He sat at his desk chair and patted his lap. Usually she’d oblige him, but not now. Had his parents’ lawyer gone after her again? Maybe he needed to up his game.
“We don’t talk about us,” she said.
“What are you talking about? That’s all we ever talk about.”
“No, we talk about the baby, getting pregnant, watching my stomach grow.” She paced the office. “I mean, I realize that was the deal. This was all about the great Bennett heir. But somewhere along the line, I fell in love.”
He didn’t know what to say. When she looked at him with those big dark eyes, all her vulnerabilities on the surface, he became speechless. She was so damn beautiful. And young. He’d taken advantage of her when they first met because he never expected her to want anything to do with a forty-five-year-old man. To hear her declaration, a multitude of emotions took him by surprise.
“Nothing to say?” She exhaled a little breath. “It’s okay, Tobias. It was my fault for thinking I could change you.” Adora placed a brown paper bag on his desk. “I have to meet my mother for lunch.”
She walked out. He watched her go, and for some reason stayed rooted in place, not stopping her. Her words still played in his head. This all started out with sex, using Adora to mother his baby without attachments. Somewhere along the line everything changed.
Tobias opened the bag and reached inside. It was a white stick.
A pregnancy test.
It was negative.
****
Everything had been going so well, but the longer they were together, the more fragile she realized their relationship was. No matter how happy they were, the fact was this started because Tobias wanted a baby. If she couldn’t give him what he wanted, how long until she used up her usefulness? They had sex like rabbits and no pregnancy. Adora wasn’t naïve. She knew it could take months to make a baby, but the negative test made her think, make her wonder if Tobias would even want her if she couldn’t give him an heir.
Dating, sex, and compatibility was great, but she needed things to move to the next level. She needed Tobias to be real, to open up to her, to emotionally commit. And she wasn’t sure he was even capable of giving her what she needed.
By the time Friday came around, she missed Tobias fiercely. He hadn’t called, and she assumed he’d lost interest after seeing the test. She’d wanted him to think, to consider what he wanted before they got too deep. It worked, but her heart was already starting to crack down the middle. They were supposed to go to a gallery opening tonight to celebrate one of the Bennett Corporation’s newest office buildings. Since she hadn’t heard from Tobias, she assumed the date was off.
Adora lay on her twin bed, reading her text book. Ever since seeing him earlier in the week, she’d wanted to kiss him, to feel his warm skin. What if she never tasted him again? How would she feel if she saw him with a new girlfriend? Maybe a model? She immediately felt for her mother. Adora couldn’t imagine watching Tobias get married and seeing it plastered on the news.
Her cellphone rang, and she rolled to her side to grab it off her night table. It was him. She dropped her book, and bolted up into a sitting position. Her heart raced, a sense of peace filling her just knowing he’d remembered her.
“Hello?”
“Are you ready?” That voice. Just the baritone made her wet.
“I wasn’t sure if we were still going. I haven’t heard from you all week,” she said.
There was silence on the line.
“Tobias?”
“I’ll have a car at your apartment within the hour. A dress would be appropriate,” he said. “And, Adora?”
“Yes?”
“Keep your hair out, and I don’t want you wearing any panties.”
He ended the call, and she sat there looking at her phone. The man was cold as ice. He was ready to continue on as normal without talking, without changing. And she was too much in love to refuse him.
Adora showered and wore a simple floral dress. It was the nicest thing she owned. She wanted to look beautiful for Tobias, to see desire in his eyes. It had been a while since he’d claimed her body, and her pussy ached for him. When they had sex, to her, it felt like bonding … like love. Even if it wasn’t real, she’d take what she could get.
The drive to the downtown core was tense. She had a nervous energy—excitement to see Tobias and anxiety about the fancy event. No matter how much he reassured her, she always felt out of place in his world.
She stepped out of the car and looked up at the building. The sunset reflected off the angled glass surfaces, mesmerizing her.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Tobias’s arms snaked around her waist from behind. She hadn’t even seen him.
“It really is.”