Page 41 of His Best Mistake

His gaze roamed over her face and he could see indecision flickering in her eyes, the internal battle she was fighting, and he wondered why she was fighting it at all. After a moment she pushed a hand through her hair and sighed. “This isn’t just about us any more, Jack. There’s the baby to think about, and like it or not, we’re going to be involved for its sake for the rest of our lives. How would sex help with that?”

“It would defuse the tension.”

“The tension is a temporary thing. It’ll go. We just have to ignore it until it does.”

“What makes you so sure it’ll ever go away?” He couldn’t imagine ever not wanting her. He didn’t want to imagine it.

“It’s lust, Jack, that’s all, and lust never lasts. Give it enough time and it’ll burn itself out. We have to be practical.” She paused. Tilted her head and looked at him closely. “Can you really not see that?”

He could, he realised; he just didn’t want to. But perhaps he had to because as much he wished she wasn’t, Stella was right. This wasn’t about only them any more and they did have to be practical. He wasn’t convinced that sex would complicate matters, since it was just sex, but if she felt that way he had no option but to accept it. For the moment.

There was plenty of time to change her mind. He hadn’t got where he was in business by being deterred by seemingly unlikely prospects. He knew how to negotiate and persuade. Once he decided what he wanted, he tended to get it and he wanted her. He’d just have to be patient.

Jack pulled himself together, his brain whirring with plans and tactics, then shrugged de

liberately casually and said, “I guess you have a point.”

*

Back in her room and stepping out of her dress, Stella marvelled at the way she’d managed to resist Jack’s attempt to get her back into bed.

God, it had been hard. He was so attractive he made her burn with the desire to throw caution to the wind and just do as he suggested. Especially after he’d given her that present. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had given her anything. When he’d put the beautifully wrapped parcel on the table beside her she’d felt the instant sting of tears and she’d very nearly cried.

It would have been so easy to say yes, then, and tumble into bed with him, she thought as she headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth. And it would have been a massive mistake. He wanted her – that much was obvious, and for him that was clearly enough. He didn’t seem bothered by the after or side effects of sleeping with her. Or if he did they weren’t important.

But not only did the very real issue of what happened after concern her, sex with Jack wouldn’t just be physical. Not this time. She knew him better now. She liked him. A lot. It would therefore be wrapped up in emotion and mean too much and then where would she be? She was already in too deep. She had to cling on to the hope that the attraction would sizzle out eventually. She could then climb out of the abyss she was in and their relationship would develop into something more like close friendship.

The last week had proved they had lots in common, and that was what they ought to be building on. It might be hard, especially if he met someone with whom sex might not be quite so complicated, but she’d just have to deal with that and she’d –

A sudden sharp stab of pain skewered Stella in the abdomen. She gasped, dropped her toothbrush and clutched the sink. A second later, she felt the muscles deep inside her clench, sending another burst of pain shooting through her, and then a seeping warmth between her legs.

Her mind emptied of Jack, of the complicated nature of their relationship and she went numb. And then as the implications of what might be happening hit her instead, her heart began to thunder and her head went fuzzy and then her brain started racing.

Oh, God, please, no.

She couldn’t be losing the baby, she thought with a strangled sob, as another cramp grabbed hold of her, making her tremble uncontrollably. She couldn’t be. It was only the size of a lime but she’d seen it move. She’d heard its heartbeat. Already she loved it with an intensity she’d never have imagined she had the potential to feel. And if she lost it then she’d lose Jack, not that she had him but – ah. Doubling over, she winced and felt tears spilling over and streaming down her face. She hurt. Everywhere. Especially her heart.

Struggling to focus, Stella gathered enough strength to pull herself upright. Desperately willing it to hang on in there, not to give up, she stumbled out of her room, made her way across the sitting area to Jack’s room and banged on his door.

*

Thank fuck for that, thought Jack, flinging back the covers, leaping out of bed and striding to the door at the sound of the knock. Stella had changed her mind. She’d had time to reflect and she’d realised he was right and that she’d been overthinking things. She’d come to tell him she’d been a fool and that she wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night wrapped around him.

He’d oblige – at length – and then once they’d assuaged the desire that for him at least two horribly cold showers had done precisely nothing to douse, he’d tell her she needn’t worry, everything would be fine. And it would be because he’d thought about nothing else from the moment they’d got up from the table and somehow they’d make this work. It might be complicated but he’d fix it. He wouldn’t allow anything to be otherwise.

With his heart in his mouth and the tension inside him so tight he feared it might snap him in two, Jack plastered a wide, triumphant smile to his face, flung open the door and said, “Hah. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.”

But he took one look at Stella’s pale, stricken face, the hand clutched to her abdomen, and the tremors that were racking her body, and his smile fled. The heat whipping around inside him vanished and instead he went icy cold.

“What’s wrong?” he said, his pulse now thundering not with desire but with sheer dread as his every fear whooshed down and engulfed him.

“I’m bleeding.”

Chapter Eleven

Stella was all right. She and the baby were all right. The cause for the pain and the bleeding wasn’t known but the scans showed a strong, healthy heartbeat. Everything was in the correct place. All was as it should be. They were keeping Stella in until the morning for observation, but as she was now eleven weeks and three days pregnant and therefore virtually out of the tricky first trimester, there was no reason to believe that it would happen again. If it did, however, she was to go straight to A&E.

Standing outside Stella’s room on legs that were as weak as water, Jack could see the doctor’s mouth moving and hear the muffled sound of her voice, but the only thing he really got was that everything was all right. What had come after that was largely drowned out by the deluge of relief flooding through him.

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