Did they?
He mentally shook himself. It wasn’t important. They both knew the score. At least, he was pretty sure Soli did. Though from what she’d just said, he was a little worried now that she was allowing herself to become more emotionally attached to him than was wise.
That wasn’t what he wanted at all.
Was it?
No. That wasn’t what he’d signed up for.
His chest suddenly felt tight.
He needed to get out of there and off to work before his concern became apparent to Soli and potentially started a conflict he really didn’t want to deal with right then.
‘Anyway, I’ll see you later,’ he said, forcing himself to give her an unconcerned smile.
‘Looking forward to it,’ she replied, not seeming to notice the sudden tension in the air. ‘Have a good day, darling!’
* * *
Soli strolled back into the house, closed the front door and stopped abruptly in the hallway as a sudden horrifying knowledge that she was going to be sick assaulted her.
Her stomach lurched and churned as she dashed to the nearest bathroom, only just making it there in time.
The bug she’d had in Corsica couldn’t have got her again, surely. She’d only had it a few weeks ago.
Was that right?
No. Hang on, it couldn’t have been that short a time ago.
Life had been such a whirl; she’d barely had time to notice how the weeks had flown by. It seemed like only yesterday that they’d been in Corsica.
But it wasn’t. It was at least six weeks ago.
A cold sensation trickled down her spine as something alarming occurred to her.
She should have had her period by now. She remembered spotting a bit a couple of weeks ago, which wasn’t unusual because of the pill she was on, but she’d forgotten to write down when her last proper period was.
Her heart gave a painful thump in her chest and she dragged in a breath as she felt suddenly dizzy.
She couldn’t be pregnant though. Could she? They’d used double protection, apart from that time in Corsica when they’d just relied on her pill.
Which she’d not taken for the following two days after they’d had sex because she’d been so ill.
But there was no point panicking. She needed to be sensible and keep a cool head about this.
Pulling herself together, she got dressed then went straight out to the nearest chemist for a pregnancy test, using it as soon as she got home. Just because some things pointed towards her being pregnant, it didn’t mean she actually was, she reminded herself as she waited for the results to show. It could be another bug, or stress, or – something else that her whirling brain couldn’t think of right now.
The lines appeared in the little window.
It wasn’t anything else.
She was pregnant.
Sitting slumped on the bathroom floor, staring at the little white stick in her hand, she felt hot tears press at the backs of her eyes as her stomach dropped to the floor.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t the plan.
What was Xavier going to say? He’d been so definite about this thing between them being a sex-only arrangement.
