His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 48

#Chapter 48: Dinner Invitation

Moana

Edrick looked so peaceful as he slept in the armchair. His dark hair was illuminated by the soft glow of the city lights coming in through the window, and even from where I was laying on the couch I could see his chest gently rising and falling.

But almost as soon as I woke up, he woke up, too.

He awoke with a start, his icy gray eyes opening immediately as though he had never been sleeping to begin with. It really felt as though the only thing keeping him asleep was the fact that I was asleep; as soon as I awoke, it was as if a spell was broken for him and he was wide awake once more.

Our eyes locked for a long moment as he came to his senses.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Edrick abruptly stood. “Since you seem well enough now, you should go sleep in your own bed. It’s hardly appropriate for you to sleep on the couch.”

I couldn’t hide my frown as I sat up and pushed the blanket off of myself — the blanket that Edrick had apparently so lovingly tucked me into while I slept. I watched as he turned on his heel and headed toward his own bedroom, but his sudden harsh words had hurt me too much to let him go, and they hurt me even more now that I knew I was carrying his baby.

“Why do you have to be so cruel?” I asked, standing.

He stopped in his tracks, his back tense as he faced away from me.

I continued. “I know that we terminated our agreement, but I don’t see why we can’t be friendly with each other.”

Edrick was silent for several moments. Finally, he turned to face me. His eyes were narrowed and his jaw was clenched hard. “Friendly?” he said, his voice so low it was almost a growl. “What makes you think that we need to be friendly with each other? Have we not been over this enough times? I don’t need to be friendly with my employees; I just need to pay them.”

I blinked away the tears that began to form in my eyes before Edrick saw them. “I think it’s reasonable not to be too involved in each other’s personal business, but what’s not reasonable is for you to treat me like I’m worthless every time you’re around me. I’d still like to be friends, you know.”

Suddenly, Edrick spoke in a harsh, quick tone. “If I didn’t treat you like that, then I wouldn’t be able to control myself around you.”

I was taken aback by Edrick’s sudden choice of words. It seemed that he was, too, judging from the way his eyes widened momentarily after he said them. I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but before I could, he abruptly turned on his heel and disappeared into his bedroom.

After he left, I stood motionless in the middle of the living room as I stared at his bedroom door. I wanted to know what he meant, but it was no use now. Finally, I returned to my room that night and fell asleep not with a pain in my stomach, but rather a pain in my heart.

…

The next morning, I awoke slightly later than usual after such a tumultuous night, but it was still early. I slowly sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes, listening to the sound of a summer rain shower pattering against my window, before the blinking notification light on my phone caught my attention.

I had a missed call from Ethan. He had left a voicemail.