Something about this felt - off.
He did not know whether that had something to do with Dionisia tonight - at her abrupt desire to be a mother again - or whether it was his own fault, for feeling some vague discomfort with the whole idea. Discomfort that settled oddly in his stomach, discomfort that he did not know quite what to do with.
“It’s not that it would be uncomfortable for me -” he interjected, a little flushed, and cringing internally a little at the possible ways to put it, none of which were any more flattering, really. ‘It’d be fine, really.’ ‘I could manage it, practically speaking.’ ‘But, er, sorry again that I’m not attracted to you, I’m sure you’re very attractive to plenty of people.’ If she wanted another child that badly, he could put up with the awkwardness.
But if this was actually, underneath, about her looking for sex or passion or romance, she might, understandably, get a little more pleasure out of it elsewhere, with someone who was attracted to her. That was well and good - by all means, he would encourage it, because then he would feel a great deal less guilty about seeing Ben behind her back.
But for another child? “I...” His brow was furrowed now, as he tried to untangle thoughts in a still-shellshocked brain. “How would you do that, seek out someone willing to - ? Did you have... someone in mind already?” An affair, that was easy enough... what he was more worried about was that she would tell the man her whole plan - and risk exposing him, them, the rest of it. Or that she would say nothing, that she would fall pregnant by it as she apparently wanted and they would just raise the child as Elliott’s sibling, leaving whatever gentleman she chose blind and unsuspecting to his part in it. Her first pregnancy had been accidental, so there had been nothing to be done for it; but creating that situation with yet another man hardly seemed ideal, either. Ari did not quite know how to put that into words, just yet, so he stayed quiet.
Merlin. As if things were not already complicated enough.
He did not know whether that had something to do with Dionisia tonight - at her abrupt desire to be a mother again - or whether it was his own fault, for feeling some vague discomfort with the whole idea. Discomfort that settled oddly in his stomach, discomfort that he did not know quite what to do with.
“It’s not that it would be uncomfortable for me -” he interjected, a little flushed, and cringing internally a little at the possible ways to put it, none of which were any more flattering, really. ‘It’d be fine, really.’ ‘I could manage it, practically speaking.’ ‘But, er, sorry again that I’m not attracted to you, I’m sure you’re very attractive to plenty of people.’ If she wanted another child that badly, he could put up with the awkwardness.
But if this was actually, underneath, about her looking for sex or passion or romance, she might, understandably, get a little more pleasure out of it elsewhere, with someone who was attracted to her. That was well and good - by all means, he would encourage it, because then he would feel a great deal less guilty about seeing Ben behind her back.
But for another child? “I...” His brow was furrowed now, as he tried to untangle thoughts in a still-shellshocked brain. “How would you do that, seek out someone willing to - ? Did you have... someone in mind already?” An affair, that was easy enough... what he was more worried about was that she would tell the man her whole plan - and risk exposing him, them, the rest of it. Or that she would say nothing, that she would fall pregnant by it as she apparently wanted and they would just raise the child as Elliott’s sibling, leaving whatever gentleman she chose blind and unsuspecting to his part in it. Her first pregnancy had been accidental, so there had been nothing to be done for it; but creating that situation with yet another man hardly seemed ideal, either. Ari did not quite know how to put that into words, just yet, so he stayed quiet.
Merlin. As if things were not already complicated enough.
