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I’d only seen Manuel in pictures, never in person, but even then, I’d noticed the lack of a soul. There was just something about his eyes. They were…dead. “Let’s just pick her up and have a good time tonight. Get her mind off Garret and everything else. Then tomorrow, we will convince her to see him. If he’s smart, he will fall to his knees and beg her to forgive him.”
“What guy would do something like that these days?” she mused to herself as she looked out the window. “Maybe Ryan would for you, I guess. But I don’t know anyone else who would risk their own ego and beg for anything, let alone the woman he supposedly loves to forgive him.”
She was right. I didn’t know many men who would put their own pride aside to do what was needed to win back the love of their life. But the thing was, I didn’t want Ryan on his knees. Ever.
I wanted him to snap and take what he wanted—me.
But his self-control was too strong. He’d come close once, that night in Iron Hand when he’d found me with Garik and Laura. The thrill of him commanding my every move had been almost intoxicating. I wanted it again.
Ryan, unable to control himself, while he controlled me.
I licked my suddenly parched lips and turned up the flow of the air conditioning that was blowing on us, trying to cool my overheated skin. Thankfully, by the time we pulled up outside Cali’s building, my body was under control again.
Pietro stepped out and opened the back door. I heard him greet Cali, and then her dark head appeared in the doorway. “Hey,” she mumbled, taking the seat across from us.
“Hi,” I greeted with a smile. She glanced at Ciana, who had her head pressed against the window of her door, her eyes closed once again. I pulled the brunette’s attention back to me. “Are you hungry? I thought we could eat before going to the club.”
“Yeah, sure,” she said with a shrug as Pietro shut the door and got back into the front. “I could eat.”
The overhead light was on, and I ran my eyes over Cali. Her makeup was perfectly in place, her hair straight and sleek hanging down her back. She was dressed in a pair of black shorts and a red top. She looked beautiful and sexy, but her eyes were so full of emotion that it made my heart clench with pain for her.
“Did you—”
“Yeah,” she whispered before I could get the full question out, touching a hand to her stomach. “And it was positive.”
Ciana startled awake. “Positive?” she said with a yawn. “What were we talking about?”
“We weren’t talking about anything, C,” I said with a sigh. “You fell asleep.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said around another yawn, wiping her mouth in case she had drooled. “But what was positive?”
Cali pulled something from her purse and opened her hand, showing us the tiny pregnancy test. Ciana paled as she realized what it was. “Wait…you’re pregnant?” she asked with what sounded to me like relief in her voice.
“That’s what the test says,” Cali said, returning the test to her purse. “Maybe I should have splurged on the digital test. It could be a false reading. I guess I’ll call and get an appointment at the free clinic, find out if it’s true or not.”
“If it says it’s positive, then it is,” Ciana informed her confidently. “It’s false negatives you have to worry about. I work for one of the best OB-GYNs in the city. Come in tomorrow, and I’ll get you taken care of.”
“But tomorrow is Saturday.”
“We’re open until noon on Saturdays. Come in, I’ll get your labs, have the nurse practitioner do your pap, and if my friend in ultrasound is working, we can get some pictures of the baby.” Ciana seemed wide awake now and more animated than I’d seen her all week.
Cali’s eyes brightened, and I could actually feel some of the tension draining out of her shoulders. But then the light dimmed again. “I don’t have insurance.”
“I don’t care about insurance. I can work around it.”
“You have insurance,” I cut in, dispelling my friend’s fears. “I took care of all of your information with HR and got you sorted.”
Cali’s mouth dropped open. “When? And more importantly, how?”
“Aunt Gracie had all your new identity information. I told her I was helping you get a job and I needed your social security number to get your paperwork completed. She said to tell you congrats on the new job, by the way.” I pulled out Cali’s new ID badge from my purse. “Make sure you stop by HR to sign everything, but your insurance started yesterday, as soon as you were entered into the system as an employee. You’ll get your card in the mail in about a week, but it will cover any care you have before it arrives.”
“Whoa,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “Nova…”
“I got your back, babe,” I said with a smile. “You start on Monday as Ryan’s personal assistant’s personal assistant.”
As her tears started to dry, doubt crossed her face. “I don’t know how to be a personal assistant.”
“Can you fetch coffee?” Ciana asked, fighting another yawn, making me wonder if she would faceplant in her dessert plate later. “Order lunch? Make copies? Yell at stupid people?”
