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I had the feeling neither of us was pretending at all.

Caleb sat back on the sofa, and rubbed his stomach. “Good God, woman. You’ve been holding out on me.”

I stood up, and held my hand out for his plate. “Wouldn’t want you to start expecting it every night,” I laughed. I cleared the dishes, and rejoined Caleb on the sofa. Henry had gone home hours ago, and Braelynn was sleeping sweetly. Now was the perfect opportunity to talk about how Caleb thought our ‘arrangement’ was going to work. Now that I could think about it without the influence of alcohol, I had a few reservations.

“I can hear you thinking over there.”

I gave Caleb a half-smile. “Am I that obvious?”

He switched the television off, and turned his body to face me. “I know you’re worried, but you have no reason to be.”

Caleb’s face was eerily calm, whereas I was wondering what the hell I was thinking agreeing to all this. He took my hand in his, the plea in his eyes hard to ignore.

“I’m asking you to trust me.”

“But do you realize how crazy this all sounds?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “But the Board haven’t left me with much choice. If they feel that anything will jeopardize my position at the company, they will vote me out.”

“And they think having a baby will put the entire company at risk? How archaic can they be?”

“Unfortunately I still have to answer to them, so if they tell me to jump, I say ‘how high’. I wouldn’t have asked you if I had another choice, and it’s not like I can trust anyone else with Braelynn.”

That did something strange to my insides, and as much as I wanted to act on it, I knew I couldn’t. The dynamic of our relationship was about to change, and I couldn’t risk getting more emotionally attached than I already was.

“What if things get ugly? You know the media have a habit of twisting information to sensationalize any story.”

“They won’t,” Caleb reassured me. “I won’t let you get hurt. Please, just trust me.”

I did.

Implicitly.

But I couldn’t escape the concern that it would eventually be my downfall.