Burned by Passion(26)
Kira sighed, inwardly crossing her fingers as she hoped she was doing the right thing. She thought about her guilty little secret and pushed it to the back burner. That was in the past now. Maybe she’d needed that one shake-up to show her what was really important. And this time, she was going to stay true to herself and her man. She would never betray him again.
She chose that moment to steal a glance at Blake’s table, wondering how he’d reacted to this unmistakable scene. And then she felt completely deflated to find that Blake and Brittany were gone; and had probably missed the whole proposal episode.
It didn’t matter. He’d find out soon enough, she told herself with a steadying sigh. At least now they were even. Nothing he would do could hurt her now.
Chapter Ten
This can’t possibly be happening to me, Kira thought to herself. She was barely two months into her engagement when it finally dawned on her that her consecutively missed periods weren’t due to stress. She had to be pregnant.
But how could that be? She’d been on the Pill for several months and took it the same time each morning. Or had she? She thought back to the morning after the party when she’d been so upset and frazzled by the events of the night before. Was it possible she had forgotten to take her pill before her morning run that day? She remembered changing into her jogging suit and running twice as long as she usually did in hopes of sweating Blake Carter out of her system. In her haste, had she forgotten to take her pill the one f*cking time when she should’ve remembered?
It took five minutes and one pregnancy test kit later to confirm her suspicions. The first thing she did was sit down and try to catch her breath as a feeling of light-headedness overtook her.
Just one time.
Just one time in her life had she been so overcome by lust and passion that she’d completely thrown away all reasonable thought.
The single mistake of her adult life was simply not going to go away. It had come back to bite her in the ass, big time, just like she’d known it would. She’d screwed up royally and now she was going to have a baby.
Or wasn’t she?
Not that she was considering any other options. Even with the circumstances; even with everything that had happened she knew getting rid of it was out of the question. No, she’d go to the hospital, confirm her suspicions and then she’d take it from there. No matter what happened she was going to keep the little life growing inside her. She knew deep down that she would be a good mother, a great mother in fact.
And that was why she was going to have to break it off with Terry. There was no way she could marry him now, not with this. It was bad enough having to keep the whole truth from him hoping to protect him. Marrying him had been a selfish, easy way out and she’d been sick with herself for so long.
She frowned, thinking about all the wedding plans they’d been making lately. He’d wanted it to happen as soon as possible, before she could change her mind he’d teased. Well, none of this could be helped.
But how on earth was she going to bring herself to give him the news that she could no longer go through it – and consequently end her very convenient engagement?
Very convenient in the sense that apparently once Blake got wind of the news that she was getting married, he’d stayed well clear. And yes, he had promised her as much back then in the elevator. But she hadn’t really believed it. Until the one incident that finally convinced her that he’d meant every word.
It was barely a week after the day they’d ended up alone in the same elevator. This time, they collided with each other just outside the door leading to his father’s inner offices. Blake had immediately righted her with impersonal hands on her shoulders. With a curt worded apology he’d released her almost instantly and then walked away without a backwards glance. No sign of recognition; not even a word. It had been impersonal to the extreme and Kira had felt half relieved, half sad. The dark warmth in his beautiful grey eyes had been replaced with ice-capped shields she could never hope to break through. And she’d told herself she was fine with that.
Over the past weeks things had improved to perhaps a few cool glances and ever fewer, more frigid curt words whenever he had to come up to see his father about something. She knew he’d long moved out of the Carter villa and into his own house across the city. Kira also kept wondering if he’d also moved on in his ‘relationship’ with Brittany if it could be called that. But then she called herself a fool for giving either of them a thought. As far as she was concerned they deserved each other.
And then the enormity of her situation suddenly really struck her and Kira’s heart went cold. Could she ever bring herself to tell Blake the truth? She wasn’t ready to think about what his reaction would be. She’d convinced herself that all he must have wanted was a fling; how would he feel about Kira now carrying his baby?
Getting pregnant by her boss’s son had definitely not been in her job description, Kira thought with a wry sigh. But she was adult enough to face the outcome of her own foolishness. She had no one to blame but herself and it wasn’t as if Blake had forced her. She’d succumbed willingly and now she wasn’t about to expect pity or handouts from anyone. She’d been burned by passion and now she was going to have a baby soon to show for it.
Once she’d taken more time to think, Kira realized exactly what she should do. A fresh start; that was what was needed in the situation. She’d begin a new life somewhere and build back her life again. She felt sorry about the way she was going to disappoint Mr. Carter, her boss. He’d given her an opportunity not many people would have. She remembered being fresh out of secretarial school and had shown up for the interview with other, more experienced applicants. Some had looked far more suited to the esteemed role of secretary to Bretton Carter. But in the end he’d picked her, out of all the others and she’d never forget how wonderful that had felt. She would be eternally grateful to him for that.