When I first agreed to this arrangement, I didn’t need to remind myself that I hated him. It had been easy to remember.
He was an arrogant, controlling jerk. He’d alienated his sister with his overprotective ways. He might understand how she or I felt, but he didn’t give a shit. Everything had to be his way. Period.
So what happened that I had to remind myself that Bran was a jerk and not a man who cared deeply about family? Who could be generous and kind? Who was sexier than hell?
It was a low point in my life when I agreed to carry his child. Sometimes I still couldn’t understand why I told him I would.
He was a thorn in my side. My nemesis.
But while my mind hated him, my hormones had other ideas. So many nights after having a run in with him, I’d have a dream where he was fucking me senseless… and I liked it!
It had to be the same for him, because even with all our bickering, somehow we’d ended up naked and fucking like rabbits. Instead of getting pregnant from a medical procedure, he’d knocked me up the old-fashioned way. And he’d fucked me again since.
Why was I doing this? It was messing with me emotionally and psychologically.
It had been difficult enough to agree to have his child and walk away. But now, the idea of it made my heart ache.
“Anne?” He quirked a brow and stepped into my room. “Are you alright?” It was odd to hear the concern in his voice.
Almost like he was worried he’d done something wrong. Bran was overly confident and never admitted to being wrong.
“What is all this?” I managed to ask, feeling emotionally overwrought. It could be the pregnancy, but I didn’t think so.
“You don’t like it?”
“I agreed to this deal for a year, at which time I’d get paid. We’re only a few months in.”
He nodded toward the bed as if he was asking permission to sit. Weird. Bran never asked for permission to do anything.
I nodded back, and he sat down. His large body radiated with heat. The scent of his soap and cologne teased my senses.
“I felt you deserved all this. You’ve more than lived up to your side of the deal.”
The deal.
My heart cracked at those words.
It gave me the answer to all my confusion. I didn’t want a deal. I wanted what he wanted, a family.
But in Bran’s mind, his family would be this child and only this child until, of course, he and Harper reconciled, which would happen because Harper would want to be his child’s aunt.
But I would be out.
I’d have my money and freedom, but it didn’t have the same appeal as it had before. It wasn’t enough.
“And the check?”
“I wanted you to know that I trusted you.”
I turned to him, hating that my eyes were starting to water. Stupid hormones.
“You’ve been a perfect surrogate.”
And just like the words “the deal,” the reminder that I wasn’t anything more than a business arrangement made my heart cry.
How could it be possible that I’d fallen for this difficult, bossy man?
I turned away, not wanting him to see the truth of my feelings. He’d probably laugh at me. He’d tell me I was a sappy woman to believe in fairy tales. For all I knew, this was some sort of sick joke.