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Zara
"Smart thinking, offering her a job," Isla says after Abby has left.
Solene, too, signs off—after asking me to keep her posted on the results of the pregnancy test I promised I’m going to take as soon as I fire-fight the fall-out from the impromptu sparring session that my brother and my boss—who’s also my lover—indulged in.
"That old adage about keeping your enemies where you can see them? It’s a technique I’ve used more than once." Not that Abby is my enemy. Far from it. The girl almost fainted when I offered her a job as an executive in my agency. A step up from the unpaid intern position she’s held for the past six months. She thanked me profusely and promised to do her best. I took her up on the offer by telling her to research all media mentions—if any—from the earlier incident. I lean back in my seat and place my hands over my stomach, which hasn’t felt very steady over the past ten seconds.
Isla levels me with another look of concern. "Do you think you really are—"
"Pregnant?" I force myself to say the word. "I haven’t taken the test yet, but my instincts are screaming that I am. Considering I’m already a week late."
"It might just be all the stress you’re under."
"I thrive on stress. I’ve never had a day that hasn’t brought with it new stress, and I’ve never been late."
"Hmm." She taps her fingers on the armrest. "Will you tell him?"
"I don’t know," I say honestly.
"I suppose it’s opportune that he proposed to you?"
I scowl at her. "I’m not going to marry him just because I’m pregnant."
"It’s as good a reason as any."
"When—if—I marry, it will be because not only am I in love with the man, but I also see him as a partner in every way."
"And you don’t with Hunter?"
I squeeze the bridge of my nose. "I don’t know."
"I think you do know, but you don’t want to accept it."
"Eh?" I lower my arm and stare at her. "What are you talking about?"
"You’ve been prejudiced against Hunter from the beginning. You’ve held his background against him."
"No, I haven’t." I gape at her.
"Haven’t you?" She half-smiles. "It’s normal, though. You’ve worked hard to get to where you are, and a part of you resents that he seems to have gotten everything so easily."
I squirm in my seat. Is that true? Do I begrudge Hunter his success so far? Have I held him up to a standard of my own making and found him lacking? Just because he was born into money... Do I hold that against him? Is his success less credible because he, seemingly, didn’t have to jump through the hoops to get to where he is, unlike me? I lower my chin to my chest. "Oh, god, Isla, do you think I’ve misjudged him? Do you think I'm holding him up to a standard that he could never match?"
"Zara, I—"
A knock on the door interrupts us. Then Liam pops his head through. "Everything okay in here?"
"Hey, babe," Isla beckons to him. Liam walks over to Isla and leans a hip against her armrest. The two of them kiss, and they’ve only been separated for half an hour. Gosh, they’re so sweet together, it’s almost too much.
I hear footsteps before Hunter enters the room, followed by my brother. Cade sports a shiner, which only adds to his good looks. The two of them stop halfway inside the room, then glower at each other. O-k-a-y, so apparently, whatever they were discussing didn’t go down well.
Isla rises to her feet. "I think Liam and I are gonna leave now." She walks over to me and kisses my cheek. "Keep me posted on everything," she says in a low voice. I nod and hug her back. She steps back, then heads for my brother.
"I’m Isla, Zara’s friend."
Cade’s features break into a smile. "My pleasure." He brings her hand to his lips and kisses it.
Liam instantly closes the distance to them and wraps his arm about Isla. "Well played on your last innings. That was some record-breaking century you made." He’s referring to the last cricket match, where my brother scored enough to win the tournament for his team.
