Read Online The Billionaire's Baby Arrangement by Charlene Sands - Free Book Online Page A

measure up to the other girls in your string. You got me naked and decided you could do better. Isn’t that what really happened? I was inexperienced and I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t doing the right things and you—”
    â€œLet me get this straight,” he said, between clenched teeth. “You’re angry because we didn’t screw like rabbits all night long? Here I was trying to be noble, to do the right thing, and you’re upset because I didn’t take your virginity?”
    â€œI cared about you,” she said, raising her voice. “I wanted it to be with you.”
    â€œAnd I didn’t want to use you. Damn it, the one time I do the right thing I get kicked in the ass. Listen, Brooke. I wasn’t sticking around. At that time, my life, my future was baseball. I was leaving the next week for the minor leagues. And yeah, you scared me, because of all the girls I’d been with you were the one girl who could tie me down. The one girl I’d miss when I took off. It wouldn’t have worked. I didn’t want to hurt you. I never meant to.”
    â€œBut you did,” she said quietly. “You devastated me, Nick. I never heard from you again. Ever.”
    I was deeply in love with you.
    She opened up to him, finally confessing what she’d held back all these years, “Just think of all the worst things you think about yourself, your secret innermost thoughts that nag at you day after day, that you’re nothing, notpretty enough, not smart enough, not wealthy enough, not anything and to have those very thoughts confirmed by the one person in the world who can change your opinion. You leaving me there that night confirmed the worst about myself.”
    Nick came around the coffee table to sit beside her. From the dim lights, she could see into his eyes, the sorrow there and the apology. He didn’t try to touch her, but those eyes penetrating hers were like the tightest embrace. “I’m sorry. I thought I did the right thing for you. I’ve never been one to hold back when I wanted something, but what I did that night, it was for you. I wanted you, Brooke. But it wouldn’t have been fair to you.”
    Brooke had clung to her perceptions about Nick for so long it was hard to let them go. She wanted to believe him and release the bitter feelings that had only dragged her down these past years. She wanted to be done with it. She had a future to look forward to now with Leah. Finally she resigned herself to accept Nick’s claim as the truth as he saw it. “Okay, Nick.”
    It still didn’t make up for the months of anguish she’d experienced or for the heartache of loving someone like Nick, but she realized it was finally time to move on.
    â€œOkay?” Nick said. “We’ve cleared the air?”
    She nodded. “Yes.”
    And they sat in silence for a long while, just absorbing the conversation.
    â€œI think I’m well enough to leave tomorrow,” Brooke said finally. “I’ve got a new life waiting for me.” She rose from the sofa. “I should go.”
    Nick nodded, but his response left room for doubt. “We’ll see.”
    Â 
    Brooke dressed Leah in a blue-and-white-polka-dotted short set with a ruffled collar and bloomers. She combedher hair and hummed the Sesame Street song, laughing as Leah’s stubborn curls popped right back up the minute she put the brush down. The morning seemed filled with promise. She’d had a lot to absorb from her encounter with Nick last night and she’d slept on it, waking this morning with a better attitude and ready to put the past behind her.
    â€œIt’s gonna be a good day, baby girl,” she said, lifting Leah up and twirling her around. A wave of light-headedness hit her and Brooke stopped and let it pass, clutching her child tight. “Your mommy is pushing her luck,” she whispered.
    Nurse Jacobs entered the room,