I winced, biting my lip. Inever, ever lied to him, and I didn’t want to start now. “I’m sure it was just a fluke thing. Nothing to worry about.”
He sighed. “It seems to me that there’s a chance you could be pregnant, Elena.”
I froze. I couldn’t breathe fully. Staring at him and locking down into anohmigodsensation of panic, I blinked and watched him watch me.
Oh, God.
Oh, no, no, no.
I couldn’t bear to be under the spotlight like this.
If he could give me a clue, one that might suggest he’d be happy about a potential pregnancy, I could react like I wanted to, jumping with joy as I told him I was thrilled to maybe be carrying his child.
With his wording and that deliberately careful tone, I couldn’t be sure if he was mad, though.
“I… I suppose it could be possible,” I replied. I cleared my throat, feeling so anxious without being able to read him well. “We didn’t use protection, so I think that increases the odds of us, um, starting something permanent between us.”
He nodded, looking too pensive and controlled and calm for a man who could be panicking and reacting to huge news like this.
“Yet you haven’t asked for a pregnancy test,” he pointed out.
“I wasn’t sure if I should. Or who I could ask. I did miss my period, but, you know… sometimes, it can be irregular.” I chewed on my lower lip, a nervous tic that I hated. Under his direct stare, I felt like I would burn up with how warm my cheeks were.
“I insist.”
I blinked quickly. He was the boss. But… “You insist what?”
“I insist that you take a test and know for sure, Elena.” He swept the covers off his legs and stood. After he went to where his clothes were, scattered on the floor from when we’d hurried to strip each other last night, he came to me with a small package.
“I suspected something like this might be going on,” he added.
Something like this? That’s how you can word it?
I nervously accepted the package, dreading that he could be furious with me. He didn’tlookmad, per se, but he wasn’t jolly and happy or excited, either.
His wording threw me off, though. Like this baby was anotherthinghe could make plans around.
Like I was athingwhen I came here.
“When the doctor was here checking on my father yesterday, I asked for a kit.” He tipped his chin at the carton in my hands. Urging me. Prompting me to react.
I lowered my gaze and nodded. Pink letters labeled the kit with a glossy font. Instructions waited inside the carton. All I had to do was get the courage to go take this and see what my fate would be.
“I insist on having clear results, Elena.” He let out a deep exhale. “To know how to proceed.”
What?
What!
How to proceed?
Are you aware of how… clinical and cold you sound?
My heart raced at the only two ways that this could be interpreted filled my mind. Proceed—as in to keep or not keep this baby?
I gulped hard and tried not to look so overly intimidated.
Was he mad?
