him as a courtesy, not seeking his advice or support or anything else. Would he be disappointed that she wasn’t even prepared to consider a termination? Well, what did it matter if he was?
Amy didn’t have a single living relative aside of the father who didn’t want any contact with her, and she wanted her child, regardless of how difficult raising her baby alone would be. When her baby was born, she would have a family for the first time ever and she savoured that concept. Yes, it would be tough going it alone as a parent, but other women managed and why shouldn’t she, when she was willing to work hard? She was relieved that she would, at least, have completed her apprenticeship by the time her child was born, because that would equip her for a decent job in the future.
All those sensible thoughts aside, Amy’s drowsy brain centred back on Sev, lingering on unforgotten moments with Sev’s lean, hard body arching over hers and giving her the most incredible pleasure. Guiltily shelving that recollection, she curled up tighter.
While Amy dozed that afternoon, Sev struggled to concentrate on work. He had assumed that Amy would cave sooner. Ten days was longer than he had expected to wait to hear from her again and he had been mulling over other possible approaches before she texted him while at the same time reminding himself that he intended to allow her to walk away and stay away, that she was scarcely irreplaceable, that he had many other tempting options. Only that inner pep talk hadn’t worked because his libido seemed to have centred on her, so that the allure of other women, and the appeal of the variety he had always thought so necessary to his comfort, had faded. Was that because Amy had now made herself a challenge?
Was he one of those strange men doomed to only really want a woman who seemed unavailable? A bored man in need of novelty, who could only seriously desire what he couldn’t have? The suspicion bothered him, not least because he kept on breaking his own strict rules with Amy. He had had sex with her even though he had promised himself at the outset that he would not do so. He had taken her home, kept her there all night and his hunger for her had still not been sated. But it would get messy with Amy, drama queen that she was, he reflected grimly.
Did it ever occur to you...that I could be falling in love with you?
Who the hell said that to a guy she had only spent one night with? True, it had been an extraordinary night, but they had still only shared one night and a handful of meetings. And what was with the ‘urgently’ in that text of hers? In their relationship nothing could be urgent...
Except his desire to have her again, he acknowledged, a desire that kept him hard and aching. So, was he planning to forgive her? She had infuriated him, offended him. He leant back in his office chair and cursed. His mind, his thoughts were all over the place, not concentrated as was the norm for him. A lean brown fist clenched. He wanted his peace of mind back, his ability to focus. Was she the key?
He was willing to admit that he had screwed up with Amy. The sex had muddied the waters. He should have resisted her, not slept with her, at least not until that party was over and the truth was out. He could do nothing now to change anything that had happened, although it should have occurred to him sooner that Amy would be hurt by her father’s indifference and that she would blame him for that experience.
As for her accusation that he had neither compassion nor decency, that was categorically untrue. A lack of humility? Well, he was willing to own up to that flaw. He had tasted enough humility as a persecuted child to ensure that he would rarely be humble without good cause as an adult. In addition, he possessed the fierce confidence of a guy who very rarely found himself in the wrong.
But whether he liked it or not, he had gone wrong with Amy. But if he could go back, would he be willing to forgo the pleasure of seeing Lawson’s face freeze and pale when he realised who Amy was? No, he had gained too much satisfaction from that moment to regret it,