Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
And there, I did not have a village.
I had a shantytown, abandoned, full of ghosts and benevolent spirits.
Sure, Australia was a whole fucking continent. I didn’t need to go back to the place I grew up. There were plenty of quaint seaside towns similar to this that I could make a home in. But home wasn’t a place. It was the people I’d chosen.
“Can we not talk about it for the rest of the day?” I requested, overwhelmed with the complicated future ahead of me if this child did somehow survive my scarred womb.
Nora nodded, her expression still soft, understanding. Ever so slightly pitying. She didn’t have to do this when she got pregnant. She had a man who was utterly besotted with her and treated her like she was the most precious and amazing thing in the world for the duration of her pregnancy. “It’ll be okay. He’ll be shocked but happy. He’s a good man.”
I nodded back because I didn’t want to talk anymore. I didn’t think Kip was a bad person, exactly. But I didn’t think he was an entirely good one either.
That’s what made him so sexy.
As a fake husband.
Not so much as a father.
ten
Fallout
“Hey, babe,” Kip greeted, throwing his keys into the bowl by the door. The gesture and the greeting were so routine. So natural.
A point in the column of ‘acting like a real husband.’
He grinned at me with warmth and wickedness in his eyes, slipping off his boots before walking over to kiss me and grab handfuls of my ass.
Another point for the ‘real husband’ column.
“I’ve been thinkin’ about fuckin’ you all day,” he murmured against my mouth.
Despite the kiss, the ass grab, and the way he threaded sex into every letter he spoke, my body did not have its regular reaction.
I mean, I was vaguely turned on because I wasn’t dead.
But I was churning with bone-chilling dread that even the hottest of desires couldn’t burn off.
Kip stepped back, frowning at me, noting my lack of reaction. He was in tune with my body in a freaky way.
But that could be a fuck buddy thing. Spectacular sex resigned someone to be in tune with the other person’s body, the nonverbal signs of consent.
“What happened?” he asked, his demeanor changing immediately. “Did you hear from the lawyers? Is something fucked-up?” He sounded angry, worried even. Like he cared if something was fucked-up.
Then again, he was most likely worried about the ramifications of the US government finding out we’d committed fraud rather than me being deported.
“Um, no, it has nothing to do with the lawyers,” I told him, avoiding his eyes.
I felt like I was a fucking teenager telling my dad I was knocked up or something.
Like I was going to get in trouble.
Kip’s fingers grasped my chin to tilt it upward, so I had to look at him or squeeze my eyes shut like a child.
I found his ocean-blue gaze. It was hard. Worried. It almost seemed like he… cared.
“It’s something bad if you won’t even look at me,” he said gently.
Shit.
There was nothing for it. I couldn’t drag this out.
Rip off the Band-Aid, bitch.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted. “I have been pregnant. For, like, about a month now. I haven’t told you because I didn’t quite believe it myself and because I have, um, kind of a… history, so I figured it might not even be an issue.” My stomach churned, wondering if I was telling him too early and my body would expel this baby tomorrow.
“But it, uh, I guess is an issue, maybe,” I muttered. “If you want to look at it that way. Of course, something could still happen because something could always happen, but I figure it’s stuck somewhat now, and there’s no avoiding it or lying about it because I’ve had my head shoved down a toilet for the past two days, and you were bound to notice. That and my tits.”
Up until this point, my tits had only been sore and sensitive. Kip noticed because he paid particular attention to them. He just thought I was extra turned on. Which I had been. But now their appearance was beginning to change. Darker nipples. A lot of veins.
And that was just the beginning.
Kip hadn’t spoken since I’d blurted everything out. Shit, I wasn’t sure if he’d even blinked. He was still grasping my chin, standing there, staring at me, face frozen in something resembling shock.
That made sense.
The news was pretty shocking.
“Did you plan this?” he asked quietly.
I didn’t like the quiet tone. In fact, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my blood feel cold.
It was terrifying.
But the question itself was infuriating, so luckily it balanced out and I wasn’t cowering like a simpering bitch or anything.
“What?” I asked, bite to my tone, stepping away from him.