“I told you. Five months. This baby belongs to Anthony, so just stay out of it.”
“You know me better,” Carter said, sounding like his father.
Yes, she did and that was why she had to stick with her lie. She could deal with him later down the line, but right now she didn’t have the strength. Her family needed all of her strength now, and the baby.
“When I left you, I was very upset.” She returned to the bed and gestured for him to sit away from her when it looked as if he was going to join her. “I was an emotional mess. I came to stay with a cousin in Florida and I made a lot of bad choices.”
Carter knew what was coming and he cringed at the thought. “You slept around?”
“No,” she cried. “I just . . . I was babysitting to make money and one of the kids was Anthony’s nephew. I met him and he was very . . . kind.”
“So you fucked him.” Carter gripped the edges of the chair. “I can take that, but I don’t want to hear about a romance. Spare me those fake details.”
“Either you shut up or I’ll call security and have you removed. Better yet, I’ll call the cops. They hate you and no one is in a mood to see the chief’s family messed with right now.”
When she realized he was sufficiently obedient, she continued. “Anthony was the only person who I could feel safe telling the truth to and not having it get back to you.”
“He took advantage of you!” Carter shot up from the chair and began pacing the room. “He took advantage of your emotional state and slept with you.”
“You mean something like what you did?” Avery asked, looking up. “Like when I came to you after I found out that Alex had cheated on me? I was drunk and an emotional mess. You slept with me that night. You mean that kind of advantage?”
Carter couldn’t believe she was bringing that up. If she was intent on playing in the past, then so could he. “I tried to resist you, Avery. If you can remember that night, you wouldn’t take no for an answer. I couldn’t fight it. The chemistry between us is . . . we’re both powerless against it.”
Her lips parted a bit and she turned away. Carter smiled, knowing he still had that effect on her. She might be able to pretend she didn’t love him, but he wouldn’t let her pretend she didn’t want him.
“Anthony did not take advantage of me,” Avery said. “We bonded immediately.”
“You want me to believe that you got over me that quick?” Carter asked. “After everything we shared?”
“I don’t need to be over you to have sex with someone.” Avery saw him cringe and she felt awful.
The truth was she hadn’t slept with Anthony until three months after meeting him. He had known the truth about everything, and the morning after they’d made love, he proposed to her.
“I found out I was pregnant a little while after that.”
“So it could still be mine,” Carter said. “It was only a few weeks—”
“Carter, I got my period the week after I left you.” Avery couldn’t believe how easy it had become for her to lie. She wanted to believe it was to defend her baby, but maybe she was just a liar. “This baby is Anthony’s.”
Carter felt a sense of emptiness inside. She couldn’t be having this man’s child. “If you’re lying to me, I’ll find out eventually.”
“Exactly,” she answered. “So why would I?”
Would she try to fight a blood test once the baby was born? What consequence would lying now have in a custody battle? Avery felt a headache coming on just thinking about where her lies were leading her. What chance did she have whether she told the truth or not? If she could convince him that the baby wasn’t his, he might not want to test her after it was born. That’s what the medical records were for.
Carter knew Avery wasn’t a liar, but he felt like she was lying to him. He knew her heart and just couldn’t believe . . . Maybe he just wasn’t willing to believe that she would be, could be pregnant with someone else’s baby. She was supposed to be his wife, the mother of his children.
“So you married him because you were pregnant,” Carter said, searching his heart for what mattered and what didn’t. “I can understand that.”
“I love him,” Avery said, grateful to be able to tell the truth about something.
Carter gritted his teeth. “Look at me, Avery.”
She slowly turned her head, promising herself this was the truth. She could do it. “Carter, I love—”
“You can’t,” he said, holding her eyes with his as he sat down next to her on the bed. “I was awful, baby. I know I deceived you, manipulated you. I lied to you to cover it up and made you think you were crazy to suspect me. I know I messed everything up, but I also know that you love me.”
“Not anymore.” The words came out more like a whisper and Avery was frightened. When he called her “baby,” something weakened inside her. “I’m married now and that’s all that matters.”
“What’s between us has never been that simple,” Carter said. “The way we met, the way we’ve been together, and the way things ended when—”
“We ended,” she corrected. “Things didn’t end, Carter. We ended.”
“He can’t possibly make you as happy as I did,” Carter said.
Avery swallowed hard as he leaned in closer. “He can’t ever make me as miserable as you did either.”
Carter stopped, feeling that one deep. “Is that what you want? Someone you only care about enough so they can’t hurt you? You can’t be happy with that. You can’t be happy without this.”
Her eyes closed as his hand gently touched her cheek. She could smell his clean, fresh scent and it always did something to her. Just a touch and it all came rushing back; how his hands controlled her body, how when he caressed her, she so easily surrendered her will to his desire.
The knock on the door jolted them both and Avery shot up from the bed. She looked at Carter, who looked up at her, and was horrified by what she’d done, what she’d almost allowed to happen.
Carter slowly stood, never taking his eyes from hers. “You can’t fight this.”
Avery couldn’t respond. She walked past him toward the door. Looking in the peephole this time, she could see it was her sister.
Avery turned back to Carter. “I love my husband and I would never betray him.”
“Bullshit,” Carter said with a sneer. “If it wasn’t for whoever is on the other side of that door, that robe you’re wearing would be on the floor right now. And that, unlike anything you’ve said today, is the truth.”
As he started toward her, Avery opened the door wide, revealing Taylor, who looked stunned. Carter stopped, angry but still satisfied that he had proved his point. Avery still wanted him and it didn’t matter that she would fight him. When there was conflict between them it only heightened their desire, their sexual chemistry. This all worked in his favor and he would have her back before the professor could return.
“Hello, Taylor,” Carter said as he passed. “Give your father my family’s best.”
Avery closed the door behind him and turned to her little sister, who looked both stunned and amused. She didn’t say a word, only stood there with her arms folded across her chest.
“Don’t say anything,” Avery warned. “You will not mention this to Mom or anyone. Do you understand?”
Taylor rolled her eyes and tossed her purse on the bed. “Hurry up and get ready so we can get out of here.”
Leigh was a patient person; she had to be as a doctor. Especially as a trained pediatrician. Dealing with difficult children required patience above all. This was why she never lost her smile as seven-year-old Keisha Gibson squirmed and complained. However, her mother, Paula, was losing patience fast.
“Stop it!” Paula, a heavyset woman in her early thirties, grabbed her daughter by the arms and shook her once as they sat together on the patient’s chair.
Leigh was getting nervous. Paula was under a lot of stress. Her husband was dead and both of their families had abandoned her.
She was dealing with her own illness and had just lost her job. She was easily irritated and Leigh needed to find a free psychologist she could go to for help.
“It’s okay, Ms. Gibson,” Leigh said. “It’s a pretty big needle, Keisha. I can understand why you don’t want me to stick you, but I promise it won’t hurt but a little bit and it’ll be really, really quick.”
“No!” Keisha pushed away from her mother. “No more shots!”
Leigh had endless compassion for the girl. Born with HIV, contracted from her mother, who had gotten it from her boyfriend, Keisha had been dealt many bad blows. Recently, she had come down with a bad cold that turned into the flu, and her immune system wasn’t prepared for it. Leigh had been doing a lot of poking and sticking while trying to get Keisha back on track.
“I need to check your blood to make sure you’re doing better,” Leigh said. “We’ve talked about this.”
“She looks good to me.”
Leigh turned to Lyndon, who was sitting in the corner of the room with a smile on his face that she wanted to slap off. How dare he? “Yes, but we need to check.”
“Leave her alone.” Without getting up, Lyndon slid his chair to the bed. “She’s just a baby. Babies can’t take shots.”
Leigh was ready to ask Lyndon to leave until . . .
“I’m not a baby!” Keisha protested vehemently.
“Yes, you are.” Lyndon rubbed his chin, looking Keisha over. “You look like a—”
“I’m a big girl!” She held up both hands. “I’m seven!”
“You can’t be,” Lyndon said, shaking his head. “Seven-year-olds are big girls who take their shots.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Keisha looked from Leigh to Lyndon and then back at her mother.
“I’m sorry.” Leigh acted as if she was going to put the needle away. “I guess we’ll have to wait until you become a big girl to—”
“I am a . . .” With a pouting of her lips, the little nutmeg-brown beauty stuck her arm out. “I’m almost eight.”
“Hey.” Lyndon gestured for her attention. “Look at me.”
“What for?” Keisha asked.
“Look at my face,” Lyndon said. “Have you ever seen any face this good looking in your life?”
Keisha laughed although she looked a little confused.
“I mean, am I not the cutest guy on the planet?” Lyndon offered a profile, running his fingers through his blond locks.
“Say yes,” Paula whispered into her daughter’s ear.
“I don’t know.” Keisha shrugged. “You’re white.”
Lyndon’s mouth opened wide in shock. “Are you sure?”
Keisha blinked as Leigh stuck the needle in, but kept her stride. “Of course I’m sure.”
“Does that matter?” Lyndon asked.
Keisha bit her lower lip with a thoughtful frown on her little face. “No, it’s not ’sposed to.”
“So, tell me . . .”
“Yes!” Keisha rolled her eyes, laughing. “You’re very cute.”
“There we go,” Leigh said as she pulled the needle out. “All done.”
When she looked down at Lyndon, who was pinching Keisha’s nose, Leigh couldn’t contain her own smile.
Last night had been interesting to say the least. Leigh hadn’t cared much for Jack or Polly, finding them both a little obnoxious and immature. But Lyndon turned out to be great company. He was charming, but never put it on too thick. Leigh could tell he was tired, but his set didn’t sleep so he tried to pretend he wasn’t.
They talked a lot about the patients they had seen that day, the clinic, and what Leigh wanted it to become. She talked about the worst moments she’d had there, leaving out the time Leo shot and killed Richard and then himself. She stuck to the patients and how she grew courage and strength with every frightening experience.
He was listening. Leigh had only been on three dates since Richard died and not one of them actually listened. They asked her all types of questions and nodded their heads when she spoke, but they never really listened. Then again, last night hadn’t really been a date.
“It’s not too late, you know.” Leigh slipped off her latex gloves and dropped them in the garbage. They were alone now that Keisha and Paula were gone.
“For what?” Lyndon swung around in the swivel chair.
“Medical school. You can certainly afford it and I think you have a knack.”
“That’s called being a show-off, Leigh.” He stopped turning and looked at her. “I could never do what you do.”
“Something we have in common,” she said. “I could never act. I’m too self-conscious.”
“You would be great on-screen,” he said. “You have a look that . . . You’re, like, very sweet, but also sexy, and that’s a combo that people love.”
Leigh turned away from him, hiding her flirtatious smile. “What about being able to act?”
“What’s acting?” Lyndon stood up and walked over to her. He leaned against the counter she was working on. “I don’t know how to act and I’ve made millions.”
“Well, I’m a very good doctor and I’ve made nothing,” Leigh joked.
She could tell he was staring at her as she tried to focus on preparing Keisha’s blood sample. Talk about self-conscious. She had already spent too much time thinking about him since last night. She never wore makeup to the clinic, but had put on lipstick this morning. It was all ridiculous and she was embarrassed for herself.
“Will you have dinner with me?”
Leigh almost dropped the vial of blood in her hand as she looked at him. “What?”
“Dinner,” Lyndon said. “Last night was great, but I’d like to be alone with you.”
“What do you mean?” Leigh tried to filter the stereotypes of promiscuous sex and meaningless relationships so pervasive in young Hollywood.
Lyndon frowned, not seeming sure of her question. “I don’t . . . I mean, I think we could talk better without Jack screaming in my ear.”
“Oh.” Leigh turned to him with a heavy sigh. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Lyndon looked deflated. “Didn’t you have a good time? I thought—”
“Oh yes, I did. I just . . .” She stepped away, wishing someone would interrupt them, anything to get out of this. “This is supposed to be a professional relationship.”
“I’d like a chance to change that.” He was at her side again.
Leigh felt a flutter in her belly at the assertiveness of his movement. It compelled her to look at him, and the serious look on his face made her want to . . .
“No,” she said. “Lyndon, you don’t know who I am. I’m not like Jack or Polly. I’m not like some fan you might meet at the Ivy. I’m not—”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he asked. “Why do you think I’m asking you out?”
“Because you’re curious,” she said.
Lyndon nodded, rolling his eyes. “You think I’m the white boy looking to see what a little brown sugar tastes like.”
Leigh shrugged. “Every white boy decides that chocolate is his flavor of the month at one point.”
“Leigh.” He smiled seductively. “I’ve tasted brown sugar, so there is no fascination here. This isn’t an experimental discovery mission. I’m just a guy who likes a girl and wants to impress her by spending money and seeming important.”
Leigh pressed her lips together to keep from laughing, but she couldn’t hide the smile. The victorious grin on his face told her she shouldn’t bother to protest. She was going to dinner with Lyndon Prior.
Kimberly handed Michael a glass of Macallan whiskey, but he didn’t even look at her when he thanked her. Since coming home he’d been in a world all his own, and it bothered her that he didn’t want to share with her. They used to share everything. Well, not everything, but almost. After her encounter on Rodeo Drive earlier that day, Kimberly needed comfort even though she couldn’t tell him why. But Michael offered her nothing more than a kiss before retrea
ting to his office.
“You sure you don’t want any dinner?” she asked. “I can make you a plate and bring it—”
“I’m not hungry.” Michael’s eyes stayed focused on the computer screen. He had to read the supplier projections for the third time, because he couldn’t seem to take anything in.
Standing behind him, Kimberly reached down and touched his shoulders. He didn’t shrug her away as she began to massage them. She needed to be close to him, to touch him and know that he was hers forever.
“Baby, I wish you would—”
“Kimberly,” Michael said. “I’m very busy.”
“If you talk to me, you know you’ll feel better.” She knelt down and kissed him on the neck. “You always do.”
Michael closed his eyes, loving the touch of her lips on him. He hated himself for being angry at nothing. “Have you spoken to Avery yet?”
“I haven’t been able to get to her,” Kimberly said. “She kind of invited me to lunch, but I couldn’t make it.”
“I thought you were going to find out what was going on with that husband of hers.”
Kimberly had too many things on her mind to worry about Carter’s jealousy. “I will, honey. I’ll call the house again tonight.”
“She’s not at the house,” Michael said. “She’s staying at some hotel nearby. Her last name is Harper.”
“If you know so much, why do you need me?”
“Just talk to her, baby.” Michael put his hand over Kimberly’s and squeezed.
“I know you love your brother, but you can’t let his jealousy ruin your—”
“It’s not about that,” Michael said. “It’s stupid. Just—”
“What is it?” She grabbed the back of the chair and turned it around, positing herself on Michael’s lap. “I won’t go away until you tell me.”
“Avery’s pregnant.”
Kimberly almost fell on the floor. “How . . . Carter must be devastated.”
“He thinks it’s his.”
“Why would he . . .” Kimberly’s mind skipped several steps to the conclusion, the one that mattered. “Are you afraid?”
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