He was inviting her to live with him, but he didn’t seem to realize she’d already done that for two years, living at his beck and call.
The only difference was that now she’d also service him in bed. She’d live with him as his girlfriend, at his whim and on his schedule, grateful for any time and attention he chose to give her or their child, assuming their relationship even lasted until the baby was born. And when Antonio chose to leave, she’d be expected to let him go without complaint. She wouldn’t even have the dignity or security she’d had as his secretary.
That was the deal he offered her. He’d possibly be a father to their child, or possibly not; he wasn’t willing to commit, but still, either way, she was supposed to be grateful, and put her heart on the hook to twist whichever way his wind blew.
Her body reacted before her brain, snapping her spine straight. Anger washed through her like a flash flood, knocking out every other emotion as she looked up at him in cold fury.
“No,” she said flatly.
* * *
No? No?
Antonio stared at her in shock, hardly able to believe he’d heard her right.
No?
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard the word no, from anyone, for any reason. Hearing it from a lover was particularly shocking, especially after he’d fought for the last hour to resist his need to possess her, and stick to his original plan.
He’d never expected, if he surrendered to his overwhelming desire for her—even offering to give up his precious freedom and allow her to live with him, in his house—that she might refuse.
Antonio glared at her, feeling somehow betrayed, as if she’d lured him into this moment, just so she could reject and humiliate him.
“Why?” he demanded. How could she say no? She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Didn’t she?
Hana raised her chin. “I went to see a doctor this morning, too.” She looked down at her waistline beneath her white skirt suit. “I heard our baby’s heartbeat.”
The baby’s heartbeat. What a strange idea. “And?
”
With a slight smile, she put her hand on her belly. “Everything is coming along just fine,” she said softly. “I’m due in mid-October.”
Beneath the warm sun in the Tokyo park, his gaze followed hers. The barest curve beneath her white fitted jacket hinted at the child growing inside her. A baby. His baby. Setting his jaw, he pushed all emotion away. “Another reason for you to live with me.”
She narrowed her lovely brown eyes. “I don’t want my baby to be part of your world. Whatever made you become like this...”
“Like what?”
“So cold, so distant, so untrusting.” Hana took a deep breath, then added, “So broken.”
Broken? Anger shot through him. He said tightly, “You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“Don’t I?” Hana gave him a wistful smile as the sun went behind a passing cloud. “I know you don’t want a family and won’t commit to anyone, ever. Why would I want to raise my child with a man like that? Even if I thought you’d actually stick around. Which I don’t.”
His lips parted. He wanted to defy her words, to tell her that he could commit anytime he wanted, he simply chose not to. But the words dried up in his mouth.
Her expression changed as she watched him. She shook her head, looking yearningly toward the happy young family picnicking nearby beneath the blooming cherry trees. “My parents were teachers and we moved to a new country each year. I was rarely in one place long enough to make friends. Growing up, family was all I had.”
“I find that hard to imagine.” Antonio remembered her grandmother’s funeral last year, when so many people had come forward to comfort Hana. “You seem to make friends wherever you go.” His lips suddenly tightened. “Like Ren Tanaka.”
“He’s my oldest friend,” she said softly. “Almost like family.”
“How is it that I never knew of his existence?”
She lifted her eyes. “Because you don’t pay attention to anyone’s life but your own.”
“That’s not true.”