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“What do you mean,am I keeping it? Of course, I am. I want my babies.” She wraps her arms around her stomach protectively like I might suddenly brandish a knife or something.
I blink at her,then her last sentence registers. “Babies?” I ask weakly.
“Oh yeah, we made twins,”she answers.
The room spins,and I reach out blindly. But there’s nothing for me to grasp, so I go sprawling onto the floor as everything goes dark.
“Ezra! Damn it, Ezra.”My body is being shaken vigorously. Charlie is calling my name repeatedly. I blink at the ceiling. “Oh, my God, Ezra. You fainted.”
I winceas I slowly sit up. I must have hit the floor hard because my entire body aches. Motherfucker. “I didn’tfaint. I just needed to catch my balance.”
A soft gigglemakes me glance at her. Her dainty hand covers her mouth as she continues laughing at me, her eyes twinkling. “You totally fainted, Ezra. Admit it.”
“Whatever,let’s just forget that happened.” I command as I carefully get to my feet. Then I remember why I had lost my consciousness in the first place. “Shit, you’re having two babies, Charlotte. What the fuck? What happened to the morning after pill?”
She scowls,and I regret the loss of her smile. “No contraception is 100%...only abstinence is. But you don’t have to worry about us; I can raise them on my own. Coming here is just to let you know, so you wouldn’t be blindsides if you find out down the road. We’re going to be fine without you, so I absolve you of any responsibility as the father. You’re not going to suddenly get a request for child support or anything.”
She stormsout of my office when she’s done with her tirade. I stare at the office door long after she’s gone. She doesn’t need me. But she’s pregnant…with not one, but two of my offspring. Possessiveness like nothing I’ve ever felt before fills my being as I imagine her swollen with my child–no children.Mine.
My office doorswings back open, and I smile eagerly, “Listen, I’ve thought about it, and I want all the responsibilities and–'' I trail off when Alex walks in. “What are you doing here?” Mybrother and I are in charge of different departments in the company, so our paths rarely cross at the office unless we seek each other out.
“I was notifiedthat Charlotte Square came by, so I assumed she was on her way to see me; but I just saw her getting on the elevator as I made my way here. She looked upset. What’s going on?”
Of course,he knows she was here. Alexander always has a pulse on everything and everyone, nothing gets by him, you know, other than the whole mafia thing, which I’ve devoted every spare breath I have to keeping secret. He takes one glance at my face and immediately detects that something is up.
“What? What did she want, Ezra?”
I jumpout of my chair and push past him to jog out of my office. “Cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day,” I tell Lisa as I make my way to the bank of elevators. Her lips press together in disapproval, but she nods. Her attitude is the least of my worries right now.
My knees bounce impatiently asthe elevator seems to crawl to reach the ground floor, stopping at every floor for more people to join the painfully slow decent. It’s not time for lunch break yet, people!
When the elevatorfinally slides open, I push a few shoulders aside to jump out. My heart is jack-knifing as I glance wildly around the front of the building. There she is. “Charlie!” I callout. She pauses to toss a glare at me, then climbs into her sports car. Damn it.
I runto her car as she pulls out of the parking lot, then jump right in front of it with my hands out. She revs the engine in threat and glowers at me through the windshield.
I lean forward,placing a hand on the hood as I speak loudly, so she can hear me. “We need to talk, Charlie. You can’t just break such huge news and then drive off.”
She narrows her eyes,but I don’t take my hands off the car nor do I make any move to go to her window to talk more privately. I don’t trust her not to peel out of here the moment the road is clear.
She mutterssomething under her breath angrily and jerks the gear shift aggressively. The car starts slowly moving back. I shift away and watch her as she carefully pulls back into the parking spot she had just pulled out of. I breathe out a sigh of relief when she turns off the engine. Thank God, I pulled my head out of my ass before she drove off. She slams out of the car and crosses her arms over her chest, chin tossed up defiantly.
“You wanted to talk,Ezra? Then talk.”
My lips tilt up,God, I love when she’s angry, those colorful strands of hair blowing around her face like some sort of wild war goddess. The mother of my children. Today is not going how I expected.
“Yeah, not here, though.”
CHAPTER 11
CHARLIE
We walk to a cafe not far from his office. I frown as he opens the glass door of the red brick building. “You do know I can’t drink caffeine right?”
“Really? I mean, of course, you know best. They don’t serve only coffee here. Have a tea or a smoothie or something,” Ezra stammers nervously. Is it excitement? If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was actually enjoying this.
I immediately love the place as soon as we walk in. The floor is gleaming hardwood and the walls, soft beige. It has that rustic, warm New England vibe, and the guys behind the counter are all smiles. Soft country music plays, and there are exquisite scents drifting to my nose, which makes my stomach rumble quietly.
One of the walls is dedicated to photographs. At the center is who I assume is the baker or owner of the café; then in small collages are several pictures of the patrons. Someone had a birthday celebration here. A picture of a kid’s bar mitzvah. Some high school students.
