He smiled back and kissed her nose as he shifted to leave the bed. As soon as he pulled out, she felt the wetness run down her leg.
“Enzo!” She sat up. “You didn’t use a condom.”
He didn’t seem to process it immediately and just looked at her. Then he began to murmur something in Portuguese that didn’t help calm her nerves at all. She jumped off the bed, pushed him aside, and went to the bathroom to wash up. It had been great. Perfect, really. But not let’s-make-little-babies-together perfect.
The bubble burst.
Exploded was more like it.
Chapter 14
His mind was reeling.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
That had never happened before; even with his ex-wife, he’d worn condoms even after she assured him she was on the pill. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he always wondered if she would try to trap him even further into her web by getting herself pregnant. But with Jamie Lynn, he hadn’t even thought of it. He had wanted to press his body on top of hers so badly. Show her he was safe. That she was safe with him, that it had slipped his mind. Now he was freaking the hell out. Not the thought of having a baby with Jamie Lynn…well, that made him a bit anxious, naturally, but more because she was so wary as it was, that she’d surely use this to push him completely away.
He knocked on the bathroom door before opening it to find her sitting on the edge of the tub, her head on her palms slightly rocking back and forth. When he got closer she looked at him, her eyes rimmed with tears.
“Come here,” he said as he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the room. “Let’s talk about this. I’m so sorry I didn’t—”
“I’m a big girl. It was my responsibility too. It takes two and all that shit, right. Shoulda realized—”
“Shh, baby. Calm down,” he said as he kissed her forehead. “Let’s get one thing out of the way. I’m clean. I get tested at the Academy.”
“I’m clean too. I haven’t been with anyone in over a year and I got tested after that.”
“Okay, that’s good,” he said as he caressed her hair. “Listen, if you’re pregnant you’re pregnant, okay? I’m here. We’ll deal. We’re not teenagers. We’re employed adults in a relationship. You told me you wanted kids and I did too. This may not be ideal, but it’s not going to break us.” He wasn’t sure what else to say. “Okay?”
If there were ever words to soothe a fucked-up situation, those were it, she thought. “Yeah, okay.” She sucked in a breath to calm her nerves.
After a few moments of silence, she murmured, “Enzo, that was amazing. If it weren’t for the scare we’re about to go through for the next few weeks, I’d say that it couldn’t have been better.”
He pulled back so that she could see his face. He wanted to say that it was perfect even with the lack of condom, but instead he kissed her cheeks and nose and then brushed her hair until they both fell asleep.
—
The next morning, JL sat on the bathroom counter, her legs swinging, while she watched him shave. “I was wondering. Do you use a measuring tape to make sure the sideburns are perfectly even?” Other than those four days when he didn’t shave, she’d never seen him in the last year with a nick, a missed hair, a five o’clock shadow. This morning he was perfection with his parted thick black hair and perfectly smooth face.
“I remember the first time I asked you out, you looked at my face and hair and called me stuffy and boring.”
“I was stupid back then.”
“That was less than a year ago.”
“I’ve really matured since then,” she said with a wink.
He lifted her off the vanity and slapped her butt. “Yes, I see how mature you are. Did I find a box of Oreos without the white cream on my nightstand? Must have been that other mature woman I’m dating.”
“I’ll have you know, crazy neat freak, I had planned on cleaning that up before you woke up. I like the entire Oreo, but I had already eaten so many that I couldn’t fit one more cookie.” She patted her stomach. “And I was too tired to go throw away the cookie part. You weren’t meant to see that.”
“See it?” He guffawed. “I felt them! I had cookies in the crack of my ass when