Page 10 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 2

I’m pregnant. Eight weeks.

You may be the father.

Bianca’s text invaded my mind like a parasite, gobbling up all the good I’d just experienced with Julianne on our wedding night.

Could it be possible she’s carrying my child?

Technically, yes.

The last time we were intimate was eight weeks ago. The morning of our rehearsal dinner. The same night when I walked in on my best friend in the entire world plowing my fiancée from behind in a small private dining area in the back of the restaurant. I’d just lost my parents a month before, as had Brenden and Jules, but we decided they’d want us to continue living our lives to the fullest. I wanted to postpone the wedding, give us all some time to heal, but Bianca was adamant that we proceed.

I clenched my teeth as I pulled on a pair of slacks.

“Gio, come here.” Jules patted the empty space on the bed next to her.

I turned around and looked at the most beautiful woman in the world. My wife. Somehow, we’d finally ended up exactlywhere I once dared to hope we’d be. Together, married, having just consummated our marriage. And it had been life changing. I’d never been happier than when I was pleasuring the woman I’d been in love with most of my life. Not that she would be the wiser to my long-standing feelings.

Everything about Julianne called to me. From her lush curves to her fiery spirit and her incredible mind, Julianne was the whole package.

Now, what was I? Some chump who’d been taken for a ride by his then-fiancée and best friend. And now I was possibly going to be a father. To my wife’s niece or nephew.

My stomach churned as that realization stabbed me in the gut like a poison-dipped arrow.

“Please, sit next to me.” Julianne held her hand out.

I sighed deeply and approached the bed. I lifted a knee and sat so that I was facing her as I took her hand in both of mine.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured, guilt and shame twisting up my insides painfully.

“Gio, is it possible the baby is yours? Truly?” She spoke gently, as though I might crack and break at any moment.

“We were intimate exactly eight weeks ago. Same day I caught her with your brother. However, she’d been on birth control our entire relationship. The possibility of her being pregnant is unexpected.”

Jules sucked in a sharp breath and snarled. “So it could be yours, or it could be Brenden’s.”

I nodded as a numb sensation slithered across my skin.

“I’ll never be free of her,” I whispered, sounding hoarse. My emotions were clouding my ability to criticize and judge the situation from a ten-thousand-foot view.

Jules squeezed my hand and cupped my cheek. “Look at me,” she demanded.

My gaze went straight to hers. Her eyes were so open and blue, I wanted to drown in them and let everything that just happened disappear as I gorged on the goodness that was my wife.

“She could be playing you, Gio. Hell, she could be playing you and Brenden. The woman is evil, and the carnage she’s wrought on this family has been devastating. Who’s to say it’s not part of some grand scheme? Maybe she’s not even pregnant. We haven’t seen any proof.”

A small glimmer of hope shimmered at the edge of my mind. Julianne made an excellent point. Bianca has been nothing but destructive since she was caught two-timing me. And she doubled down when she got Brenden to marry her. Then she tripled that wave of ruin by firing Julianne from our company. Now she’s suddenly pregnant with a child that could be mine or Brenden’s?

“It’s all too convenient, if you ask me,” Jules added.

“You’re right.” I frowned, running through all she’d brought to light.

“I usually am.” She winked playfully then got up onto her knees, the sheet molding magnificently to her gorgeous body. I wanted more of her. So much more. I didn’t think I could ever get enough. Julianne was made for me, and tonight, marrying her and then making love to her proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Unless Bianca was pregnant with my child…then I could lose her.

I swallowed down the fear clogging my throat. “I have to ask you a serious question, but I want you to think about it. You don’t have to answer right now.”

Her brow furrowed. “Okay…shoot.”

---