Page 41 of Reclaimed

Oh god. Why did he do that? He didn’t have to say anything or cover for me. I can survive the embarrassment. Maybe he thought his family wouldn’t accept me. Maybe I’m absurd for accepting this arrangement, fake as it is.

I don’t realize there’s a problem until Aiden turns me into him. My body doesn’t feel like mine. Mechanically, my fingers unlock from his as my forehead collides with his chest.

“Give us a minute,” he commands above my head.

Bodies move around us but their words are lost in the shuffle. A hand gently touches the center of my back, but I don’t bother to turn around. I can’t physically move.

Holding me tight against him, Aiden pushes me back until we’re around the corner in the kitchen away from prying eyes. This isn’t the right direction. I need the door. We should be making our way out. Somewhere with less people.

“You aren’t breathing, baby. I need you to breathe.” The callouses on his palm brush against my cheek as he lifts my head.

His words work like a key, unlocking something in my chest. The lungful of air I drag in is loud.

“There you go,” he murmurs. “Caught you off guard, hm?”

I suck in another deep breath and faceplant against his chest. His arms wrap easily around my shoulders in a steadying hug.

“Sorry,” I croak.

“It’s okay.” His fingers trail soothingly through my hair. The motion feels too good, too calming. I don’t realize I’m gripping the sides of his tee until I start to reluctantly pull back.

“Better?” He searches my face and brushes a loose strand of hair off my cheek.

“I’d say yes if I weren’t so embarrassed.”

“Don’t be.” He steps back and locks his arms across his chest, almost as if he’s holding himself back from touching me. I can practically feel his attraction to me vanish into thin air.

This was supposed to be fake and somehow he wound up claiming my unborn baby as his in front of his entire family.

What a mess.

What single guy wants to be tied to a woman, let alone a woman who’s pregnant with another man’s child? I fully expect him to call the entire thing off when we get back to my place. No, he’ll call the entire thing off the minute we get back into the car.

I’d set the record straight myself but I’m not sure he’d appreciate that after the last ten minutes. We need to come up with a plan to extract him and clear his name.

“So we’re having a baby,” he says cautiously.

“I—” My mouth falls open and slams shut again.

Aiden looks like he wants to say more, but Juniper rounds the corner and interrupts.

“I’m so sorry.” She looks absolutely contrite, wringing her hands as she approaches the two of us. Her gaze bounces from Aiden to me. “I was so shocked to see you here, and I was trying to put things together quickly in my head, and it just came out.”

“It’s okay.” I pull her into a tight embrace as the numbness leaks from my fingertips. “I know it was an accident.”

“I just feel like you’re keeping so many secrets from me. First the pregnancy, then the man I heard at your house this weekend.” She looks at Aiden. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

Aiden raises both hands with his palms out. His mouth remains in a firm line. “Guilty.”

“And then to not tell me he’s the father of your baby even when I asked.” The sadness in her voice guts me.

“Juniper.”

She steps back. “I know that it’s been three years since we lived in the same town and we got used to not talking every day,but I want you to know that you can still tell me things. You’re still my best friend. And he’s practically my brother. I obviously want the both of you to be happy.”

My shoulders shake as I fight back tears. Even on a good day, her emotional speech would move me. I don’t stand a chance with these pregnancy hormones hijacking my emotional bandwidth.

I want to say a thousand things. I want to explain everything and clear the air. But for some reason, the only thing that comes out of my mouth is, “I brought bars to smooth things over.”

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