A Bundle of Joy 2: The Baby Proposal (BWWM Interracial Romance) by Roxy Wilson Read Free Book Online Page A

further inside.
    He took a look at her apartment. Neat. Clean. Spartan. And yet, it had a certain style and class. His gaze took in the family photos encased in wooden frames on the walls, and the neatly organized open kitchen.
    “Would you like something to drink?” She retrieved a vase from a cabinet, and filled it with water.
    “No. I ’m fine.” He walked over to join her.
    “How’s your mother?”
    She’d always gotten along with his mother.
    “She’s fine.”
    “And what about you?”
    Triston watched as she trimmed the stems and put the flowers in the vase. “I’ve joined my father in the business.”
    Her gasp was audible. She stopped fiddling with the petals of the flowers. “You’ve left the army?”
    “I had to leave because I was injured.”
    “What?” Her eyes widened.
    “Yeah…Was in the hospital for a couple of months. Paralysis of the left side of my body , but physical therapy helped. I’m good now.”
    Selene’s fingers brushed her parted lips, something she did when she was surprised. She took a tentative step forward and lif ted her hand, as if to touch his face. Triston was disappointed when she shook her head and lowered her hand. He wanted her to touch him, to give him a clue that she’d forgiven him for leaving her, to serve in a war that nobody had won.
    “I’m glad you’re all right now.”
    “Yeah.” He sat on the bar stool that lined the counter. So far she hadn’t kicked him out. He decided to take that as a positive sign. “What about you? Are you working?”
    She winced. “I was working as an editor. But I got fired a few months ago.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Budget cuts.”
    He hoped he hadn’t embarrassed her with his questions. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. I’ll find something e lse.” Her lips lifted, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She fiddled with the flowers, arranging them to her liking. Her gaze then lifted to meet his. “I’m surprised to see you wander this way. What brings you here again? I thought after hearing about my pregnancy, you’d be running for the hills.”
    Triston leaned closer, all his senses on full alert. This dejected, depre ssed Selene wasn’t the one he’d seen the last time they met. What happened to make her so sad?
    “What’s going on with you?”
    That’s it. Triston couldn’t keep his distance anymore. He stroked her cheek.
    And that was all it took.
    Selen e broke down.
    Triston pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her.
    Through her tears, she managed to tell him everything from the time she lost her job to her struggles to make ends meet, her calling about the surrogate job, to being pregnant, and now the new catastrophe about the couple not wanting the baby anymore.
    And throughout the rehashing of her woes, Triston’s heart tightened little by little against his chest. But he held her close, his chin resting lightly on her head. Triston savored the scent of coconut and vanilla, so much like a tropical island paradise, which emanated from her braids.
    Selene squeezed him tightly around the middle, and then gently pulled away from his embrace, indicating without words that their brief interlude had come to an end. He held on a little longer than he should have, as if he was stealing a few extra moments with her. Then, he let his arms fall away. 
    “I’m at my wits end.” Selene flung her arms in the air. “ The easy thing to do would be to abort. I still have time. I can do it in the next couple of weeks, and I’ve made a tentative appointment with the doctor, but…”
    “Since when you’ve done the easy thing? That’s not the girl that I know.”
    She looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. “The girl you knew doesn’t exist anymore. She’s broken and lost.” She inhaled a deep breath, and then expelled it. “Anyway, the other option is for me to give up the baby for adoption when it’s born. But for that to happen, this pregnancy has to progress right