Chapter Nine

~ Gianni ~

I was nervous as all hell.

I wanted this to be a date even if I knew we needed to just stay friends at this point. Maybe sometime in the future we could be more, but right now my world was so chaotic, I couldn't even entertain the idea of dating someone and starting a relationship.

I also didn't want to explain to Janos why I couldn't date. I'm sure he would instantly assume that I had loose morals. Explaining that I didn't even know who the father of my child was would be horrible. I didn't want to lose whatever was between us already, even if it was just friendship.

"Is that Coltrane?"

Janos grinned. "You know your jazz."

"Not really," I replied. "I just have a few of his records."

It was nice that we had similar tastes in music.

I blinked as soon as that thought ran across my mind. Why would it matter if we liked the same music? We weren't dating. We were barely even friends.

I needed to stop thinking like this.

The setting that awaited me on the patio did not help me at all. A fire pit was glowing with a roaring fire. Candles in glass jars sat in different areas around a small square table covered with a white tablecloth. That, along with the sultry jazz music playing in the background, made this a very romantic scene.

Right after we sat down, Vasso brought us our drinks. Janos's glass looked to be filled with red wine. I wasn't sure what mine was. It was red, too, but I had specifically asked for something non-alcoholic so I wasn't sure what I had gotten.

I raised the glass. "This is?"

"Sparkling red grape juice, sir."

Oh.

I smiled brightly after taking a sip of the bubbly liquid. "Thank you."

"Your very welcome, sir. I'll have dinner out in a few minutes."

I drew in a deep breath as I looked out over the city view beyond the railing surrounding the patio. "I can see why you like this view so much."

"I bought this building for a song about ten years ago. Your father's company, in fact, did the retrofitting on it."

"It seems like it was a good investment."

Janos snickered. "People laughed at me at the time, thought I was crazy for buying it. Now, the property is worth ten times what it was when I bought it."

"Isn't that the hope of everyone involved in buying and selling real estate?"

"It is, but I've been lucky. I started out with a rundown dilapidated house that I bought for fifteen thousand dollars at auction and went from there. People thought I was crazy then, too. I was buying houses in neighborhoods no one was buying in."

"That's not a good way to make money, Janos." I didn't know a lot about the real estate business, but it seemed to me you needed to buy low and sell high.

Could I be wrong?

"I've had a few duds over the years, but for the most part the properties I've bought have either sold quickly or I held onto them until the market improved in those areas and then sold them for a huge profit. Now, I buy and sell property all over the world."

I shook my head. "Ask me about cell reproduction and I could talk your ear off. I know nothing about real estate."

"And I know nothing about cell reproduction, so we're even."

I tipped my glass to Janos. "Touché."

"The important question is, do you like what you do?"

"I do," I admitted. "I like knowing what I am doing is going to benefit someone someday. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday." I took another sip of my juice, my mind wandering just a bit. "I'm going to miss it."

"Miss what?"

"The research mostly. Solving the medical puzzle of how the human body ticks."

Janos frowned. "Why would you miss it? Are you being transferred or something?"

I paled as I suddenly realized what I had said. "Um, no, not exactly. I'm, um, I'm taking a year off at the end of this term."

I winced when Janos's frown deepened. I seriously hadn't wanted to go here, but maybe I should. Janos needed to be aware of the situation I was in so he could understand why I couldn't get into a relationship with him.

"I'm taking a year off to have a baby."

Janos's eyes widened. "A baby?"

"I'm pregnant."

Dead silence met my words. Janos stared at me for a moment before his eyes dropped to my stomach or at least to that general direction since we were sitting at the table and he couldn't see my stomach.

"You're an omega?"

I nodded.

"Is that why you don't want to date me?"

I nodded again. "My life is really chaotic right now. Dating would just add to that."

"Where's the father?"

I knew he was going to ask that.

"I honestly don't know."

Janos's eyes instantly narrowed. "He abandoned you?" I was a bit surprised at the anger I could hear in his voice. "Does he even know that you're pregnant?"

I winced and glanced away. "Not exactly."

I looked back when I felt Janos's hand settle over mine.

"You can tell me as much or as little as you want. I won't judge you and nothing you say will be repeated. You have my word on that."

My shoulders heaved as I sighed. "I don't exactly know who the father is."

Janos's jaw hit the table.

"I know that makes me sound like the biggest slut in the world, but I'm not. I swear. I haven't even been on a date in two years. I just don't have the time."

"Then how...?"

"I went to a party hosted by another medical student. It was right after two weeks of hell doing hospital rotations and I needed to unwind a little bit. I guess I had too much to drink and six weeks later I found out I was pregnant."

"And no idea who the father is?" Janos asked as if he had to be sure he'd heard me correctly.

"I don't even remember having sex. That night is a complete blur." Well, not a total blur. I got impressions of some really hot sex, but nothing of the man I had been having sex with.

"How far along are you?"

"About twelve weeks."

Janos was silent for a moment, his thumb rubbing over the top of my hand. "Are you keeping it?" he finally asked.

"I am." I nodded as I dropped my gaze to our hands. "It took me a while to get to that decision, but ultimately, even if I don't know who the father is, this is still my baby and I don't want to give him or her up."

"Good for you."

My head popped up. That wasn't the response I had been expecting. "You don't think I'm a slut?"

Janos's eyebrows furrowed. "No, why would I?"

"Because I slept with a man I don't know and got pregnant?"

The smartest minds in the world couldn't have helped me interpret the smile that crossed Janos's face. It almost looked self-depreciating.

"About a month ago I received a letter at work. It was a positive pregnancy test. There were no names on it."

My eyebrows lifted. "Seriously?"

"It happens more often than you would think."

"Why?" I asked.

"I have money, a lot of it, and people want it."

Oh, right.

"I didn't really think anything of it until a few weeks later when some bloody cotton swaps were delivered in the same way the pregnancy test was and it was recommended that I do a Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test." Janos raised an eyebrow. "I assume you know what that is?"

I nodded.

"Turns out I'm going to be a father," Janos admitted. "Problem is, I don't know who I got pregnant. I vaguely remember having sex with someone, but it's more of a blur than anything. And whoever it was, they were gone when I woke up."

"I woke up the next morning in my apartment. I have no idea how I got there."

Janos grunted. "I woke up in a hotel room."

My heart skipped a beat. "What hotel?"

"The Regency Hotel."

I swallowed tightly. "The Regency?"

Janos's brow furrowed. "Yeah, why?"

"That's where I attended the afterhour's party."

We both stared at each other, the silence between us poignant. I was terrified to give voice to the thoughts racing through my mind, and yet my curiosity was overwhelming me.

"You don't think...?"

"There's only one way to find out," Janos replied stoically. "We need to do another Non-Invasive Prenatal Paternity Test. I can call my assistant and arrange something for tomorrow. It'll take a few days to get the results back, though."

"Janos, are we really thinking this is a possibility?"

Had I slept with him?

Was he the biological father of my baby?

"I'd be thrilled if it was true."

I blinked at the man in surprise. "Thrilled?"

Janos's face flushed and he stared at me as if he hadn't meant to utter those words, but now they were out there and he didn't know quite how to respond.

"I don't like not knowing who I slept with or who might be out there carrying my child." Janos's eyebrows snapped together. "Am I right in assuming you didn't send me a paternity test?"

I quickly shook my head. "I wouldn't do that. If I knew who the father was, I'd confront them in person."

"That's what I thought," Janos said. "Which makes me wonder why I am getting these letters. Who all knows you're pregnant?"

I huffed as I thought about it. "My family and the doctor and nurse at the clinic where I got the pregnancy test confirmed."

"No one else?"

"I didn't tell anyone else." I didn't even tell my roommate. I knew eventually I'd need to because I'd be moving out of our shared apartment and back home with my family. I just wasn't there yet in my head.

"Well, if your kid is my kid, then someone definitely knows."

I was afraid he was going to say that.