Page 52 of Bedding the Baby Daddy

“Well, our relationship, and my relationship to the company is one that’s built on professionalism and I wouldn’t want my actions to reflect—”

“Oh, fuck the company, Aurora. If some client is scandalized by working with an unwed mother then fuck them back to the 1950s. You think I care about any of that? I care about you! Your happiness. And the baby’s.”

Aurora’s eyes filled. She hadn’t realized how much she’d feared her colleagues discovering she was fallible and messy and passionate. All the things she’d tried so hard not to be for so long. All the things that Dante just pulled right out of her, like thread from a spool.

“I hope the father is as understanding as you are.”

Gio rose then. “Is there a chance that he won’t be?”

Aurora brushed at her tears. “No. Yes. I mean, he’s very sweet. And even though he said he doesn’t want children—” Right then her voice broke as emotion swept over her. She was ninety-nine percent sure that Dante would want her and the baby, but suddenly there was that teeny tiny percent that had her doubting everything they’d been to each other in the last few weeks. What if? What if she was wrong?

Before she knew what was happening, Gio cursed and drew her into his arms, her cheek pressed into his shoulder. Just months ago, she would have killed to hold Gio like this. Now, wrapped up in his arms, even as much as she appreciated his kindness, she wished he was Dante.

Dante. The father of her child. The man she loved.

* * *

Dante closed the door of Aurora’s office as silently as he’d opened it. He allowed himself one second of leaning back against the wall. One second of searing pain in his chest. He had no breath and he was sure that his heart was skipping beats.

Hearing a noise from inside her office, he sprang forward, striding to the elevator and jamming the button. There was no way in hell he was going to let one of them come out of her office and catch him here in the lobby like the absolute tool he apparently was.

When the elevator didn’t move fast enough, Dante slammed through the door for the stairwell, taking them four at a time on his way down. The image of Aurora’s face as she’d clung to Gio was burned into his brain. He’d heard the sound of voices as he’d approached her door and opened it to find…that.

What the hell were they doing embracing in the middle of her office in the middle of the day?

Dante stopped walking and pressed a hand to her chest. Honestly, it didn’t even matter what they’d been doing. It was how they’d been doing it that was so incriminating.

Aurora had her arms all the way around Gio. Her cheek pressed to his shoulder.

An expression of love on her face.

FUCK.

God. How could he have been such a fool? He’d truly thought things had changed between them. That even if she wasn’t completely over Gio, she had equally strong feelings for Dante. Now he could see that had been all in his head. There was no way a woman could hold a man with that look on her face and not be in love.

Dante slammed out the back entrance of the building and immediately slid into the driver’s seat of his car. He pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket and read the text from Aurora with a mirthless laugh.

Are you free right now? There’s something important I want to tell you and I don’t want to wait.

Yeah, he just bet there was something she wanted to tell him. And god, it made him sick to his fucking stomach just to think about it. He could tell when a break up text was forthcoming. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to sit there quietly while she explained about her feelings for another man. He was strong, but he had his limits.

Dante ignored the text, tossed his phone into the passenger seat and drove home.

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