Second Chance, Baby. A.C. Arthur

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СКАЧАТЬ a lot, but that was for the good of them both, for their future. He wanted them to be financially secure, outside of the Braddock fortune. Working hard was the only way a man could adequately provide for his family. He’d learned that from his father.

      All this past mumbo jumbo aside, Ty was not about to let Felicia raise his baby without him. “I want you back, Felicia. I never wanted you to leave.”

      “Ty.” She sighed.

      The shreds of his calm shattered and he slammed his hands down on the table. “You will not shut me out of this pregnancy or my child’s life, no matter what you think you know about me!”

      “Keep your voice down,” she said sternly, as if he were one of her students.

      Ty dragged a hand down his face. His temples hurt like hell. “I don’t know what you want me to say, what you want me to do, Felicia.”

      “Like I said, what I wanted never mattered to you.” When he was about to say something else, she held up a hand to stop him. “Now that you know, I will keep you in the loop about the pregnancy. You can be a father to your child.”

      “Thanks for the permission,” he snapped.

      She frowned. “Don’t do that.”

      “Don’t do what? Don’t act pissed off? Well, I am. So deal with it.” How dare she keep this from him? And how dare she act like she was doing him a favor by allowing him to be in his child’s life? They were once so happy. How had they come to this?

      “That’s just it, Ty. I have been dealing with it. I’ve been dealing with you and your twisted priorities and your lack of attention. But I don’t have to take it.”

      Her words were curt, sharp and sounded entirely too final for his liking. “So what are you saying? You don’t want to be with me?” Asking the question made him feel vulnerable and insufficient. Sitting up straighter, he cleared his throat. “We took vows, Felicia. And I for one didn’t take them lightly. There are problems in every marriage. The true test is loyalty and patience. Does our love mean so little to you that you won’t even try?”

      No, the hell he wasn’t! she thought.

      He was not turning the tables on her, making this all seem like her fault. She’d tried and tried. Talking and planning romantic weekends and trying to bring back the spark they’d once had. All to no avail.

      “You were the one who stopped trying, Ty. Your job always came first. Making your next million meant more than making love to your wife. And you expected me to simply be there to help you celebrate. I won’t be your trophy wife. It takes two to make a marriage work.”

      He touched his fingers to his temples and rubbed. He had a headache and Felicia immediately felt guilty. Ty always got headaches when he was hungry or tired. She could guess what the culprit was this time. Opening her purse, she dug inside and pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen. “You haven’t eaten today, have you?”

      “What?” he asked, his eyes squinting as he looked at her.

      “Food? Did you have any? Breakfast, lunch? Never mind.” She opened the bottle and poured two pills into her hand. Signaling the waiter, she ordered them two glasses of water and salads. The water came first and she put the pills in Ty’s hand.

      He didn’t say a word but popped the pills and lifted the glass to drink.

      “Three meals a day can easily be woven into your work schedule. How do you expect to keep up your strength if you forget to eat? You are not Superman,” she said, watching him swallow.

      He chuckled. “I was your Superman once.”

      Felicia had to smile at that one, touched once again by the sentiment in his tone. She hadn’t heard him talk like that in years. “Yes, you were. A long time ago.”

      When he reached across the table for her hand, she didn’t pull away. “I want what we had before, Felicia. I want you with me again. If that means I have to change some things, then I will. But this separation is killing me. It’s been three whole months!”

      Run? Stay? Her mind argued even as his thumb rubbed over the back of her hand. Heat moved swiftly up her arm and settled throughout her chest with familiarity.

      She sighed. “It’s not that easy. You can’t just say you want it and think that it will be. I wanted it all for us, Ty. The careers, the family, the love.”

      “I’ve never stopped loving you.”

      “You just stopped being with me.”

      “How can I fix this?” he implored with a look of such honesty that it almost broke her heart.

      “I only wanted you and a life where we were equal partners and friends. I wanted a family and a home.”

      He nodded as if hearing her for the first time. “I understand.”

      “Do you really?” she asked.

      “I know exactly what you need, Felicia. I always have,” he said with that slow, sinful smile.

      Felicia’s insides melted. Boy, did he know what she needed. Flashes of their last night together hit her like a warm breeze.

      When it came to the bedroom—or any room, for that matter—Ty knew and always delivered everything she wanted or needed. But that area of their lives wasn’t the problem. When he wasn’t working, his performance in bed was much more than she could ask for. However, their marriage could not survive on sex alone. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, then put her hand on her belly and thought about her own family.

      She was an only child. Her parents, Marshall and Lydia Turner, had been happily married for forty-three years. They had a loving, trusting marriage—one that was filled with arguments and makeups, trials and tribulations, but one they both cherished. They’d been her role models as she’d grown up. She wanted a marriage just like theirs. And she wasn’t settling for anything less.

      “That’s not what I’m talking about, Ty. Sex was never a problem for us.”

      “No. And apparently we’ve had much more success than I’d anticipated,” he said, nodding toward her belly. “I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.”

      She smiled, hoping he really was excited, but she wasn’t really sure. She knew a baby wasn’t a part of Ty’s plan just yet. But there wasn’t much they could do about it now. “When the doctor told me, I was in a state of shock for days.”

      They both grew quiet. “I was so sorry about Harmon’s death, and then this happened, and I just didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t know how you would react.”

      “You can tell me anything, baby. Don’t ever forget that.”

      Felicia looked at this man and knew that she loved him even more today than she ever had. He’d been her best friend for almost ten years and her lover for more than half that time. Of course she could tell him anything, but could she trust him again with her heart?

      “Let’s have dinner tonight? At the penthouse.”

      “I’m not moving back in, СКАЧАТЬ