“Well, no time like the present to slow down and smell a few roses. Don’t you think? What happened to the young lady you were seeing a while back? She came with you to one or two of the barbecues. The two of you seemed quite serious, and I thought for sure there’d be wedding bells in your future.”
Donovan leaned back, closed his eyes and frowned at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. Rolanda Evans had committed what he considered an unpardonable sin—she’d betrayed his trust in so many ways. In his mind, no trust equaled no relationship. “We broke up a long time ago.”
“Hmm, so you haven’t found someone else?”
“No, ma’am.” And he hadn’t been looking. He sincerely prayed this birth wouldn’t take long. Miss Ellie was worse than his mother. Since his mother lived far from LA, he could dodge her easily. Not so much with Terrence’s grandmother. However, now that his small circle of friends had all married, lately he was starting to feel like a fifth wheel.
“Ellie, quit badgering the boy,” Mr. Campbell said with a chuckle.
She shrugged. “He calls me Grandma, and that gives me privileges.”
Had he known Eleanor Campbell’s sweet offer to call her Grandma came with privileges, he would have refused it in a heartbeat and run in the opposite direction. Maybe it wasn’t too late to go back to Mrs. Campbell or Miss Ellie.
“One of the ladies in my yoga class mentioned that her great-niece had just moved to the city. I saw a picture, and she’s absolutely gorgeous. I think she’s around thirty—”
Donovan sat up abruptly, swung his legs around and jumped up. “Um, Miss Ellie...”
She laughed. “So, we’re back to Miss Ellie, huh? All right. I’ll leave you alone for now.” Miss Ellie pointed a finger his way. “But you need a wife.”
Before he could form a response, Terrence burst through the door.
“We have a baby girl,” Terrence announced with tears in his eyes. “A beautiful five-pound three-ounce baby girl.”
“Oh, my,” Miss Ellie cried.
“Congratulations, son.” Mr. Campbell engulfed Terrence in a bear hug.
“Congratulations, T,” Donovan added. “How are mom and baby?”
“Janae is understandably exhausted, but she’s good. They’re checking the baby now. Since she’s almost a month early, they want to be sure nothing is wrong. But my girl has a set of lungs already. I think she’s gonna sing with her daddy,” Terrence said proudly. “Let me get back. I’ll come get you guys in a little while.”
Forty-five minutes later, Terrence escorted the trio to Janae’s room. Donovan hung back to allow Terrence’s grandparents some time with their new great-granddaughter.
“Donovan, come meet your goddaughter,” Janae said.
He approached the bed, leaned down and placed a kiss on Janae’s cheek. “Congratulations, Mama. She’s a beauty. Thank goodness she takes after you and not Terrence,” he joked.
They all laughed, and Terrence said, “Don’t mess around and get your godfather card revoked in the first hour.”
Janae handed him the baby. “Say hello to Nadia Elise Campbell.”
Donovan gently cradled the tiny bundle against his chest. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
“Hey, Nadia. I’m your Uncle Donovan. You and I are going to have so much fun together.” He dug his cell out of his pocket and handed it to Terrence. “Get a shot of me with my little goddaughter. Oh, and take a couple extras. You know Mrs. Lewis will have my head if I show up Monday morning without pictures.” Mrs. Lewis was Terrence’s secretary, and the older woman loved Terrence like a son.
“No lie.” Terrence laughed, snapped a few pictures and handed the phone back.
Donovan pocketed the phone and adjusted the baby in his arms. She opened her eyes, stretched and then closed her eyes again. Emotions unlike anything he had ever felt engulfed him, and he couldn’t stop staring at the petite baby with a head full of dark curls framing her small face.
“You okay, D?” Terrence asked.
Donovan blinked back the tears clouding his vision, lifted his head and met Terrence’s scrutinizing gaze. “Yeah, man.” He transferred Nadia to her father.
“We’ve known each other a long time, and I know something’s up. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed it,” he whispered.
Donovan ignored the comment. “Does Karen know Nadia came a little early?”
Terrence raised a brow, but didn’t press. “No. She and Damian are finally taking their honeymoon cruise.” Karen was Janae’s best friend. She’d gotten married several months earlier, but due to her job as an elementary school principal they’d postponed the honeymoon until after the school year ended.
Donovan took a quick peek at his watch. “It’s after eleven o’clock. I need to get out of here. I have an early morning telephone conference.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Fine. You just concentrate on your family. We’ll take care of the office.”
“I know. Thanks, man. I’ll call you.”
Donovan said his goodbyes, trekked back to the elevator and rode the four floors down. He rounded the corner and crossed the lobby, noting that the front desk was now empty. As he reached the entrance, he saw a sign indicating he would have to exit through Emergency. Changing directions, he shoved his hands in his pockets and started toward the other exit.
His mind went back to his goddaughter. He hadn’t expected the riot of emotions that swirled in his gut when he held Nadia. As hard as he tried to keep the distant memories from surfacing, they came anyway. He inhaled deeply and forced them down. Out of the corner of his eye, movement caught his attention, interrupting his thoughts. Then he heard a woman’s startled cry. Donovan took off at a dead run.
He caught the falling woman around the waist with one arm and helped the other person steady the tumbling coffee cart with his free hand. He registered the searing pain as his arm snagged the edge of the cart, and hot coffee spilled over his forearm.
“Oh, my goodness! I’m so sorry.” The young woman pushing the cart snatched up the remaining carafes, trying to keep them from falling to the floor with the other two.
Donovan jerked his arm back and grimaced. “It’s okay.”
She rushed off and pushed through the door into what he assumed was the ladies’ room.
He turned to the woman in his embrace. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, but her trembling body told a different story. He instinctively pulled her closer. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.” She released a deep sigh and moved closer, burying her head in his chest. The way she clung to him stirred something deep inside him. I was just keeping her from being knocked down, he quickly told himself.
“I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going,” she finally said.
Adrenaline still pumped through his veins, his heart hadn’t returned to a normal pace and the pain in his arm was increasing. Yet none of it erased the strange feelings evoked by holding this woman in his arms.
Pushing them aside, he rationalized that they were probably due to the excitement of the evening—the birth of his first godchild—and pure exhaustion.
Nothing more.
Chapter 2
Simona tried to steady her emotions. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t even heard the cart approaching. The collision had nearly given her a heart attack. Slowly she wrapped her arms around the man’s waist. “Thank...thank you.”
He tightened his arms around her and caressed her back. “Anytime. Are you sure you’re okay?”
Her heart continued to race from being scared out of her wits and, even more alarming, from the overwhelming sense of security she gained from being in her rescuer’s arms.
She heard footsteps behind them and glanced around his shoulder to see the volunteer returning
with a wad of paper towels and one of the hospital’s security officers close behind.
“Ms. Andrews, are you okay?” the security guard asked, narrowing his gaze at the man holding Simona.
She lifted her head and stepped out of the man’s embrace, rubbing her hip where the cart had hit her. “Yes. Thanks to him.” She glanced up to find her rescuer watching her intently, concern etched in his features. She immediately moved her hand away from her hip.
“What happened?”
Tearing her gaze away from his intense stare, she turned toward the guard. “Um...just a little accident. I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the cart.” Simona glanced down at the hospital volunteer trying to mop up the mess. “Maybe you should call maintenance to clean that up.”
“Yeah, probably,” the woman mumbled, clearly embarrassed.
The guard asked, “Are you hurt?”
Simona shook her head. “I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? There’s blood on your top.”
She looked down at her top, held it out and frowned. “I don’t know how...” She shifted her gaze to the man standing next to her. “Oh, my goodness! You’re bleeding.”
He tried to wave her off, but she moved in front of him, lifted his arm and examined the wound below his rolled-up shirtsleeve, which was stained with coffee. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You’ve got a nasty cut and a burn. I need to get you inside to emergency.”
“Really. It’s just a little cut,” he protested, withdrawing his arm. “Nothing that requires a three-hour wait in emergency.”
Simona reached for his uninjured arm and pulled him in the direction of the emergency room, leaving the guard to deal with the cleanup.
As soon as they got to the entrance, his steps slowed. “You’re wearing scrubs. Are you a doctor?”
“No. An emergency room nurse.” She led him past a half-full waiting room to the back.
“Simona, what are you still doing here? I thought you were off,” a nurse said as they entered a treatment room.
“I am. Is there a doctor available? I think he’s going to need stitches.” Simona usually assisted the doctor with the minor procedure, but with the way her hands were shaking she’d probably do more harm than good.
“I’ll go find somebody.” The woman hurried off.
“Have a seat, and let’s see if I can get this bleeding to stop. Then I’ll clean it up and put something on this burn.”
He sat on the examination table. “I still don’t think you need to go through all this trouble.” He caught her hand as she took a step. “I’m more concerned about you. Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe we should have the doctor check you out. After all, you did almost lose your life to a coffee cart, and I noticed you rubbing your hip.”
She gasped softly. His gentle touch and soothing, deep voice sent a wave of heat through her body. Simona lifted her head and couldn’t stop staring at him. In the hall, she had been too distracted to focus on his features, but he was easily the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. His clean-shaven walnut-colored face, close-cropped hair and light brown eyes nearly took her breath away, tempting her to reach up and run her hands across the smooth, defined planes. She shook off the dangerous thought, reminding herself to behave like a professional. “Really, I’m fine, Mister...um...I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
He held her eyes intently. “Donovan. Donovan Wright. And you?”
“Simona Andrews.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Simona.”
Her name flowed from his lips like a gentle caress, and her pulse skipped when his mouth inched up in a sexy smile, revealing a dimple in his left cheek. Focus, Simona! “I’m so sorry you got hurt, and...and look at your shirt. It’s ruined. I’ll replace it.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He lifted his arm at the same time as she reached for his sleeve and their hands touched again, inflaming her senses once more. She withdrew quickly, turned and grabbed a pair of gloves from the box on the wall. The gloves might protect her from any potential diseases, but not from the awareness flowing between her and this man.
She inspected the burn. There was redness and swelling. Simona noticed the bleeding had slowed from the cut, but handed him some gauze to apply pressure to the wound and put an ice pack on the burn. She pulled the computer stand over to take a medical history. He was thirty-five years old, six feet two inches tall, and weighed one eighty-five. Recalling his agility and strength when he kept her from falling, and how his hard body felt pressed against hers, she could add that he was in excellent shape.
The doctor arrived shortly after, donned a pair of gloves and introduced himself as Dr. Cortez. “Mr. Wright, can you please remove your arm from the sleeve?” He examined the cut and determined that Donovan’s wound required stitches. Then he checked the burn. “I don’t think the burn is going to blister.”
Simona stood transfixed by the sculpted muscles in Donovan’s arm and chest. Their eyes met, and he smiled knowingly. Simona turned away and busied herself with assisting the doctor.
“What are you still doing here, Ms. Andrews?” Dr. Cortez asked as he applied a local anesthetic.
She told him what happened in the hallway.
“Were you hurt?”
“No. I’m fine, thanks to Mr. Wright.”
“Mr. Wright, I’m very grateful you were here.”
“So am I,” Mr. Wright murmured, angling his head her way.
Pretending to be busy, she refused to meet his gaze directly.
Gathering his supplies, Dr. Cortez worked quickly. Once the wound was closed and covered with a large gauze bandage, the doctor applied an ointment to the burn then stripped off his gloves. “You’ll need to keep that dry for the next forty-eight hours and have the stitches removed in ten days. I’ll give you a prescription for the ointment. Apply it three times a day. When was your last tetanus shot?”
“I don’t remember. It’s been a while.”
“More than ten years?” When Donovan nodded, he said, “You’ll need to get one. I’ll call one of the nurses to take care of it.”
“I’ll do it,” Simona said.
The doctor nodded. “Mr. Wright, thank you again. Consider your bill paid in full.”
“Thanks, Dr. Cortez.”
After the doctor left, they stared at each other in silence. Simona was so busy gawking that it took her a moment to remember she was supposed to be giving him a tetanus shot. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
As soon as she stepped out of the room, two nurses rushed over and asked about what happened. Apparently news traveled fast. After recounting the story two more times, she said, “I really need to get back to my patient.”
Before returning, she ducked into an empty room. Knowing she had only a minute, she pulled out her cell and dialed. “Hey, Eve.”
“Hi, Simona. What’s up? I thought you were getting off at eleven.”
“I was. I can’t go into it right now, but I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
“No problem. I’m just sitting here working on my essay. Are you okay?”
Simona blew out a long breath. “Yeah. How is she?”
“Sleeping peacefully. Everything is fine.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Eve. I’ll see you later.”
“Okay.”
Simona didn’t know how she would have managed over the past four weeks without her neighbor’s help. She didn’t easily trust, but Eve Thompson, with her direct speech and compassionate heart, had won Simona over almost immediately.
She disconnected, put the phone in her pocket and retraced her steps to where Donovan waited, stopping first at the cabinet where medications were stored and reminding herself to remain professional.
> * * *
Donovan sat on the examination table thinking about Simona. Earlier, his concern had been for her safety. Now, in the light and with the threat removed, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was stunning. Braids swept up into a ponytail that gave him an unobstructed view of her coffee-with-cream complexion, wide dark brown eyes and bow-shaped lips, perfect for kissing.
He shook his head. Damn, I must be tired. No, if he were honest, fatigue had nothing to do with it. He was attracted to his nurse, plain and simple. He lifted his left arm, studied the dressing and shook his head. Donovan looked up when Simona entered the room with a syringe and sheet of paper on a tray.
She handed him the paper. “Here’s the prescription for the ointment.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s really late, so let’s finish up and get you out of here,” Simona said. “Which arm would you prefer? You might have some pain and stiffness for a couple of days, as well as some redness or swelling.”
“May as well do it in the left. No sense in having both arms messed up,” he said wryly.
Soft laughter escaped her lips.
The warm sound filled the room, and the shy smile curving her mouth did something to his insides. Despite her flustered state earlier, she was now poised and in control.
She swabbed the area with alcohol and injected him. “Okay. All done. You can put your shirt back on. Do you need some help?”
“Nah, I’m fine.” He carefully maneuvered his arm through the sleeve and buttoned the shirt. Coffee stained the left sleeve and down the front.
“So...um...you’re free to leave now,” she said, depositing the needle in a container affixed to the wall and removing her gloves.
“Aren’t you off?”
She turned back to face him. “Yes.”
He slid from the table. “Then, come on. I’ll walk you to your car.”
“You don’t have to do that. I’m sure the security guards are waiting to walk me out.”
A man rushed into the room before Donovan could reply. A doctor, he guessed, judging by the white coat and stethoscope hanging around his neck.
It's Only You Page 2