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signs. I sat and watched Heather go through the same motions with her ex-boyfriend. She told me how he never physically hurt her in any way. She never thought he would come after her the way he did, but he was growing more and more desperate in his attempts to reach her. When he saw our engagement announcement in black and white, I know that’s what pushed him over the edge. Seeing it made it real for him.” He paused for a moment. “Since that story appeared in The Seattle Times concerning our engagement, Stephen has seen the ring on your finger. I blame myself for that. I never should have waived it under his nose that night at The Four Seasons dinner. He just made me so angry. I acted on impulse and it was stupid of me. Since then, I see him getting more desperate in his attempts to reach you. You have to believe me, Ella, when I tell you it’s only a matter of time before he comes after you again.”
    I walked over to him and stopped in front of him. He took one of his hands and rested it on my abdomen. At first, I thought he was going to push me away, but then he began to speak again.
    “If you won’t listen to me for the sake of your own life, then will you please do it for the lives of our children? I can’t bear to lose another baby, Ella. Next time, Stephen could take more than just our baby away. I won’t survive it. I won’t survive losing you, too,” he said quietly. His voice broke when he spoke revealing the depth of his emotion. It broke my heart. I dropped down to my knees resting my hands on his knees.
    “Ella,” he said quietly. He ran his fingers gently through my hair. “I understand there have only been a few times that we didn’t use any kind of protection, but you could be pregnant already. You need to be more careful. This isn’t just about you.”
    I was quiet for several minutes as I allowed what Xavier said to absorb. “I’m sorry. You’re right. He’s already come at me in ways I never thought he would. I’m not the only one he poses a danger to. He could easily take you away from me.” I quickly looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “And I won’t survive that, Xavier. I can’t lose you either.”
    “Come here, baby.” He urged me to get off the floor and straddle his lap. He crushed me to him as he banded his arms around me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. We stayed like that until my stomach growled. “You haven’t eaten anything, have you?” he admonished. He pulled back to look at me.
    “No. I wasn’t very hungry.” I said sheepishly.
    “Come. I’m sure Bev has dinner ready.”
    Following dinner, I was surprised when Xavier curled up next to me on the couch. He had been working so much lately that I just assumed he would head into his office as soon as the dinner plates were cleared. He turned to face me bringing his right leg up on the couch between us with his right arm draped on the back of the couch.
    “Why do you look so surprised, sweetness? Can I not join you on the couch?”
    “Of course you can. You’ve just been working so much lately. I just assumed …” I shrugged my shoulders at him.
    “I have. I apologize for that, but I’m going to make it up to you.” He gave me a wicked grin.
    “And how exactly are you going to do that? I’m high maintenance you know. It’s going to take a lot more than whisking me away and locking me up in some remote location so you can attempt to pacify me with hot sex.” I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. I stifled a giggle, as his eyes got big.
    “Oh, sweetness,” he murmured, shaking his head. He narrowed his eyes at me as his tongue darted out to lick his lips. He leaned toward me. “I think we both know that I could easily pacify you right now with hot sex. The only whisking I’ll need to do is taking you from this couch to that floor.”
    I leaned toward him. “Oh, really? You sound so sure of yourself, Mr. Hart.”
    We sat for several minutes staring at each other. Xavier’s musky