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‘Damn it.’
Mac’s muttered curse pierced Juno’s shattered mind.
Her senses sharpened as he lifted her off him. She stood on limp legs, confused and shaky, as he stormed out of the cubicle.
What had just happened?
The water splashed her shins as she watched him through the foggy glass. He still had on the drenched boxer shorts, clinging to his buttocks. He braced his arms on the vanity unit, and sank his head down, his shoulders rigid, his stance stiff with tension.
Vulnerability clawed at her. She rubbed her chest with the heel of her hand, her lungs feeling as if they were being ripped out.
Who was he? Had he ever been the man she thought he was?
Moving with care, her thighs aching, her sex tender from the fury of their coupling, she switched off the shower unit. She gathered up the towel and wrapped it around herself. Suddenly desperate to hide her nudity.
‘We’ve a problem,’ he said as she stepped out, his voice so rough she had to strain to hear it.
He turned to prop his butt against the vanity unit and fold his arms across his chest.
‘What problem?’ she asked.
Dread seeped into her stomach like a black bile as his eyes met hers, dark and expressionless. ‘I didn’t wear a condom.’
‘I…’ She tried to grasp what he was saying, but her mind could only latch onto the annoyance in his voice.
‘You’re not on the pill, are you?’
She shook her head and he swore, thrusting his hand through his hair, furrowing the wet strands into haphazard rows.
‘When was your last period?’
‘I…’ She couldn’t remember, everything inside her recoiling from the impatience, the temper in the question. ‘I’m not sure.’
‘Think. It’s important.’
Her fingers felt clammy, her heartbeat banging her ribcage. ‘I’m due soon. I’m sure I am.’
‘We can’t risk it.’ He thumped his fist on the vanity. ‘A pregnancy would be a disaster. There’s a pill you can take, right? To stop it happening.’
The black bile rose up to throttle her as his words hurled her back into memory. To a time, a place, an agony she had sworn she would never revisit. She gulped down the sob that threatened to burst out, pushed back the terrible, churning panic.
Don’t go there. Don’t ever go there.
She couldn’t be that girl again, destroyed, destitute. She couldn’t go back to that. Couldn’t spend another six years repairing her life. Survival was all that mattered now.
She gritted her teeth to hold back the swell of nausea and willed her mind to cling to the present. ‘I’ll take care of it.’ Her voice sounded as if it were coming from miles away.
She turned to leave, taking that first crucial step back from the abyss. Knowing the only way to survive now was to leave—and to never look back.
‘Juno, wait.’ Mac shot across the room.
What had he done? This was all his fault.
He’d seen the wariness, the confusion in her eyes when she’d told him she didn’t want him and he’d panicked.
But instead of seducing her, instead of stoking the passion between them and waiting for her response, the raw need had taken over and he’d lost control. He’d taken her, claimed her, pounding them both to orgasm, with no finesse and no thought to the consequences. And he’d ruined everything.
‘I’m sorry.’ He took her shoulders, massaged the chilled skin. ‘You’re not to blame for this. I am.’
