Chapter Three

 

 

Six weeks later

 

Aurora froze as she walked back into her office with the salad she’d just picked up down the street. There were flowers on her desk.

These days there were always flowers on her desk.

She put her salad down and picked up the lilies, then glanced at the card, which was once again simply signed “From Dante.” With a sigh, she caressed the D in his name with her fingertips before placing the card along with the stack of identical cards in her desk drawer. Then she strode back out to the break room. Gently, she placed the flowers into the vase along with yesterday’s roses and the daisies from the day before. The office was running out of vases, and she was running out of patience with Dante Callaghan.

AKA the biggest mistake of her life.

She strode back into her office and shut the door. She just wished she could shut the door against the memories that assaulted her whenever she thought of him. The way he’d rearranged her clothes then set her gently back in the front seat after he’d given her some of the most intense orgasms of her life. How he’d held her hand as he’d driven her to his house. How he’d carried her up to his room like she hadn’t weighed a thing.

And how he’d rolled with her, kissed every inch of her, made her scream for hours.

Aurora squeezed her eyes closed and let her head fall back on the door. The image that tortured her, the one that made her feel like she couldn’t breathe, was how he’d looked just before she’d snuck out early the next morning. Peaceful and sated and somehow dangerous. It was like watching a lion sleep. She couldn’t believe how much of her had wanted to crawl back into bed with him, lick up his stomach and see what happened. But the rest of her, the sane part of her, had been screaming for her to get the fuck out of there before he woke up and they had to talk about whatever the hell had happened.

So, she’d snuck out, gotten an uber, and hadn’t spoken to him in over six weeks. Unfortunately, the memories of their time together kept playing in her head, even at the most inopportune times. It was playing with her head. Distracting her. Affecting her performance at work. Which was why she was ducking him. She’d made up bullshit excuses to Gio, and he’d taken over all interactions with Dante.

She was hoping that eventually, if she distanced herself from him enough, the memories of their passion would fade and things would go back to the way they’d used to be. Sure, she’d always found him attractive, but she’d convinced herself his arrogance irritated her too much to ever give in to that attraction. She could convince herself of that again.

Dante Callaghan and his magic cock were not on her list of things she was going to spend time or energy on.

Only he wasn’t making moving on easy for her, damn him.

After she’d snuck out on him, there’d been radio silence for a few days. Something that had both relieved and, weirdly, disappointed her. But then she’d gotten a text from an unknown number.

Pretty sure that of the two of us, YOU’RE the fuck boy.

She’d tried not to smile. She’d tried not to text back, she really had. But then her fingers were somehow acting without her permission.

Excuse me?

Anything to get me in the sack and then you mess with my head. That’s the definition, right?

Aurora wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to grimace.

I’m not trying to mess with your head.

That’s exactly what a fuck boy would say.

Now she really did laugh. She ignored the pinching in her gut when she typed what she did next.

Not trying to play games, Dante. It was a great night. Let’s leave it at that.

It had been a great night. Actually, it had been the best night of her life. But no matter how you sliced the pie, she was in love with Gio. And if she couldn’t have him, then she was going to have the second most important thing in her life. Her career.

Not to mention the fact that Dante was a major player. He’d pursued her for a long time, sure. But she was under no misconceptions that she was the only woman he was treating that way. He’d just wanted what he couldn’t have. And, according to the rumors, there was very little that Dante couldn’t have. She’d heard through Alice, Gio’s intern, that Dante had dated no less than six women in their office building. And it was not a big office building. She didn’t know what kind of game he was playing with the flowers, but it wasn’t one that Aurora planned to get wrapped up in.

He hadn’t texted her again or called since that day, but he had sent flowers almost every day for the last six weeks.

It was flattering, she told herself, that was all. That was the reason that the gesture made her heart beat fast. And the flowers were always beautiful. That was why she had a little pinch in her chest every time she took them out of her office and put them in the break room.

She just wished every time Gio happened to see them, he didn’t tease her about the smart man trying to win her heart. Every time he said it, Aurora had to swallow the lump in her throat.

He hadn’t said anything about it specifically, but Aurora had the distinct impression that things were on the right track with Rose. She could tell that Gio was happier than he’d been in a very long time, and she in turn tried to be happy for him. Unfortunately, thinking of him with Rose depressed her so much that yesterday, when the gigantic delivery of orangey pink roses came, she’d been tempted, for the first time, to text Dante, see what he was doing.

She’d opened up her phone, brought up a blank text to him. She’d managed to stop herself, however. After all, she thought, what would he think when she texted him out of the blue, what was it, six weeks later?

Six weeks, she once again thought.

Wait…

Six. Weeks.

Was it possible?

Aurora scrolled through her phone to her calendar app. Yup. Sure enough. The lung cancer fundraiser had been six weeks ago. And that meant…

Her stomach in one humongous knot, Aurora did some backwards math. She hadn’t had her period in eight weeks. Which meant that she’d been exactly two weeks into her very regular cycle when she’d slept with Dante. They’d used a condom every time they’d fucked, but they’d fucked a lot, and now she’d missed her period…

In a daze, she lowered herself into her desk chair. She took a deep breath, trying to reassure herself. She hadn’t been sick, or had headaches, or cramps, or any other physical symptoms of pregnancy. And she’d been upset. Stressed. Sad about Gio. Women skipped periods all the time over stuff like that, right? Right.

One thing was certain, however, she needed to put her mind at ease, and the best way to do that was a pregnancy test. Only when she took a pregnancy test later that night, she still wasn’t reassured. Not completely. Like condoms, pregnancy tests weren’t 100% effective, especially when it was early in a pregnancy. So the next day, she immediately called her doctor and set up the earliest appointment she could.

Two days later, Aurora was sitting on the papery table of an examination room trying not to freak the hell out.

“Congratulations,” Dr. Radnor said to Aurora. She laid a hand on Aurora’s shoulder for just a second. “Do you… have someone to share the news with? Maybe help you think about your options?”

“My mother,” Aurora answered weakly, both reassured and crushed by the thought. She wasn’t alone, sure. But she didn’t have a partner.

She couldn’t believe it. She’d been so careful. So restrained. Such a good girl for the most part.

Good girl. Dante’s voice echoed through her head. It was what he’d said to her as he’d gently guided her down on his cock, encouraged her to take even more.

The one time she really let herself loose she went and got pregnant.

God. What was she going to do?

 

* * *

 

Dante sat in Gio’s plush office and drummed his fingers on the arm of the leather chair he was kicked back in.

“No, that’s exactly what I was thinking, Doug,” Gio said into the speakerphone, turning and raising his eyebrow at Dante’s drumming fingers.

Dante rolled his eyes but stopped the nervous habit.

He was annoyed with Gio, but really he was lucky the man had his shit together. He was phoning this meeting in. Just like he had with almost everything for the last six weeks. He just couldn’t get his head in the game. And the reason for that was sitting in her office not thirty feet away.

Well, he was actually pretty certain she wasn’t sitting in her office. Every single time he’d come to Gio’s office for a meeting for the last six weeks, she’d mysteriously disappeared. All for apparently good reasons. Lunch with clients. Picking up something from the printers. An out of office meeting.

He knew she was avoiding him. That much was obvious. The six weeks of silence were evidence of that. He internally rolled his eyes at himself. As if he needed any more evidence that she wanted nothing to do with him given she’d snuck out in the middle of the night.

A night that had left Dante irrevocably changed.

She’d run without leaving anything more than her scent on the pillow, which had clung for a week. When the scent had finally disappeared, he’d reached out to her via text. And that was that. She’d made her feelings clear.

He sent the flowers because… well he wasn’t exactly sure why. He wasn’t ready to let this shit go. And she hadn’t told him to cut it out, so part of him wondered if he was somehow making progress with her.

Who was he kidding? He wasn’t making progress with her. He hadn’t struck out this hard with a woman since… well, never. It was fucking with his head. That was why he’d agreed to see Grace tonight. She was an old friend in town for a night on business. One who he’d shared a few mutually satisfying nights with. It was an invitation he would have normally jumped on with no reservations whatsoever. Vigorous sex with Grace could be just what the doctor ordered. He needed to get over this crush or whatever the hell it was he felt for Aurora. So why had he felt like he was cheating on Aurora when he’d made the date?

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Gio demanded as he clicked off the phone call and rounded on Dante. “You barely spoke on that phone call. You know that neither of us are going to land this client if you sit there like a complete jack off.”

Dante opened his mouth, automatically getting his hackles up, but really, Gio was right. He scraped a hand over his hair. “You’re right.”

“What?” Gio looked at him like he’d just announced he was joining a nudist colony.

“I said that you’re right. I’m off my game right now. Thanks for carrying the phone call.”

“Oh,” Gio stared at him, perplexed. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, we uh, don’t have to do the whole feelings thing, man.”

“Alright.” Gio shrugged. “You going to be ready for the meeting next week? If not, it’s better if I just do it by myself.”

“No, no.” Dante rose from his chair. That’s the last thing he wanted. To have someone carry him professionally because he’d gotten his fucking feelings hurt by a woman. “I’ll be fine. It’s just been a fucked up Spring. But it’s over now.”

“Alright,” Gio said again. He opened up his office door and they walked out. “Did Alice give you the specs for the project yet?”

“No, not unless she emailed them while we were in the meeting.” Dante took out his phone and checked his email.

“No worries. Aurora has them,” Gio said, striding over to her closed office door and swinging it open.

Dante blinked his eyes in surprise. There she was. Standing beside her desk, shuffling papers. Wearing a blue dress and a long silver necklace. A ponytail. Her gorgeous, blonde hair tumbled over her shoulder in a fucking ponytail. God damn it. He had such a weak spot for ponytails.

She blinked right back at him, obviously shocked to see him.

“Dante! I didn’t know you were going be in the office today.”

If I had, I wouldn’t be here. It was the unspoken other half of her statement.

Dante stepped up beside Gio in her doorway.

“Unexpected conference call with Doug Wexler,” Gio replied.

“Oh!” Aurora looked surprised and excited. “Tell me we got the account.”

“Not yet. Wexler’s dragging his feet. We’re going to meet again next week.”

Dante was grateful for Gio not mentioning the fact that Doug Wexler was dragging his feet because Dante was so far off his game.

“Do you have the project specs?” Gio continued, apparently blind to the fact that Aurora was looking absolutely anywhere but at Dante. “Dante needs them.”

“Oh, sure.” She hurried around her desk to the filing cabinet in the corner. Dante couldn’t help but watch the way her beautiful body moved with such grace. Like a panther stalking the length of a branch. She dug through a file for a minute before pulling some papers out.

“Mr. Esposito,” Alice called from the other room. “I’ve got a client on the phone for you.”

Gio nodded his head to Dante and ducked out of the room, closing the door behind him. And just like that, Dante and Aurora were alone in her office.

She was holding the papers out to him, her eyes wide and shocked. Dante opened his mouth to say something flirty and snarky, but as he crossed the room he saw the papers shake in her hand. And come to think of it, her normally golden skin was looking awfully pale.

“Aurora, are you alright?” he asked, crossing to her.

“Yes. I just… I’m feeling a little faint…”

Her knees buckled and Dante was at her side in less than a second. He gripped her at the waist and then under her knees. Lifted her right off the floor.

“Dante, that’s not necessary,” she insisted, but she didn’t push away from him or stiffen. In fact, she closed and dropped her head to his shoulder for a second. Dante set her gently in her office chair and immediately knelt beside her.

“What’s going on? Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Have you eaten today?” His heart was beating a mile a minute.

She gestured to an unopened salad on her desk. “I just picked that up a few minutes ago.”

Dante grabbed the salad and ripped the top off. “There’s no food in this food!”

“What?” She rubbed a hand over her forehead and looked at him in confusion.

“There’s like two pieces of lettuce and one olive. What the hell kind of lunch is this? No wonder you’re fainting.”

A small smile quirked its way out of her lush lips before she wiped her expression clean. “I happen to like my food. And don’t worry about the lightheadedness. I just didn’t sleep well last night. What are you doing?”

“I’m fanning you with a file, what does it look like?” Dante was irritated and he wasn’t sure why. The woman needed a BLT and a beer. That would set her right. But the odds that he could get her to eat any of that were zero. So she was going to have to just sit there and let him fan her.

She swatted at his hand. “Don’t be ridiculous, Dante.”

“Just hush up and let me take care of you for a second, Aurora.”

Her eyes widened as she stared up at him. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Her voice was small when she spoke again, confusion and vulnerability warring in her eyes. “That’s what you want?”

He set the file down and didn’t break eye contact, knowing that they were suddenly talking about so much more than just her fainting spell. “I want anything you’re willing to give me. Anything.” His response was truthful.

She nodded. The vulnerability didn’t leave her eyes. If anything it intensified.

“I…I…”

Holy shit. Was she looking at his mouth? Dante tensed, not believing his fucking luck, as Aurora leaned forward in her chair. Her breath fanned over his face as he closed the distance between them.

But Aurora pulled back, jumping when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

He ignored it.

“Aren’t you going to get that?”

“No. I’m more concerned about you right now.”

When his phone buzzed again, she raised her eyebrows. “Please get it. I don’t want you ignoring business because of me.”

Not wanting to argue with her, he withdrew his phone. “Fine. I’m sure it’s nothing. Now stop trying to pretend everything’s okay. You’re not okay.” When his phone buzzed again, he glanced down. Unfortunately, so did Aurora.

The texts were from Grace.

Hey there, stud. Looking forward to tonight. You want to grab a bite? Or do you just want to get down to the good stuff?

Swiftly, he glanced at Aurora, who looked even paler. For a moment, hurt flashed across her expression but then was quickly replaced by a cynical smirk.

Christ. Of all the fucking timing. “Aurora—”

She swiveled in her chair to face her computer. “Thanks for the help, but I’m feeling much better now.”

His stomach clenched as he surveyed her somber profile. She didn’t look angry, she looked resigned. God. This was all so messed up. She’d given him an opening and then closed it back up all in less than a minute.

“Alright.” It was the only thing he could say that wasn’t a land mine right now. “Feel better.”

When he left, he closed her office door gently, a movement that was in stark contrast to the fury rumbling through him. Fury at himself.

He shouldn’t have made a date with Grace. Shouldn’t have planned to use one woman to forget another. It was no use.

Aurora was in his head. In his blood. Hell, possibly even in his heart.

And the truth was, he wanted to keep her there.