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Chapter 20
Alec
I knew it was a bold and risky move announcing her pregnancy and proposing marriage without discussing it with her, but she was prone to flee. I couldn’t have her running from me this time, and so I made sure my plan was foolproof. No more running. What I hadn’t really mapped out was the fact that with her pregnancy, hormones, and general weak health, she would pass out. She barely uttered a ‘Yes’ as she gracefully wilted to the ground. Luckily, my reflexes were quick enough to catch her and scoop her into my arms before she hit the floor.
She awoke in my embrace looking adoringly in shock as I carried her out of the restaurant and into a waiting limousine.
“Alec?” she demurely asked before we got in; it couldn’t have been scripted better.
“Don’t worry, Kylie. I’ve got you.” I gently placed her in the car, waved to the media and the adoring faces, and slipped in beside her.
Her head lilted to the glass window opposite me, and I saw her dazed and saddened face.
“I know it was a low blow outing you, us, like that, but I figured you’d run again, so it was my liability insurance. You can still refuse the contract and back out. I’ll spin it … but now that it’s out there, I’m hoping it will be easier for you to say yes.” I didn’t want to sound too desperate, but for some odd reason, I was feeling rather tense about the whole situation.
“You’ve given me no choice.” Her breath heated the window as she spoke, not even bothering to look at me.
“You always have choices, but yes, I’ve limited them. Let’s try this. I’m not one to beg, nor am I ever the person to ask for a stranger’s hand in marriage, but I’m sort of doing both here. Please at least recognize how rare this is.” Where was the woman’s humanity for God’s sake? I just put everything out there for her.
Most women would be blushing and swooning; well, she swooned but in a horrified, trapped, and incarcerated kind of way rather than in an overwhelming sense of love and adoration.
“I’ll try it.” By the way, she said it, her acceptance of my marriage proposal and the announcement of our pregnancy sounded more like her accepting her conviction and a date with the firing squad.
I patted her knee. “We’ll make this fun,” I promised, though I had no basis for my optimism.
Likely, I’d be kicking her out in a week and hating myself for taking such a stupid risk. Her non-response made my prospects even bleaker. When we got to her apartment, her roommates hadn’t arrived yet. Surely, they were on their way to rescue her, so I had to make the retrieving of personal effects and clothing go as fast as possible.
“Remember, you’ll be coming back here, possibly daily, so only take what you’ll need for a few weeks. Clothes and shoes, mostly. Toiletries and stuff, I can buy for you.” She moved like a zombie, picking up random pieces of clothing from her closet and a few pairs of shoes as she haphazardly threw them in a bag.
She moved to the bathroom, grabbed some hair products, a hairbrush, and her toothbrush, and we were out the door. The drive to my penthouse was somber. There was no way I’d be able to bed her that night with her in such a dejected state of mind. We walked in, and she looked around the place.
“Where do I put my stuff?” She seemed so lost.
“I made room in my spare closet. It’s just beyond the bed on the left. You can put your sundries in the bathroom cabinet while I order us something to eat.” I flared up my phone and punched a few meals into the delivery app.
I wasn’t sure what she wanted to eat, but even though we had just left the hottest restaurant in New York, she didn’t eat, as per her usual. I ordered a mix of different things while she situated herself. She came back out of the bedroom area still looking distant and confused.
“I just ordered some food. Your space is over in the corner near the picture window; I thought you might like the view. I got you a MacBook, a printer, monitor, speakers … comfy chair. You can settle in there and avoid me for the rest of the night, or we can talk.”
She fiddled with the enormous engagement ring on her thin finger and eyed the little sanctuary in the corner I’d created for her.
“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.
“I’m a fucking bastard for putting you on blast. That might be a nice start. Or maybe thank you … because you know we just had an epic moment, and you and I will be trending for days because of this stunt. Your fainting was a nice touch. Or you could slip out of your clothes, and we can have some insanely good sex as most newly engaged couples might. We’ve only got a few months until we’ll need to get creative with our positions. Wouldn’t want to terrify little Alec Jr. now.”
