After Divorce Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant (Leonica and Gabriel) novel Chapter 11

Whatever dark, alcohol induced thought that had been roaming Anastasia’s mind was dashed the moment she gave Lloyd the pass code to her apartment and instead of doing anything when he arrived at her room, he simply tucked her underneath the duvet and sighed.

“You’re really a case.” He mumbled underneath his breath, but she clearly heard it, and just as he was about to turn around and leave, she caught his wrist.

“You’re leaving? You’re not gonna do anything?” She had blurted out the question before she could control her own words and in seconds, she wished for the bed to open up and swallow her.

Gosh, why had she said that?

The alcohol, yeah, it is as definitely the alcohol!

“Do you want me to stay?” Lloyd’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Do you want me to stay, Anastasia?” He repeated when she remained silent.

Her grip around his wrist loosened and Lloyd nodded.

Of course she didn’t want him to stay. That was simply the alcohol in her system talking.

Swallowing the bitter pill, he turned around and was about to leave, when suddenly, Anastasia found her voice and responded.

“I didn’t say no.”

He paused and looked at her. She had shrunk into the duvet, almost as if she was trying to hide from him, yet held a firm eye contact with him.

“I didn’t say no, so…” The rest of her words trailed off as she wasn’t too sure how to put them.

Heck, she wasn’t sure about anything. Lloyd being here, in her bedroom, she begging, no, asking him to stay or the way her stomach clenched at the thought of him leaving without even doing anything.

She wasn't sure about any of that and found herself wondering what she was expecting from him.

From all this.

Lloyd stared at her for a while, and for a second, she wondered if he had understood, but before she could rethink her actions and words, he was slipping into the bed, caging her with his arms.

Her cheek instantly heated up at the feeling of his body heat. "What...what are you doing?"

"Staying." Came Lloyd's response as he placed his chin on the top of her head and pulled her closer. Closing his eyes, he added. "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you without your consent, so you can rest easy."

"Who said I was worried?" She retorted, her voice slightly muffled by his chest, but he heard her and smiled.

"Goodnight, Anastasia."

Anastasia was reluctant, but soon, she was drifting off, feeling a sense of peace provided by Lloyd's arms and his heat.

And this was when her realization dawned on her.

That, for some reason, unlike her previous one night stands, she found Peace in Lloyd's arms even when they were doing nothing and that was because whether or not she wanted to admit it, Lloyd had piqued her interest the first time she saw him at Megan's bakery and the rest of their encounters after that was like one fixing a single piece of building blocks each time.

One that would soon build into a castle, one which Anastasia was unaware that she wanted to be locked in.

And as she drifted off to sleep, Anastasia wondered how Lloyd had managed to break through the wall she had spent so many years building, after what she had been through at the hands of Derek.

But she wasn't angry at Lloyd.

No, she was angry at herself, Because despite the fear and uncertainty, a small part of herself begged her heart, convincing it that she was willing to risk it all for something with Lloyd, even if it was just to know his true motives and desires.

But that night, all her worries and fears vanished and she was left to sleep soundly in the arms of the man she was scared to fall in love with.

~•~

Anastasia wasn’t sure what time the next day she woke up, but she was certain that the first thing her eyes saw when she opened them, was Lloyd’s sleeping face.

And the second thing, was the raging headache that had her groaning, wishing the sun would die.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Lloyd muttered as he rubbed his eyes with one hand and kept the other around her body. “How are you feeling?”

“Horrible,” Anastasia clutched and head, silently scolding herself for drinking too much.

Ah, fuck the powers of feelings!

“Expected. I’ll prepare you a hangover soup.” Lloyd slipped out of her bed, reluctantly taking his hands off her. “You don’t mind me using your kitchen, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah, just do whatever you want.” Anastasia waved a hand dismissively and fell back on her bed, trying her best to fight off the headache, while at the same time, wondering why Lloyd sounded more polite than his usual personality.

Had ’e realized his fucked up ways and was trying to be nice now as a form of apology?

Clever plan, but it wasn’t going to work on her.

Yeah, it wasn’t, Anastasia nodded inwardly as a closed her eyes. But the moment all she could see was darkness, she ended up recalling her actions from the past night.

Her eyes flew open, not In panic, but embarrassment and she muttered.

“No more alcohol for you, Anastasia Johansson.”

Slapping her hands over her eyes, she hoped to get an ounce of peace before Lloyd returned with the soup, but the thoughts and memories in her head made that nearly impossible.