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“What would you like?”
I looked up at him sheepishly. “I know you have a whole chef or whatever, but pizza sounds incredible right now.”
“Pizza it is.”
Damian went back into his closet and quickly deposited me into a pair of identical sweatpants, rolling them up at the ankles, so I didn’t trip. I was still swimming in them all the same. I felt so cozy in his clothes. They smelled like him, and I was surprised at how comforting it was.
We wandered downstairs, and into a media room. “You have a home theater?” I asked, looking around in awe. Damian stood at the cocktail bar and motioned, asking if I wanted a drink.
I nodded.
I watched him from across the room while I curled up in a giant recliner. He got to work making me a bloody mary, and God he looked so hot standing there, making me a cocktail. He poured himself a whiskey.
“I have olives, but I don’t have a built-in salad for you.”
“That’s ok, we have pizza coming.” I smiled.
A short while later, we had both eaten our share of pizza, and at my request, we watched old episodes of I Love Lucy as I curled up in his arms.
The next thing I knew, I was jolted awake by my nausea, the morning light barely filtering through the curtains in Damian's bedroom. I struggled to throw his heavy arm off me and bolted to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before vomiting.
Damian materialized at the bathroom door.
“Oh God, I cannot stand to have you see me like this,” I groaned, trying to wave him away. “Please.”
He nodded and gave me some space. After I had emptied the contents of my stomach from the night before, I pushed myself up and took a swig of the mouthwash on the counter. As I spat it out, Damian returned with my bathroom toiletries bag and set them on the counter.
“Thank you, I said weakly.”
He nodded and stood silently, watching me in the doorway.
I rolled my eyes and waved him out of the bathroom, and closed the door. I dug through my toiletry bag, looking for my toothbrush. I grabbed my birth control pills and popped one into my mouth. As I swallowed, I stared at the packet in realization. My brain scrambled as I strained to recall what day it was.
No, it couldn't be.
But as I stood there with the packet in my trembling hands, it was right there in front of me. I knew. There were two extra pills. The last time I had been in this bathroom in the morning, I hadn’t had my pills, and I had missed not one but two pills. The morning I had spent getting glass pulled out of my hands, and then I had slept at Damian's house that night, and missed my pill the following day. It was so obvious. I gripped the counter and stared at myself in the mirror. I was always diligent about taking my pills, but I hadn’t even realized I’d missed those days because of the utter shock of the events. I had been so out of it; I hadn’t taken notice, and I’d slept with Damian plenty of times in the weeks between here and there.
I’d have to take another test to be sure. It had probably been too early to tell when I had taken the test after our dinner.
I trembled as my hands found their way over my stomach.
Could it be? Was I carrying Damian’s child? How would he feel? I had been so sure it was food poisoning that I hadn’t taken the time to get a read on him to see if he was relieved or disappointed.
We hadn’t officially named whatever this thing was between us. But he had made it abundantly clear that I belonged to him. Would he be happy about this? I’d known he wanted to start a family with his ex wife. Maybe this would be a good thing? Maybe… maybe this wasn’t just a fake arrangement we were both participating in. But if he really did want to be with me, why did everything feel so complicated?
He was my boss, after all, and we’d been keeping our sex or relationship or whatever it was we were doing a secret. Until we’d had to announce to the entire world that we were engaged.
Everyone already believed we were together. Maybe that’s what I wanted. The only question is, was this what Damian wanted, or was it still some big charade to him? I wasn’t sure.
In his effort to keep me safe, he was determined to keep me under his careful watch. I had to figure out a way get out of here and get my hands on a pregnancy test.
26
ADDISON
After a weekof being carted back and forth from Damian’s house, and still no period. I hadn't been able to sneak out to a drugstore. If I wasn’t glued to Damian’s hip, Mike was breathing down my neck. I knew he was just doing as he was instructed, but I needed some space, and I needed to get my hands a pregnancy test to confirm what I already knew.
I had convinced Damian that I needed a girls' night with Julie, and he had agreed with the condition that he took me to and from the dinner. He adamantly reminded me he would be a phone call away, just across the street, if I needed anything.
