Free An Escape to Love by Tali Martel Page B

didn’t have a cent to his name at this point.
    “Leona,” he began and she smiled, giving him her full attention. “I think we’d better talk about what happens if you’re pregnant.”
    Leona blushed and giggled nervously, “It’s alright. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
    “No. I just want to know. I don’t want to worry after you’ve left that you have to go through with anything you don’t want to.”
    Leona’s mood plummeted at the reminder that soon, they wouldn’t be together anymore. She sat down next to him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Whatever you want to talk about," she said and caressed his arm tentatively.
    Jake felt his cock surge at her touch, but this talk was important. “If you find that you’re pregnant when you get back, would you consider not aborting the baby?”
    “What?” Leona cried, shocked.
    “Just hear me out, okay?” he said, and ran his hand along his unshaven cheek in frustration. “My mother lives in Ohio. She and I haven’t been in touch in over twenty years but if you could just somehow find a way to have the baby and give it to her, I know she’ll raise it.”
    Leona glanced at him and Jake saw sparks of anger shooting from her eyes. “Have you completely lost it, Jake Hartford?” she asked condescendingly.
    “What’s so crazy about this? I’m just trying to give you another option besides aborting my baby. I’ll find a way to contact a friend and my legal representatives to turn Hartford Corp. to the baby’s name, so you don’t have to worry about expenses.”
    Leona stood up and poured herself a cup of coffee while Jake just sat there getting nervous and more paranoid by the second. “Can you please just think over it and give me an answer?” he said, trying to control his mounting anger at her complete lack of interest in his proposal.
    “No,” she said suddenly and Jake’s eyes narrowed.
    “No? Do I get no say in the matter?”
    Leona glared at him with her flaming green eyes, “No. You don’t get a say in anything if you think I am so cold and heartless that I would even consider aborting our baby,” she emphasized. “A hypothetical baby at this stage, but still a baby nonetheless.”
    Jake’s face froze at her words and he felt warmth seeping through his body to his bones, making him feel more alive than he had in years.
    “You are selfish and...rude to advise I have your baby, and then abandon it with your mother. If there is a baby, which I’m pretty sure there isn’t, I’ll be its mother, and I'll keep it like any mother would want to keep her child. Honestly Jake, your stupid proposition is really making me doubt your intelligence,” she said angrily and Jake smiled despite himself.
    He stood up and Leona gasped as he hugged her tightly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her face against his chest. He didn’t say a word and Leona hugged him back with all the love and longing screaming in her head.
    “I don’t want you to leave,” he said before he could stop himself, and Leona pulled away, watching his face, sliding her hand over his cheek.
    “I love you Jake,” she said, and Jake grunted, pulling her back tightly onto his chest, clutching her like he won’t ever let her go.
    Leona’s heart constricted painfully at the realization that Jake hadn’t told her he loved her, hadn’t said it back. It was true that they had been together for just five days, but that didn’t mean her feelings were imaginary. During the time they had been together she could feel that he loved her back, sense it. Knowing that he had refused to answer her was making her doubt everything she believed.
    Jake knew that Leona was hurt because she had tensed in his arms. He couldn’t say the words that ached in his chest. He didn’t want her waiting for him, holding any hope that he would return someday and be with her forever.
    He wanted to be with Leona and there was nothing he wished more than the opportunity to spend the rest