Page 24 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

‘You haven’t told them, have you?’

She pulled a face. ‘No.’

‘Why not?’ he asked, interested. He thought she and Lex were close, that she would’ve told her everything—including that they’d had a one-night stand. He wondered if she knew that Lex and Cole were having a hot fling. It wasn’t his place to tell her.

‘Does she know that that we slept together? That we are married?’

‘You asked me not to tell her about our marriage, and I promised I wouldn’t, so I haven’t,’ she replied, sounding a little snippy. ‘I didn’t tell her about what happened at the Vane either.’

‘Why not?’ Jude didn’t know why her answer was important, just that it was.

Addi took a large sip of her drink and he knew that she was trying to find a way to avoid answering. But when he kept his eyes on her face she sighed loudly. ‘I wanted it to be justmymemory...’ She waved her hands in the air. ‘I don’t expect you to understand that.’

He did, actually. Those hours spent with her were some of the best of his life, and telling someone else, explaining, would dilute some of the magic.

‘You’re going to have to tell her about the baby at some point, Addi. I don’t think that’s something you can hide for ever.’

‘I know, Jude!’

Addi lifted her thumb to her mouth and started biting at her cuticle, something he’d noticed she did when she was on edge. He pulled her thumb away and shook it gently. ‘Spill it, Ads.’

She looked as though her gut was in a twist. ‘I’m embarrassed to tell her!’

Okay, that wasn’t what he’d expected. ‘Why?’

‘When we were sixteen, I sat Lex down and made her promise, swear on her life, that she wouldn’t fall pregnant accidentally. I promised her the same. We vowed that having a baby would be a deliberate choice, made when the circumstances were right.’ She made a sound that was a cross between a hiccup and a sob. ‘It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, Jude, especially given our history.’

He put his arm around her, grateful that his broad back hid her distress from the other guests who’d gathered in the restaurant bar. He rubbed his hand up and down her back, trying to give her what comfort he could. ‘Your sister will understand, Addi.’

‘I hope so,’ she muttered, brushing her cheeks with the tips of her fingers. ‘I don’t want her to be disappointed in me, that’s all.’

‘I think you are being hard on yourself, Addi. We’re allowed to make mistakes, to be human.’

Addi sniffed. ‘God, how am I going to have the “you’ve got to be careful and use protection” speech with the girls when they are older? They’ll laugh their socks off.’

‘You’ll tell them that mistakes happen and that, no matter what, you’ll stand in their corner. That there’s always a plan to be made.’

‘Hopefully their plans won’t be as drastic as ours,’ she muttered.

‘A perfect storm,’ he agreed. If his grandfather hadn’t been so damn unforgiving and so very controlling, his life and Addi’s would be a lot easier. But there wasn’t anything they could do about it. They were married. He had a wife. In a year, he’d have full control of his company.

Atemporarywife, he corrected. In name only.

Addi pulled back from him and sent him a teary smile. ‘Crazy set-up, huh?’

‘Crazy.’

He looked into her eyes and saw the flash of interest, the heat burning in all that blue. She looked down at her hand, which lay on his forearm but, interestingly, she didn’t break their connection.

‘We had fun that night, didn’t we?’ she asked softly.

Fun? That was a tame word for the hottest, sexiest night of his life. He’d loved every second of their love-making and would love to do it again...and again.

He lifted her hand and placed an open-mouth kiss on her palm, wanting and needing to gauge her reaction. Pink infused her cheeks. The tip of her tongue peeked out to lick her bottom lip and her eyes ducked to his mouth. Yeah, she wanted to be kissed. Hopefully wanted a lot more.

‘I loved making love with you, Addison,’ he told her, keeping his tone low. ‘And I’d love to do it again.’

‘For how long?’ she asked.

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