Page 45 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
But even if he meant what he was saying, it was only because he didn't know.
C'mon, Rhys, get it over with.
I took a deep breath, gathered my courage, and made myself speak. “I met my husband, my ex, one last time after I left him. He told me that the divorce proceedings would be a lot less painful for me if I just... if I just agreed to fulfill my matrimonial duties to him only once more. So I did. He told me he was using a condom, but... I don't know... He must have taken it off or something. Or maybe it broke,”
I added, though I knew that was unlikely. Frustrated with myself, I bit my teeth together. It was so difficult to talk about this. Especially when a part of me still wanted to make excuses for Jeremiah.
“So, you had unprotected sex with your ex,” Ethan summed up what I'd told him. “Did the bastard pass on some sort of STD to you? Because I'm cool with using condoms if that's what you need.”
“No, that's not... I'm notsick.I'm pregnant.”
That shut Ethan up.
I took him thirty whole seconds to recover from his shock. I knew, because I counted every one of them. Counting was the only thing that distracted me from the way my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. Eyes wide, Ethan eventually looked down at my belly. I was still wearing a thick hoodie, but once you knew what I was trying to hide, it became really hard not to notice the bulge anyway.
“You're having a baby?”
I nodded, mouth too dry to speak as I waited for his final judgment.
“Wow,” he said eventually. “Can you take off that hoodie? Wait, is it weird of me to ask that?”
“A little?”
Ethan let go of my hand to scratch the back of his neck. “I just really wanna see it.”
“You do?” This was so not the reaction I'd expected from him at all.
He gave me a sheepish smile. “I know you were probably thinking I'd freak out and all that, but I've always had a thing for pregnant guys.”
He admitted that so easily I was taken aback for a moment. “It doesn't bother you that I'm carrying another alpha's child?”
“Don't say that like there's something wrong with me. As long as you don't run off with that other alpha...” He shrugged. “This is something that happened before we did,” he said, gesturing between the two of us. “As far as I'm concerned, you've done a wonderful job treating my children with the all the love and respect they deserve. I don't see why I shouldn't treat your child the same. I wouldn't condemn you if you were the parent of a toddler or a high schooler, so why would your pregnancy make me want you any less?” He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice dropped an octave.
“Actually, it kind of makes me want you more. I don't care if that makes me weird.”
“You're not weird, just, different from what I'm used to.” Different in agoodway, but it was still difficult to wrap my head around it all. If I'd broken this sort of news to Jeremiah, plates would have gone flying for sure. The idea that, at any point in my life, another alpha had touched me would have been too much for him. None of the alphas in Crystal Bay would have wanted anything to do with a divorced omega in the first place. But Ethan didn't seem to think that I was spoiled goods.
“I know you've been around a lot of people who hold some weird beliefs about alphas and omegas, but I promise you, I'm nothing like your ex. if you're still comparing me to him in your head, you really need to stop doing that. I'm not some Vinist douchebag, so please don't expect me to act like one.”
“I'm trying,” I said, honestly, but I couldn't just unlearn everything I'd been taught in the matter of a few weeks.
“I know.” Ethan eyed me again. “Is your pregnancy the reason you didn't want to dance? You didn't want me to notice?”
“I didn't want you to find out like that. I'm sorry. I should have told you much sooner.”
“It's okay. With everything you've been through, I can see how this was difficult for you. But now that the cat's out of the bag... is it okay for me to touch you? I mean, seriously, can you take that hoodie off?”
“You really want to see what's underneath, don't you?”
Desire flashed through Ethan's eyes. “I do.”
I huffed, both in amusement and in disbelief. And also in relief. Never in a million years would I have thought that Ethan would take this so well. “You might be disappointed,” I warned him. “I'm not showing as much as some other guys.” I'd been happy about that when it helped me hide my pregnancy. Now I was torn.
Ethan only shook his head, though. “You're not going to disappoint me. Trust me. Even if that's difficult for you, will you try?”
I nodded. “Iamtrying.”
“Okay.” Ethan gave me a small smile. “Maybe I can think of something that'll help you along. But first,pleasetake off that hoodie?”
