‘I was wrong,’ she whispered. ‘I love you, too, Joe.’
‘Like “in love” kind of love?’
‘Exactly like “in love” kind of love.’
For a long, long moment they were silent then. Simply holding each other’s gaze. Sinking into the moment of realisation that this was real. That they both felt the same way about each other. Joe leaned towards Maggie but it wasn’t to kiss her. He leaned his forehead against hers in a gentle touch that made it feel as if their thoughts were mingling and it felt closer—more intimate—than any purely physical touch.
It was Joe who broke that astonishingly intense silence.
‘Are you sure?’ he asked very quietly. ‘I mean, you said you’d know if you were ever going to feel like that about someone. That you’d know within the first few minutes of meeting someone.’
‘I did say that,’ Maggie admitted. ‘And I believed it. I thought falling in love was exactly that. Like tripping over something and falling fast. I didn’t believe that it could happen slowly. Like a long slide.’
‘But...when you knew...that was like falling, wasn’t it?’ Joe lifted his head. A smile was tugging at one corner of his mouth. ‘That’s how it felt to me. Like I was falling. Or maybe flying... Terrifying but...the most exciting thing ever, too.’
‘I felt like my heart was being torn into little pieces. Because it was only when I thought I’d lost you that I realised what I was really losing. You were so angry with me, I thought I’d lost you for ever.’
‘It was the same for me. When you stopped breathing and I couldn’t breathe and I could see how dark the world would be for me if you weren’t in it any more.’
‘I told myself it was just pregnancy hormones and it would wear off,’ Maggie said. ‘But it’s not wearing off and I don’t think it ever will. I think it was there all along and I was just too blind to see it.’
Joe’s smile was poignant. ‘We couldn’t see it because we were so convinced we were completely wrong for each other.’
‘Maybe it was there right from the start.’ Maggie was smiling, too. ‘I think I fell in “like” with you that very first day we worked together. When we knocked over that bottle of chilli sauce.’
‘And I fell in “lust” with you because talking about making a baby made me see you in a totally different way.’
Maggie laughed. ‘And everybody should know that mixing “like” and “lust” is the recipe for falling in love, right? Basic chemistry.’
‘So...’ The glint in Joe’s eyes told Maggie that she was about to get kissed very thoroughly and there was a tenderness in that gaze that made her catch her breath. ‘Is this it? The “real thing”?’
‘Oh, yes...’ Maggie had to blink back tears of sheer joy that sprang into her eyes. ‘This is most definitely the “real thing”. And I know because...’
‘Because you’re a sage-femme.’ Joe’s smile had become a grin. ‘A wise woman.’
‘Don’t ever forget that.’ Maggie grinned back up at Joe. ‘Now, stop talking. Start kissing...’
EPILOGUE
‘STOP TALKING... Oh, my God... I can’t believe I let myself get into this. Never again. Never ever again...’
‘You’re almost there, babe. One more push...’
Maggie dragged in the biggest breath she could as she felt another contraction begin and then screwed her eyes tightly shut as she began pushing. She could do this. Joe had her back.
Literally. He was on the bed with her, supporting her back with his body, holding tight to both her hands. It felt like they were both taking part in bringing their baby into the world. And, a matter of minutes later, there she was.
Their daughter.
Skin to skin with her mother as Maggie cradled her against her breasts. Blinking dark, dark eyes at her father as he reached out with a single, gentle finger to touch the whorls of dark hair on her head.
‘Welcome to the world, sweetheart,’ he whispered. ‘You have no idea how happy your mummy and daddy are to finally meet you.’
Joe’s voice was thick with emotion. Maggie had tears on her cheeks. They were barely aware of the activity of their obstetrician and midwife, who left as soon as they could to give this new little family time together to bond.
‘Isn’t she perfect?’
‘The most perfect baby in the world.’
‘Of course she is. Oh...look. She’s looking for food already.’
‘Takes after her dad.’ Joe grinned.
Maggie adjusted the position of the baby and helped her latch onto her breast. ‘I think you’re right. She’s got dark hair. And her eyes look almost black.’
‘That can all change. She might end up being as blue-eyed and blonde-haired and as gorgeous as her mum.’
Maggie’s smile was misty. ‘All parents think their baby is the most perfect in the world but I happen to know that our daughter is.’
‘And Fizz and Cooper think their little Harley is.’
‘He can be the most perfect boy. For now, anyway.’
‘Until we have a son, you mean?’ Joe’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Didn’t I hear you say “never ever again” not so long ago?’
‘Did I?’ Maggie shook her head. ‘I don’t remember that.’
‘We need more photos.’ Joe reached for his phone. ‘Oh, I forgot. Fizz and Cooper are hanging out in Emergency and told me to text when we were ready for a quick visit. Are we ready—to let the world in again?’
‘We’ll have to soon. The grandparents are on their way into town and this little one has an appointment with the paediatrician to get checked. Yes...tell the gang that they’re welcome to pop in.’
Laura arrived with Cooper and Fizz, who had three-month-old baby Harley snug against her chest in a sling.
‘I can only stay for a second,’ Laura said. ‘Harry’s school called and I need to go and pick him up. He’s been sick. Again... Oh...’ Her face creased as she looked at the sleeping baby in Joe’s arms. ‘She’s adorable. Have you decided on her name?’
‘Not yet.’
‘We can help,’ Fizz offered. ‘We’re good at names.’
Maggie grinned. ‘Says the woman who named her son after my motorbike.’
‘I have to run.’ Laura leaned over the bed to give Maggie a hug. ‘You’re looking amazing. Congratulations. Life will never be the same but it will be so much better...’
‘This is true.’ Fizz nodded. ‘You’re going to love your maternity leave.’
‘I think most of it will be spent finishing our project of knocking the extra walls out in the house.’
‘Give me a shout when you need any help.’ Laura was on her way to the door.
‘Thanks, Laura. I hope Harry’s okay.’
‘I’m taking him straight to the doctor. I might even bring him in here and get Tom to have a look.’
‘Good idea,’ Joe agreed. ‘I’d trust Tom to check out my kid any day.’
Cooper shook his head as Laura slipped out of the room. ‘You can’t keep calling her “my kid”, you know. She needs a name.’
‘You could go all celebrity and name her after a piece of fruit?’ Fizz suggested. ‘Apricot, maybe? Or Plum?’
‘No, no...’ Cooper was grinning broadly. ‘What about one of those philosophical ones that were on our shortlist? Journey? Or Travel.’
The rumble of laughter in the room was enough to make the baby stir in her father’s arms. Joe caught Maggie’s gaze.
‘Bella’s top of my list,’ he said quietly.
‘She is beautiful,’ Maggie agreed. ‘I think that’s the one, Joe.’
‘Hang on,’ Cooper said. ‘We haven’t tried other motorbike names yet. What about Suzuki? Or Yamaha?’ He put his arm around his wife. ‘You know, we might have been a bit selfish to use Harley, don’t you think? It was Maggie’s bike, after all.’
‘Not any more,’ Maggie reminded them. ‘I’ve got a nice, much safer little car now.’
‘But you loved that bike,’ Fizz said. ‘Won’t you miss it?’
A squeak from Bella prompted Joe to nestle her back into Maggie’s arms.
‘I think she’s hungry again.’
He was being so gentle in moving the baby. Maggie could feel the love in that touch when his hands were between their newborn’s soft skin and her own skin. For that moment they were all connected by a physical touch. And more...as Maggie caught and held Joe’s gaze for a heartbeat and then another, she could feel how much love he had to give. To her. To their firstborn. To their future.
The question Fizz had asked was still hanging in the air. Would she miss her beloved motorbike?
‘I’m not going to miss it,’ she told Fizz. ‘Not a bit.’
Because safety had just become a whole lot more important to Maggie. She had so much to live for now. So much love to give back.
For Joe.
For Bella.
For her family...
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Alison Roberts
Resisting Her Rescue Doc
Twins on Her Doorstep
Rescued by Her Mr. Right
The Shy Nurse’s Rebel Doc
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Surgeon’s Surprise Baby by Tina Beckett.
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The Surgeon’s Surprise Baby
by Tina Beckett
PROLOGUE
“WELL, I’M NO longer your boss.”
Luca Venezio stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. No longer his boss? Was that all she had to say to him? The obvious relief in her voice told him that she’d been anxious to wield that particular ax. Only she’d just done it in a room full of his colleagues, who had suffered a similar fate. He’d stayed behind after the others had all filed out dejectedly.
She was perched on her desk, looking just as gorgeous as she had a year ago, when he’d first stepped into her neurology department. It had taken him a while, but he’d finally convinced her to look past her reservations about engaging in a workplace relationship and see what they could be like together.
And it had been good. So very good.
He took a step closer. “Is that all you have to say to me, Elyse?”
Her head tilted as if she truly couldn’t understand what the problem was. Was this an American thing that he hadn’t yet grasped? Just when he thought he was understanding this culture, the woman in front of him threw something into the mix that had him reeling.
Italy was suddenly beckoning him home. But he wasn’t leaving without a fight.
She slid from her desk and stood in front of him. “Don’t you see? This could be a good thing.”
No. He didn’t see it. No matter how he looked at it.
She drove him insane. With want. With need. And now was no different.
“Do you want me gone, is that it?”
She took his hands in hers, before her hands slid up his forearms. “Are we talking about from the hospital? Or from my life?”
It was one and the same to Luca. It felt like they’d been trapped in a game of tug-of-war ever since their first date. The harder he pulled her toward him, the more she seemed to resist letting him get close to her, and he didn’t understand why. They were in a relationship, only nothing was easy. Except the sex.
And that had been mind-blowing. Maybe part of that was the uncertainty of it all. Maybe it had lent an air of desperation to their lovemaking.
Her green eyes stared into his, and the crazy thing was, he could swear he saw a hint of lust in there, even though she’d just fired him. Had she gotten off on delivering that death blow to all those people?
No. That wasn’t the Elyse he’d known these past few months.
“What is it you want from me, Elyse?”
“Don’t you know?”
He didn’t. Not at all, but he was tired of playing guessing games with her. He cupped her face, trying to make sense of it all, but the swirling in his head gave him no time to think. No time to ask any questions. Instead, the refuge they’d sought after each fight opened its door and whispered in his ear, promising it would all be okay.
He no longer believed it. But his blood was stirring in his veins, sending waves of heat through him. Even as her lips tilted up, telling him what she wanted, he was already there, the kiss scorching hot, just as it always was. His tongue met hers, his hands going under her ass and sitting her back on her desk. The sound of her shoes hitting the floor one at a time and her hands going to his waist and tugging him forward between her legs answered his earlier question about what she wanted.
Hell. There was no question as to that. Grazie a Dio he’d locked the door behind him, thinking that what he’d had to say to her he wanted said in private. Right now, though, the last thing he wanted to do was talk.
And he was so hot. So ready. Just as he always was for her.
The desk was wide, the middle bare of anything.
Made for sex.
He grabbed hold of her wrists and tugged her hands away so that he could take a step back to unzip.
The sight of Elyse licking her lips was his undoing.
He came back to her, reaching under her skirt to yank her boy shorts down, tossing them away. Then he eased her down until her back was flat against her desk, her breasts jutting upward, the outline of her nipples plainly visible beneath the thin white blouse.
“Do you want me?” His hands palmed the smooth skin of her hips and tugged her to the very edge of the desk.
She bit her lip, her legs twining around his until he was pressed tight against her, his hard flesh finding a wet heat that destroyed any hopes of prolonging this. He drove home, her sharp cry ending on a moan, her hips moving as if to seat him even deeper.
“Dio, Elyse...” His eyes closed, trying to grasp at any shred of control and finding nothing there.
His thumb moved from her hip to her center, hoping to help things along, but the second he touched her, she exploded around him, her gasped “Yes,” sending him over the edge. Bracing his hands on the desk, he plunged home again and again, his body spasming so hard his vision went white for a brief instant. Still he thrust, unwilling for the moment to end.
Because that’s exactly what it would do. What it needed to do.
His movements slowed, reality slowly filtering back in.
Hell. As go
od as this was, it had solved nothing.
Nothing.
The job had been the thing that had held him there, made him keep trying, even as she burned hot and then cold.
But now she’d killed the job. And in doing that, the relationship. What they said about goodbye sex was evidently true.
He didn’t try to kiss her, just moved away, zipping himself back in, even as she sat up on the desk.
“What’s wrong?”
Was she really asking him that? Everything was wrong. But he was about to make it right.
“Did you put my name on that list of people to be fired?”
She frowned, coming off the desk, retrieving her undergarment, turning away from him as she slid them over her legs. She didn’t answer as, with her back still turned, she pushed her feet into her shoes, black high-heeled pumps that he had always found so sexy.
By the time she finally turned around, his last shred of patience had disappeared and he no longer needed a response. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’ve been pushing me away ever since I got here, so I’m finally giving you your wish. I’m leaving. Going back to Italy. You actually did me a favor in firing me, so thank you.”
He put a hand on the doorknob, half thinking she would call his name and tell him it was all a big mistake. Tell him that she didn’t want him to go. He tensed, knowing that even if she did he was no longer willing to go on as they had been. Maybe he’d revisit that decision in a week...in a month. But right now, he needed time to think things through.
Except there was no sound from behind him as he opened the door. As he stepped through it. As he closed it.
Maybe that was all the thinking he needed to do.
So he started walking. And kept on walking until he was away from the hospital and on his way out of her life.
Copyright © 2019 by Tina Beckett
ISBN-13: 9781488048029
Pregnant with Her Best Friend’s Baby
Copyright © 2019 by Alison Roberts
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
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