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Thelastpersononearth I’d expected to see was currently standing in my living room, pacing from one corner of the tiny apartment to the other corner as he tried to digest the news that I was pregnant with his child.
“How long have you known?” He asked, stopping mid-pace to glance at me. His arresting gaze held mine in a spell.
“The week before the story came out on the tabloids.”
“So, you knew while we were still in Aspen?” He asked, still looking at me, and I could only nod.
He looked so good, and it was taking all my self-control not to launch myself into his arms and beg him to take me with him wherever he was going and never let me go.
His beard had grown longer, and it gave him a tortured look that was both hot and irresistible. When I remembered the announcement of his engagement to Thea Wright, I tried to stop sexualizing him in my head, an almost impossible task, but a necessary one.
He had resumed his pacing, and I took the time to admire his full form. He was leaner, more fit, and it was a little jarring to see him so flexible on his feet. I was used to seeing him limping, or in a wheelchair for so long and I’d only seen him walk properly without his cane for a short time. It needed a little time to get used to it.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Were you even going to tell me?”
He was calm about all this, and it was a little offsetting.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know? It’s my child too.”
“I mean, I don’t know Christian. Your mother leaked very sensitive information about me to the press. Excuse me if I was not too happy about going home to meet your parents.”
“That was no excuse to keep my child from me.”
“I was going to tell you at some point. But you’re getting married to someone else. You are way more powerful than I am in case you haven’t noticed and there was no telling if you would decide to take her away from me.”
He looked at me a little aghast like he was just seeing me for the first time, and I hated the disappointment I saw in his eyes.
That you would even think that about me means that you don’t know me.
His words hurt more than I expected them to. Of course, I knew he would never try to take my child away from me. I only said that in the heat of the moment.
We were both silent for a long time. He stood by the wall, staring blankly into space while I stood on the other side of the room, just watching him.
When he lifted his eyes to stare back at mine, I saw the hurt in them, the pain that I was sure matched mine. And then his eyes slide from mine to glance all over me before they settled on my lips. My eyes were focused on his as well, and it physically hurt how much I wanted to kiss him.
When I looked back into his eyes, I could tell he was thinking the same thing.
It’s a “she”? He asked, and it took a moment to understand what he was asking. I realized I’d referred to the baby as her in the heat of the moment, and it did not surprise me he picked up on it too.
“I don’t know yet and wanted to be surprised by it.” I finally said, rubbing my hands protectively over my bump and his eyes follow the movement.
“You can come and touch it if you want to.” I finally said, knowing just how much of a mistake that was, he was engaged to be married to someone else, but at that moment, it did not matter to me.
“Really?” He asked, with excitement in his voice, and I nodded with a small smile.
He wasted no time as he crossed the room to stand in front of me and his hands cupped my belly. I closed my eyes, savoring his hands on me; his scent, his closeness, which I missed so much that it almost brought a tear to my eyes.
I did not know I’d let the tears slide down until I felt his fingers wiping the errant tears away.
“You know how much I hate it when you cry.” His thick voice sounded so close and I opened my eyes to see his face was way closer than I realized.
“Are you really engaged to her?” I asked. My voice was shaky, and I knew just how vulnerable I sounded. I needed to hear it from him.
“No.” was his simple reply. It was all the response I needed to close the distance between us and press my lips to his just like I wanted to do since he walked into my room.
It felt a lot like coming back home. He felt so familiar, and yet so new at the same time. My lips felt like they remembered exactly who it was, and my heart sang at the homecoming. His hands slid from my belly to wrap around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
