“Now tell him to leave.”
“Mark, can you please give Calder and me a moment?”
“No fucking way. I’m not leaving you with him. He could hurt you.”
“I’d never fucking hurt her,” Calder fires back.
“If you are who I think you are, then it’s too fucking late. She’s been hurting for months.” Mark’s voice is calm, but the room goes deathly quiet. Calder slowly lets him go, and I see what might be pain flash in Calder’s eyes.
“Mark. Please. I really should talk to him. Then I’m going to go to dinner with my father.” I just need to get this over with. Mark is right. I’ve been making myself sick over this whole mess. I need to come clean.
“You want me to go with you?” he asks. Calder goes to grab him again, but I snatch his arm away in time. He actually stops at my touch.
“No, I need to do this, but thank you. I’ll be fine.”
“All right. Call me if you need anything.”
“She won’t,” Calder bites out.
Mark just shakes his head and leaves the room.
“Your fiancé,” Calder spits the word like it’s disgusting, “so easily left you here with another man.”
I feel my face flush. I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that he’s here, standing in my dorm room. Why now?
“What are you doing here?”
“We’re getting married.” Calder looks down at me, his eyes hard. His voice is firm. It’s probably the same tone he uses to command his company. A do-it-or-else voice. He looks tired though. I can tell by his eyes he hasn’t slept in days. Even his suit looks like it’s been slept in. His hair is messy and his sleeves are rolled up, showcasing his tattoos.
“Who told you?” He has to know. Why else would he show up here demanding I marry him? I won’t do it. I won’t marry a man who doesn’t love me. I don’t have it in me, no matter how tempting the offer is. No matter how many times over the last month I’ve dreamed about him showing up and telling me he made a mistake and begging me to give him another chance.
Then he’d find out about the baby and be filled with joy. Silly girl dreams. Ones I shouldn’t be having. I have to grow up. Take this seriously. I’m about to be a mother myself. “I won’t marry you just because you got me pregnant. I hate you!” I scream the last part around the lump that has formed in my throat.
He leans in, his mouth only a few inches from mine. “Oh, you’ll marry me, or else.”
Chapter Eight Calder
I feel the wicked smile pull at my lips at my demand. She’ll marry me no matter what she says. Then all of her words hit me, and I stop.
“Wait, what did you say?”
Felicity crosses her arms in front of her chest, a defiant look on her gorgeous face. A face I’ve dreamed about every night for the past few months.
“I’m not marrying you because I’m pregnant. That’s the worst reason in the world. And it’s not fair to our child.”
I’m frozen solid and speechless. She’s pregnant? With my baby? I got her pregnant the first and only time we had sex? Is that even possible?
I’m just staring at her, and she huffs out in annoyance.
“Are you going to say something, or are you just going to stand there like a giant rock?”
My eyes go down to her belly, and I see a small bump showing through her dress. A small baby bump. Feeling overwhelmed, I fall to my knees in front of her and grab her hips. She lets out a little squeak, but I pull her to me, bringing her belly closer to my mouth. I place my lips on the rounded bump. I close my eyes and mumble my thanks to whatever is in the sky above us for giving me this gift.
“Calder?” Felicity’s voice is confused, but I hear a hint of something else there, too. Something that sounds like longing. “Calder, what are you doing?”
I give her belly one last kiss and then look up to her eyes, still holding her close.
“You’re going to marry me. Today.”
Felicity pulls back at my words, but my hands don’t let her go too far.
“You have a girlfriend!” she shouts at me, and I can’t help but let out a laugh. She’s obviously had this on her mind if this is her defense.
“That’s over now,” is my answer. She must think Sidney and I were together. I haven’t so much as looked at anyone in that way since long before I ever met her. But I certainly wouldn’t even think of another woman after laying eyes on her.
Felicity shuffles her feet a little, indecision running through her. I won’t have her trying to get out of this, and I’ll make her do it. I don’t care what kind of leverage I have to use.
“You’ll marry me, Felicity. You’ll marry me, or I’ll stop all business with your father. Immediately.”
It’s the ace of spades in my back pocket and she knows it. The gasp that she lets out, followed by the angry look on her face, lets me know she gets my drift.
“You wouldn’t,” she seethes.
“Oh, I would. There isn’t anything I wouldn't do to have you.” I squeeze her hips, pulling her back to me so all the space she’s tried to gain is gone. “I’ll make sure there’s not a company or person in New York that will hire him. I’ll even spread the word globally. You will marry me, or it’s the end of his career. The choice is yours, sweetheart.”
The use of the endearment makes her even angrier, but I don’t care. I’m not playing fair when it comes to her. Reaching down, I slide my hands up her bare thighs and feel her muscles start to tremble.