matter what I did.
I stormed out of my office and went to check on Maya.
She stood next to her desk with her bag over her shoulder.
Her baby bump getting that well defined roundness. Her cheeks were the same, but I knew better than to tell her that.
“Well that guy is just an asshole,” she said.
“Who?”
“Mr. Pickle.”
“When did you see him?”
“He came into my office,” she said. “I was sitting down and stayed that way. I didn’t need some sexual comments about me being pregnant.”
“I told you to get out of here,” I said.
“I didn’t have a chance.”
“No, you did. You just decided not to listen. And don’t tell me my brother is calling. You don’t know who that is on the phone. Ever. Got it?”
Stop snapping at her, Cole.
“Oh, so Dr. Vulvafuck is real?” Maya asked. “What does he do for a living? Is he a dentist? An eye doctor?”
“Watch your mouth,” I said.
“I’m leaving.”
“We’re not done here today.”
Maya touched her stomach. “We are. I need to go home and rest.”
“Is the baby okay?” I asked.
“Oh, look, there’s Cole,” Maya said. “Good to see you for a second.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll leave with you,” I said.
“You stay. You have a lot to do.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry I snapped, Maya. Mr. Pickle was making comments about your… chest… and I didn’t want him to see you again…”
“Jealous?” Maya asked. “Protective? Why?”
Because I’m fucking falling in love with you. And if I tell you that, you won’t believe me. You’ll think it’s because of the baby. You’ll fight back because you’re strong and stubborn. You’ll drive me nuts and challenge me…
“Just go,” I said.
“Don’t come over tonight,” Maya said. “I don’t need this version of you near me right now. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Maya left the office.
I could have grabbed her. I could have hugged her. I could have kissed her.
But I let her leave.
She was always my Plan A. To go home with her and pretend to play house together in the apartment.
Now I had to go Plan B.
Which was to get drunk.
“Who the fuck did you get pregnant?”
I was drunk, holding an ultrasound picture, in Liam’s apartment.
“Cole?” Liam asked.
I just stared at him.
“Earth to Cole…”
Liam had no choice.
He had to punch me in the jaw to snap me out of my trance.
I groaned and stepped back, grabbing my jaw.
“Liam! Did you just hit Cole?”
I rubbed my jaw and looked at Emily as she shuffled out of the bedroom.
“Oh, fuck,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“He’s drunk,” Liam said. “And emotional. Give us a minute?”
“You okay, Cole?” Emily asked me.
“I’m great,” I said. “I was coming here to look for you. Wanted to see if you’d run away with me.”
“What?” Emily asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “It was a bad joke. I was going to say I asked Callie too… just… a bad joke…”
“Em,” Liam said. “He’ll be fine.”
Liam grabbed my shirt and walked me outside the apartment.
He slammed me against the wall and smacked the ultrasound picture to my chest.
“Start talking,” he growled.
“I got her pregnant.”
“Who?”
“Maya.”
“Maya?”
“My secretary.”
“Holy shit,” Liam said. He stepped back. “You fucked your secretary?”
“Liam… you can’t imagine how pregnant she is right now. Look at the date on the ultrasound.”
Liam looked at the date and I readied myself for the next punch.
He cracked me in the same spot on the jaw.
I turned and groaned.
I didn’t feel much pain then, but I would in the morning.
“This is months old,” Liam growled. “You’ve been hiding this?”
“I’ve been hiding her,” I said. “It’s a fucking mess, Liam.”
“What are you doing here now then?”
I looked at Liam and rubbed my jaw. “I don’t know how to be a father. I never had one.”
“Cole…”
“And I’m in love with her.”
“What?”
“I love her. I love Maya. I love her being pregnant. I love being with her. I just… the work stuff and the out of work stuff…”
Liam grabbed my shoulder and sighed. “Fuck, Cole. You really dug in deep this time.”
“Yeah.”
“I need a drink now,” Liam said.
“I could use another one myself.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Maya
I couldn’t get comfortable.
I tossed and turned.
I touched my stomach.
I tried using different pillows.
But it wasn’t physical discomfort.
It was because Cole wasn’t in bed with me.
My emotions and those damn pregnancy hormones got the best of me around midnight when I sat up and pictured Cole fucking some woman he met at a bar.
Going to her swanky apartment.
Her skinny, long legs. Her perfect stomach. Her comfortable breasts.
The opposite of me.
My stomach was pushing out so far that my belly button was starting to