then she reached over and brought Amir’s good hand to her belly.
“You saved me and…you saved our son.”
Chapter Ten
She’d never been a fan of hospitals. Her mother had been in one after her accident. She’d suffered for a few days in a coma before she’d been declared brain dead. The acrid stench of bleach, the droning buzz of the monitors, and the wheeze of the tubes all set Amanda’s teeth on edge. Yet, this time it was a good thing. She had some oxygen tubes in her nose, helping her get enough air after all the stress and fear of the last couple of days. Margery was doing better, too. She’d actually been discharged yesterday and had come by Amanda’s bed as soon as she could. She’d been lucky to have a concussion and nothing more serious that had kept her knocked out. Hell, Margery was even scheduled to visit Amanda again today. Since Amanda was pregnant, the doctors all felt it was safer for her and the baby to stay in the hospital a bit longer, for both observation and to help her blood pressure go down to normal levels.
That was fine by her.
She’d take anything to help her feel more normal when her life had just exploded. She’d almost been killed, almost lost both her child and the man she cared about. On top of that, now Amir knew everything. If she had a few extra days to spend in a revealing hospital gown and eating bland Jell-O, at least it gave her time to think.
There was a knock on her door, and she called for the person on the other end to come in, assuming it was Margery coming back with another massive stuffed animal for the little buddy (Amanda hadn’t decided on a name yet). She wasn’t completely sure how to feel when it was Amir. Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw him. Even with his own bruises and his bandaged hand, he was as beautiful as ever. His eyes were like amber and his sharp cheekbones caused her belly to flare with warmth, leaving no doubt in her mind that she was still attracted to him.
But she was also confused. How had he known? Had he been watching her all this time? And how would he feel about her now? Now that she’d almost gotten him killed with her investigation and had hidden their son from him for months. What could she possibly say to him?
“Amir…” she started, and then trailed off. For once in her life she was at a loss for words.
“I think I should start,” he said, slinking in with all his inherent lithe grace before settling himself in the chair by her bedside. “I had my security detail on you, but you must have figured that out by now.”
“I did, and two days ago that would have made me angry. I’d have called it ‘chauvinist’ and ‘overbearing,’ but that’s the only thing that saved all our lives.”
He nodded and put his hand on hers over her abdomen. At least via contact, they were unified for a minute as a family. He may want nothing to do with her after all of this, might wish for her to go away with the bastard child that he probably didn’t want. But for just this moment, they were the family she hoped they could be.
“I knew you were pregnant because of the security team as well. Honestly, I assumed that you had a new boyfriend or lover. I didn’t dare to think it was mine.”
“It is. I haven’t been with anyone since Abu Dhabi,” she said, her voice taking on a harder edge than she’d intended.
“I didn’t imply that you were easy, more that I couldn’t believe something that amazing could happen to me.”
She shook her head but didn’t move her hand. “But after everything you said about your family’s expectations and your sister. I know how hard it must have been for you to lose Farana because it still guts me every day that I don’t have a mother. Some holes never seal up. So how do I know that you really want us?”
Amir’s eyes went wide. “How can you think I wouldn’t?”
“You said—”
“Forget what I said,” Amir interrupted, his amber eyes seeming to blaze with his fury and sincerity. “I just saw a madman try and murder the two people I love the most in the whole world. I got into the room and saw that gun leveled on you, and after you told me about the baby, I almost collapsed when I realized how much I could have lost.”
“So you want us?”
“If you want me, if you can forgive me for the way our affair got leaked and for following you.”
“You saved my life, and I’m the one who took a freefall at work and went nuts doing things in public I’d never do, making choices I never should have made.” She paused as he seemed to still and look away. Amanda pressed her hand to her belly. “Don’t get confused. I don’t regret him at all, but I regret the way things escalated so fast and caused all that gossip about us. I regret that I hid things and made a mess of it all.”
“But we all have a second chance. I’ve always been a fan of those,” he said, pulling his hand away and standing up. Amanda wanted to object. After all, the caress of his hand over their son felt better than anything she’d ever felt.
Of course, then he was getting down on one knee before her.
Her heart was pounding in her chest, and even their little buddy seemed up and awake, kicking against her stomach and swimming in circles.
Is this really happening?
He pulled out a large velvet box and started to speak. “Amanda, I know our relationship has been unconventional.”
“You can say that again.”
He winked at her but didn’t get up. “If you interject, then I can’t do this right, and it won’t be as romantic.”
“So it’d be my fault?” she added, grinning back at him, relieved to be able to have any life left at all, let alone one where the man she loved—the father of her child—was proposing to her.
