Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Michael
My entire body was heavy. Britney had just run out of the hospital and bought a plane ticket back to New York without saying a word.
I’d wanted to catch her before she disappeared. I needed to tell her how I felt and let the chips fall where they may. However, when my accountant informed me that the twenty-five million was returned, my stomach twisted.
We’d lost our child, and I hadn’t shown her or told her that she was the world to me.
I sat in the living room where we’d spent our wedding night in different rooms, but I couldn’t be still.
The second I’d come to New York, I’d wanted to bang on her door, but I had paperwork to handle with Jeff Norouzi and my accounts. My mind focused on her returned funds, and I’d lost steam. I had no idea what to say to her. So I’d come to my new, empty home and decided to regroup and make a plan.
Friends decided they would help me. Charlie and Kir stayed with me, talking after the women left. The day had turned into night, so I’d gone most of the day without a clue for a plan.
I took a deep breath and said, “Thanks for your help with the press.”
Kir said, “Don’t worry about anything.”
“You’ll always be one of us,” Charlie added.
For years, I’d been satisfied by surrounding myself with smart people whom I respected, but I was feeling like I’d been rejected when I hadn’t even told the whole truth.
The Norouzis hadn’t blinked when it came out that Britney had been faking our relationship.
I’d admitted that nothing had ever been pretense for me, and Charlie and Kir were standing guard as my oldest and best friends.
Someone knocked at the door though the doorman hadn’t rung up to notify me. I stood and headed to the door. From then on, I was going to handle all my problems straightaway.
However, when I opened the door, my chest expanded as I stared into the familiar blue eyes of the one person I’d ever loved. “Britney?”
She gazed past me and stepped back. “Oh, you’re still busy.”
She’d known I was there. My heart pounded. If she’d come, that meant something.
Kir opened the door wider and said, “No. We’re leaving right now.”
I waved for her to come in, and she did so.
“I just wanted to talk to Michael,” she said. As Charlie and Kir were grabbing their shoes and slipping them on, she added, “Take your time, both of you.”
They both said goodbye and were out the door in under thirty seconds.
They knew I’d been dreaming of seeing her all week and she was why I’d hurried to finish all the legal stuff in England concerning my family.
As they closed the door behind themselves, Britney held her waist and said, “I’m sorry I barged in without calling first. I waited a few hours and hoped I’d catch you alone.”
So she’d known I was there and that friends were trying to babysit me though I never asked them to.
I could hardly breathe. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Her eyes widened. “You are?”
The time had come to tell the truth and face the consequences like a man. I nodded. “Absolutely. There was something I intended to tell you in London, but everything spun too fast.”
She cupped my face and said, “I came here to tell you?—”
“Let me finish,” I interrupted. If she only wanted my body without knowing the rest, then I’d get lost again.
She swiped her face. “Okay, you can go first.”
I took her hands. She smelled like her rosy perfume, and my heart pounded.
“The first moment I met you in Charlie’s house when you came up to see Hope, I was enchanted,” I said.
She smiled. “You were sexy as fuck.”
I laughed, and my face heated. “Well, thank you. When you invited me back to your place, I was hooked.”
“Me too.”
Time to tell her everything. I took a deep breath and said, “But before you even told me you were pregnant, I already suspected it was more.”
“More?”
I straightened and swallowed. This is go time. “I was and am in love with you. You’re everything I always wanted to be with, and you’ve had my heart since the beginning.”
Her eyes widened, and she covered her lips. “Seriously?”
I held her. I needed to touch her, even for that last moment. “I know you don’t love me back. You’ve made it abundantly clear, but I wanted to marry you, start a family with you, because I wanted us to work out and get to live happily ever after.”
Tears streamed down her face. “Oh, Michael.”
My body tingled from her nearness. “And while I’m sad we lost the baby, I needed to tell you that I love you, and I don’t want a divorce.”
“We didn’t.” She pressed a hand on my chest, and I stepped back to give her the room she wanted. Then she let out a long sigh and said, “I’m still pregnant. I’d tried to tell you the baby was fine, but I fucked that up, too, like I do everything.”
I was in a bubble. Not even sure I was in my body, I reached for her hand. “Wait. What?”
She lowered her head but held me. “When my friends found me wallowing and told me what you thought, I showered and decided to find you. I’m so sorry. I just don’t want any stress.”
I rocked back and forth.
Our baby was still coming. My skin tingled as my eyes grew hot.
And Britney was in front of me. She now knew everything. A smile grew on my face, and hope bubbled through me.
I took a deep breath and said, “I hate stress. I couldn’t face asking doc?—”
“It’s my fault. I wasn’t clear. Going to a hospital scared the fuck out of me.
” She closed her eyes and spoke like she wanted to avoid me.
“When I heard what happened to your sister and why she was throwing me under the bus… because her choice was taken from her. I couldn’t imagine my child ever having that kind of burden, and that ate at my need to protect this baby, to the point it made me sick. ”
I pressed my forehead to hers. She hadn’t run away from me.
“It won’t happen,” I said.
She held me as I grew hard. “How can you be sure?” she asked.
I kissed her cheeks. “Because you’re the mom, and hopefully, I’m a better father than mine was.”
She nodded and lifted her chin. “You don’t gamble. I’m not always a good bet.”
“Yes, you are.” I pressed my lips to hers and found she tasted better than I remembered. My entire body grew warm. “You’re all I wanted. Britney, we need to work something out because I want to be a part of this baby’s life.”
She nodded and said, “I know you’re going to be a great dad.”
“I love you,” I whispered, needing to tell her in simple words.
She wiped her eyes and said, “I believe you?—”
Then I kissed her. She wrapped her arms around me, and I picked her up. I needed to have her again.