“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll start again. Good morning, Aria. How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” she replied, studying her toes. “We need to talk.”

Those four words were enough to terrify any sane male. “What is it?”

“Can I come in?”

She sounded unsure of herself, and he wondered what could be sapping her confidence. When he looked closer, he noticed dark circles under her eyes and splotchy cheeks. Had she been sleeping poorly?

“Sure.” Holding the door open, he stepped back to let her through. The house was in disarray, but if she’d expected something different, then that was too bad. They sat at the table, and he pushed his laptop to the side. “All right, you’re worrying me,” he said gently as she lowered herself into a chair. “Do you want to tell me why you’re here?”

“Eli...”

She gazed at his face wistfully, and he wanted to grab her and kiss her until she surrendered. The next words out of her mouth stopped him dead.

“I’m pregnant.”

What? But how? He didn’t understand. He’d heard the words, but they made no sense. Pregnant... Pregnant... I’m pregnant...

“Uh, what?” He sounded dumb, even to his own ears.

“Eli.” She reached across the table and took his hand in hers. “When we made love, we didn’t use a condom. I’m pregnant.”

Slowly, it started to sink in. She was pregnant. With his baby. Or was she? He thought of his ex-girlfriends, other girls who had wanted to trap him into marriage. Women could be devious creatures. What had Mark said? Aria had slept her way to a promotion. She wasn’t afraid to use sex to get what she wanted.

“Are you sure it’s mine? Or did you plan this?”

“How can you even ask that?” she demanded. “I haven’t been with anyone else. I want a baby, but not yet, and not like this.”

He regretted the questions immediately. Of course the baby was his. She wasn’t the sort of girl to sleep around. If she had been, she would’ve come back to his bed when he’d asked.

“Are you sure you’re pregnant?” he asked, clutching at straws.

“I’m several weeks late,” she said. “I’m getting morning sickness. I took a test. I’m sure.”

“Oh.”

“I know this is a lot to process,” she said, wringing her hands.

“Didn’t you say you were on the pill?” He was sure she had at some point. He never would have gone without protection otherwise.

“It isn’t one hundred percent effective,” she explained. “And I’m not as careful as I should be because it’s been so long since I’ve been with anybody.”

“We’re having a baby.”