Page 39 of Imperfections Seduced
“Why not? It’s the truth. Who does that? One minute we’re talking and the next we’re kissing and having sex.”
“You want to know who does that? Two people who should have been together a long time ago but one of them was too stupid to recognize it sooner. I’m not sorry; it was amazing from beginning to end.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying this, you’re engaged to my sister.”
“I couldn’t help it, I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first night you came back and opened that door. You took my breath away. It’s as good as I remembered it; hell, it’s better than the first time we kissed. I’ve never had a kiss like that, and if it’s not with you, I know I never will again.”
“I’ve always wanted you to kiss me like that ever since I was thirteen and you gave me my first kiss. I thought one day we would be together and you would choose me out of the countless girls you were with.”
“I was scared. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She looks at me with sad eyes. “You already did.”
“And that’s what I didn’t want.” I take her by the hand and she tries to pull away from me.
“Let go! Don’t touch me.”
I know she’s angry; I have to explain things to her. “Listen to me.”
“For what? You’re engaged to my freaking sister. You didn’t have the guts to tell me, and I had to find out the very first day I come home with a room full of people. Dammit, Nick! Our friendship couldn’t have meant that much to you.”
“I have feelings for you, Cat. I’ve always had feelings for you. Feelings I’ve never had for any other woman I’ve ever been with. You have always been more than my friend; you have always come first before any other woman in my life. You know that what we have between us is more than just a friendship, and what happened in here proves it. When you left, I didn’t know you were coming back. I thought maybe it was for the best to preserve the friendship we had. I wasn’t ready to settle down with one woman, I was young and unsure of what I wanted. I would have broken your heart and hurt you by making promises I couldn’t keep.”
Her eyes are glossy with unshed tears, and she’s shaking her head. “Why are you telling me this now when it’s too late?”
“Don’t cry.”
“Don’t cry? Why the hell not? This is what I have always wanted to hear from you, butnot while you’re engaged to my sister!”
“I’m not engaged to your sister.”
“What do you mean you’re not engaged to her? I was there in the room with the rest of my family when you guys made your happy announcement.”
“I’m not marrying your sister. I don’t love her, and we’re not a couple.”
“I don’t understand. Why would she say you two are engaged, and why would you go along with it, if you’re not together?”
I take a deep breath, preparing to tell her the biggestmistake I’ve ever made. “You deserve the truth. I’m going to give you the whole truth. I should have told you from the start of this mess.” I take another breath and blow it out, hoping it doesn’t sound as bad as it does in my head.
“A few months ago, before I found out you were coming back, I saw your sister at a mutual friend’s dinner party. We started talking, she told me about her and Michael breaking up, and I told her about my breakup with Paige. That’s the first time we really had a conversation since we’ve known each other. At the end of the dinner party, she asked me if I wanted to come over to her place. Since I’ve never seen it before, I said sure.
“When we got there, we had a few more drinks and watched a movie. She kissed me, and I kissed her back, and we ended up having sex, one time. The next morning we agreed it was a one-time thing and it wouldn’t happen again. Before you came back, she came to my office and told me she was pregnant. I told her I need a paternity test, because we used protection. She’s going to take a paternity test as soon as possible to see if the baby is mine.”
I stop talking and wait for her to say something. She doesn’t say a word or move. She’s sitting straight as a statue, looking at me with a blank expression, like she’s in a trance.
“The wedding talk and the engagement is all an act so it doesn’t look like what it is. We had sex one night, and I might be the father of her unborn baby. She doesn’t want anyone to know, especially your family. She wanted to get married if the baby’s mine. I told her I would take care of her and the baby financially if it’s mine. We would be co-parents but nothing more. There is absolutely nothing between us. It was one time.”
“Wow, where is Maury when you need him,” she says. Like a game show model, she throws her hands up in theair at me to show me the prize I’ve won. “You are not the daddy!”
This is one prize I wish I could give back. I don’t even want to be entered in this damnable contest.
She wipes the corners of her eyes with her fingers when the tears roll down. “That would be freaking fantastic, wouldn’t it, Nick? Well, maybe if you go up to the TV and rub it like a genie, he could come out and grant your wish. You are un-fucking-believable.”
I don’t say anything to her. She needs to get this out; if I were her, I would punch me in the face and never look back. I’m hoping this is not how it turns out. I know after tonight I have to give her time, and that’s going to be hard as hell for me to do, after tasting her sweetness.
“And you know what? We just had unprotected sex. At this very moment, I could be pregnant with yoursecondchild.”
She cries, wiping away more tears. “Really! Seriously! This is Maury and Jerry rolled into one. I’m suddenly living the throwback, white trash ghetto fabulous life right here, right here in the back seat of a car.”
