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made me do.”
    “Yeah, because I’m the one sneaking around trying to hide my morning sickness.”
    She looked away from him.
    “Zai, when were you going to tell me you’re having my baby?”
    Him saying it felt too good for her sanity. “I…”
    He tugged her into his arms, ignoring the mess she’d made. “You don’t regret it, do you?”
    “No, of course not.” She just couldn’t look him in the eye and instead buried her face in his chest. “I was going to tell you. In fact I was on the way over here to tell you yesterday when Jenna showed up. I didn’t think it was right to spring my news at the same time. Don’t feel like you’re under any obligation. I’m sticking by my word.”
    “I’m not.”
    She pulled away from him. “What are you talking about?”
    “Marry me.”
    “Whoa!” She held up her hand. “Slow down, homeboy. Let’s not get crazy.”
    When she backed up from him, he pursued her and grasped her arms to draw her closer. “Why is it crazy?”
    “It just is. Let me go, Leith. We’re going to be late.”
    “Not until we talk this out.” She recognized the set to his jaw. Leith wasn’t the type of man one could convince to do anything he didn’t choose to do. That’s what Jenna didn’t know about him.
    “If you needed to marry someone just because you got them pregnant, then you’d just as well marry Jenna. I’m not getting married for that. It’s wrong, and nothing you say can change my mind. Now please let me go. I’m not feeling well.”
    Concern colored his expression, and to her surprise, he let go immediately. “I’ll drive you. Do you need to go home first?”
    The fact that he remembered her panties and knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable without them didn’t surprise her. She turned to go back upstairs, and he followed. For now, she didn’t mind him seeing her stark naked, but soon enough she’d hide the widening of her hips and the huge belly. Thinking about the strong possibility of cankles almost made her groan out loud. “I’m okay. I can handle it.”
    Leith stopped her at the bathroom door. “You can fight me all you want, Zai, but I will be a father to our baby. I will be in his or her life one hundred percent. I can’t force you to marry me, but you’re not going to stop me from caring for you while you’re pregnant and getting involved all the way after our baby is born.”
    After that speech, he turned her toward the bathroom and tapped her ass with the palm of his hand before walking away. Zaierra was left with a fast-beating heart and a swell of love for that idiot that wouldn’t quit.
     
    * * * *
     
    Three months into her pregnancy, Zaierra hadn’t begun to show yet outside her clothes. Naked her belly stuck out a bit more, and her breasts had grown heavier. A few people at work had guessed, but she kept everything pretty low key. Leith made good on his promise to care for her, and it was only that he had an emergency meeting that he hadn’t gone with her to her doctor’s appointment that morning. She’d insisted he also offer to escort Jenna to hers, and the skank took him up on the offer. In fact, she contacted him for every little reason, including her midnight cravings. Zaierra saw the strain in her best friend and tried to be the least bother she could. She did everything on her own, but that appeared to piss Leith off even more. In the end, she found it easier to inform him of everything about herself and the baby and let him choose what he would do.
    When she decided to visit a department store kids’ clothing section, she knew it was a bit early, but she couldn’t help herself. She stopped at a cute little jumper for a boy and sighed. Her cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her purse. Her eyebrow rose when she saw that it was Leith calling.
    Laughing, she answered. “Shouldn’t you be in a meeting?”
    “I’m on break. Where are you? Did the appointment go okay? How is our son?”
    Zaierra shook her head. “Really,