Page 30 of His Captor

I hoped to God Rachel would be willing to uproot her life to move across the country with me to be my COO.

“I get it,” Alex said. “Let’s deal with first things first.”

Another wave of relief washed through me, even though Colin had gotten louder on the other side of the wall. This would work out. I could close up one business and start another in Barrington. And if I was lucky, I could find Billy.

Hayden

By the timemy flight landed, I felt horrible. Beyond just sick, I felt like my insides had been yanked out, scrambled, and shoved back into me.

“You really don’t look good,” Simon said as I slumped into the passenger seat of his car once my suitcase was in the trunk. “Did you eat something bad on the plane?”

“No,” I groaned. “I’ve been feeling off since my heat ended this morning. Or, I guess it was yesterday morning now. Stupid red-eye.”

Simon eyed me sideways as he pulled away from the airport curb and maneuvered around cars to get us to the highway.

“What kind of off?” he asked in a serious voice.

I didn’t want to confess to everything. I didn’t want to tell him how emotional I was, or how desperately I missed Ace.

“What kind of off?” Simon asked again, more demanding.

“Exhausted,” I said, blowing out a breath. “Way too exhausted for this conversation.”

“Mmm hmm.” Simon kept his eyes on the road, but I could tell he had a lot more to say. He didn’t make me wait either. “When did your heat start?”

“Friday night,” I said, rubbing a hand over my middle. I felt warm and prickly in my core still. “No, maybe Friday afternoon.”

“What time did your first heat wave start?”

“Simon, I’m fine.”

He tore his eyes off the road to look at me sternly.

“I don’t know,” I said, irritated. “We were playing.”

That shut Simon up, but not for long.

“And when did it end?” he asked.

“Yesterday morning,” I said. “Late morning. In plenty of time for it to be a full, ordinary heat.”

But it hadn’t ended late yesterday morning. It had ended in the early hours, just after midnight, right after Ace and I had one hell of a breeding orgasm.

“Oh, God, no,” I said as the pieces started to fit into place.

Simon cleared his throat. “Did you take precautions?” he asked. “Are you on the pill? Did you use?—”

“No,Papa, okay? No,” I snapped. “I…I wasn’t supposed to go into heat for another two or three weeks.”

Simon pressed his lips firmly shut.

I hunched, crossing my arms and hugging myself.

Ten minutes of thick silence later, as Simon turned off the highway, he said, “Do you want to stop by a pharmacy and get a pregnancy test?” in a quiet voice.

I pinched my face. I pouted. I clenched my jaw and ground my teeth.

Then I let out a breath of defeat and said, “Yes.”

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