Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 50828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Isabella
I can’t wipe the loopy grin off my face when Nathan lifts me from the rumpled bed and settles me into the huge tub for two in our suite. He thoughtfully sprinkled the rose petals from our bed into the steaming bath. As soon as the water closes around me, I sigh.
He hands me another glass of champagne. “Happy, Mrs. Price?”
“Hmm.” More than I probably should be. The idea that I could soon be pregnant doesn’t horrify me in the least.
God, I sound like I’ve lost my marbles. I don’t know the man I married well, and the idea of having a ruthless stranger’s child should terrify me. A baby is a big responsibility. What kind of father will he be? For that matter, am I ready for motherhood at twenty-three? On the other hand, Nathan is handing me everything I’ve wanted for years on a silver platter. Home. Belonging. Family. Love?
He never mentioned that…
“Need anything else?” he asks.
“A kiss?” I shouldn’t invite him closer or risk falling for him more. I should remember that he’s using me. But after the way he just made love to me? I can’t resist. Despite his manipulation, I’m falling for him, and I don’t know how to stop.
He climbs into the tub beside me and settles into the water before pulling me against his body and covering my lips with his lips in a solemn kiss that sucks me deeper under his spell. “Always. You don’t even have to ask. I’ll always want you. Only you.”
My heart clenches. “You don’t know that.”
“I do. I’m old enough to be sure of who I am and what will make me happy. That’s you, baby girl. You’re everything I could have asked for.”
Does he mean any of the things he says? I don’t know, and I struggle for a reply as I swirl the petals around the warm tub. “I don’t have your experience. I only know what I don’t want: Eric. But this, everything between us, is happening so fast.”
“I know our marriage seems sudden to you. But I’ve been planning this for almost a year.”
His words nearly make me choke. “A year?”
He nods. By the candlelight glow, his expression looks softer, his features almost boyish. “When your father and I started our business together, we were in our twenties, both married with futures to think about. I knew he and your mom were having problems. I had no idea why.”
“There was another woman.”
“My wife.”
“Oh, god.” I should have seen that coming. I should have realized those two weren’t a new item. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t.” He scoffs. “Hell, I didn’t know for longer than I want to admit. I was so busy working, to build a better future for us… Julia didn’t need my income. She made great money as an attorney, but it felt like my responsibility to provide, you know? I was so focused on the future that I didn’t see what was happening in front of me. Then, one day, I got a call from the bank that held the business account I shared with your dad. They said checks I’d written were bouncing. That seemed impossible, but after some digging—and trying for two days to reach your father—I realized he’d taken the money and skipped town.”
“That’s when he left Mom and me. He took all our money, too.” I sigh. “My poor mom dropped out of college to help him finish his education. She waitressed and cleaned houses and took whatever work she could find to pay bills. Dad promised she could finish school once he did, but she got pregnant, so…she decided to be a stay-at-home mom instead. After my father left, we had no means of support. Mom couldn’t find a good job since she hadn’t finished college and hadn’t worked in over a dozen years. We struggled and scraped. Years passed. Dad turned up again out of the blue, all apologies, and opened his wallet. He promised to pay for my college to make up for the way he stiffed Mom and me. He kept his word for the first three years. Then…he disappeared again.”
“This time with my wife.”
“Why didn’t she leave with him the first time?”
He shrugs. “A lot of reasons, but none of them about me or keeping our marriage intact, I suspect. Mostly, she didn’t want to ruin her image at her hoity-toity law firm. Julia was always ambitious, and making partner by the time she was forty was her goal.”
“Is that why you two never had kids?”
He laughs bitterly. “One of the reasons.”
I realize what Nathan isn’t saying. “My father was the other.”
He nods. “Since she was fucking another man, the last thing she wanted to do was get pregnant. But she had me fooled for years. She pretended to monitor her temperature. She bought ovulation kits and kept a journal of her cycle. Every month, she’d lure me into bed over a weekend and swear she was fertile. She acted so disappointed every time she failed to conceive. She even told me she’d sought specialists to find out what was wrong.”