An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

His hand snaked around and rested over hers on her belly. She could feel his body stirring at her back and closed her eyes at the inevitable response, making her ready for him. Making her needy. Desperate. Craving.

She nodded and whispered, ‘Yes...let’s go.’

In the car on the way back to his apartment the sexual tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. By the time they were in the lift Sebastio had pressed Edie against the wall and was kissing her as if his life depended on it.

She didn’t remember leaving the lift and entering the apartment, or getting to the bedroom. All she knew was that she needed to be joined with Sebastio or she would die. Her need was that acute.

He thrust deep and hard, bringing her leg up so that he went even deeper. Edie closed her eyes but he said, ‘Open them... Edie, look at me.’

She did, and as he forced her to connect with him on every level, allowing her no quarter, she cursed him silently even as she fell apart into a million pieces.

* * *

Two days later Edie was looking out of another plane window, at a small island covered in green in the middle of the ocean. Waves lapped against white sand beaches and palm trees swayed in the breeze.

It was pretty much your quintessential tropical island paradise. There was a huge colonial-style house in the centre of the island, and Edie could make out a path leading from the house to the beach. There were smaller buildings in a cluster near the main house, and she guessed those must be for staff.

The plane landed and she saw a man waiting with an open-top Jeep to drive them to the house. Sebastio greeted the driver warmly and after introducing him to Edie got into the back.

When they were driving along the road, Edie couldn’t help observing, ‘You never drive. You don’t like to, or...?’ She stopped, suddenly aghast at what she’d just said. How insensitive it had been.

Sebastio’s jaw clenc

hed. He looked at her. ‘I haven’t driven since that night.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—’

He shook his head, negating her apology and shutting the conversation down.

The knot that had been in Edie’s belly since the party intensified. Unconsciously she placed a hand there. She’d been feeling all over the place since meeting Rafael and Isobel. Seeing how happy they were, seeing their children, had touched on something very vulnerable in Edie. She’d never really articulated to herself how devastated she’d been to learn that she might not ever have a family...and it had hit her forcibly that night.

Then, when they’d returned to the apartment...when they’d made love...it had felt so much more intense than at any other time. Edie had felt flayed afterwards. It had been as if a layer of civility had been stripped away between her and Sebastio, exposing something far more raw and visceral.

The following day she hadn’t woken until the afternoon. She hadn’t been able to put her finger on it but she’d felt...off, somehow.

Immediately alarm bells had rung. She was hyper-conscious of anything changing in her health since the cancer. After all, she’d only found out about that because she’d felt an innocuous lump in her neck and had gone to get it checked out.

So she’d rung her GP back in Britain, and as a result of that conversation had gone to a pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test. Now it was sitting in her luggage like a ticking time bomb.

Her GP had reminded her that the chances of her getting pregnant were very slim, but had suggested that they rule it out first, just to be safe.

Edie hadn’t had the nerve to do the test before they’d left Buenos Aires, not ready to face the enormity of what the result might mean. The thought that she might be pregnant absolutely terrified Edie, and filled her with euphoria at the same time.

It would be the ultimate test of her health. To know that she could create a life after almost losing hers. After being pumped full of toxins. But for it to happen like this...? With a man who had expressly told her he didn’t do relationships or commitment...?

‘Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

Edie forced a smile and looked at Sebastio. ‘Fine...just a little tired.’

‘You can rest when we get to the house. I have some work calls to make, just to make sure everything is running smoothly for the next few days.’

Edie’s thoughts immediately went to the box in the white paper bag in her luggage. She felt clammy. ‘Okay.’

When they got to the house she was too tense to really notice how stunning it was. But it was stunning. Set amongst lush vegetation. Totally cut off from the outside world. A wide veranda surrounded the lower floor and there was a huge pool in the manicured back garden, with views of the sea beyond.

It was paradise.

The rooms were large and airy, doors and windows open to let the breeze flow through. Edie was wearing a white broderie anglaise sundress and even that felt too hot in the sultry heat.