The line goes dead. I frown at my phone and put it down on the counter.
She sounded strained. I don’t know what’s wrong, but something’s up. My mind races over a million different possibilities, and in the end, I’m not sure I give a shit what’s going on.
I’m just happy she’s coming over.
It’s strange, really. I should be more interested in this visit. I mean, she sounded upset, so something must be wrong. But I’m happy she’s coming over because I’ve been so fucking desperate to see her. I’m not the kind of guy to go begging over a woman… but when I want something, I always get it in the end.
Klara’s no different. And I want her more than I thought I would.
I drink my whiskey and she shows up ten minutes later. She must’ve called me from the car. I open my front door and she lingers there, looking just as gorgeous as I remembered. Her red hair’s pulled back into a tight bun and she’s wearing a conservative t-shirt and jeans. Despite that, she can’t quite cover up that incredible fucking figure of hers, and I can remember the way her breasts shook with every rough thrust of my cock.
“Come on in,” I say.
She follows me into the kitchen. I nod at my whiskey. “Want something?”
“No, thanks,” she says. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” I pick up my drink. “Let’s go hang outside. It’s nice right now.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“How are you doing?” I ask. “Still trying to make porn?”
She glares at me. “Reality TV.”
“Oh, sorry. My bad.”
“Dick.” She sighs. “But the business is good.”
“How’d that meeting go, the one you missed?”
She frowns then laughs. “Oh, that. The one about Divas in Space.”
“Right, yeah. I’ve been watching, by the way. Caught the premiere last night.”
“What did you think?”
“Watching Tiara try to put on that suit was pure trash TV magic.”
She grins at me. “That’s what I thought. I pushed to keep that sequence.”
I laugh as we step out onto the balcony. I lean against it and look out at the ocean, breathing the salty air deep. “You have a good eye then.”
She leans next to me and stared down at the sand. “Hey, so listen,” she says.
“Is this the part where you tell me why you sound so upset?”
She glances at me. “You could hear that?”
“You’re not good at hiding it.”
She smiles but there’s nothing behind it. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“Look, what’s up?”
She turns to me and stares for a long moment. I look back into those gorgeous blue eyes and wonder if maybe, just maybe, I don’t want her to say it after all. Maybe I just want that one night to be all there was between us, just one perfect night of pure lust and incredible fucking sex.
“I’m pregnant,” she says.
I take a sharp breath and slowly let it out.
“Okay,” I say.
She frowns. “That’s it? I’m pregnant. With your baby.”
“I figured it was mine.” I tilt my head. “I mean, I did come inside of you. Probably not the best move.”
She blushes. “I didn’t stop you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
She bites her lip and looks away. “I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me. I just… I thought you should know, okay?”
“I’m glad you came,” I say softly. I lean closer to her. “You’re having my baby, huh?”
“I’m having… a baby.” She shrugs. “It doesn’t have to be yours. Really, Shaun. You don’t need to be involved at all. I’m only telling you because… well, because I thought I should.”
I stare at her and feel a surge of anger. “You think I’m the kind of guy to get you pregnant and just… walk away?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know what kind of guy you are at all,” she says. “That’s the point.”
I bite down on my retort and look at the water again.
Pregnant with my baby. I never thought it would come to that.
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me. I wasn’t careful with her. I’m always so careful, but with her… I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t control it.
I needed to fill her, needed to possess her.
And now I do. Now she’s carrying my child.
“I’m not walking out on you,” I say softly. I reach out and tilt her chin toward me, but she pulls away.
“I don’t want to make my life more complicated,” she says, moving away from the balcony. She can’t even look me in the eye as she says it. “I know that’s stupid, since having a baby’s going to complicate things, I just… I don’t need to involve you.”
“What you need and what you want are different things,” I say. “I can help take care of you. Help take care of the baby.”
“You don’t have to do that.” She lets out a breath. “I only came here because I thought it would be the right thing to do.”