The Heiress's Pregnancy Surprise (Heirs to an Empire 2)

“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, Jacob. Don’t stop.”

CHAPTER NINE

CHARLOTTE WOKE FROM a deep, satisfied sleep. The lamp beside the bed was still on, and she eased herself over and quietly reached for it, flicking the switch and casting the room in darkness. Jacob’s breathing was steady and even, and she curled back under the covers where it was warm from their body heat.

“What time is it?” he asked softly.

“I don’t know. I didn’t want to wake you. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Come here.” He opened his arm and she snuggled against him, both of them naked as the day they were born.

They were quiet for a few minutes and then Jacob said, “Are you okay? After last night?”

She nodded against the hollow of his shoulder. “Are you?”

He chuckled. “Takes more than a little thing like you to mess me up.”

She couldn’t help the smile that spread on her face. “That’s not what I meant.” Neither of them had been gentle, but that hadn’t been what they wanted, either. Heat crept up Charlotte’s cheeks when she thought of how open and vocal she’d been.

He kissed the top of her head. “I know. Sorry if making a joke wasn’t appropriate.”

She shrugged. “We left inappropriate behind a long time ago, didn’t we?”

He sighed. “Yeah. I guess we did.”

“We should probably talk about what happens now, though.” She expected his muscles to tense, but he stayed relaxed against her. “I mean first off, one of us needs to go to the drugstore today and get protection.”

He laughed, his chest rising and falling abruptly. “Damn, Charlie, that was not what I expected you to say.”

She loved the sound of his laugh, the way it rumbled up through his chest. “Well, we’re here until Saturday. And I don’t think it’s realistic to think we won’t be doing this again.”

“Fair.” His hand trailed over her arm. “There’s no denying we have chemistry.”

Chemistry, she thought, but not love. Then again, they had known each other just under a week. Love would be impossible. And a lie, too, wouldn’t it? No one fell in love that quickly.

She thought of her brother, William, and his fiancé, Gabi. Well, maybe. But they were definitely the exception.

“Right,” she finally answered. “But after that...”

“I go back to London and my job, and you go back to Paris, and we look back at this as a very interesting week in our histories.”

He was so right, and it was exactly what she had been planning to say, so why did she feel so deflated?

She was quiet for so long that he nudged her with his arm. “Does that disappoint you?”

“Yes. And I don’t know why, because it was what I was thinking, too. It’s for the best, right?”

He shifted so he was on his side, facing her. She could barely make out his features in the dark; the curtains in the window let in very little of the city lights and his face was wrapped in gray shadows. “Charlotte, I’m not made for relationships, and I don’t belong in your world. You should know that before you decide if things go any further between us this week. It’s not fair for me to give you any hope if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“I’m not!” She rose up on one elbow, her feelings crowding around her, confusing. “God, maybe it’s just the craziness of this week jumbling everything up. I knew last night that this would be a no-strings thing. I went into it with my eyes open. But so much has happened... Maybe I’m more of a mess than I realized.”

“You’re talking to the champ on that one.”

“No doubt.”

But she didn’t press. Didn’t want to. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that he had his own demons to vanquish.

He waited a few moments, then put his hand, so warm and comforting, on her hip. “This thing with Amelie... It’s affected you deeply.”