Page 40 of Pregnant and Stolen by the Tycoon

‘You enjoy reducing everything to logic. I’m putting it in terms we can both work with.’

She opened her mouth to debate that, but he held up his hand. The gesture made her bristle, even as his elegant fingers evoked memories of how they’d felt just now on her body.

Seriously, what was wrong with her?

‘Take the rest of your hours to decide,pequeña. Let that clever brain of yours weigh the pros and cons of having a two-parent support system.’

‘I’ve already told you I had two parents who claimed to do their best. That logic is flawed.’

‘They claimed it without putting in the work. Will you put in the work?’

She didn’t need to think about it for even a nanosecond. ‘Of course, I will.’

‘So will I. You made the mistake of assuming the father of your child wouldn’t want to be involved in your decisions. You need to readjust that thinking. Then go further and explore the logic and advantage of doing it together rather than apart.’

‘My original plan was to go a different route.’

His eyes narrowed and Genie got the feeling he wasn’t pleased about that. Why did that send such a decadent thrill through her? Was she a closet masochist too? She swallowed, a little perturbed by these layers of herself she was uncovering. What would she discover next? That she craved more of those little terms of Cardosian endearments he tossed at her with seemingly effortless ease?

No. She didn’t.

‘Then you shouldn’t have planted that thought in my head, then taken me into your body so enthusiastically, should you?’ he rasped with sizzling conceit.

‘Are you blaming me for the protection failing?’

He shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter how it happened. It happened.’

And now you’re here. You’re mine, his ferocious gaze seemed to growl.

‘We’re getting nowhere.’

‘No. We’re getting exactly where we need to get to. You’re just being stubborn about seeing the merits of it. But you have a little time—’

‘Sixteen hours and fifty-seven minutes isn’t enough time to consider changing every single plan I have for you.’

‘You wound me,querida,’ he said, although he appeared the least wounded person she’d ever seen. ‘Most women I know would jump at the chance to put a ring on me.’

‘I’m not most women,’ she pointed out, just because she felt a vital need to.

Only to draw an even more devastating smile. One she felt all the way to the last nerve in her small toe. ‘I’m bracingly aware of that, Genie.’

And yes, there went another traitorous shiver.

One she cursed herself for reliving in the hours that followed, long after their discussion had ended, and she was hiding away in her room with her laptop.

Dinner was a stilted affair, which seemed to bewilder Lita into filling the silence with chatter, to which her grandson responded with near monosyllabic grunts.

Genie was too frazzled to parse through which social cues she needed to observe to engage with them, so she kept mostly silent, cringing a little inside every time the old woman sent a furtive glance her way, then blamed Seve under her breath for their guest’s joylessness.

It would’ve been almost endearing to see the interaction between grandmother and grandson...if she weren’t still reeling from the sharp right turn of Seve’s proposal.

As night fell over the estate, the sound of cicadas and the pine-scented breeze through the open doors leading to the terrace outside the dining room calmed her a touch.

Still, she couldn’t wait to escape, and the moment she was done with the heavenly slice ofchocotortadrizzled with warm honey, she placed her napkin on the table.

‘It’s been a long day. I think I’ll head off to bed.’

For a moment, Seve’s jaw clenched but he stood and came around the table to hold her chair, an almost outdated courtesy that nevertheless made her feel that same strange roller-coaster sensation in her belly. Not to mention the effect of his aftershave with him so close.

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