She went through the rest of the day mindlessly, in a horrified sort of daze. He didn’t love her. Dear god – she’d told him she loved him. Had she really? Yes – yes, she had. And it was true, she realised with an ever more sinking heart. She did love him. Now, when it was too late, when she was carrying his child and he thought of her only as a vessel for his sexual gratification, she suddenly realised she loved him. Oh, if it had only come sooner! If only she known, before, when he had offered her everything and the world…
But it was no use crying over the past. There was nothing she could do now. She knew one thing, though… she couldn’t continue to have an affair with him. It would hurt too much, when he finally tired of her and cast her off. And the baby would show soon, too, and she could not bear the thought of him rejecting their child, too…
She had been interrupted in taking out the trash last night – by him, of course – she had to do it tonight. As she opened the apartment door, the elevator doors pinged, the down arrow lighting up and the doors sliding open. James stepped out. Her eyes met his, fleetingly, then she continued her task, resolutely ignoring him until she was done. Brows raised, he followed her into the apartment, shutting the door behind him.
Emma headed for the kitchen. He followed, stopping beside her.
“There’s something we have to talk about,” Emma said briefly.
He merely looked at her, silent.
“I – I can’t see you anymore.”
His eyes narrowed. “Explain,” he said with deadly precision.
“I just – I can’t.”
“So what prompted this sudden change of heart?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes widened. Something had just occurred to her. The light on the elevator… it had lit up the down arrow… “Did you just come down from upstairs?” she demanded abruptly.
James appeared puzzled. “As a matter of fact, yes, I did. Why?”
“And do you happen to be acquainted with a certain young woman by the name of Kylie, by any chance?”
He seemed even more perplexed. “Do you mean Kyriane?”
Emma’s lip curled. “Is that her name, then?”
“Yes, I do. She’s my – ” Emma didn’t wait to hear more. Her hand struck out, slapping him soundly across the face. He barely flinched, but his face flushed darkly.
“What was that for?” he said softly, dangerously.
She kicked him. “As if you don’t know,” hissed furiously. She pummelled his chest, but only managed to hurt her fists. “You lying, cheating – ”
James caught her wrists in one hand, held her easily. “Stop that,” he said impatiently. “You’re only going to hurt yourself. And if you hit me one more time, darling, I’m going to spank you.”
Emma stamped on his foot. Hard. He winced, then just as quickly hauled her against him, stroked his hand down her back and to her derriere, lingered for just a moment, and slapped her, hard enough to make her eyes widen in surprise. She gasped, winced, and stared at him accusingly. “You hit me!” she said, sounding shocked and horrified all at once, her pride more injured than her bottom.
“Hardly, darling,” James murmured disdainfully. “Besides, you started it.”
“Oh!” Emma resisted the urge to stamp her foot and scream. She contented herself with merely wrenching away from his tight grasp, telling him flatly that she never wanted to see him again, then storming off into her bedroom. She slammed the door in his face, locked it with a satisfying click.
“Emma,” James called from the other side. “Emma, open the door.”
“No!” Emma shouted back. “Go away!”
After a minute of silence, she heard a sigh, and then his footsteps walking away. Curiously enough, she felt a pang. Then there was the sound of the front door opening, and closing faintly, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He was gone. Good.
The thought wasn’t in the least comforting.
Wiping away the few stray tears that had somehow managed to leak out despite her best attempts to keep them in, she straightened up, then grabbed her bathrobe, figuring a shower would cheer her up. A nice, long, hot shower, where she’d drown her sorrows in the calming rain of the water.
Opening her bedroom door, she headed for the bathroom, turned the water on, stripped quickly out of her bathrobe and stepped under the warm spray. It felt wonderful.