I frowned. She sounded just like Carson with his ‘I’ll give you everything in the world’ speech. “But I don’t want his bloody money. If I’d wanted his money, I would have demanded it when Sasha was born,” I retorted, hearing the frustration leak into my voice.

“Well, there’s not much you can do about it now, sweetie. Just suck it up and thank your lucky stars you get to live with the guy you’ve been in love with for the last three years,” she said matter-of-factly.

I groaned. I should be happy, I really should, but I couldn’t stop my anger about this whole situation. Since I’d moved out three years ago, I had been in total control over my life; I had the first and last say in everything. Right now, I felt trapped, like I wasn’t in control of my life anymore. I silently wondered if this was what having an arranged marriage felt like.

“Whatever. Look, I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you what time I’ll come for Sash and Rory, okay? You sure you’re okay having them for the night?” I asked.

She laughed. “Of course I am! We’re all good, so stop stressing. You know what you should do?”

“What should I do?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.

“Go drag that fiancé of yours up to the bedroom and ravage his body. Everything looks better post-orgasm,” she said, laughing to herself.

I snorted incredulously. “I don’t want him anywhere near me again after what he said to me, so sex is off the cards, but thanks for the suggestion.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Carson’s face crumble a little when I mentioned what he’d said. I knew he was probably sorry, but I couldn’t let go of the hurt I felt inside. Carson really did think of me as a prostitute, and I would never be able to forget that.

“Shame. It might make you smile again,” Lucie replied.

“I gotta go. Can you do me a favour and call Jason? I’m supposed to be working tonight. Can you tell him I won’t be coming in because I need to get stuff sorted here?”

“Sure thing.”

“Thanks. I’ll call you tomorrow. Any problems with Sash and Rory then call me, okay?” I said, wishing I could just get a hug from my best friend or my brother. I disconnected the call and pushed Carson’s phone onto the glass coffee table, already noting that particular piece of furniture would have to go before Sasha could be let loose in here. Carson probably had no idea how one little almost-two-year-old could affect his life. It was going to be amusing watching his life change so rapidly.

“I’m ordering you a new contract phone. You have any preference which you get?” Carson asked, obviously choosing to pretend like he hadn’t just listened to my whole conversation about him.

“I don’t need a new phone, just credit.”

“iPhone. Blackberry. Galaxy. What do you want?” he continued, ignoring my comment.

A tear escaped even though I was trying my hardest to keep them at bay. “I just want to go home, Carson,” I whispered.

“You are home,” he replied immediately. “I’ll just get you an iPhone if you’re not gonna choose.”

For the next half an hour, we ignored each other while we ate and he tapped away on his laptop, ordering goodness knows what. When the ring of his phone cut through the deafening silence of the room, I watched as he looked down at the screen with wide eyes before answering it.

“Hi, Mum.”

Mum. My back stiffened. I hadn’t even had time to consider how his family were going to be feeling about the news.

“You’re what? No, it’s not a good time right now. Can’t you just leave it until next week? I’ll call you tomorrow or something.” A frown lined his forehead. “Mum, but…” He groaned and shook his head, tossing the phone onto the seat next to him before looking up at me with tight eyes. “My mum’s on her way over. I didn’t get a chance to explain it to her; she’s just flicked on the TV and seen us all over entertainment news. She’ll be here in ten minutes.”

DREAD SETTLED IN THE PIT OF MY STOMACH at the ominous sound of the doorbell. I looked to Carson for reassurance, which unfortunately didn’t come because he looked just as nervous as I felt. For the last ten minutes, scenarios of how this meeting was going to go were running through my brain. In reality, I actually had no idea how his mother was going to react to me at all.

Carson set his laptop on the coffee table and stood. “Come on; let’s get the awkward first meeting out of the way.”

My mouth was dry when I tried to swallow. “Okay,” I croaked, standing as well and following him into the hallway, deliberately hanging back and barely stepping out the lounge door.

Through the patterned, frosted-glass panel down the side of the door, I could see two figures standing there. As Carson opened the door, I held my breath and nervously wrung my hands.

Carson’s mother looked the total opposite to what I thought she would. Carson was incredibly handsome - your typical heartthrob with his chiselled good looks and striking blue eyes - but his mother was plain in comparison to what I had envisioned. I had always figured she would look like a tall, leggy goddess, so I was a little shocked to see a shorter, dumpy brunette lady. She was dressed impeccably in a pencil skirt, high heels and white shirt combo. Behind her stood a girl about my age. Judging by the flawless complexion and light-brown hair, I immediately guessed this was one of Carson’s little sisters. To my horror, it was then that I realised I didn’t even know their names.