Billionaire's Contract Engagement / Money Man's Fiancée Negotiation (41 page)

She was almost to the car when she finally looked up and noticed him there. Her steps slowed and her eyes narrowed. He could see that she was wondering how he'd found her, especially when she had been dodging his calls.

“GPS,” he said. “I tracked you on my phone.”

“You realize that stalking is a criminal offense in California?”

“I don't think it can be considered stalking when I technically own the car.”

She tossed the keys at him so forcefully that if he hadn't caught them he might have lost an eye. “Take it,” she said and walked past him in the direction of the street.

He jumped down off the hood to follow her. “Come on, Mel. I just want to talk to you.”

“But I don't want to listen. I'm still too mad at you.”

Mad was good as far as he was concerned. Since he deserved it. She could get over being mad at him a lot easier than, say, hating his guts. Not that he didn't deserve that, too.

She was walking so fast he had to jog to catch up to her. “I've been an ass.”

She snorted. “You say that like it's something I don't already know.”

“But do you know how sorry I am?”

“I'm sure you are.”

“It's not that I didn't believe you about the baby. I just didn't want it to be true.”

She stopped so abruptly he nearly tripped over his own feet. “Are you actually saying that you didn't want it to be yours?”

“No! Of course not.”

“You really are an ass,” she said, and turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

“Would you please listen for a minute? I could live with the idea that you'd had an affair, that you had made a mistake, especially when I was the one who drove you away in the first place. But knowing that the baby was mine, and I was responsible.” Emotion welled up in his throat and he had to pause to get a hold of himself. “If I had treated you right, showed you that I loved you, you never would have felt like you had to run away. All the terrible
things you went through never would have happened. Everything, all of it, is
my
fault.”

She was quiet for what seemed like a very long time, and he watched her intently, in case she decided to throw something else at him. God only knew what she had in the bag.

“It's no one's,” she finally said. “We both acted stupid.”

“Maybe, but I think I was way more stupid than you. And I am so sorry, Mel. I know it's a lot to ask, but do you think you could find it in your heart to give me one more chance? I swear I'll get it right this time.” He took her free hand, relieved that she didn't pull away. “You know that I love you, right?”

She nodded.

“And you love me, too?”

She sighed deeply. “Of course I do.”

“And you're going to give me another chance?”

She rolled her eyes. “Like I have a choice. I get the distinct feeling that you'll just keep stalking me until I say yes.”

He grinned, thinking that she was probably right. “In that case, you could hug me now.”

She cracked a smile and walked into his arms, and he wrapped them around her. Even with the grocery bag crushed between them, it was darned near perfect.
She
was perfect.

“You know, deep down I didn't really think it was over,” she said. “I figured you would come around. And of course I would be forced to take you back.
Again.”

“But only after I groveled for a while?”

She grinned. “Of course.”

He leaned down to kiss her, when a box sitting at the
very top of the grocery bag caught his eye. There's no way that was what he thought it was ….

He pulled it out and read the label, then looked down at Mel. “A
pregnancy
test? What is this for?”

She was grinning up at him. “What do you think?”

He shook his head in amazement.
“Again?”

“I don't know for sure yet. I'm only four or five days late. But my breasts are so tender I can barely touch them and that was a dead giveaway last time.”

“I don't get it. I'm
supposed
to be sterile from the radiation.”

“You might want to get that checked, because for a guy who is supposed to be sterile, you seem to have no problem knocking me up.”

He laughed. “This is nuts. You realize that even if there are a few guys left in there, the odds of us going three years unprotected, then you getting pregnant not once but
twice,
is astronomical.”

She shrugged. “I guess that just means it was meant to be. Our own little miracle.”

He took the bag from her and set it on the ground so he could hug her properly. He didn't even care that people were driving by looking at them as if they were nuts.

As far as he was concerned, the real miracle was that he had let her go twice, and here she was back in his arms. And she could be damned sure he would never let her go again.

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