Page 137 of Blossom
“Please…”
I look her straight in the eye. “Are you lying to me?”
She bites her lower lip. And that’s my answer. I know her body language.
“As I suspected.” I blow out a frustrated sigh. “You’re better than this, Keira. You don’t need to trap a man.”
“But you know my feelings for you.”
“I do. And I respect them. However, I don’t share them. We’ve been through this before, too many times. I don’t like hurting you. It was never my intention to do anything like that. But you and I had an agreement, and I thought you understood the terms.”
“I can’t help it if I fell in love with you,” she says.
“No one is blaming you for that. If I shared your feelings, I would tell you. But I don’t, Keira. I’m so sorry, but I don’t.”
She throws the pregnancy test in the trash can.
“Oh no…” I point to the bin. “You’re going to take the test. I need to know for sure that you’re telling me the truth. I don’t need you coming back seven months from now with a child.”
She huffs. “Fine.” She pulls the stick out of the wastebasket. “If I leave my purse outside the bathroom, can I at least pee in peace?”
I nod. I don’t think there’s any pregnancy hormone—or pregnant woman pee—in my bathroom.
I shut the door, giving her some privacy.
“How long does it take to see results?” I ask through the door.
“You insisted on buying the most expensive test. We should be able to see results in one minute.”
Good.
I set the timer on my watch.
I’ll give her two minutes. Time to pee on the stick and then time for the result.
When a hundred and twenty seconds have passed. I knock on the door.
She opens it, hands me the stick. It’s negative.
Thank fuck.
My shoulders drop. My whole body nearly drops with relief, but I hold myself up.
“I’m going to take you to the airport. This time you will get on a plane. When you get back to Glasgow, I want you to get on with your life. It’s going to be a life without me. You can find another Dominant. One that’s open to something more. Or you can leave the lifestyle altogether and find a man who’s looking for a relationship and children.”
“All right.” She sighs. Then her lip quivers as she says, “I tried. I tried, Ronan, because I love you.”
“I’m trying to understand that,” I say. “But faking a pregnancy was not the way to gain my sympathy. Don’t come after me again. My feelings on this matter aren’t going to change.”
Tears well in her eyes.
I take her hand. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I know you didn’t.” She sniffles. “It’s my own fault. I didn’t want to fall in love with you. It just happened.”
“It’s not your fault. I don’t want you blaming yourself for this. You didn’t do anything wrong—other than fake a pregnancy and lie to get into my hotel room. But I mean about us. Falling for someone isn’t a crime. We did have an agreement, though, and my feelings aren’t the same as yours.”
She hiccups, gulping, and nods.