Once Upon a Second Chance (1 Night Stand Series) (6 page)
Read Once Upon a Second Chance (1 Night Stand Series) Online
Authors: Zee Monodee
Tags: #A 1 Night Stand Story
But the pain gave way to surprise when a second, thick stripe formed.
She rubbed her eyes, certain she had imagined everything. The thick stroke still lay there, though, growing darker. In the mirror, her startled gaze caught him watching her from the doorway.
“This cannot be,” she muttered.
He moved to stand beside her and aimed a glance at the strip. He frowned, then beamed, his face alight with pleasure.
She still reeled with astonishment when he pulled her into his arms and crushed her mouth under his.
“We’re going to have a baby,” he exclaimed.
No
. She couldn’t let herself get all happy, to crash down to the bitter reality afterward.
Leila struggled out of his embrace. “You know that cannot happen. In ten years, I never got pregnant with Bashir Al-Arif’s child.”
A shadow passed on his face. “That’s because Al-Arif is sterile.”
“What?” She shook her head. “Not possible. His second wife gave him a daughter.”
“There are rumors the girl is her chauffeur’s child, not her husband’s. In all his marriages and affairs, he’s never had any other offspring.”
The shock slammed into her, and she reached out to grasp the edge of the marble sink to keep from falling. Her head spun, and her body went cold as sweat erupted over her skin.
“So, I could be pregnant?” Her voice croaked out just above a squeak. Had he had even heard?
He smiled and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. When he pulled her into his arms again, his sigh rumbled from his chest.
“I thought your body felt different,” he said. “And then when you said you’d been throwing up every morning, I realized it could be morning sickness. I didn’t dare hope….”
His voice strangled on that last word, and she pulled courage from all he left untold.
“What do we do now?”
He rubbed her back and pressed a kiss onto her head. “All I know is that I never wanted to let you go. Please say you’ll have me, Leila. I’ll do everything within my power to make you the happiest woman on this earth,
insha’Allah
.”
If God is willing.
I think God does want this
. A sense of peace fluttered from her heart through her whole being. How she loved this man, and now she would be having his child. Did miracles happen?
As she stared into the windows to his soul, before she touched her mouth to his, Leila knew she had found the place she belonged. With Khalid. With the family they would create together.
Yes, miracles do happen.
Once upon a second chance
….
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Stories about love, life, relationships... in a melting-pot of culture.
Zee is an author who grew up on a fence - on one side there was modernity and the global world, on the other there was culture and traditions. Putting up with the culture for half of her life, one day she decided she'd stand tall on her wall and dip toes every now and then into both sides of her non-conventional upbringing.
From this resolution spanned a world of adaptation and learning to live on said wall. The realization also came that many other young women of the world were on their own fence.
This particular position became her favorite when she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing - her heroines all sit 'on a fence', whether cultural or societal, in today's world or in times past, and face dilemmas about life and love.
Hailing from the multicultural island of Mauritius, Zee is a degree holder in Communications Science. She is married, mum to a tween son, & stepmum to a teenage lad.
You can visit Zee at:
British billionaire Lars Rutherford came to the tiny island of Mauritius to take over directorship of his best friend’s shipping company. He’s not here for anything but the job, or—to the chagrin of the many matchmaking society mamas in the country—to find the ‘right woman’ for him.
Corporate legal affairs specialist Simmi Moyer is rich, beautiful, successful, and climbing the executive ladder with tremendous speed. She’s got it all—or does she? Mauritian society shuns her for being single and childless, and nothing she accomplishes will ever be enough.
Lars isn’t looking for a woman; Simmi isn’t looking for a man. Both just want one night to forget their precarious position in this traditional, culture-driven society.
The tempest, brewed by uncalled-for yearning in their hearts and the desire for something more substantial than one night of pleasure, builds between them, while outside, a real-life cyclone storms the island and ensconces them in a world where only the two of them exist.
Before the night is over, both Lars and Simmi will have to decide whether each will walk out the next morning alone, or if they can put themselves on the line to step out together.
A Hard Day’s Knight by Cate Masters
Some days, it’s best to lay low. Lance Knight finds out the hard way – when he encounters his longtime foe, witch Morgan le Fay, at Medieval Merriment. Her curse kept him wandering the world for centuries. When he also meets Gwyn McCartney there through a 1NS date, he’s struck by her resemblance to his true love, Guinevere. It gives him hope for the first time in centuries. First, he must face Morgan to break the curse, and he has only one hope: his sword, forged in the fires with Excalibur and imbued with magical powers by Merlin.
Gwyn McCartney’s had it with dating. Her friend’s setup through 1NS with Lance Knight irritates her, especially when Lance acts bored at Medieval Merriment – her employer and greatest fantasy. When a wench threatens Lance – a witch, he says – her fantasy world seems all too real. After Lance kisses her, she knows she has to battle Morgan le Fay. Can she free him, or will she lose him forever to the witch’s curse?
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