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“Then tell me what I can do to help make this easier for you because, baby, I will do anything to make you happy.”
“I need you to make love to me,” she breathed. “I need it slow and easy. E-especially with how big you are.”
“I can do that,” I rasped. My mouth felt like it was full of cotton, it was so dry. Yet another sign of how addicted I was to her, how desperate I was for my next fix.
“I need you not to laugh at me,” she continued, “or…or be disgusted at some of the scars on my body.”
I carefully grasped her by the hips and pulled her toward me. “There is nothing about you that could ever disgust me. And I will kill anyone who laughs at you, blue eyes. Including myself.”
She leaned into me for a long moment before lifting her head. “I’m not on anything. We have to use protection.”
“Baby, I will always protect you.” Taking her hand, I tugged her toward the bed. “I swear I’ll take care of you. In every way, until my last breath.”
Cali
JUNE
I felt Garret get out of bed, but I kept my eyes closed, too tired to watch him as he walked into the bathroom. He didn’t completely close the door, and I heard the shower turn on. Sighing, I grabbed his pillow and pulled it close, snuggling it like he’d been doing to me only moments before.
From the night we’d first made love, Garret had spent every night in my bed, unless he had to fly back to Creswell Springs for something. But that had only been twice. The first time for Mother’s Day, and the second only the week before to celebrate his sister’s graduation with her and their family.
For whatever reason, he had come home earlier than expected, and ever since, I’d barely seen him. He came back to my apartment each night to sleep, but he was so exhausted from whatever the hell he did all day that he just took a quick shower and fell into bed with me. I barely got a kiss before he was sound asleep with me tucked against him.
With Garret not at the club every night, and him not trying to put his dick in me every chance he could get—which was basically anytime he wanted, because after how sweet and amazing he’d made our first time, I might have grown addicted to riding his cock—I knew something was seriously wrong. Whatever had happened at work, it was bad.
I tried not to think about what the problem could be that was causing him to inadvertently neglect me when I was typically the center of his entire world. Something churning in my gut suggested I already knew what the issue was—Manuel. But I seriously didn’t want to consider that. My eyes and ears had been wide open for any sign of my psychotic stepbrother, and I hadn’t seen or heard anything that would suggest he was back in the States or, even worse, trying to find me.
But I wasn’t an idiot. I knew even if I didn’t see or hear anything, it was still very possible Manuel was just keeping to the shadows, waiting for his chance to strike. When Matias died, I had inherited everything. The properties. The businesses. The money. Manuel had gotten nothing, and by this point, I was sure he’d already blown through his own stash of cash.
He would be getting desperate soon, and I was the only means to his getting the money he thought should have been his by right of birth.
That was going to be my revenge. I just had to wait him out. Once he was dead—which, with how much he liked drugs, could be any day if he overdosed—then I would officially have my vengeance. I would own everything he’d always wanted, without fear that he would try to hurt me to get it back. All that money and power would be mine to do whatever I wanted with. And he would be watching from his pit in hell, hating me more and more, while I got to live happily ever after with everything he couldn’t touch.
Of course, the nausea I felt could very well have been for another reason entirely. One I suspected was the real culprit for how sick I’d been recently. But just as I wanted to pretend like Manuel wasn’t an issue, I wanted to hide my head in the sand about that issue too. My period being two weeks late was nothing. I was fine. There was no way I could be pregnant. Garret wore protection every time we had sex and—
Groaning, I buried my face deeper into his pillow and closed my eyes. And because I was so exhausted, I fell back to sleep right away. When Garret stopped to brush a kiss over my forehead on his way out, I barely felt him, but I found myself smiling in my half-awake state.
Damn it, but I loved him.
I should have probably told him already, but I’d chickened out every time I’d started to. It felt wrong to say those words when he still didn’t know who I really was. I needed to grow a pair and just come clean, tell him everything. Who I was. That I loved him. And definitely that he might be a daddy in a matter of months.
Despite all that noise swirling around in my brain, I was too tired not to fall fully back to sleep again.
My stomach growling loudly was what finally pulled me from a somewhat restful slumber. Grabbing my phone, I checked the time—and to see if Garret had maybe texted me. Seeing it was lunchtime, and disappointed that my man hadn’t sent a single text, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with my free hand while finding another contact in my phone and sending her a text.
Me: So bored. I heard you are back in town. Let’s have lunch!!!
I wasn’t surprised when she replied immediately.
NoNo: When and where?
Me: Um, now. I’m hungry. There’s a diner near my apartment. Meet me there.
I shot her the address and then tossed back the covers. Sitting on the toilet, I hoped to see at least some sign that my period had started, but like every day for the past two weeks, it was MIA. Sighing, I took care of business and then washed my hands. Too hungry to delay with a shower, I brushed my teeth then went back into my room to get dressed.
Over the past several months, my wardrobe had been steadily replaced by clothes that Garret had gifted me. He thought he was being sly, but I was onto his game. He was trying to tempt me into quitting my job, but if I really was pregnant, I needed the money I made every night more than ever.
If our two was going to turn into three, then he was more than welcome to take care of his kid all he wanted. But there was no way in hell I was going to let myself become reliant on a man ever again. Growing up, I’d had to rely on Matias to pay for everything I had. When he got sick, Manuel took control over the accounts, and I was lucky if I was able to buy feminine hygiene products each month. My stepdad was dead now, and technically I was the only heir since Matias had supposedly cut Manuel out of the will, but I couldn’t get my hands on that money without risking my stepbrother finding me.
