She smiled and put her palms on my cheeks. “Of all the incredible timing . . . you can’t imagine how happy you made me when you said that. You’re the only one I want to have kids with.”
“You think we should celebrate you not dumping me?” I rested my forehead against hers.
She laughed softly. “I do. But at the moment, I’m completely exhausted.”
“I was thinking I’d pick breakfast from that little café you like and we can eat it in bed and then sleep the day away.”
“Mmm, that’s pretty much like dirty talk to me right now. I’m getting hot at the thought of eating strawberry crepes with you and then sleeping like the dead.”
“You can take a hot shower and put on that football shirt of mine you like so much and those shorts you love to sleep in with the hole in the crotch.”
“Baby, you’re gonna make me come,” she said in a teasing tone.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. “Joss, I love many things about you, but do you know what I love best?”
“Hmm?”
“I love how you you are. There’s no one else like you.”
She pressed her cheek to my chest and sighed softly. “That’s about the nicest compliment anyone’s ever given me. I’ve always felt awkward and different from other women. But not with you.”
“You ready for our sexy breakfast?”
Joss pulled back and gave me a serious look. “Soon. I need to check on Amanda and Genevieve first.”
“I thought you two hated each other.”
She shrugged. “I think that magical moment you mentioned may have changed things between us. Or”—she laughed softly—“maybe just for me. Amanda may whip a blood pressure cuff at my head and tell me to fuck off when I walk in her room.”
“She sure as hell better not. After what you just did?”
“I don’t want her to be all alone. Dean should stay, but who knows if he will.”
“He told me he’s planning to be here for whatever she needs.”
Joss scoffed. “How nice of him. Where’s he been for the last half of her pregnancy?”
“I know. Douche probably doesn’t want to look bad in front of his coworkers by ditching her here, though.”
She nodded. “That sounds about right. So I’m just going to look in on her then, and I’ll head home.”
“I’ll go get breakfast, unless you need me to stay here.”
“No, I’m good.” She smiled at me and added, “We’re having kids someday.”
I nodded and kissed her gently. “I already know it’s gonna be good. Everything with you is.”
We left the room hand in hand then, and it felt like we were opening the door on a new phase of our relationship. Joss getting stuck in that elevator with Amanda had turned out to be one of the best things that had happened for us.
Chapter Thirty
Joss
I couldn’t walk fifteen feet at TMC without someone stopping me to ask about delivering Amanda’s daughter in the elevator. When I returned later that evening, after sleeping all day, I was stopped in the parking lot, at the staff entrance, and in the stairwell.
Of course I took the stairs. I had no desire to set foot on that elevator again anytime soon, or any other elevator for that matter. The one Amanda and I had been trapped in had been repaired and cleaned and was back in service, but I wasn’t even ready to look at it yet.
Once I made it to the OB floor, it wasn’t as bad. My coworkers weren’t awed by the delivery of a baby, even in an elevator, because that’s what we did every day. Or in my case, night.
I was off tonight, but I’d come in to visit Amanda. When I knocked lightly on the half-open door to her room, I heard voices inside, and my stomach churned nervously.
If she told me to fuck off in front of other people, that might get a little bit weird.
“Come on in,” she said.
I took a deep breath and stepped inside the room. Amanda was nursing baby Genevieve, and a middle-aged man and woman were sitting in chairs next to her bed.
“Joss!” Amanda smiled at me, and I immediately relaxed.
“Hey, how are you?”
I set the vase of flowers I’d brought on a table and then walked over.
“Much better than the last time you saw me.” Amanda looked at the two people sitting next to her. “Joss, these are my parents, Tom and Angie. And guys, this is Joss.”
“Oh, Joss.” Angie stood up and opened her arms to me. “I don’t know how to thank you for what you did for our Amanda and Genevieve. You were our angel.”
She hugged me warmly. Like Amanda, she was petite. Her light brown-hair was chin length, and she wore jeans, a cream-colored blouse, and layered necklaces.
“It was my pleasure.”
“Joss, thank you.” Tom stood and extended his hand to me for a handshake.
“Amanda did all the hard work, truly.” I shook his hand.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Amanda said.
I looked down at the newborn contentedly nursing at her breast. She was so tiny and sweet. No matter how many babies I delivered, I thought of each one as a miracle.
“She really is gorgeous, Amanda. You must be over the moon.”
“I am. When my parents occasionally let me hold her, that is.” She rolled her eyes playfully.
“That’s our first grandbaby,” her mom quipped. “You can’t really blame us for loving on her so much.”
“I’m glad you guys are here,” Amanda said.
“Have you slept at all?” I asked her.
“Not really. But it’s okay.”
“Has Dean been here?”
She nodded. “He just left an hour ago. He’s coming to take us home tomorrow.”
“That’s good.”
“I don’t know that we’ll be together or anything, but . . .” She shrugged. “Gen is his daughter. I’d never deny him the chance to be part of this.”
“That’s very good of you.”
Genevieve unlatched from Amanda’s nipple and fussed. Amanda patiently helped her get situated again, and I felt a pang of longing to nurse my own babies one day. But this time, the pang was laced with joy rather than sadness.
“You’re doing so well, Amanda,” I said softly. “I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks. And Joss . . . I want to apologize for every rotten thing I ever said to you.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “Water under the bridge, girl.”
“That’s nice of you. I guess I needed to get stuck in that elevator with you so I could see what an idiot I’d been. In terms of you and in terms of Dean.”
“I have to say I’m thrilled not to see you crying over him. You deserve the best, and . . . well, I don’t want to say anything bad about him, so I’ll say nothing.”
Joss’s father spoke up. “Oh, go right ahead. We’ve got plenty of bad things to say about him ourselves.”
We all laughed at that, but then Amanda said, “Let’s just leave it alone. If he and I are never anything but coparents, that’s still a pretty sacred thing.”
Angie patted the white knit blanket Amanda’s legs rested under. “That’s right, Mandy. Take the high road.”
“I’m gonna head out,” I said. “I just wanted to drop off the flowers and make sure you’re doing okay.”
“Thanks,” Amanda said. “For everything, Joss.”
“You’re more than welcome. Keep in touch, okay? If you need baby supplies dropped off or anything at all, Carson and I are always close by.”
She nodded and thanked me again, and I said goodbye to her parents and left. I went to the main OB desk out of habit, just to see if there was mail in my box. Looking through the papers inside reminded me of the grant I’d forgotten about in the excitement of delivering Genevieve.
Hattie turned to me from her seat at the desk and said, in a low tone, “I’d ask how nursing is going for her, but obviously, with those nipples, she ain’t havin’ any trouble, I�
�m sure.”
I couldn’t help smiling even as I gave her an admonishing look. “She’s doing very well, yes.”
“Girlfriend could nurse octuplets,” Hattie muttered.
“You’re awful.”
She grinned at me. “Guilty as charged. But seriously, I’m hella proud of you.”
I sat down in the chair next to her. “It was a textbook delivery. I got lucky.”
“Even so, you stayed cool.”
“Hey, I need to tell you thanks for that conversation last night about not giving up wanting kids for Carson.”
“Oh.” She knitted her brows together with concern. “Did you guys have a fight about it?”
“No, we actually had a really good conversation about it. Initiated by him.”
She smiled. “And?”
“Ask Magic Eight.”
She poked me playfully. “Hey, don’t play coy with me. What’d he say?”
“He said he wants kids with me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, Joss. I’ve never seen you look happier than you do right now.”
“I feel really happy.” I stood up and looked at my watch. “I have to go. Want to do brunch this weekend?”
“Yeah, I’m down for that. Where you going now?”
I smiled. “Home. Carson and I were in bed all day, but we were sleeping. I’m planning to spend the night in bed with him . . . not sleeping.”
“I’m so jealous.” Hattie rolled her eyes. “Get some for me.”
“What happened to Danny?”
She waved a hand and gave me a disgusted look. “We’re over.” She leaned closer and whispered, “He wanted me to call his dick Mr. Big.”
My mouth dropped open with surprise. “Wait a minute, whoa now. There’s only one Mr. Big.”
“I’m sayin’, and it’s not his dick, trust me. Plus, I just couldn’t do it with a straight face.”
“Oh my God.” I laughed. “You mean you actually tried to do it?”
“Well, when a girl wants to get some . . . you know, she’s not in her right frame of mind sometimes.”
“Oh, Hattie, I love you.”
“Mm-hmm. Have fun riding MacGyver till sunrise.”
“Oh, I will.”
I slipped my purse strap onto my shoulder and headed for the stairwell. Another fringe benefit of getting stuck in that elevator—I’d soon have calves of steel.
Chapter Thirty-One
Six months later
Carson
The citrus scent of a freshly peeled orange drifted over to the side of the room I was working in. I glanced over at Joss, who was perched on the kitchen counter, and sure enough, she was peeling an orange. They were her favorite snack.
“I mean, case in point—Wonder Woman,” she said, continuing with the train of thought I’d only halfway been listening to, since my mind was on the drywall I was patching. “She fights bad guys in a strapless swimsuit and hooker boots. What’s up with that? Why doesn’t Batman wear a Speedo? It would be considered undignified for him, that’s why. But for a woman, it’s pretty much mandatory.”
“Can’t argue with that, babe.”
I looked over and saw Lola cocking her head at Joss, silently asking when she was getting a bite of that orange. What kind of dog loves oranges? Our Lola. There was nothing that dog wouldn’t eat, from shoes to toothpaste to underwear.
“Did I already promise not to try to move furniture by myself again?” Joss asked.
I gave her a wry look. “You did, but I wouldn’t mind hearing it again.”
“If I had known that bookcase would fall and knock a hole in the wall—”
“It’s not the hole, babe. You could have hurt yourself moving that all alone.”
“Won’t happen again.” She slid down from the counter. “I’m gonna start dinner. Fish tacos or pork chops?”
“Uh . . . actually, I need your help with this.”
She gave an amused snort. “My help? I’m terrible at this stuff, babe. Remember when you asked me to hold your sledgehammer and I dropped it on my foot?”
I smiled at the memory of her howling and hopping dramatically around the room. “I promise not to ask you to hold anything heavy this time.”
“Okay, let me wash my hands.”
She did, and then she walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist from behind. “Are you going to ask me for sexual favors while you work?” she asked playfully.
“Now that you mention it . . .”
“After dinner,” she said, peeking her head around to look at me. “Because we value reciprocity in this relationship.”
“That we do.” I gave her a quick kiss and turned back to the drywall I’d just cut.
“So what can I do to help?” she asked.
“I need a screw.”
“I thought we decided to wait until after dinner.” She arched her brows playfully.
“Ha ha, funny girl. Get me a drywall screw from the box on the floor. They’re in one of the top drawers.”
She bent down to the box of plastic drawers. “Drywall screw. Got it.”
As she opened a drawer, I said, “Not that one.” She moved to the next one, and I said, “No, it’s one more over.”
As she opened the drawer, I set down the square of drywall I was holding and just watched her.
“Okay, so . . . what?” She looked up at me, her eyes wide.
She’d spotted the diamond solitaire on a rose gold band I’d left in the drawer. I got down on one knee and took her hands in mine.
“Jocelyn Drake, you’re my world. I love you more than anything. Will you be my wife?”
Tears pooled in her eyes, and a wide grin spread across her face. “Yes! Ten thousand times yes!”
She threw her arms around my neck, and I held her close.
“I know it wasn’t the fanciest proposal,” I said.
Pulling back, Joss cupped my face in her hands and met my eyes. “It was perfect. Just perfect, Carson.”
I reached over to the drawer and took out the ring, then slid it onto her finger. As soon as she looked at it, she broke into tears.
“We’re getting married.” Her giddy tone lit me up from head to toe.
“Yes, we are.”
I kissed her with all the passion she brought out in me every day. Joss had brought color into my life. She’d made me believe in so many things. Before, I’d been a lost soul who didn’t even realize how wounded he was.
Though I still had bad dreams sometimes, she was always there when I woke up from them. I shared them with her, and that took an emotional weight off my shoulders.
That one night we’d spent together in her research room had changed the course of our lives. Joss was mine forever now, and I was hers. And as I looked at the sparkling ring on her finger, I knew we’d both gotten lucky, but that we’d also finally gotten what we truly deserved.
Acknowledgments
Believe it or not, this is always the hardest part of every book for me. I worry that I’ll forget someone who played a part in a book as I’m thanking everyone, and that would be the worst.
As you read at the open of this story, I started Healing Touch a while ago. I have to thank Chelle Bliss, who first approached me about the idea of organizing a charity anthology together. Without her and the other Night Shift authors, I never would have written Healing Touch. I’m incredibly grateful to every reader and blogger who read the book and helped us raise money for some worthy charities.
Regina Wamba made the cover for this book, and she rocked it as always. The Kindle Press team did a fantastic job putting the final polish on the book, and they were fantastic every step of the way. My beta readers Janett Gomez, Lisa Kuhne, Chelle Northcutt, Chantal Gemperle and Michelle Ericksen encouraged me throughout the writing process. My Inkslinger Publicist Jessica Estep helped with all things promotional.
The biggest thanks of all go to my Wattpad readers. You guys made this book happen. Thank you for b
elieving in me and for your incredible patience. Your love for Joss and Carson brought magic into my world.
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