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I frowned. “What kind of situation?”
A look of pain crossed his face. “A woman I was dating. She told me it was safe and that she was taking birth control. We were monogamous, and I was in love with her, so I gave up the condoms. Three months later, she told me she was pregnant. All at once, I was thrust into a situation I wasn’t ready for.”
I was shocked. “You have a child?”
“No. She lied to me. She was fooling around with some guy from work. He got her pregnant.”
“But how do you know it wasn’t yours?”
“Because her due date was off. There was no way I could be the father. She was five months pregnant and telling me she was three. We started having sex four months before. I had no idea what her end game was. Then it all came out. The guy didn’t want the responsibility, so she latched on to me and told me lies.”
I gaped at him. “Holy fuck! What a bitch. You think I would play you like that? You’re the first man I’ve been with in four years. I don’t want a relationship, and I certainly don’t want a child. I’m the ice queen, remember?”
Austin ground his teeth. “Stop fucking saying that about yourself.”
“It’s true. What kind of mother would I make? I don’t have a soft bone in my body. That kid would be miserable.”
He roughly grabbed my face so I would look at him and stared into my eyes. “Would a woman who can make me feel so good be a horrible mother? Despite what you say, I know different. How long have you believed what you hear people say?”
“It’s true. I have the perfect last name, Stone. Hard as stone.”
“You can say that all you like but I don’t believe any of it. You’ve used that as an excuse to keep people at arm’s length. What did he do to you to make you so cynical?”
“He who?”
“That last asshole you dated?”
“He didn’t do anything other than dump me for a younger model. I’m better off alone, and the sooner you figure that out, the better off you’ll be. I can’t give you what you want. I can’t be what you want.”
Austin let my face go and swam over to the stairs. He disappeared into the house, and I watched him go. I hated what I said to him, but if he got in too deep, it would be worse. It was time for me to leave. I got out of the pool and took off the shirt I was wearing then grabbed a towel that Austin had stacked on a storage box near the seating area.
He wasn’t in his man cave and didn’t show up as I slipped on my panties and skirt. I kept the towel wrapped around my chest as I went upstairs to his bedroom to put on my shirt and bra I left in his closet. The shower in the master bath was running, and I assumed Austin must be in there. When I was dressed, I peeked in the bathroom to find him in the large glass stall.
“Austin?”
He opened the door to the stall and looked out. “Where are you going?”
“Home. I told you this wouldn’t work.”
“You don’t want it to,” he growled.
“I only want friendship, and you can’t seem to understand that.”
He wiped water from his face with his hand. “If that were true, you wouldn’t come here with ulterior motives. Tell the truth.”
I inhaled deeply. “You want the fucking truth? The truth is that you’re like a drug to me. The minute you shoved that big cock of yours inside me. I was addicted like I’ve never been before.”
Austin blinked several times. “And that’s a bad thing?”
“It is because I can’t lose focus. You make me lose focus.”
“Come shower with me.”
“I need to go home. It’s better this way.”
I turned to go and heard the clank of the glass door as it closed, but it wasn’t what I thought. I thought Austin had given up and went to finish washing himself. I believed that until his wet hands grabbed me by the arms and pulled me against him.
“I’m not letting you go. You have two choices, undress and join me, or I carry you in fully dressed.”
