BWWM Interracial Romance 8: Mutual Attraction Read Online Free PDF Page A

can be a little overbearing at times—”
    “Overbearing?” exclaimed Neil. “The woman is insane. She came to my fucking office to tell me what a horrible person I am for not marrying you. Who the hell does that? What gives her the right?”
    Barbara shrank even further into the couch.
    “I know you’re upset, but that’s my mother you’re talking about,” she said. “Please show me some respect and calm down.”
    “There you go with the respect thing,” said Neil with a choked sarcastic laugh.
    He went to the kitchen and took down a bottle of vodka, pouring himself a large glass before slamming it down his throat.
    “I don’t know what it is with you Woodward women,” he said, spit flying from his lips, “but you need to get the hell out of my business and figure your own shit out. You want to blame me for all your fucking problems? Well fuck that. I don’t need it from you, and I sure as shit don’t need to hear it from her.”
    Barbara rose calmly and collected her things. She didn’t speak as she made her way to the door, and she tried not to make eye contact with Neil when he slammed his glass down on the counter and poured another drink.
    “I was offered a job in New York,” he said. “They asked me last week, and I told them I needed time to think about it.”
    Barbara hesitated by the door. She’d taken her phone out of her bag and started to dial a taxi, but she paused and listened.
    “It’s a huge step up for me, and it’d be a massive pay increase,” he said with a slightly slurred edge to his words. “I think I’m going to take it.”
    “That’s probably for the best,” said Barbara as she took hold of the front door handle. “You and I are through, and I don’t ever want to hear from you again. I’ll raise this child on my own, and I don’t want you coming anywhere near us.”
    Barbara pulled the door open and ran into the hallway, not bothering to close it behind her as she ran to the exit, tears streaming down her cheeks as she called a taxi to take her home.
     
     

Chapter Five
    Barbara’s mother was already asleep when Barbara slipped into apartment and pushed the door closed as quietly as she could. She tiptoed into the kitchen and saw that her mother had left a note indicating there were leftovers in the fridge should she want them, and even though Barbara had eaten at the office, she pulled the plastic container out of the fridge and grabbed a fork from a drawer before taking the food into her room.
    Stabbing a forkful of cold pasta, Barbara let out a long exhalation and sank down onto her bed. Her room was small and cramped, with clothes strewn everywhere. As she chewed her food, she looked at her favorite pair of jeans, now far too tight in the waist to fit her. She missed how her ass looked in those jeans, and even more than that, she missed having time to care about how her ass even looked.
    Several bites later, the plastic container was empty, and Barbara felt the familiar bloating of having eaten too much so late at night. Her stomach was already swollen and large from the little girl growing inside of her, and although she always felt hungry, it was as if her belly didn’t have room for the baby and the stomach she’d just shoveled all that pasta into.
    Barbara laid back in her bed and stared at the ceiling. Idly rubbing her hand over her belly, she wished Neil was there to rub her feet or to even just be there for her to lean against. Her bosses hadn’t been happy when they’d learned that they’d promoted her only to be losing her to a maternity leave in a few short months, but they’d grudgingly accepted that she deserved the new position, and that she’d be back to oversee her new team in relatively short order.
    And wasn’t that what she’d wanted? Wasn’t that what she’d fought and worked so hard for? Career had always been the most important thing in Barbara’s life, but lying there, feeling the soft kicking of the infant inside of her,