Page 51 of Doctor Billionaire's Surprise Baby

As the evening wore on, the tension between Simone and me became increasingly palpable. The once lively music had faded into the background, replaced by an uneasy silence that seemed to hang in the air like a thick fog.

One by one, our friends began making their excuses to leave.

Once they were gone, Simone and I stood there in the now-empty living room, the silence between us deafening. We needed to talk, to address the situation head-on, but it was as if an invisible wall had formed between us – a barrier neither of us knew how to breach.

"Simone," I began hesitantly, searching her expressive eyes for some hint of understanding.

“Don’t worry about it, Hugo." Simone started to busy herself in cleaning up, wrapping the cheeses and putting them away. "I know you want to take back what you said in Italy. Go back to the original agreement. This is all just for show, right?” Simone’s voice was strong, confident, but I could see her hands shaking as she spoke.

“That’s not – no, that’s not what I want at all,” I said, desperate to make her understand that it was the complete opposite but for some reason, I was scared to tell her the truth. If I told Simone the truth, I would be admitting that I wanted to try a real commitment. And I couldn't trust myself not to fail. I didn't want to break her heart.

Aunt Charlotte was right. Commitment was not my strength. Shit, emotional intelligence seemed to be missing in my DNA.

Simone stopped working and just looked up at me in exasperation. “What do you want, Hugo?”

I know what I want. I just… I took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye.

“I want you.”

I closed the distance between us and pulled her into a deep kiss, pouring all of my emotion and feelings into it. Simone melted into my body,

My hand slid down Simone's back, pulling her closer to me, and I felt the soft curves of her breasts pressing into the hard muscles of my chest.

Simone moaned softly, her body responding to my touch as I explored her mouth with my tongue. Her fingers tangled in my hair, and she pulled me even closer, desperate for more. My hand slid lower, fingers tracing the curve of her waist before dipping lower to cup her gorgeous ass. Simone gasped at the sudden touch, but smiled as she continued the heated tongue-wrestling.

I slipped my hand under her dress and found wet heat waiting for me. Slowly, I pushed her underwear aside and slid one finger between her folds, rubbing the spot that made her cry out. Finding a rhythm that had Simone panting in my ear, I focused all of my attention on her – watching how beautiful she was with flushed skin and swollen red lips. I could have watched Simone all night as she fell apart around my fingers.

I took her to the bedroom and slowly lowered her down. I made quick work of my belt and the button on my pants before notching myself between her legs.

My name on her lips almost sent me over the edge, but I fought the sensations and sunk into Simone inch by tortuous inch. Her hips met mine and we lost ourselves in sensation, want, and need. It was seconds or hours before I felt her muscles clench around me as she screamed my name, riding the waves of her orgasm. When I felt her sated body relax, I let myself go and was almost overwhelmed by the fall.

Breathing ragged and heartbeats racing, we lay there in the silence.

Now was the time to tell her.

Now was the time to tell Simone about my immigration status. That we didn’t need to keep up this charade anymore. That we could do this for real.

But the words were stuck in my throat. She looked up at me and saw the distance in my eyes. She pulled away with tears glistening in her eyes.

She gently kissed me on the cheek and I listened to her slow walk to her bedroom. My heart sunk as I heard the click of her door as it shut.

Fuck.

Chapter 21

Simone

“Why are you taking an extra class?” Lindsey asked incredulously through the phone.

“I just really want to get this intro class out of the way before starting full time in the fall. My advisor recommended it so I can stay on track.”

“Man, that sucks. I’m sorry I’m not there with you. I feel bad leaving you on your own. We were supposed to do this together.”

“It’s okay. I’m a big girl, I can probably handle it.”

“Speaking of handling big things: What’s the update on Hugo?”

I snorted a laugh at my best friend. She always knew how to do a smooth segue to a difficult topic. But I sobered immediately when I realized there was no update to share. It had been a couple of weeks since the party, and things with Hugo were as strained as ever. We hadn’t even talked about taking the tripdown to City Hall to make our marriage official. At this point, I didn’t want to push. I figured Hugo had the timeline under control.

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