"I wanted some of my own back. I will not deny it," he said stoically, like admitting a huge secret but doing itmanfully. "But I also thought you would yell and I would yell and we would clear the air on five years ago."
"That's…" She didn't know what that was. Ludicrous? Only not. "But I've offered to talk about what happened back then several times and you've insisted we already drew a line under it."
He shrugged. "I am Sicilian. I am proud."
"And you needed to be angry to talk about something that hurt you deeply."
"I never said I was hurt."
No, but he'd never been willing to talk about it at all.
"I don't want to have to have an argument to talk. My body's taken to handling stress through my stomach."
Again with the look. "An IUD is more than 99% effective, but there are outliers."
"True. I don't have an IUD anymore though."
"You don't?" he asked, his tone laced with shock. "But I thought…" He shook his head, like thinking better of what he'd been about to say.
"When the last one expired, I didn't have another put in. I wasn't in a relationship, or sexually active. How is this any of your business?" she demanded, realizing she was rambling personal details she wasn't sure she wanted to share with Mr. Get-Her-Out-Of-His-System.
"It is not, except that we had in person, penetrative sex when you were in Sicily. Quite a bit of it and I was unaware we were relying entirely on condoms for birth control."
"You didn't ask."
"No, I didn't. I'm not assigning blame, merely explaining."
"What exactly?"
"Why I think you should take a pregnancy test."
CHAPTER 11
Carlo would have smiled at the stupefied expression on Annette's face, but in her current state of emotional volatility, he wasn't taking any chances in her misinterpreting his smile.
"But we always used a condom."
"All birth control has a failure rate, even when used perfectly, and I admit I wasn't as careful, believing you had an IUD." He realized he was mansplaining to a woman who worked with at risk youth.
Annette's knowledge of birth control no doubt outstripped his by miles. However, she was acting like the idea of pregnancy had never occurred to her.
"I can't be pregnant," she said, shaking her head as if her will alone could repudiate the possibility. "Joyce and Fantino are in comas. Jo-Jo needs me right now. I…It's…"
"Your choice, naturally."
She stared at him. "Yes, I…wait, I don't want. Nothing I'm saying is making sense, is it?"
"You are upset."
"Yes, but I'm also a grown up. You're right. I need a pregnancy test. Then we can talk about what's what."
He knew whathewanted, but Carlo didn't fool himself into believing it was the same as what she did. She'd jilted him five years before, and unless something had drastically changed for her, happy families was not in their future.
"And just to clarify something. I do know you. I never doubted you would let me stay with Jo-Jo because that's what's best for her and you would never do anything less. I agreed to become your lover because I wanted to. Full. Stop."
Flummoxed, Carlo watched Annette walk out of the room, not a single word in answer coming to his lips.
She'd been prepared to sign that ridiculous contract because she wanted to be his lover and for no other reason.