Page 65 of Not Quite Perfect

Victoria’s hands settled tentatively over mine. “We don’t know for sure. Itcouldbe food poisoning.”

“And if it’s not?” I asked, meeting her gaze.

She took a deep breath, her chest lifting and falling as she exhaled. “If it’s not, we’ll figure out what to do next.”

Startled, I took a step back. As far as I was concerned, there was no ‘figuring this out.’ I knew exactly what we should do.

“What do you mean, we’ll figure out what to do next?” I barked, then winced at the force of my tone. I hadn’t meant to yell at her.

“Just that. You and I will sit down and discuss how we want to handle it.”

“Victoria—”

She pressed her palm over my mouth, stopping me mid-sentence. “No. Don’t say it.”

My tongue darted out from between my lips, coating her palm in saliva.

“Eek!” She pulled away and wiped my spit off against her pant leg.

“We should get married,” I blurted before she could stop me a second time.

Victoria sighed, and her shoulders curled in on themselves.

Shit. That was not the reaction I’d hoped for.

“David …”

I took her hand in mine and led her to the table. Dropping down into a chair, I spread my legs and pulled her into the open space between them. “Why won’t you even entertain the idea of marrying me?”

“Because we don’t even know if I’m pregnant. And besides, even if I am, you’re only asking out of a sense of obligation.”

“That’s not true,” I argued.

“You’re telling me you’d actually planned on asking me to marry you today then?”

“Well, not exactly—”

“Right. Not exactly. You’re only asking because you’re worried that you’ve knocked me up and my brother is threatening you.”

The implication that the only reason I was acting honorably toward her was because her brother was forcing my hand was unwelcome. And painful as hell.

I must not have done an adequate good job of keeping the pain from showing on my face because she rushed to assure me that she wasn’t saying no forever. Just for right now.

“Listen to me,” she said, setting her tiny palms to my cheeks and crouching down so that we were eye-to-eye. “I love you with all of my heart, but I don’t want you marrying me because you think you have to. Maybe it makes me weak, but if Iampregnant and wewereto get married, I would spend the rest of my life wondering if that had been the only reason you’d asked. You already did that once with Stacia, and I don’t want you repeating the mistakes of your past.”

Ugh. She was right.

Fuck.

I drew a deep breath into my lungs and released it on a long, slow gust. “Okay, I hear what you’re saying. And I get it.”

Ididget it. And yet I was inordinately sad that she was taking such a pragmatic approach to the situation. For a brief moment, I’d wanted her to share my joy, not resort to sound, logical thinking.

In those few moments before she’d crushed my spirit, all sorts of scenarios had flashed through my brain. Her walking down the aisle toward me. The day our baby was born. His or her first steps. Their first words.

An hour ago, I hadn’t known that’s what I wanted, but now that I’d had a glimpse of what the future could hold, I didn’t know if I could pretend.

It was the exact opposite of how I’d felt when Stacia had told me she was pregnant.

---