I Love How You Love Me(The Sullivans)(62)

He tried to stand his ground then, as he blustered, “Do you really think people will believe some slut who’s just trying to get her fifteen minutes in the spotlight? Or are they much more likely to believe a senator? It will be your word against theirs.”

She knew the word slut was supposed to hurt her, but she was bulletproof now. The scared girl who had broken down when he’d dumped her was gone, and in her place was a woman who would fight to the very end to protect the child she loved.

“Actually,” she said in a remarkably cheerful voice, “it will be their word against themselves.”

“Bullshit. You have no proof that they did anything wrong. Giving you money to help you out is not a crime.”

“When your parents came to my house, I was transcribing an interview. I had the recorder in my hand.” She enjoyed watching the color drain from Richard’s face. “They were so full of themselves that it never occurred to them that I would fight back, or that I would record their ‘offer.’ And you know how recognizable your father’s voice is.”

“I always knew you were trash,” Richard snarled at her. “All it ever took to get you into bed was the price of a fancy meal and a couple of glasses of champagne.”

She could have shot back a half-dozen barbs, but she was done with him. Completely done.

Besides, she knew that the reason he was trying to wound her now was because he finally understood that he couldn’t fight her for Mason, not if there was a chance of the former senator’s recording coming to light. Richard might not have known too much about her, but he clearly knew she wasn’t a liar. She wouldn’t make a threat like this if she didn’t intend to back it up.

Still, Grace would make sure the legal pieces were in place right away so that she would be armed and ready to fight for custody just in case he tried to take her to court for parental rights.

“I’ve given you your one and only warning to stay away from us,” she told him now. “And I wouldn’t make the mistake of pushing me. I might have been a pushover once, but I’m not anymore. If you so much as try to contact either me or Mason again without my permission, I’m going to let the entire world listen to the esteemed former U.S. senator and his wife try to make absolutely certain that I didn’t have the baby none of you wanted.”

With that, she stepped back into her apartment and closed the door in his face.

The shaking didn’t start until she tried to lock the door. It took her two tries to get the bolt into the slot, all the while thanking God that Mason hadn’t woken up. If he had started crying while she was facing down her ex, Richard would have realized that she’d been lying about Mason being with a babysitter and might very well have pushed in to see him.

She’d dealt with Richard all by herself and knew she’d dealt with him well. But in the aftermath of the confrontation, Grace needed desperately to lean on someone, to know that she wasn’t alone. Because even though she’d taken care of the situation with her ex, she needed Dylan. Not only to call him to tell him what had happened, but also to hear his calm, reassuring, loving voice before she got on the phone to do whatever it took to persuade the top child custody lawyer in the country to take her case.

Grace went to get her phone and that was when she saw the bag from the pharmacy sitting on her kitchen table. Oh God, how could she have forgotten?

She still needed to take the pregnancy test.





CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX



Dylan had been counting the minutes until he could be with Grace again.

If Mason was still napping, he figured they’d barely get the front door closed before her clothes were off and he was inside of her. Later, after they’d spent the rest of the day playing with Mason and then put him to bed for the night, they’d move to a slow seduction. One in which pleasure would spiral out for hours and hours.

But the second Grace opened the door, despite how incredibly beautiful she looked in her dress, all those fantasies disappeared. She didn’t say anything, just stepped aside to let him in. When she closed and locked the door, her hands were shaking.

“What’s wrong? Is it Mason? Is he sick?”

“No. Mason’s fine.” She put her hand on Dylan’s arm before he could run into the bedroom to check for himself. “He’s perfect.”

Relief swamped him a beat before he realized that she wasn’t speaking to him as though they were lovers. Or even friends. Instead, that wall she’d had up during their first interview was back. And she’d taken her hand off his arm too fast when she should have been pulling him closer instead.


“Talk to me, Grace. I can see that you’re upset. What happened?”

Her face crumpled for a second before he watched her visibly work to pull herself together. “I was going through my calendar, looking at my deadlines, when I realized...” She looked up at him, the emotion in her eyes piercing straight through him. “I thought I was pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” The thought of Grace carrying his child rocked his world so much that it took him a few seconds to take it in. “We’re going to have a baby?” He hadn’t seen this happening, but he was happy. Couldn’t remember ever being this happy.

“No.”

He was halfway to pulling her into his arms. “Wait. I thought you said—”