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“Because in that one night a connection was made and since then I can’t stop thinking about you. Crazy, huh? I want to give the baby everything.”
    “You pointed out very aptly that it possibly isn’t yours,” Isa reminded him.
    “Even after all the venom I spat out, I can tell you’re not that kind of girl,” he said with a smile.
    “That and the background check you ran,” Isa said knowingly. She sat back and rubbed her stomach, hoping that she could alleviate the queasiness.
    He inclined his head. “That too. You’ve never taken a penny that wasn’t yours, even in foster care. Let me be a father to my child, let me give him or her everything, let me be there if you ever got deployed.  Let me—”
    “You can do that without us getting married,” she pointed out. “I’ll even let them do a paternity text.”
    “Let me be there for you,” he finished. “No test. I read it’s not safe for the baby, but with marriage, my place in the baby’s life is assured.”
    “It is now if you want it to be. We don’t need a marriage!” Isa cried out.
    “Would it be so bad to be married to me?” Bryce’s voice was a low caress.
    Isa shook her head. “Not like this. I don’t want to be married to someone who will see me as a bane. I don’t want to be married to a man who doesn’t want me completely or love me.”
    “I can’t call this love. We can be friends, raise a child in a home, give the baby something you never had, Isa.”
    Isa met his gaze. “I didn’t have love. Parents aren’t just DNA. If a family would have adopted me and loved me, my life would have been rich with possibilities. Being a single mother doesn’t change that fact if the baby has love.”
    “Then don’t deprive him or her of both parents’ love and being raised in a household with both parents involved in their lives,” Bryce said. “I had that—dinner together, family trips, birthdays, the whole kit and caboodle. I know I may sound old fashioned, but I want that for this baby and for you. It’s not too late, we’re just changing the rules a bit.”
    Isa looked at him, how he endeared her with a stare. She couldn’t even formulate a thought as to why she should say no. There was one, the one that started all of this, the one that made a mistake that turned into the blessing that was in her womb. He wanted Tawny not her.
    “What’s my name?” she asked quietly, searching his eyes for one hint of confusion.
    “You’re name is Isa,” Bryce answered. “I know who you are, who I kissed, whose skin I kissed in my bed.”
    “Before...”
    “Before is over and this is now,” he answered.
    “So you can’t love me. You’re offering me a marriage of convenience and we’d raise a baby together,” Isa clarified. “Until you want to date and the kid sees you on TV with a model on your arm. Really stable home we’d be building.”
    “Like I said, I can control my urges,” Bryce said. “Can you?”
    “I’ve been taught nothing but control.”
    “Then its settled.” Bryce stood. “I’ll make the arrangements.”
    “It’s settled in your favor. The rich typically get what they want, don’t they?” Isa said quietly.
    “This would have been my choice, rich or poor. I’m a man who knows how to get what he wants,” Bryce said from the door. “I’ll see you soon.”
    With those words, he left and Isa couldn’t hold back the nausea any longer. She rushed to the bathroom and expelled her late lunch until she was left weak and with a sore stomach on the bathroom floor.  The word yes hadn’t even been uttered from her lips, and yet she knew she’d given in.  Did she really or accepted what she truly wanted, Bryce?

Chapter Four
    T he next few weeks were a flurry of activities, and it was exhausting. Isa finally got over most of her nausea, but still found that she got tired very easily. Work became harder on her back since she had to carry big books of Navy law back and forth to conference rooms. It was