Sweetly, Deeply, Absolutely (Sweet Love)

by Kira Archer

  But with Jared, it seemed to be too damn hard to resist.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jared walked into the kitchen a few days later and nearly had a heart attack. Gina stood teetering on the stepladder, inspecting the top layer of the cake while Jenny loaded the tray with more baklava.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, rushing over to help her down. Both women blinked at him like he was the one who’d gone stark raving crazy. “What are you doing climbing around on things when you’re this pregnant? You know how dangerous that is? Fuck, it’ll take me a week to coax my nuts back down. You scared the shit out of me.”

  He waited until Gina was firmly on the ground, and then he rounded on Jenny, who was doing a piss-poor job of keeping her amusement under control. “It’s not funny! She could have fallen. What are you doing letting her climb around?”

  Jenny walked over and set the tray down, then patted him on the arm. “I’m pretty sure I don’t have a whole lot of say in what Gina does or doesn’t do. Besides, she’s pregnant, Jared. Not broken. It’s not like I let her go skydiving. She was on a two-foot stepladder. I think she can handle herself.”

  “And what do you mean let her? I haven’t gone senile. I don’t need someone babysitting me,” Gina said, hands on her hips. She frowned and ran her hands over her belly. Then her face cleared. “I swear, you’re as bad as Rick…” She sank down onto a chair in the corner, her hand pressing into her back. “You men need to calm down.”

  She frowned again and rubbed her stomach.

  “You okay?” he asked her, the anxiety that had just begun to dissipate starting to crawl through his system again.

  “I’m fine. They’re just Braxton-Hicks. Been having them for weeks.”

  “Brax-a-what?”

  Jenny climbed up on the ladder and gestured for him to hold the tray so she could start the next layer. “Braxton-Hicks. Like practice contractions.”

  “You have to practice contractions?”

  Gina rolled her eyes at him. “Apparently.”

  “Do they hurt?”

  An amused smile peeked out through the grimace on Gina’s face. “They don’t tickle.”

  She laughed. Jenny laughed. Jared didn’t find it remotely funny.

  “Ah, come on, Jared. Stop worrying so much.”

  “If you say so,” he muttered.

  “I say so.” She pushed herself out of the chair, and Jared moved to help her but she waved him off. “I’m just going to the bathroom. Cool your jets.”

  He watched her waddle off, his forehead creasing in concern.

  “She’s fine, Jared,” Jenny assured him. “If she’s not, she’ll let us know.”

  He wasn’t quite sure he believed that, but since the women weren’t freaking out, he’d try to rein it in a bit and focus on something he could help with.

  “This is bigger than I thought it would be,” he said, nodding to the cake. Only four layers deep so far and it was an impressive display of elegant treats.

  “Yeah. It has to feed five hundred. And it’s taking a bit longer to get it assembled than I thought it would. The inside pieces aren’t as big of a deal, but the ones that will show on the outside, I’m trying to get them to look as uniform as possible. But it’s looking nice, I think.”

  “Gorgeous,” he said, although he was no longer looking at the cake but at the stunning woman who was creating it.

  The change in his voice made her glance at him. Their gazes locked and held. Being closer to the lights lent extra highlights to her hair and gave her an almost ethereal glow. He mentally laughed at himself. He was getting sappy in his old age. But damn, he’d never seen anyone so beautiful.

  He put the tray down and grasped the front of her shirt, gently tugging to bring her face down to him. She didn’t have far to go. Being two steps up on the stepladder only put her a couple inches taller than him. She didn’t resist him. Their lips met, and what he’d intended to be a gentle kiss quickly turned nuclear. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the ladder, holding her against him while he explored her mouth. Her hands threaded through his hair, grabbing and holding when he deepened his kiss.

  He set her on the counter, narrowly missing the tray of baklava. She laughed, then dragged him back for more.

  “How much longer do you need to work on this cake?” he murmured against her mouth.

  “Why? Did you have something else in mind?”

  He bit her earlobe. “When it comes to you, I always have something in mind.”

  “Right back atcha,” she said, pressing herself as close to him as she could get.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Gina said, her voice exuding tension.

  Jared and Jenny froze. He held her against him, her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands tangled in his hair. He’d totally forgotten Gina was even there. When he was around Jenny his brain shorted out.

  He fully expected an epic chew-out from Gina. Instead, she said, “Jared, I need you to drive me to the hospital. I think the baby is coming.”

  “Shit,” he said, pushing away from the counter. “Really?”

  “No, I’m joking,” she ground out.

  Jared didn’t bother responding. His mind was a blank sheet of pure panic. “Did you call Rick?”

  “Of course I did. It went to voicemail. I called the station. The dispatcher said he was on a call but she’s radioing him. We agreed to meet at the hospital if this situation happened. I just need to get there. You’re the only one with a car.”

  “Of course! Right. I’m on it. Keys. We need keys. Where are my keys?” Jared knew he was shouting and acting like a supreme idiot, but he couldn’t seem to get a grip. Gina was the toughest woman he knew, and she was currently doubled over in pain and making sounds he’d never heard before. That couldn’t be good. He’d known, of course, that having babies was painful, but watching her face sent an ungodly fear rushing through him. And the thought that it was up to him to get her to the hospital ramped up his adrenaline until his head spun.

  Jenny hopped down and grabbed his face. “Breathe, Jared. Deep breaths.”

  Her touch actually calmed him. “Okay. I can breathe.”

  “Isn’t that what you should be telling me?” Gina said to Jenny.

  Jenny winked at Jared. “Keys,” she reminded him.

  “Oh, right, keys.” He spun on his heel and headed for the coatrack near the back door.

  Jenny went to Gina, helping her into the chair in the corner. “You sure it’s not Braxton-Hicks?”

  Gina shook her head, her breath hissing out through clenched teeth. After a moment her body relaxed, and she took a breath. “No. These are much stronger. And I’m not positive but I think my water broke.”

  “How do you not know? Doesn’t it go everywhere?” Jared said, still rummaging through his jacket pockets for his keys.

  “Only in the movies,” Gina said, her body tensing again.

  “Contraction?” Jenny asked. When Gina nodded, Jenny glanced at Jared with a worried look. “That was really quick after the last one.”

  Gina blew her breath out. “I know. I guess the ones I felt earlier weren’t Braxton-Hicks.”

  “You can’t tell?” Jared asked, flinching when twin glares were aimed his way. “Well, hell, I don’t know about this stuff. I thought women did.”

  “It’s my first baby. I’m as clueless as you.” She blew out another breath and looked at him again. “Well, maybe not as clueless as you, but bad enough.”

  He grinned at her. As long as she could keep the barbs coming at him, he knew she’d be okay.

  “I only know what’s in the books. I’m three weeks early. I didn’t think I’d need to worry about this stuff yet.”

  “So how long have you been having pains?”

  “I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve been having the Braxton-Hicks for weeks. I guess they started feeling a little stronger around noon, but they weren’t consistent or strong enough to make me think they were anything to
worry about.”

  “And now?”

  “They’ve been getting stronger with every one. And they are closer together.”

  Jenny nodded. “Seems like about every two minutes.”

  “My doc said to head to the hospital at every five minutes. I thought it was supposed to take longer than that to progress.”

  “You never know,” Jenny said, helping her up. “My mom said with Rick she was only in labor for four hours and once she hit five centimeters it only took about fifteen minutes to get to ten.”

  “Well, why are we sitting here then?” Jared said. “Let’s get you to the hospital!”

  “We were waiting for you to get your keys,” Jenny reminded him.

  “Oh! Right. Keys. Shit.” He stood there, looking back and forth, from his coat to the floor to the counters and both the women staring at him.

  “What? I don’t know… Oh.” He looked down at the keys in his hand and shook his head. He couldn’t get past the panic that was rushing through him. He seriously needed to pull it together. He was better than this. He could do this.

  “Okay, let’s roll.”

  Jenny already had Gina halfway out the door.

  Good thing at least one of them knew what they were doing.

  …

  Watching Jared try to deal with Gina’s labor was almost comically cute. Or at least it would have been if Gina wasn’t about to give birth in the backseat of Jared’s car. Gina was lying down in the backseat with her head in Jenny’s lap and her hand squeezing the living hell out of Jenny’s every time another contraction would hit. The way Jared kept taking corners was not helping.

  “Slow down!” they both shouted.

  “Sorry!” he said.

  He turned another corner and the car came to a complete stop.

  “Don’t go that slow,” Jenny said while Gina panted through another contraction.

  “I can’t help it. There must be some ass double-parked because we’re stuck behind a truck that’s not moving.”

  Gina started moaning. “You gotta get me there quick, Jared.”

  “I’d love to, Genie, I really would,” he said, turning around. “There’s nowhere to go.”

  Wow. He must be rattled if he’d let that one go without an inappropriate innuendo.

  Gina sat up a little. “I need to push!”

  Jenny met Jared’s panicked gaze with one of her own. “Shit,” he whispered.

  “Pull over,” Jenny said as she switched positions from cradling Gina’s head to the end where the interesting stuff was happening. She took one peek and almost jumped over into the front seat.

  She did what she could to get Gina more comfortable, but it was hard with them both squished in the backseat. “Pull over and call 911!”

  “Are you crazy?” Jared’s voice raised at least an octave, and Gina and Jenny shared an amused glance before the next contraction gripped her.

  The theme song for Cops started playing, and Gina grabbed for her phone. But she was panting and groaning so much she couldn’t really speak. Jenny took the phone.

  “Rick?”

  “Jenny? What’s going on? Where are you guys?”

  His voice sounded frantic. She’d never heard her big, strong brother sound so afraid.

  She tried to make her voice as calm as possible. “We are stuck behind a truck and a double-parked car and your wife is about to give birth to your child right here.” Screw being calm. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing, and if she wasn’t mistaken, the head of her niece or nephew was trying to make an appearance. “Where the hell are you?”

  “I’m on my way!”

  “Here’s the operator,” Jared said, shoving the phone at Jenny.

  “Talk to Rick,” she said back, shoving Gina’s phone at him. Horns blared as Jared pulled the car over as far as he could. If they’d been able to make it half a block up they could have parked in front of a hydrant. But as that wasn’t an option, double-parking it was.

  “Hello?” she said into the phone.

  “Ma’am, can you tell me what’s going on?”

  Jenny was so relieved to hear someone with a little authority behind her voice she almost cried with relief. She opened the door so she’d have more room to maneuver and tried to follow the operator’s instructions. Jared finally got off the phone and got out to come around and help. He took one look and turned around with a “Holy shit!”

  “My head, Jared! Stay by my head!” Gina yelled at him.

  He didn’t bother arguing, obviously relieved to take charge of the non-messy end of things. Jenny put the phone on speaker and had him hold it so she could hear while he climbed in behind Gina to help support her while she pushed.

  “I see hair!” Jenny said.

  Gina lay back against Jared, chest heaving while she caught her breath between contractions. The whoop whoop of a police car sounded, and Jenny almost sobbed with relief. It got as close as it could and then Jenny could hear the sound of feet hitting the pavement.

  “Gina!” Rick came running up, skidding to a stop behind Jenny. “Oh my God!!” he said.

  “Yeah, no shit,” Jenny said, grabbing his hand and pulling him down to switch positions with her. “You got here just in time to deliver your baby.”

  “Hey folks… Whoa!” Joe, Rick’s partner, had nearly gotten an eyeful. Rick’s huge body was blocking the doorway so it was doubtful he, or anyone else, was seeing anything. Still, Gina took the precaution of yelling, “Other side, Joe!”

  Jenny laughed and leaned against the car, dragging in a deep breath in an effort to calm her pounding heart. She loved Gina and would do absolutely anything for her, but being in charge of something so monumentally important had shaken her to the bone for many reasons. Not the least of which was the thought that she might be in Gina’s shoes soon. Only not in Gina’s exact shoes, with a loving supportive husband with a steady future.

  Jared would make a wonderful father, in some respects. He would be loving, kind, and a total blast to play with. And at the moment, he’d even be able to provide financial support. But what happened if he got bored in a few years, or he had trouble finding clients? He didn’t seem remotely interested in making his life more secure. Which, as a single man with no commitments, was his prerogative. But when it came to being the father of her child, as much as she felt for him, he probably wasn’t the best one for that job.

  Well, more specifically, he might not be the best partner for her. He’d be a wonderful father in most aspects. Their child would be happy to have a fun dad who showed up, she was sure. But Jenny was going to need help with bills, and diapers, and dance lessons, and new shoes, and braces, and all those things she’d had growing up that she’d never even questioned. She wanted all that stuff for her baby, and she was going to need help to provide it. And a man who only worked enough to have party money and not only didn’t seem interested but downright against doing any more might not be the right choice. Neither one of them was stable or responsible, and at least one of them needed to be.

  The sound of Gina moaning and crying out pulled Jenny back to the issue at hand. “Hey, baby,” Rick said, rubbing Gina’s legs while he crooned soothing nonsense to his laboring wife. “Breathe. That’s good. We’re almost there.”

  Jenny backed off a bit, feeling like she was intruding on a moment between them. She went around to Jared’s end while Rick took over following the operator’s instructions as the woman talked him through the process.

  “There’s some towels and clothes in my trunk,” Jared said to her. “In my gym bag. It’s all clean, just washed it.”

  “Got it!” Jenny leaned into the front seat and popped the trunk and then rushed around back to grab anything that looked like it might be useful, including the towel, a big fluffy sweatshirt, and a couple bottles of water.

  “The head’s out!” Rick said.

  Jared poked his head out his door. “Grab one of the shoelaces out of my sneaker!”

  “Shoelace?” she m
uttered, though she didn’t waste time asking what it was for.

  She hurried around so she could stand by with the stuff to wrap the baby in.

  “One more push, babe. Come on. You can do it.”

  Jenny stood behind her brother and watched her niece enter the world. She handed Rick the towel to wrap the baby in and helped support her while he tied the shoestring around the umbilical cord. He handed the baby to Gina while he continued to follow the operator’s directions.

  “Ambulance is here,” Joe said. The owner of the first double-parked car had finally come down and traffic was no longer backed up. So now only the ambulance blocked the street.

  Jared came to stand next to Jenny, wrapping his arms about her while they watched the new family huddled together.

  “Beautiful, aren’t they?” he whispered in her ear.

  She leaned back against him, letting herself enjoy the moment. She and Jared might be a bad idea, but she’d just seen her niece being born. She wanted to share it with someone. “They really are.”

  The EMTs made sure Gina and the baby were stable before moving them into the ambulance for transport to the hospital. Rick came over and gave Jenny a bone-crushing hug.

  “Thank you for being there for her.” He gave her one more squeeze and then held his hand out to Jared. “Thank you, too.”

  “My pleasure,” Jared said, and for the first time it didn’t sound indecent.

  “We’ll get the car taken care of and then come up to the hospital,” Jenny said. “And I’ll call Mom and fill her in.”

  “Thanks,” Rick said again before jumping into the back of the ambulance with his girls.

  “Oh,” Jared said, in a tone of voice she’d never heard him use before. Something between awe and terror.

  “What is it?” she asked, alarm spiking through her.

  “The car.” He gestured to the backseat, where the aftermath of a live human birth waited.

  Jenny burst out laughing. “I bet the sinks at the bakery aren’t looking so bad now, are they?”