The Pregnancy Test by Erin McCarthy Read Free Book Online Page B

all.” You intrigue me. You stimulate me. You turn me on. “I’ve enjoyed this position.”
    His eyes locked with hers, and suddenly her words sounded vaguely suggestive. She was acutely aware of how close they were, surrounded on three sides by seats and the window, and of how her breath caught. Her already tender and swollen breasts ached painfully, and that tight pit of longing swirled in her belly and rolled down between her legs until she wanted to twitch.
    “I’m pleased with my decision as well.”
    Then his finger slid up to his mouth, and he bit his fingernail, before yanking it out and looking at it in disgust. “I haven’t done that in…”
    Damien shifted on the seat, whatever comfort and intimacy that had been brewing between them gone in an instant. His shoulders were stiff, expression guarded, words polite. “I suppose I should have asked you if there was a reason you didn’t want to take this trip. Like maybe a husband or a boyfriend that doesn’t want you gone.”
    Mandy didn’t even try to stifle the snort that flew out of her mouth. “No, don’t have either one of those.”
    And she was grateful for it. If Ben had stuck around and given his half-hearted support to their relationship and their child, it would have been nothing but a burden. The clean break was better, and this baby was hers and hers alone.
    “Good.” Then he frowned. “I mean, that it wasn’t a problem for you to travel.”
    She smiled and adjusted her blanket, so the whole front of her was covered. “Not a problem at all.”
    “I didn’t think about what it would look like, though. There are rumors running around the office now, and I’m sorry.”
    “Rumors?” She touched the swelling bubble of her stomach, panic rising up into her throat. “What kind of rumors?”
    “Some people seem to think I invited you because we’re having an affair.”
    Damien hadn’t meant to bring that up. Ever.
    Especially since it didn’t look like that thought had occurred to Mandy. At least he figured that’s why she was curling her lip back in horror.
    “Who thinks that?”
    “A friend of mine just mentioned it.” And Damien shouldn’t have. “It’s no big deal,” he said, trying to backpedal and reassure her.
    Mandy was an enigma to him, a blend of prissy efficiency, sly humor, and intense vulnerability.
    Damien was glad she had draped that blanket over her like a tarp, covering every inch of her from neck to ankle. He was ashamed to admit that when she had been shivering with cold, he had been painfully aware of the effect on her chest. He’d gawked at her nipples like a teenage boy with a Victoria’s Secret catalog.
    It was disturbing, an uncomfortable awareness growing in his body again. Something he’d really and truly thought was dead was rising back to life, no pun intended.
    He was horny.
    For Mandy.
    She licked her lips nervously. “That’s a little awkward.”
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable in the office.” No, he hadn’t meant for that to happen. He had just wanted to corner Mandy, trap her into his presence, force her to look him in the eye.
    Why, he wasn’t sure.
    But she was here with him now, and he was sexually attracted to her, and intellectually attracted to her, and he now wanted to pursue both and yet knew he wouldn’t, couldn’t, because of his past. And he was acutely aware that she was his assistant and this was supposed to be a business trip.
    The only person he’d backed into a corner had been himself.
    Mandy had soft brown eyes, expressive and poignant, compassion sprinkled in them like the amber flecks around her pupils. “That’s okay.” She smiled, a sweet, secret, slightly wicked smile that did all kinds of riotous things to his gut. “Besides, they could be thinking worse things about me. I’d rather people envy me than feel sorry for me.”
    “What makes you think they would envy you an affair with Demon Sharpton?” He’d overheard that moniker