Isabella dug her fingers into his shoulders instinctively. "How should I have said it? Hi, I'm Isabella, I've never had actual sex before!" When Eduardo moved to pull himself out of her, she wrapped her legs around his waist and winced when he inched a little deeper. "No- don't even think about stopping! I'm an adult, Eduardo. I want this." He was still for another few moments, causing tears to prick at her eyes.

If he decided he didn't want to do this after all, she didn't know how she would live with the humiliation. The entire reason she didn't have sex in her teens was to bypass the awkward, terrible sexual first times all of her friends spoke of.

She didn't have any one particular person in mind when she thought about losing her virginity, but if she had to choose one guy out of all the men she knew it would be someone like Eduardo. Someone sexy, mature, confident… she knew he would know what to do and didn't have any kind of expectations of her afterward. It was almost perfect.

When he still didn't seem to be convinced, she reached up and kissed his jawline into his cheeks and to his mouth, running her tongue over his bottom lip until he naturally bucked forward into her. It took some getting used to but eventually the rhythm he set for her became bearable and she felt a peak building.

It was better than when he was using his fingers and she was hard to admit that it was even better than getting oral sex, which was the furthest she had gone before this.

She had always fantasized about rougher, more dominant sex and even though she knew that her body wasn't ready for it she was. This was going to be her little secret, her memory to be played over and over again alone in her bed, so it had to be everything she wanted. "Harder." She whispered against Eduardo's ear, not knowing another way to ask. "And… pull my hair." If the lights had been on and she could see him clearly, she probably would have died of embarrassment for asking something so brazen.

But they were in the dark and for now, and he did exactly as she asked.

Her pleasure heightened when he had her hair locked in his hands, but the meeting of their bodies was too much pressure on her newly tried out lady parts- the pleasure started to ebb to pain. She wanted to be a good soldier and just enjoy the union they were making, but the pressure against her opening was growing to be too much for her. "Eduardo! Finish, please!" It was a cracked whisper but just enough to send him over the edge, and a weird feeling like a small pumping sensation happened inside of her.

Isabella stayed still in fear that something would break until he pulled himself out of her and got out of bed.

More tears threatened to pour from her eyes at his response but she remained hardened and quiet, not trusting her own voice to ask him what went wrong.

Was it so terrible that he couldn't even lay next to her to sleep? She wasn't going to ask to be cuddled or have her hair played with but this was a new and frightening thing she did and the least he could do was… stay.

As if sensing her plan, he called out to her. "Come with me." She obeyed on wobbling legs, following him to his en suite bathroom.

Isabella refused to meet his eyes when the lights were flicked on and even when he treated her like a fragile rose in the shower. He rubbed soap into her skin in smooth circles and hummed every now and again. In a dream world this was her fantasy but life wasn't this great… it could never be this great.

Tomorrow he'd forget her name or go back to hating her guts- this was just temporary.

Perhaps it would've been better for her if he had left the bed and forced her to snap out of this sooner.

The onslaught of emotions hit her out of nowhere. Tiny water droplets mixed with her own salty tears until a small sob left her lips, making Eduardo pull her chin up in inspection. "Are you hurt?" He looked down at the apex of her thighs, his eyes narrowing at the trail of blood and his own semen running down her thigh into the drain. "Isabella, look at me." When she still refused, a crease between his eyebrows turned his face into a frown. "Orgasming your first time is uncommon, it will be more pleasurable next time. I promise."

She let out a real cry that time.

Obviously he didn't understand how she felt, how could he? Life was amazing and wonderful for men like him. He could never understand what it was like to be a weird, virginal twenty something with no one to love or be loved by. He had women flocking to him in droves… and she had poor Mick, who stuck around for so long and still didn't earn the privilege of having her body first.

"I'm just tired." Isabella lied.

Of course she wanted to climax with him but she didn't hold any expectation to it- but now she was sore and hurt in places that had never been used before. Having a second go was the last thing on her mind now.

He still looked at her with weary eyes. "Sure." And continued to clean her, everywhere to her embarrassment, and walked her back to the bed. She suddenly felt like a troublesome child when he tucked her in and sat next to her.

This was getting uncomfortable, too damn uncomfortable.

"I… I think I'm going to head home. I'll call an Uber." Isabella looked around to collect her things and remembered they were all ripped and broken besides her heels. "Can I borrow this shirt? I can have it dry cleaned and sent back."

"No." Eddie shot out. "Lay down, you're going to bed."

Isabella scrunched her face at the finite tone he had. "No, I'm going home."

When she moved to sit herself up, he used his palm to press her back into the mattress. Eddie leaned over her and kissed her softly, such a stark contrast to pinning her to the bed a second before. "I said no."

He was lucky her eyes felt heavy and enough happened to her that day to write book. With the lights shut off again, her thoughts drifted and soon sleep came over her but not before she felt his body dip into bed beside her.

At the sound of a cry Isabella awoke with a jolt, her brain suddenly reminding her that she was in a different place. Eduardo's house… in the middle of the night… in his bed. She turned over slowly to see him breathing right into her face, one hand over her bare chest and the other tucked under him.

He looked harmless like this… sleeping peacefully with no worries, his mouth not so hardened with that scowl he always had.

The cry sounded again so she knew it wasn't a fabrication of her dreams and on instinct she followed the noise, hastily pulling his discarded shirt over her head before she stepped inside of the adjacent room. "Sorry!" Isabella squeaked, not realizing the nanny was already tending to the baby.

"Can you hold him while I warm his milk?" The young girl looked frazzled and sleepless, but Sebastián was as energetic and full of voice as always. Isabella nodded eagerly and grabbed him from his wooden crib, his tears fading and the once obnoxious cries dying down to small whimpers.

"Dramatica." Isabella chided him softly and laughed when he made a small noise in return. "Like your dad." She whispered against his temple, soaking in the baby smell as she patted his back. He was drooling heavily, which meant teeth were probably coming in and he no control over his cries.

But she understood why the poor au pair looked like she hadn't slept in days… she probably hadn't.

When she heard someone step back into the room, she assumed the nanny was back and didn't even turn to face her. "He's about to teethe, so he'll be grumpy for a bit. Nothing compared to Eduardo, I imagine?" She laughed again and enjoyed her own job at her jab towards her, er, sexual partner? Was that how she would refer to him from here on out? But when the girl didn't return the laughter, Bella shrugged it off. "Maybe if you take him warm baths before he's laid down, that might soothe him too."

"Are you an expert?" His voice made her jump out of her skin. She whirled around to be face to face with a naked chested Eddie, whom she last left snoring his life away. Light sleeper much?

"I had to take a few child classes in college to fulfill my degree." His eyebrows rose at that. Of course Eduardo thought so little of her. She was a spoiled, annoying daddy's girl to him… which couldn't be further from the truth. "And when he's hurting like this a nanny's nice but he would prefer his dad. That doesn't take a degree to figure out."

Eddie glowered. "Mind your own business, Isabella."

As if he knew what direction their combativeness was going, Sebastián let out a small cry/laugh. Bella pulled him from her shoulder to look at him fully, satisfied to see that all the tears and upset from his face was gone. "Happy baby!" She cooed softly down at him, earning her a toothless smile and the wiggling of his arms. He had the same green eyes as his dad, but his had speckles of brown around the edges. "Cutie pie." His chubby cheeks inflated with the coo of noises he was making, not realizing it was the middle of the night and all of the adults were sleep-deprived. Isabella noticed a twin bed in the corner of the nursery and decided she would prefer to be in here with him if Eduardo was going to make her stay the night. "I'll stay in here for the night. I have somewhere to be early tomorrow anyway."

He was beside her instantly, pulling the baby from her arms without even a word. Isabella wanted to object but this was his son, and she had no right to even come in this room in the first place. But when a normal person heard a baby crying, they would instinctively go to it, right? She wasn't crazy! "That's Greta's bed." He ground out.

Isabella regarded him holding his son, which was a sight to see. He was rough around the edges, mean, calculated- it was a challenge to see him in the light of being a little baby's dad. "You're sleeping in my room and I'll call your precious Uber at an appropriate hour." She had to hide her smile at the preposterous way he said the word, sounding more foreign than he ever did before. Sometimes she forgot how Spanish he actually was.

His tone of voice was harsh even though the intent of his words seemed to be good, but babies didn't know that. Sebastián cried out in his dad's arms and withered against cloth of the drool towel on his dad's bare shoulder.

Isabella felt a nagging sensation nip at her when she thought of him walking around bare chested around Greta, the nanny. Were they sleeping together?

She was young and taking care of his son, and Eduardo was a man with a healthy sexual appetite… suddenly it seemed stupid to even question that they hadn't. Of course they had! And it was none of her business.

Bella held her head high and resisted the urge to yank his son out of his arms. This was his child, she was a stranger.

She had to remember that.

"Fine. Goodnight." And with that, she turned away and stomped back to his stupid room.

"Greta!" He barked.

He was back in the room before she could draw back the covers and pulled at her wrist. "You don't think we need to talk?" They were nose to nose, both of their breathing uneven. Isabella scowled back at him and plopped herself onto the bed, yanking her wrist from his grasp.

"No, I don't. I was virgin, I'm not anymore. Questions?" She challenged him.

He was making this into something she didn't like anymore. Couldn't he just shut up and go back to bed? When morning came she could slip away and go back to normal life, where things were uncomplicated and didn't involve a gorgeous man and his baby!

"Yes, one question." Eduardo edged her back to lay flat, his body hovering over hers. "Are you on birth control?" The question sent ice down her veins. She thought back to the last time she had been on the pill, counting back to at least two months ago. Isabella had started taking them at sixteen to curb her heavy periods and used them for years but had stopped recently to give her body a break from the constant stream of added hormones.

She hadn't planned on having sex any time soon, so it didn't seem like such a big deal.

Eduardo saw the panic in her eyes and instead of rolling off of her, he lent a soft kiss on her lips. The medial action sent waves of confusion through her- here he had just reminded her of how stupid and childish she had been to not use protection, and he wanted to kiss her?

They could be in serious trouble, and he wanted to kiss?

Isabella's brain was in overdrive. "I'll buy a Plan B." Call it stupidity or anxiety or paranoia, but if she even thought a sexual partner had gotten his sperm close to her entrance she demanded a Morning After pill. Her parents had four kids nearly back to back and they hated it- whether her and her siblings were accidents or created on purpose didn't matter, she knew she was not going to have kids any time soon.

When she was with the man she loved, when she had a stable career going for herself, when she felt ready was when she would have a kid, not out of bad luck and a lapse in judgment.

"Or don't." Eduardo spoke softly against her face. Isabella looked up at him as if he had grown an extra head.

Or don't?

What the hell was wrong with him?

"What?" Isabella spluttered. "We're strangers… and we hate each other." Eduardo simply ignored her and dug his nose deeper into her throat, leaving wet kisses in his wake. "You obviously need sleep. You aren't thinking clearly."

Eduardo chuckled at her words and pushed open her legs with ease. "How about I buy as many Plan B pills as you want? One pill for every time I make you cum? Is that clear enough for you?" She wanted to fight him on it and explain why they couldn't possibly have sex and risk any more stupid activity, but his mouth had already traveled down there and all rational thought went right out of the penthouse window.