Natalie~
Zane was staring at me.
He wasn't blinking. He wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving. Just frozen, like time had slammed to a stop around him—and somehow, I was the only one still spinning inside it.
His question hung in the air like smoke.
"Wait... what do you mean this is your second child?"
I didn't answer right away.
What could I even say?
My throat tightened as my eyes locked onto his—those stormy, ice-blue eyes that had once looked at me with wariness, then admiration… then the fiercest love I'd ever known.
But right now, they were wide. Confused.
Hurt.
And I hated that look on him. Gods, I hated that look.
I shifted on the bed, curling my hands over the swell of my barely-there belly, drawing strength from the tiny heartbeat pulsing beneath my skin. My child. Our child.
But not our first.
Not really.
I swallowed hard and met his gaze again. "Zane," I whispered, voice raw. "I—" I stopped myself, sighed, and nodded to the spot beside me. "Sit down. Please."
