Michael’s throat was dry, but he tried to be calm, reasonable. She wouldn’t have shown up here tonight, wouldn’t be lying naked in his arms, satiated with a couple of hours of healthy love if there was someone else, right?
Unless...
He thought back to the day—and night—of their divorce. Sex was exactly how she’d said goodbye.
He couldn’t stand the idea of her with someone else.
“So has something changed?” He finally had to ask. Had to know.
“Maybe.”
Maybe? Could you maybe be in love with someone else?
He continued to hold her, to run one hand lightly up and down her naked back.
“You’re not sure?”
The entire conversation was ludicrous. Susan in love with someone else? Making love with someone else? He might have worried about something like that in the beginning, seven years ago, right after their divorce. But now?
“I’m sure.”
His hand stilled. “You are.”
Her hair was rough against his chest as, slowly, she nodded.
Then why in hell are you lying here, naked, in my bed, in my arms? He wanted to shout at her. Almost did.
Until it occurred to him that Susan had every right to fall in love with someone else. And that he had no rights at all. Not anymore.
Once, he had.
But he’d given them up.
CHAPTER THREE
“I’M GOING to have a baby, Michael.”
Michael flew out of bed, hardly aware of her head flopping onto the pillows behind him as he stood on the thick carpet covering his bedroom floor.
And then, feeling incredibly foolish, he realized he must have misunderstood, heard her wrong. He’d thought, for a second there, that she’d told him she was pregnant.
“What did you say?” He stalled, looking for a way to explain his bizarre behavior without actually telling her what he thought she’d said.
She lay there, gazing up at him, the oddest expression on her face. Half fearful, half belligerent. Her chocolately golden hair was scattered about her face and tangled on the pillows beneath her, her lips bare and swollen, her eyes wide. She’d pulled the covers up to her chin. She looked about sixteen.
“I’m going to have a baby.”
The breath knocked out of him, Michael felt as though he’d been sucker punched. If he hadn’t been butt naked he’d have sunk to the floor.
“You...are.” He couldn’t, for the moment, think of anything more intelligent to say.
Still wearing that odd expression, Susan nodded. He hated the way she was looking at him. Hated seeing her so unsure. Hated everything about this damn evening. This day. This life.
“You’re going to have a baby.” He just couldn’t make sense of it.
She nodded again.
Susan was pregnant. His Susan. The woman whose career meant more to her than anything, including him, was going to be encumbered with someone else’s child.