Worth the Wait (Very Personal Training Book 2)

by Karla Doyle

“Definitely.” Pulling her as close as possible without suffocating the puppy, he sealed their mouths together in a kiss to last him the rest of the night. Relinquishing her luscious lips took actual effort. But it had to be done. So did taking a hard step backward. “I don’t know how long this will take, or if I’ll get back here tonight.”

  She nodded. “It’s okay, I understand. You’re such a good man. Always stepping up to help when people need you. That’s one of the things I—” Her lips snapped shut as her eyes went wide. She blinked up at him a few times, then smiled. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”

  Of all the times she could’ve chosen to use that word toward him. He didn’t deserve her admission of feelings. Not while he was holding so much back.

  Her smile faltered in the awkward silence. “Anyway, you should probably get to the hospital, where you’re needed.”

  Moment—lost. Opportunity—gone. Not to mention the subtle burn of being told he wasn’t needed here. Fuck. What a mess.

  “Leigh—”

  She shut him down by shaking her head. “It’s okay.”

  No, it wasn’t. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to fix it right now. All he could do was pray for a negative result at the hospital, then get back on track with the woman patiently waiting for him to leave.

  “I’ll text you in a while,” he said, moving toward the front door. “Let you know how long I’ll be gone.”

  “Do what you have to do and don’t rush. I’m not going anywhere.”

  He hoped to hell that was true. He’d find out soon enough.

  SAM

  The childbirth unit. Not somewhere he’d expected to visit again, since his sister had completed her desire for a two-child family in one shot by having twins. Visiting the hospital that day had been happy and exciting. Being an uncle rocked. The world’s best “love them and leave them” scenario.

  Standing outside the secured entrance, he rolled his neck to free up some of the tension. The other “love them and leave them” scenario had come back to bite him in the ass big time. He certainly never planned to be here as a parent.

  Potential parent. This could still be a false alarm. Unfortunately, it was equally possible he could be walking out of this hospital as a father.

  He picked up the security phone and waited to be connected. “Hi. Sam Jacobs, here to see Michelle Sato. She asked me to come in.”

  Technology did its thing, unlocking the door remotely. The sound reminded him of a jail door buzzing opening in a movie. Kind of appropriate, since everything about this moment felt like a dramatization, not his actual real life.

  The corridor beyond the door, getting instructions from the nurse at the desk, walking to the designated room—all surreal. He turned the corner and entered the specified birthing suite, bringing him face-to-face with a very large dose of reality.

  “Push, Michelle, push. You’re doing great.” The nurse’s position between Michelle’s legs blocked his view of the action.

  Thank God. He moved off to the side of the room, out of the way and out of the sightline. But not unnoticed. The instant the contraction passed, both sets of eyes were on him.

  “Sam. You came.”

  And that was the problem. He came. More than once, without a condom. The potential consequences of which loomed nine-months-large in front of him.

  “You’re just in time, Daddy,” the nurse—or doctor—said, pulling his attention from Michelle’s mountainous belly and sweat-soaked head.

  “I’m not—” Now wasn’t the time for arguing. “I’m not sure what to do.”

  “Wash your hands and put on a gown if you’re staying in the room.”

  Was he staying in the room? He hadn’t spoken with this girl since that weekend in Toronto. Seeing her naked during sex nine months ago didn’t mean she’d want him witnessing the birth of her baby.

  “Make a decision, Daddy. Mama here is due for another contraction in about thirty seconds.”

  He met Michelle’s gaze. “It’s your call.”

  “Please stay. I don’t want to be alone.”

  He nodded and moved to the sink. Scrubbed and put a gown over the t-shirt Leigh had rested her head against less than an hour ago. He was still tying the strings when a sound that could’ve come from a torture victim—or an epic porn star—filled the room.

  “Grab your legs, Michelle. That’s right. Good girl. Deep breath in and hold it for ten. Now push. Ten, nine, eight, keep pushing. Seven, six, push, Michelle, push.”

  “I can’t,” she said, the breath rushing out of her. “I can’t.”

  “You can. You’re doing great.” He leaned in, supported her back, swept the damp hair back from her cheek. “How can I help?”

  “I don’t know.” Her sobbing morphed into a guttural groan as another contraction hit.

  He looked down at the nurse, doctor, midwife—whatever she was. “What should I do?”

  “Help hold her legs so she can focus on pushing.”

  Damn, he really would’ve preferred feeding her ice chips or dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth, like men in the movies always did.

  “Come on, Michelle, let’s make this one count.” The woman settled in between Michelle’s thighs. “Baby’s head is right there. Some good pushing and you’ll be all done.”

  “Okay, I’ll try.” Fatigue and fear laced the voice he’d all but forgotten. She deserved better.

  He took position behind Michelle and looped his arm under her left hamstring. “I’ve got this leg. You grab the other one, then lean on me. Let me hold you up.”

  “Okay,” she said, following his instructions.

  “It’s baby time, Michelle,” the doc said. “Are you ready to push?”

  She nodded, took a big breath, tucked her chin down and pushed.

  “You’re doing great. Keep pushing, keep pushing. I can see the ears, Michelle, keep pushing. Come on, push, push, push, push.”

  Pressed in tight behind her, he could feel every muscle in her body tighten. Tremors wracked the bare leg he held. Her face was the reddest he’d ever seen on a real person. The sheer will in her clenched features was one of the strongest, most impressive things he’d witnessed in his life.

  “Baby’s ears are out, Michelle, keep pushing.”

  Now he had to see. Had to watch. He leaned forward as much as possible, peering over Michelle’s shoulder just in time to see a tiny headful of dark hair fill the physician’s hands. Holy goddamn.

  “The head’s out, Michelle.” Excitement bloomed on the physician’s face as she looked up at Michelle. “One more good push, that’s all we need.”

  Panting as she drew another breath, Michelle nodded. This woman he barely knew, despite having known intimately, bore down and pushed with everything she had.

  He held his breath along with her. Couldn’t have looked away if somebody had offered him a million bucks. The baby’s shoulders. The back. The world’s tiniest bum. Legs and feet. Two small rows of Tic Tac-sized toes. Covered in goo and red all over, the baby was out.

  A quick rubdown and pat on the back later, the baby’s cries filled the room.

  “Is everything okay?” Michelle asked, staring at him, rather than the baby.

  “I think so. Everything I can see looks right to me.”

  “Congratulations, you have a little girl. We’re just going to clean her up, weigh and measure her.”

  We? He hadn’t even noticed the other woman in the room. Had no idea which one was a doctor or a nurse. Didn’t matter, as long as they took care of the baby.

  The baby. His or not his? Didn’t matter right now. All he wanted to do was hold her. Count her fingers and toes. Kiss her little head and rock her until she stopped crying and fell asleep in his arms. Must be the uncle instinct kicking in. He didn’t dislike kids, he’d just never wanted any of his own.

  “Sam,” Michelle said, pulling his attention from the baby. “We need to talk.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, we do.”

&nb
sp; “She’s your daughter.”

  “Maybe.”

  Pulling the blanket over herself, Michelle shook her head. “Not maybe. One hundred percent definitely.”

  He rose from the bed and crossed his arms over his chest. Time to get real. “We were only together a few times. What makes you think I’m the father?”

  “Because you’re the only man I’ve had sex with. Ever.”

  “What? No. No way that’s true.”

  “Why? Because I was so great in the sack? You and I both know I wasn’t. I didn’t have a clue what to do. You’re the only reason it was any good, because you do know what you’re doing. Boy, do you know what you’re doing.”

  He backed away, details from their night together flooding his mind. Stuff she’d said that he’d clearly mistaken to mean other things.

  I don’t have much experience with men. He’d assumed she’d meant she hadn’t slept with many guys, not that she was a virgin.

  I’ve never done this before. He’d assumed she’d never spontaneously hooked up with a stranger, not that she’d never had sex.

  I didn’t expect to come the first time. He’d assumed she’d only been with selfish assholes or losers who didn’t take the time to deliver the big O the first time around, not that she’d been talking about her first time ever.

  “Assuming you’re telling me the truth—”

  “I am.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?”

  “I didn’t want it to spook you out of having sex with me.”

  This could not be happening. Only it was, and it had. “Why didn’t you tell me to use a condom?”

  “Same reason.”

  “Was I that much of a prick?” No reply needed, he knew he had been. And not only with Michelle.

  “You were the opposite of a prick, Sam. You were charming and friendly and funny. And hot, of course. That’s why I chose you to do it.”

  After his run as a master player, he had no business feeling used. Tell that to his feelings. “So, you went to a sports nutrition convention looking for somebody to secretly take your virginity?”

  “No, I went because my boss sent me to source new products for the gym. Then I met you and decided to get rid of that pesky V-card, so that when I met somebody I wanted to really date, I wouldn’t break it off because I was scared to go further than second base, like I had every other time.”

  He looked across the room, to the nurse holding a swaddled newborn. A nurse who’d obviously overheard every word of the conversation and didn’t want to interrupt. Couldn’t say he blamed her.

  Time to get to the end of it. “Maybe your daughter is from the next guy you dated.”

  Michelle shook her head. “There was no next guy. My cycle has always been regular like a Swiss timepiece. I knew I was pregnant before I had a chance to meet anybody else who interested me. That baby is your daughter, Sam.”

  If she was telling the truth… “I’m not calling you a liar, but I’d like a test, to be sure.”

  “I don’t blame you and you can get all the tests you want. They’re all going to tell you the same thing. But, there’s something else you need to know, before you go forward with the paternity test.”

  “Okay.” He’d hear her out, but honestly, what more could there possibly be?

  “I’m not keeping the baby.” She glanced at the nurse, then met Sam’s eyes again. “That’s why they haven’t brought her over yet. I told them I don’t want to hold the baby.”

  “What?”

  “I’m twenty-two. I don’t want to be an unwed parent and I don’t want to marry somebody just because we combined DNA. I also don’t believe in abortion, so here we are. As her other biological parent, you can take full custody of her when she’s released from the hospital. You won’t be able to come after me for any sort of support because I’m signing away all parental rights. If you don’t want her, there’s no point in having the paternity test, because she’ll be adopted by another family. It’s already been arranged.”

  He half-staggered to the nearest chair. Fell into it and scrubbed his hand over his head.

  “You look good with hair, by the way. I wouldn’t have picked you to have sex if you’d had hair when I met you, but it looks nice.”

  If only he’d grown his hair back a few months sooner, none of this insanity would be unfolding in front of him, demanding he make immediate, permanently life-altering decisions.

  A mewling cry rose from the baby in the nurse’s arms. Possibly his baby. Not possibly, probably. Based on Michelle’s intentions, she wouldn’t have called him here if she wasn’t positive about the baby’s parentage. Jesus, he was not ready for this. He had no choice but to be ready for this. Right now.

  He rose from the chair and crossed the room. “I’d like to hold my daughter.”

  “Congratulations, Daddy,” the nurse said, settling the tiny, dark-haired human in his outstretched arms. “She’s beautiful.”

  “Yes, she is.” He lifted her higher, placed a gentle kiss on her soft little head. The DNA test was a formality. In his gut, he knew the truth. In his heart too. He already loved this little girl with every fiber of his being.

  LEIGH

  Leigh parked alongside Sam’s two-door pickup truck at the address he’d provided. His parents’ home. Where he’d asked her to meet him after closing the bakery today.

  She hadn’t seen him since he left her house Friday night. That departure had been unusual in itself. Not because Sam had jumped in to help somebody when they needed him—that was normal Sam behavior. Just like he’d always been a straightforward, honest, go-get-it kind of person. After checking his messages Friday night, he’d been distant and cryptic. Definitely holding back. Something had been off then and hadn’t been right since.

  Her brain had been on overdrive the past three days. Her stomach acid too. Not the way she prided herself on living. Whatever was going on, they needed to sort it out today. She wouldn’t leave here with the stress she’d brought.

  She pressed the doorbell, but didn’t hear a corresponding sound beyond the door. Another attempt yielded the same lack of results. She knocked next, hard and repeatedly. The knock of impatience. An answer-me-now knock. She really needed to deal with this stress.

  Sam’s appearance in the doorframe swept much of the stress away. Another chunk disappeared when he pulled her into his arms and held her as if he never wanted to let go.

  “I’ve missed you.” His words filled her ear and her heart. He kissed the top of her head and released her from the hug, twining their fingers together before easing back to look into her eyes. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting. For not calling. For sending vague messages all weekend. The stuff I had to sort through has nothing to do with us or how I feel about you. Nothing between us has changed.”

  “Okay, that’s good. A little ominous, but good.”

  Smiling his infectious smile, he led her deeper into the house. Beyond the entryway, past a small but tidy kitchen and living room, down a hallway with several closed doors. At the end, they entered a large, sunken family room. Clearly an addition to the original structure, it had a high ceiling, lots of windows and comfortable furniture. It also had a lot of baby paraphernalia.

  “Your sister must spend time here regularly, with her kids.”

  “Not as much as she used to.” He drew her onto the couch beside him. “Now that Lisa is back to work fulltime and the twins are in daycare, they don’t get here as often. But they’re here every Sunday for dinner, if nothing else.”

  “Oh,” she said, glancing around the room. Playpen, infant carrier, diapering supplies, laundry basket full of receiving blankets…all still actively waiting for immediate use, by the looks of things. “I thought maybe your parents provided the daily babysitting.”

  “The stuff in this room isn’t for my sister’s kids.” He squeezed her hand and held it tight. “It’s for mine.”

  She had to have misheard. Misunderstood. “I’m sorry, what di
d you say?”

  “All those messages on my phone Friday night were from a woman I met at a convention in Toronto—nine months ago. I didn’t see her or have contact with her afterward until I went to the hospital on Friday. She gave birth shortly after I got there. She’d already decided not to keep the baby. She gave me the choice of taking sole custody or letting her go to an adoptive family.”

  “Her?”

  “Yes. A baby girl.”

  Withdrawing her hand, she stood. A mistake, since the repercussions from his disclosure were dizzying. Everything had new meaning now. Everything they’d shared, the words they’d said and had yet to say. All the things they would’ve done.

  She moved around the room, autopilot taking her from one baby item to the next. She ran her hand along the playpen rail. Picked up a pink onesie, much like those she’d had for Lennox, nearly eleven years ago. She closed her eyes and remembered those days. The newness, the excitement, the exhaustion. She had sentimental moments when she’d give anything to go back in time. Mostly, though, she loved being exactly where she was in the timeline of life.

  “Talk to me.” The words slid into her ear as he hugged her from behind. “Tell me what’s going through your head.”

  “A lot of things.”

  He turned her within the circle of his arms. “I want to hear them all. Believe me, I know how huge this is.”

  “I don’t think you do. For me, us, or even for you.” Placing her hands on his chest, she gently guided him away. The sensation of his arms sliding free, losing contact with her body, seemed so unnatural, so wrong. “I need breathing room right now.”

  “I understand.”

  She returned the tiny baby garment to its original place. “I hate to be insensitive, but are you sure the baby is yours?”

  “Yes. Given the circumstances and everything Michelle told me, I was pretty sure without a test, but the results confirmed that I’m the father.”

  “Michelle. She’s the mother, the one who says she wants nothing to do with her baby. Do you believe her? What will happen if she changes her mind?”