My jaw hit the floor as my eyes danced between his.
“Excuse me?” I asked through my breathless giggle. “You’re just going to whisk me away to your vineyard?”
“If you’re carrying my child, I want what’s best for it. The best doctors, the best environment, and the best food to put in your body. None of that fits in with a smoky dive bar on dollar beer night,” he said.
“So because I can’t afford the best, you think you can swoop in and give me the best until I pump this child out. Then what?” I asked.
“If the child’s mine,” he said.
“Well you won’t be figuring that out until the child comes out. So that’s been settled already.”
His face hardened and I planted my feet onto the floor. Just in case I had to make my way for the door.
“What do you mean, it’s already been settled?” Gray asked.
“I’ve already had a doctor’s appointment. I’m pregnant. But the paternity test during pregnancy is invasive, painful, and the risk of miscarriage is high. I’m not putting my child at risk because you refuse to believe you could knock someone up with your precious billion-dollar semen. So once the baby comes, it’s a simple prick and test to show you what I already know.”
“Which is?”
“You’re the father of my child, and you’re a dick,” I said.
He chuckled and shook his head before peeling his gaze away from me for the first time. He sat himself up in his chair, trying to make himself look bigger than he already did. He rested his forearms on the table to get closer to me, but all I did was scoot my seat back a bit. I didn’t want to be any closer to him than I needed to be. Partially because I was scared I’d slap him, and partially because I was scared I’d kiss him.
Gray coming for me was like a dream come true. But the angry look in his eye wasn’t.
“And anyway, I’m a gold digger, remember? You said it yourself,” I said. “Why would you want to be anywhere near me, if you’re so sure you know what I am?”
I watched Gray draw in a deep breath before he drained his glass and set it on the table.
“Deep down, I know this child is mine,” he said.
I didn’t even try to hide the shock on my face.
“You do?” I asked.
“Though I know the risk is there—and my sordid past with women won’t let me be rid of the possibility—I know there’s a greater chance that child is mine rather than Andy’s.”
I grimaced at the man’s name, like a bad taste at the back of my mouth.
“This situation is far from ideal, but my child deserves the best care. Which means the woman carrying it does as well.”
“So I’m nothing but an afterthought?” I asked. “Great. Thanks.”
I expected him to have some sort of response. Something to inform me that I was a little more to him than a baby-making machine. But when he didn’t respond, my heart broke again. I didn’t think it was possible after our last encounter, but the last piece of it I managed to keep intact shattered and spilled onto the floor.
So, I got to my feet to leave.
I made my way to the door and flipped the lock, then opened it up to walk out. But before I could get out, it slammed shut with a fury and Gray’s arm wrapped around to lock it again. I was trapped. Pinned between his body and the door as his hands planted firmly into the wood in front of me. His heat was intoxicating, and it brought so many memories to the forefront of
my mind. Anton’s dusty attic. His salacious showers. The sweat pouring off his body when he bent me over that leather sofa. I reached down for the doorknob and jiggled it, but all Gray did was press his chest to my back.
I felt his heart beating rapidly against my skin.
“I can’t get you out of my head, Michelle.”
His whispered words in my ear sent shivers down my spine.
“Despite your faults and despite everything I’ve ever told myself about women, you continue to crush my expectations. You continuously turn them into dust that soars around you like a muted halo of destruction.”