Page 15 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

Around the corner, Jude wrenched his steering wheel to the left, stopped his car, rested his thumping head on the steering wheel and tried to regulate his breathing.

He’d had a completely horrendous ninety minutes, every moment of which had been filled with visions of Addi’s car being swept off the road, of her being hurt or possibly dead. When he hadn’t been able to reach her, he hadn’t stopped to think—he’d simply run out of his house, thrown himself into his car and belted down the slippery dirt road to the motorway. He’d kept his eyes peeled for a white hatchback, his heart in his mouth whenever he saw the flashing blue lights of an emergency vehicle. He’d never felt so helpless in his entire life—not a fun experience.

Jude pulled in his first proper breath, one that actually sent air to his lungs and oxygen to his brain. He’d been operating on fear and adrenalin for the last little while and he felt utterly wrecked.

He was a fit guy, but he felt as if he’d just completed the Comrades Marathon, and as out of breath and exhausted as when he’d run over that finish line five years ago. He felt shattered.

Jude lifted his head and released the tight grip on the steering wheel. He flexed his fingers and rolled his head, trying to loosen some of the knots in his neck.

Addi was fine, she was safe. He could just sit here and breathe. Her pregnancy news had shocked him, of course it had, but he’d been off-balance since she had stepped out of her car and onto his property. She was a potent mixture of spiky and vulnerable, and there was something about her that made him want to protect her, to pull her into his arms and be the barrier between the world and her.

He didn’t know why, because she’d made it very clear that she didn’t need him in any way, shape or form. With any other woman, that would have been a relief, but with Addi? Well, the craziness, of what she made him feel, was that he wanted her to turn to him, to lean on him a little, to allow him to carry some of the load she lugged around. He felt superfluous and deeply frustrated.

She still desired him—her hot, responsive kiss had made that very clear—but she wouldn’t let herself need him. She was an independent woman, courageous, and, while he cursed her stubbornness, he appreciated her determination. She was tough, mentally and emotionally.

He admired that.

He respected her gutsiness. And he wanted her more now than ever.

Yep, he was lusting over the mother of his unborn child. Could he have made the situation more complicated if he’d tried? He didn’t think so.

CHAPTER FIVE

ADDISMOOTHEDDOWNher cranberry-coloured swing dress and checked her thigh-high suede boots for watermarks. She wore solid black tights and a cream-coloured coat, accessorising with a green, scarlet-and-cream scarf.

For this meeting with Jude, she wanted to look something other than the pale, haggard creature he’d encountered at his house, so she’d taken a lot of care with her make-up, making her now thankfully clear blue eyes bigger and her mouth softer. She wanted to look successful, someone who had her life together, who had a plan...

She didn’t have a plan.

Addi walked into the lobby of Fisher International’s new headquarters and inhaled the smell of varnish and fresh paint. Jude had been caught up in the move for the past few days and she hadn’t seen or spoken to him since they’d kissed four days ago.

But this morning she’d got a text message from him, asking her to meet him at ten. Assuming it was a business meeting, she’d packed her laptop, run off another set of spreadsheets and made her way to the Waterfront.

The receptionist, big, buff and with flashing white teeth, handed her a security pass and gestured her to the bank of lifts on the other side of the lobby. ‘The far lift door will open—that’s Mr Fisher’s private lift. It’ll take you straight up to him.’

Addi tried to look as though she wasn’t impressed by the private lift, but she was. Normally she ran up and down the steps of Thorpe Industries, partly to get some exercise but mostly because there were too few lifts to service the building, and she hated feeling like a trapped sardine.

Addi waited in front of the lift, removed her floppy black felt hat and ran her hand over her hair. It lay flat against her head today; she was channelling Audrey Hepburn and she knocked the hat against her thigh. She was nervous and she didn’t like feeling that way.

She was only going to see the father of her burgeoning baby, the man who was going to buy the Thorpe assets and put her out of a job. What was there to be nervous about?

The lift doors opened and Addi stepped inside. There were no buttons and within seconds the lift door closed and she was shooting up. Her phone chimed with a message and she glanced down at the screen. It was a text message from her mother’s lawyer, requesting a follow-up meeting.

She really needed to find a lawyer—one she could afford.

‘One of these days, you’re going to greet me with a smile, not a frown.’

Addi’s head shot up. Jude stood on the other side of the lift door, looking suave in a very pale pink shirt, grey, metallic-silver tie and dark-grey trousers. He hadn’t shaved and his stubble was a little heavy, a bit disreputable, and she liked the look.

Addi tucked her phone away and walked into his chaotic office. A plastic-covered couch sat in the corner, behind a stack of boxes and to the side of a massive desk. What she recognised as a brutally expensive leather chair sat on the other side of the desk. She realised Jude’s back would be to the incredible view of the Waterfront Harbour and Signal Hill while he was working.

‘Why did you put your desk there?’ she demanded.

‘I tried to work facing the view, but I was constantly distracted,’ Jude replied. He gestured to the stack of boxes. ‘Sorry it’s a mess, we’re still trying to get set up.’

Addi took a seat in the visitor’s chair he offered and crossed one leg over the other, a little pleased when Jude’s eyes lingered on the gap of her thigh between her boot and the hem of her short dress. A sexy memory from the night they spent together flashed and made her squirm and burn. His eyes collided with hers and she knew he was thinking of that night too. Was he remembering the way she’d straddled him, leaning down to kiss his mouth as she’d sheathed him? Or was he thinking about how he’d dropped to his knees in the shower and kissed her between her legs?

Whoa, boy.

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