Page 212 of Nanny and the Beast

After everything that we've been through, he's asking me if I slept around while we were together.

"What does it matter to you?" I ask. "It's not like you ever cared about me. You don't need to pretend you care about my unborn child."

Saying it out loud feels surreal.

I'm going to be a mother. I'm going to be responsible for a life.

And despite Klaus's nasty allegations, he's the only man I ever shared my body with. He's the father of this child. ButI don't want to tell him that. I don't want to give him the satisfaction.

"It's not yours," I say.

"Bullshit," he says. "It's mine."

He rests his palm over my lower belly.

"The child growing in your womb is mine," he says, looking into my eyes.

A deep hunger forms in my core. My body has never stopped yearning for this man. He's shown me a paradise that I never knew existed, and I've been craving to return there ever since.

"You look so pretty when you're turned on," he says.

It would be so easy.

It would be so easy to give in to this moment. To let him kiss me and take me. To let him make me come so hard that I see stars in the middle of the day.

But I can't.

There are too many unanswered questions. The distance that was formed between us can't be bridged by a kiss.

"Please take your hand off me," I say.

He hesitates for a moment but does as I ask him to.

"I saw something in the mansion," I say. "A woman. She was wearing a white wedding dress and had a lace veil covering her face. She was the one who warned me about the fire before it was too late."

Something shutters over his eyes. He's sitting right here, but he's pulling away from me.

"I don't know what to tell you," he says.

"How about the truth?" I ask. "You don't seem surprised, so I'm assuming you know about her existence. Who is she, and what was she doing in your house?"

He doesn't even meet my gaze.

My heart sinks.

Everything's changed, but at the same time, nothing has. He's still the cold, mysterious stranger I met back in September.

"Also, I saw some things on your laptop," I say. "Why do you have cameras inside my bedroom, Klaus?"

He looks at me now. "You went through my things?"

Something in me snaps.

"Really, Klaus?" I ask. "That'swhat you have to say to me?"

"I placed the cameras for security reasons," he says.

"In my fuckingbedroom?" I say, my voice rising.

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