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With that, she was hurrying up the stairs. He watched, bemused, as she disappeared from view. A moment later he heard the slam of the front door.
It was only as he went to leave the basement that he noticed something on the sewing table. Harper had forgotten her phone.
He shook his head with a grin. She was going to miss that thing pretty damn soon.
14
What the hell had she just done? Harper slid her key into the ignition and started up the engine, trying to ignore the way her heart was hammering against her chest. Regret and embarrassment mixed with the lingering pleasure she still felt from James’s body against hers. As she pulled out of his driveway, the cocktail of emotions made her muscles ache and her skin heat up.
It took ten minutes to drive from James’s house to the exclusive block of condos where Caitie and Breck lived, but it was nowhere near long enough to sort through the maelstrom of thoughts rushing through her mind.
Thankfully, Caitie and Breck were out when she let herself into the condo. She headed straight for her bedroom – now light and breezy thanks to the lack of clothes and rolls of fabric blocking the window. Dropping her bag onto the floor she slumped onto her bed, the mattress dipping beneath her.
“Well,” she whispered, rubbing her stomach with her palm. “I’ve made another mess, little one. Once again with your daddy. You’d think I’d have learned better by now.”
Their first encounter had led to being knocked up. Their second to her feeling and acting crazy.
“It’s kind of your fault,” she told her stomach. “If it wasn’t for all these hormones I wouldn’t have jumped him as soon as he walked through the door.”
She’d been a woman possessed; desperate, needy, and so ready to feel a body against hers.
And boy had it felt good. More than good. Delicious. But then shame had washed over her as she came out of the delicious haze, and she’d realized exactly what she’d done.
Used him for her pleasure. She’d taken without giving, and he’d let her.
And then she’d run away. She covered her face with her hands and groaned. She could still picture him standing in that basement, watching her run away, a confused expression on his face.
How was she going to face him tomorrow? She could barely face herself.
“It’s okay,” she told her bump. “We can just run away to Paris. Change our names, pretend we’re some kind of European royalty. Your daddy will never find us.”
A tiny gas bubble popped in her belly. Seriously? Now she was dealing with gas, too? There it was again, a little harder this time.
But more of a nudge than a pop.
A nudge! She sat straight up and stared down at her stomach. “Baby?” she said, rubbing her stomach. “Is that you?” She waited for a moment. “If it was you
, do it again.” Laying back down, she crossed her fingers and waited. Sure enough, a minute later, there was another push on the inside of her.
She ran her hand down her abdomen, cupping her stomach. “Hey, little one,” she crooned. “It’s so amazing to meet you. Are you feeling happy in there?”
Another tiny movement. Pure happiness washed over her.
“You stay safe in there,” she said. She swallowed hard, remembering that James said the same thing. Before she’d wrapped her legs around him and used him as a scratching post. “And if you could dial down on the hormones a little, that would be good, too,” she continued. “Not all of them. Just the ones that make me crazy whenever I look at your dad. I’m trying to be a grown up here, but you’re making it really hard.”
Hard. That made her think of James, too.
“I figure we’ll be better parents if we don’t mess things up between us. Sex always confuses things, look at my mom. She trailed around after guys like a bitch in heat, forgetting I ever existed. I don’t want that for you, baby. I want you to be number one in both our lives.” She sighed. “You deserve everything, and I plan on giving it to you.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in again, letting her body relax for the first time since she’d left James’s house. She had to be stronger, that was all. There was no need to repeat history and all of her mom’s mistakes. She was better than that.
“You’re making me tired.” Maybe she should get used to the baby being in control. It was going to be her life for the next twenty years. So she gave into the grogginess, letting her breaths even out until they were a slow, steady rhythm. Within minutes she was at the cusp of deep, lovely sleep.
* * *
“Harper?” A voice called out, reaching her through her slumber.
She sat up, her heart racing. Without thinking, she reached down to shield her bump.
