Page 107 of Dirty Boss

“I haven’t been with anyone else, but I don’t expect you to believe that after how we left things.” Her hand cupped her lower stomach protectively, and she gave me a tight nod. “I’d like you to be in his life, but I understand?—”

“His? It’s a boy?”

Her brows tugged. “Did you read the letter?”

I looked at the letter again, but my vision was jumpy. My heart thumped a little too hard, and I was afraid that if I took my eyes off Alba, she’d disappear.

I’m pregnant. It’s yours. My due date is December 1st, and I’m having a boy.

I understand that this may come as a shock to you, and I’m not sending you this letter because I’m looking for money from you. I simply think it’s my duty as a soon-to-be mother to tell you about the child and ask you to be part of your son’s life.

Take all the time you need, and contact me when you’re ready. My number hasn’t changed.

Alba

When I looked up again, Alba’s gaze slid away from me. She’d been watching my face as I read, so she saw the myriad of emotions that swarmed me. The shock. The bolt of happiness. The crushing despair.

We could’ve experienced this together if I’d been a better man. If I hadn’t screwed up and turned on Alba when I was supposed to support her. If I hadn’t been so selfish.

“So,” Alba said as she gave me a tight smile. “Now you know. I’ll give you some time?—”

“I don’t need time.”

Her brows jumped, and pain flashed across her expression. Then she took a bracing breath and nodded. “I see. Understood. You won’t hear from me again.” She turned to walk away.

“I love you,” I blurted out to her back.

Alba froze, then whirled around. “What?”

“I love you, Alba. I’ve been in love with you for so long I don’t remember when or how it started. Maybe it was the moment you walked into that private dining room for our first lesson. Or maybe it was when you ran your fingers through my hair that first time. When you told me I was scruffy looking. Maybe I loved you the moment you walked up to my table at Carmine’s and called me a failure.”

“I don’t recall using those exact words?—”

“I haven’t stopped loving you these past months, even when you walked away from me. But now, with this?” I held up the letter. “I won’t let you walk away again. Let me fix what I broke, Alba. Please.”

Her mouth pinched, and I suspected it was to stop her bottom lip from trembling. Her eyes went watery, and shelooked at me like I’d just handed her the first bit of hope she’d felt in a long time.

I closed the distance between us and lifted my hand. Hesitating for only a moment, I cupped her cheek and tilted her head up so I could look in her eyes. “I love you, Alba. I love how resilient you are. I love your strength, and your sass, and I love that you give as good as you get. You make me a better man, and I’m not talking about teaching me how to hold a wine glass.”

She huffed, a tear falling down her cheek.

“You make me a better man by challenging all the things I always believed to be true.”

“Like what?”

“Like my belief that my success in business defined me. That I needed to push and push just to prove something. That letting go of my business was failure, because that’s what I’d watched my own father do time and time again. But I let it go, Alba. I sold the business and walked away, and I’m no less of a man, no less of a father.”

“You sold your business?”

I stroked her cheek and smiled. “I met a guy at that gala after all. Leif Sorensen, the property developer. We came to a deal, and I officially retired a week ago.”

Alba’s mouth opened and closed like she didn’t know what to say.

“You told me you wouldn’t be someone’s second priority. Let me put you first.” With the fingers of my free hand, I touched the slight swell of her stomach. My voice cracked, so the next words came out as a whisper: “Let me put you both first.”

“I thought—I thought you’d tell me to leave,” she whispered. “After I said I didn’t want to be with you, I thought you’d throw it back in my face when I told you about the baby.”

Lifting my hands to cup both sides of her face, I looked into her eyes and said, “I’m not your parents, or your lover, or yourex-fiancé. You had every right to be angry with me. I’ll take your anger, Alba, and I’ll cherish it if it means I get to be near you. I’ll take it all. Anger. Frustration. Guilt. Fear. Hurt. Everything you can fling at me will be worth it if it means I get to spend a lifetime making sure you stay by my side.”