“Who knew that denying you sex would make you so pliable,” I teased, then yelped, when she ducked her head and nipped at the thick pad of flesh near my thumb.
“Pliable? Take it back.”
With a wink, I just reached for the phone beside the bed. “Hi, I need a doctor, please,” I told the receptionist, watching as my fiancée flopped back on the bed with a dramatic sigh.
“Is everything okay, sir? Is it an emergency?”
“No. We think she may have eaten something that might not have agreed with her.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ll contact the resort doctor right away. I’ll have him come directly to your quarters the minute he arrives, is that okay, sir?”
“Perfect.”
And, things were perfect when, three hours later, having peed on a stick, and having seen the positive sign on i
t, we realized two were about to become three.
Chapter 12
Jessica
Six Months Later
When I saw Martin Nida walk through the doors to Max’s office, I didn’t really know what to think.
Had I expected to see him again?
In the deepest darkest parts of my soul? Maybe.
I’d known Max wouldn’t let it drop, and even though he’d never said anything to me about looking into what had happened, had never mentioned he’d investigated further, now, he didn’t have to.
The man himself was walking toward me, and the craziest thing?
He didn’t recognize me.
Sure, I looked different to how I’d looked then.
Before it happened, I’d had brunette hair that, afterward, I’d let return to my natural dirty blonde locks. After, I’d lost a shit ton of weight and had always looked ragged and tortured whenever I’d had to go to court.
Now?
Well, I was anything other than thin.
My belly was round, and some days, I felt like I was carrying a basketball.
Mackenzie said that I was letting the team down by carrying a basketball, to which Max could frequently be found asking, “Babies don’t come in pigskin.”
I always had to hide a laugh because Mac would just cluck his tongue in disgust and grumble, “You still don’t get it? How many times do I have to make the joke?”
I usually just squeezed Max’s hand when he made to argue, then kissed him.
That had a tendency of keeping him quiet.
A small smile wanted to curve my lips at the thought, but I couldn’t smile. Not when this fucker was walking toward me like he’d never seen me before.
Like he hadn’t taken me against my will, like he hadn’t destroyed me mentally, emotionally, financially. Like he hadn’t proven that for people like me going up against people like him? Yeah, there was no protection.
Not unless you had someone bigger, nastier, and richer than him at your back.