And the more Antonio had thought about it during the business meeting, the more distracted he’d become, obsessing over a single question.
How was it possible everything about Hana was a lie?
For two years, she’d worked at his side. She’d been hardworking, loyal, honest to a fault. How could anyone maintain an act l
ike that so well, and for so long?
Antonio couldn’t understand it. And every time he’d tried to focus during the business meeting, he’d seen the eviscerated look in her eyes. You’re firing me? Because I’m pregnant with your baby?
And he’d felt his heart, his guts, every part of his body twist like a rag wrung dry.
Stalking angrily from the meeting, he’d grimly arranged to see the best fertility doctor in the city. Just to prove, once and for all, that Hana Everly was a liar. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the victim here.
And now this.
He’d come to the clinic for reassurance, not to discover his worst fears were actually true. He’d never expected he’d be told it was possible that he’d fathered Hana’s child!
“No,” Antonio told the doctor hoarsely. “I had a vasectomy!”
The other man stroked his white beard thoughtfully. “You had the procedure when you were very young. Sometimes the body heals itself, as I said. It’s rare, less than one percent of cases. But it happens.” He paused. “We can book an appointment to redo the procedure...”
“What’s the point of that now? It’s already too late!” With a low snarl, Antonio rose to his feet and stormed out of the clinic. All he could think about was the stricken look on Hana’s face when he’d left her standing alone on the sidewalk. The shock in her brown eyes.
If she was really pregnant with his child, and he’d treated her like that—
Antonio pushed the thought away ruthlessly. It wasn’t his fault. How could he have possibly known the vasectomy he’d had as a teenager would fail nearly two decades later? Of course he’d assumed Hana was lying. How could he think otherwise? People had always proved themselves worthy of his worst assumptions.
Everyone except Hana. But he’d been all too ready to believe the worst even of her. Because it scared him, how much he’d come to trust her.
As he stepped out of the medical clinic, Antonio saw the rain had lightened to a drizzle, with flashes of sunlight like silver breaking through the clouds.
You’re firing me? Because I’m pregnant with your baby?
He felt another twist in his gut.
“Mr. Delacruz, if I may speak freely...” His longtime bodyguard Ramon Garcia, who’d been waiting in the lobby, followed him toward the waiting car. “Señor, I think you’ve made a mistake about Miss Everly. She’s a good person. She didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”
Perfecto. This was just what he needed. One more person judging him. And now that Antonio knew he was indeed in the wrong, he really didn’t want to hear it. “It’s none of your business, Garcia.”
The man’s accusing eyes met his. “If you didn’t intend to step up, you never should have slept with her—”
“Enough,” he snapped, causing his bodyguard’s jaw to set. Wonderful, another trusted employee enraged with him. Antonio’s shoulders were tight as he climbed into the waiting Rolls-Royce. Garcia got into the front seat without a word.
“Where to, sir?” the driver asked him after a pause.
“Just drive,” Antonio ground out.
Looking out at the soft drizzle in the spring afternoon, his eyes fell on the pink cherry trees. Hana had been so excited that the negotiations would be in Tokyo at the same time the trees were likely to bloom. They bloom for such a short time, she’d said. It’s precious and beautiful. You have to enjoy it while you can. Before it’s gone.
Just like their night together, he thought.
For years, almost from the day he’d hired her, he’d resisted seducing her only by an act of pure will, because of her importance to his company.
Then she’d kissed him, and all his self-control had exploded to dust, burned away by fire. For the first time in his adult life, he’d given in to the demands of his body, the demands of his heart, over the cold decision of his reason.
Antonio had tried to tell himself that bedding her could somehow be a good thing for their working relationship. That it could end his desire for her. He’d even extracted a promise from Hana that they’d both forget the night ever happened—a promise he knew he himself could not fulfill.
Useless, all useless. From the morning he’d woken up with her soft naked body in his arms, he’d discovered taking her virginity hadn’t lessened his desire, only increased it. His need for her had been a constant torment for the next two months as they’d worked together round the clock on the Iyokan Airways deal. Every time he’d felt her brush against him innocently as they looked over documents together, he’d grasp the desk, remembering how he’d held her virgin body naked against his in the breathless heat of passion. As he heard her speak of business details, he’d hear, against his will, her cry as she’d gasped out with pleasure, gripping his back so tightly, he could still feel the marks of her fingernails—not against his skin, but against his heart.