Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Please slow down.” She says and I glance down at her, which means I miss the group of guys messing around as they come around the corner, one of them shoving his friend right into Hanna sending her stumbling into me with an “Oof.”
Wrapping my arms around her I pull her against my front and look over the top of her head narrowing my eyes on the kid who shoved his friend. “Watch what the fuck you’re doing.” Swallowing hard he looks up at me then he glances at Hanna.
“Ugh, sorry, Miss.”
“It’s okay,” she whispers, giving him a smile, and I grit my teeth.
Moving her into my side when I really want to pick her up I hustle her to the cab and open the back door, I wait until she’s inside, then I get in and give the driver the address to the house while I hook her seatbelt around her. My hands shake as they brush across her midriff where our baby is. Our fucking baby. Jesus. After checking to make sure she’s secure, I sit back, and neither of us says a word as he drives us from the city to the house forty minutes away.
When we arrive home, I pay the driver as she gets out, taking her purse with her, then follow her up the walkway to the front steps.
As soon as the door closes behind me, I watch her begin to pace back and forth across the living room, and I stand back with my arms crossed over my chest.
“I can’t believe you went through my purse.” That statement and the look she shoots at me that has my hackles rising.
“I didn’t. When you got out of the booth, you knocked it to the ground and didn’t notice. Everything fell out, and I picked it up.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slump forward.
“When were you going to tell me?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t gotten that far in my thought process,” she whispers, stopping in front of the window to look outside.
“But you were going to tell me, right?”
“Yes.” Her gaze meets mine, and tears fill her eyes. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
“Did you get yourself pregnant?”
“Um…” Her brows dart together. “no?”
“Then that apology is fucking ridiculous.”
“It’s not.” She swallows. “I… I was on the shot before I met you. I hadn’t been having sex, so I put off getting it updated, then totally forgot all about it all together. I wasn’t on anything when we started having sex without condoms, so this—” She points at her stomach that is still flat. “—is absolutely my fault.”
“Pretty sure I was a participant every time we’ve had sex, Hanna. And last I checked, no form of birth control, including condoms, are a hundred percent at preventing pregnancy.”
“You should be mad!” she cries.
“Is that what you want? You want me to be pissed off that you’re carrying my child?” I shake my head. “That’s not gonna happen, if that’s what you’re looking for. I knew before you ever left Ibiza that I’d do whatever it took to make it difficult for you to cut me off. This is just one more way I’m guaranteed to keep you for the rest of my life.”
“That sounds insane, Walker.”
“Maybe,” I agree, and her eyes widen as she takes a step back.
“Did you… Did you switch our phones on purpose?”
I don’t answer. I don’t need to. She already knows the answer.
“Oh my God, you did, didn’t you?”
“I gave you access to all of me. There were no secrets and no way I could hide anything from you. You needed to know you could trust me, and I needed a way to guarantee I’d see you again.”
“I don’t even know what to say.”
“‘I’m in love with you’ would be a good place to start.”
Her head jerks back. “I don’t…. I’m… I’m not.... I—”
“Don’t piss me off by lying to my face,” I cut her off. “You’re just as in love with me as I am with you. And sure, I went to an extreme to force things in a direction that worked for me, but I have zero regrets.”
“You stole my phone after I told you that I didn’t want to see you again.”
“So, if I had walked away, left things like they were in Ibiza, and we never connected again, you’d have been okay with that?” I ask, and the color drains from her face like the idea is even too much to think about. “Tell me one time I’ve made you regret this relationship.”
“It’s not that simple,” she whispers, and fuck, I want to rip my hair out.
“It is. You either love me or you don’t!” I shout, getting pissed off. Actually, I’m already pissed, because she’s so fucking stubborn.
“Fine!” she shouts back. “I love you! Are you happy now?”
“Yes.”
“You do realize you’re a walking red flag, right?”