“I think I might love him.”
She just shakes her head, fanning herself as if suddenly overheated. “Do you think he feels the same way?”
“Vin has never been this nice to me, but I keep telling myself it’s just so I’ll keep my end of the deal.”
“Except the marriage has been legal for weeks, and he still moved you into his house,” she points out. “He definitely didn’t have to do that or buy you a new wardrobe. Stuff like that isn’t what you do when you’re keeping it strictly business.”
“If you say so,” I murmur, even though my heart sings.
“I saw that kiss he just laid on you. Vin Cortland has got it bad.” Amelia picks up a lip gloss and dabs it on her lips then makes a puckering kiss at the dressing table mirror.
I want to believe her so badly that I can barely stand it.
My gaze moves to the tall window, where I can barely make out waves crashing outside in the growing darkness. The reception will go on well into the night if Giselle has anything to say about it, but I’m already looking forward to what will come after.
If my first wedding night was good, I can only hope the second will be even better.
There is a loud banging on the locked door.
Amelia looks amused when I turn to stare at her with wide eyes. “I think I know who that is.”
But when she gets up to open the door, it isn’t Vin who bursts into the room.
Jake freezes in the doorway when he catches sight of me.
I didn’t even realize he had been invited.
When I open my mouth to asks what the hell he wants, he blurts out a question before I have the chance.
“Are you pregnant?”
“What the hell?" I’m not sure if I should be offended at his concern or not. “That isn’t the only reason people get married, you know.”
“I heard him talking about it with that other sociopath he hangs out with, Iain or whatever his name is. Vin was practically bragging about how he was going to trick you into getting pregnant by poking holes in condoms. All so he could get his inheritance.” The words are slurred but clear as Jake leans against the wall for support. His eyes are bleary as he stares across the room at me. It doesn’t take a field sobriety test for me to know he is moments from collapsing in a drunken stupor. “Please tell me that you haven’t fucked him yet.”
Anger rises in me as I stare at him. This guy hasn’t spoken to me in weeks, and now he shows up to ruin my wedding. “Which time? Vin and I have been screwing since sophomore year.”
“You bitch.” His expression turns furious. “So you’ll put out for Cortland, but not for me? I always knew you were a little slut.”
The words slam into me with enough force that it robs me of breath. But Amelia doesn’t suffer the same frozen reaction. She leaps up and hustles Jake out of the room, sending him stumbling in the corridor before she slams the door shut.
“Jealousy sure does strange things to people.” Amelia turns back to me with her eyebrows raised. “You mind telling me what that was all about?”
“No idea.” My voice is breezy, even as I feel a stab of pain in the pit of my stomach. “Jake was drunk.”
But I have condoms in my purse that I grabbed from Vin’s bedroom. I didn’t have any idea where the night would lead us, and I wanted to be prepared.
That’s almost laughable if what Jake said is true.
While Amelia frantically asks what I’m doing, I rifle through my bag for the condoms. I hold one up to the light and squint at it. In the very center of the outlined circle is a tiny hole in the foil, only visible when it catches in the light.
A hole that is the exact size and shape of a safety pin.
Amelia’s face is pinched with worry. “When was the last time you had your period?”
My periods have never been regular. Thank stress, intermittent starvation, or just plain old body chemistry, but I’m not in the habit of bothering to keep track of them. I’ve gone months in between before, so the delay isn’t something I would normally worry about. “I’m not sure, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
She bites her lip. “There’s a drug store right down the street. I can be back in five minutes.”
“No, really…”
But Amelia is already heading resolutely for the door. “Five minutes, okay. Don’t move.”
It actually takes seven for her to get back. I know that because I find myself counting every second as I stare at the floral-patterned wall. The pregnancy test comes in a little box that should rip apart easily under my fingers, but I struggle to get it open because my hands are shaking.
Amelia waits in the other room while I hover over the toilet to pee on the little stick.
It only takes another minute or so for my fate to be sealed.
Two little pink lines waver in my vision as I struggle not to pass out.
The bathroom door bangs open and crashes against the far wall. I don’t need to look up to see who it is. His presence sucks all of the air out of the room until I find it impossible to breathe.
“Why am I pregnant?”
The expression on his face is all the confirmation I need of his guilt. He doesn’t seem surprised as he stares down at me.
Just resigned.
Amelia peers at me over his shoulder, expression puggish like she is more than willing to manhandle him out of the room if
