The Doctor’s Baby

by Cindy Kirk

  “That’s wonderful.” July wondered what it would be like to have such a mother.

  “Enough about me and my family.” David rested his arm on the back of her seat. “Tell me about yourself. Did you work during high school?”

  “I’ve been working since I was fifteen to help out at home.”

  A look of concern crossed his face. “I take it your parents were struggling?”

  “My dad wasn’t in the picture. My mother is—was—a drug addict. I’m not sure where she is.” While his mother sounded wonderful, hers could have been the poster child for the need for sterilization. “I was in and out of the house more times than I could count, but they always gave me back to her.”

  “They?”

  “The courts. Judges willing to give her one more chance. Social workers who believed a child belonged with its biological mother.” July couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.

  “Still, she must have loved you.”

  “She loved the money she got from the state,” July said, with a humorless laugh. “Otherwise I was an inconvenience, something that got in the way of her fun.”

  “Her loss.” His arm dropped to her shoulder and he pulled her close. “Is that why you left Chicago? To get away from the memories?”

  “The city is more than big enough for both of us. Like I said, I haven’t seen her in years.” July spoke matter-of-factly. For most people not seeing their mother, not knowing whether she was alive or dead, would have been distressing. July knew it was for the best. “I left Chicago because I lost my job and needed work.”

  “What happened?”

  “I was ‘reduced in force.’” July shrugged. “It wasn’t anything personal.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t,” David said. “I’ve seen what you can do with a camera. You’ve got a discerning eye, a talent for seeing what most people miss.”

  July pulled the compliment close and wrapped it around her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re doing a fabulous job with Adam. Seeing the two of you together, it’s apparent that you’re going to be a great mom.”

  “You’re certainly free and easy with the compliments this evening.” She turned to face him, bringing her lips only inches from his mouth. “I like it.”

  “I like you,” he said in a deep sexy voice that made her bones melt. “And I want to kiss you again. If that’s okay.”

  July slipped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his, letting that be her answer.

  A surge of heat shot through David at the taste of her sweet lips. He’d told himself since that day in the Elk Refuge to take it slow. But under the star-filled Wyoming sky with the scent of her perfume teasing his nostrils, slow was no longer in his vocabulary.

  He tightened his arms around her, pulling her close, reveling in the feel of her soft curves against him. Just like that night in Chicago he wanted to kiss and touch and make love to her. And then he wanted to do it all over again.

  She opened her mouth to his tongue and he plunged inside, his need for her surging to a fever pitch. With his mouth still mated with hers, he slipped his hand beneath the jacket he’d given her, searching for the zipper at the back of her dress. At last he found it and he eased it down with fingers shaking with need. She squirmed in his arms, but instead of protesting she moaned, a low sound filled with want and need.

  When the zipper was all the way down, the dress fell forward exposing her full breasts to the crisp night air. Her nipples immediately puckered, the areolas darker than he remembered, the breasts larger.

  Moonlight reflected off their creamy whiteness. He sat back and held her at arm’s length. “You are so beautiful.”

  Her eyes glittered like emeralds in the dim light. “I bet you say that to all the half-naked women you see on the golf course.”

  David cupped her face with his hands and softly kissed her lips. “Only you.”

  Then with as much gentleness as he could manage with fire scorching his veins, he pushed her back against the seat, planting open-mouthed kisses down her neck while his hands caressed the soft curves. He rolled a nipple between his fingers and she jerked up.

  David let his hands drop, remembering too late the need to be extra gentle. “Did I hurt you?”

  “Only in a good way.” July grabbed his hands and placed them back on her chest. “My nipples are just hypersensitive. But your touch feels good.”

  “I aim to please.” He kissed her quickly before his mouth resumed its downward descent. July continued to squirm and moan out encouragements, her hand behind his head, holding him to her.

  He slid his hand under her dress…

  She gasped and pushed him back.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Someone is coming.”

  He curved his fingers around her breast. “There’s no one around for miles.”

  She twisted in the seat and pointed with one hand. “Then what’s that?”

  He glanced in the direction and stifled a curse. Less than a thousand yards away—and fast approaching—was a golf cart with its lights on.

  “Who do you think it is?” July hissed, straightening in her seat and jerking the dress up over her breasts.

  “Course security would be my guess.” David kept his voice calm and steady, which wasn’t easy with his body on high alert and his desire screaming for release.

  The words had barely left his mouth when the cart pulled up alongside them. David recognized the man immediately. Ron Evans had worked at the course since it was first built. He was also a good friend of David’s parents. Great. Just great.

  David forced a welcoming smile. “Good evening, Ron. What brings you out on the course at this time of night?”

  “I was just about to ask you the same question.” The burly man’s gaze shifted from David to July.

  “July is staying with my sister Mary Karen while she’s in town.” David performed a quick introduction. “Neither of us were interested in watching the fashion show so I offered to give her a quick tour of the course.”

  “Well, welcome to Jackson.” Ron smiled at July then fixed his gaze on David. “Next time let someone know you’re taking a cart out.”

  “Will do,” David said.

  They talked for several minutes about the fundraiser before Ron glanced at his watch. “I better get back. I’ll leave you two to go back to…admiring the stars.”

  The small smile hovering at the edges of the man’s lips told David he hadn’t fooled Ron at all. The man knew exactly what they’d been doing before he arrived. Or, if not exactly, then close enough.

  “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Evans,” July said.

  “You too, miss.” The warmth in Ron’s tone took David by surprise. He’d always seemed cool around Celeste. Of course, he hadn’t really had the opportunity to know her.

  “Ron,” David said when the man turned to go. This wasn’t really the time to speak of it, but their paths rarely crossed. He didn’t want another month to go by without saying what he’d meant to say that day. “I didn’t get a chance to speak with you at Tim’s funeral, but I hope you know how sorry I am for your loss. Tim was a great guy. I know he would have approved of the organ donations.”

  “Tim loved people.” The older man’s voice grew thick. “He would have wanted his death to mean something.”

  The older man shifted his gaze briefly to July and nodded. Then, without another word, he hit the accelerator and in seconds he was out of sight.

  “What happened to his son?” July spoke in a hushed tone though Ron was no longer in earshot.

  “The day Adam was born, Tim died in a motorcycle accident.” David exhaled a breath. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to one day have a son…and the next day not.”

  July’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t even want to think what that would be like.”

  It was amazing, he thought, that despite a horrible role model, she’d turned out to be a woman who could shed tears over a man she’d
never met.

  They sat in silence for several more seconds. Then David leaned over and zipped up her dress.

  July shifted her gaze from the darkness to his face. “We better get back.”

  “I need to do just one thing first.”

  Her brows pulled together. “What?”

  “This.” He kissed her firmly on the lips, fighting the urge to linger. Instead, he turned the cart in the direction of the clubhouse and hit the accelerator.

  The fashion show was coming to a close when they reached the foyer. July sent David back to the table while she made a detour into the rest room. He’d wanted to wait but she insisted he go back to his seat without her.

  Thankfully the ladies lounge was empty. July touched up her makeup then turned her attention to her hair. The cute little updo Mary Karen had done was now an up-and-mostly-down do.

  July grimaced and pulled the pins from her hair. She fluffed the tangled strands with her fingers then stared into the mirror with a critical eye. Definitely more casual but at least she didn’t look as if she’d been rolling around the backseat of her boyfriend’s car on prom night.

  Boyfriend.

  What would it be like to have David as a boyfriend? For a moment she let herself imagine all the fun they’d have, all the places they could go, all the—

  The door swung open. “I thought I’d find you hiding out in here.”

  July smiled. “Mary Karen, it’s not called hiding out. It’s called ‘freshening up.’ David showed me around the golf course and it was a bit humid.”

  “Humid?” Mary Karen’s disbelieving look made July smile.

  “How was the fashion show?” she asked before Mary Karen could come up with any more questions.

  “Fabulous,” Mary Karen gushed with unexpected enthusiasm. “Lots of beautiful outfits.”

  “I’m sorry I missed it,” July said.

  “No, you’re not.” The blonde laughed. “You’d much rather have been ‘surveying’ the golf course with my brother.”

  “Perhaps.” July tried to play coy, but her smile gave her away.

  “No ‘perhaps’ about it,” Mary Karen teased. “The hickey on your neck is a dead giveaway.”

  “Hickey?” July gasped and leaned toward the mirror, scanning her neck and upper chest region for a red blotch. After several seconds she straightened. “I do not—”

  She turned to find Mary Karen chuckling.

  “You may not have one,” Mary Karen said. “But that response tells me you very easily could have had one.”

  July opened her mouth to deny it, but instead just smiled. “David asked me to come over to his house tonight…after he takes Rachel home.”

  Mary Karen’s eyes widened for a second then her gaze turned assessing. “What did you say?”

  “I have Adam.”

  “I can get up with the baby.” Mary Karen’s blue eyes—so like her brother’s—fixed on July. “If that’s your concern.”

  “I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  “Who are we talking about?” Mary Karen asked. “You? Him?”

  July expelled a heavy sigh. “Both.”

  “Because he doesn’t want a relationship and you do? Or because you don’t want a relationship and he does?”

  “It’s nothing that heavy.” July couldn’t hide her surprise. “We’re just trying to be…friends. That’s all.”

  Mary Karen didn’t even blink. “Then what’s the issue?”

  July’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re right. You sure you don’t mind watching Adam?”

  Mary Karen smiled. “It’s the least I can do for your friendship with my brother.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  David was surprised when Mary Karen and July said they wanted to stay for the dance. But the big shocker came when Rachel made no mention of leaving when the band took the stage. Apparently she was up for dancing, too.

  Two hours later, after he’d paid for his silent auction items and danced numerous times with not only Rachel, but July and Mary Karen, as well, the women were finally ready to head home.

  “I’m glad I stayed.” Rachel leaned her head back against the seat of his Suburban.

  “It was fun.” David smiled, realizing he meant it. “I hadn’t heard some of those songs since high school.”

  “Your sister seemed to be having a good time.” Rachel slanted a sideways glance. “She and Dr. Fisher make a nice couple.”

  “They’re not a couple,” David said, though he had to agree the two looked as if they belonged together out on the dance floor.

  “I realize they’re not dating.” Rachel’s lips curved into a slight smile. “But that doesn’t negate the chemistry between them. They definitely have it. You and July have it, too.”

  “July and I—”

  “You don’t need to deny it.” Rachel reached over and touched his arm. “You were the perfect escort tonight and I had a wonderful evening. But when you look at July—and when she looks at you—well, it reminds me of when my husband was alive. I’m happy for you.”

  “July and I aren’t dating.” Even as he protested, David thought of all the time they’d spent together recently. If that wasn’t dating, he didn’t know what you’d call it.

  “It’s okay to take a chance.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m saying someone special doesn’t come around very often in life,” Rachel said. “When they do, it’s worth taking a chance.”

  July barely had time to throw a few essentials into an oversize purse and change into something more comfortable when David called to say he’d dropped off Rachel.

  “I’ll meet you at your place,” she said, her voice surprisingly composed. “Mary Karen offered to watch Adam.”

  “I’ll come get you,” he said. “And I can take you home tomorrow. I don’t go in until three.”

  “It’s no problem for me to drive. I—”

  “Let me pick you up,” he said in a deep voice that sent sparks of excitement shooting up her spine. “Please.”

  At that moment she found it difficult to deny him anything. “I’ll be waiting on the porch.”

  Less than five minutes later his Suburban pulled into the driveway. Hitching her now heavy bag over her shoulder, July strolled to the truck, anticipation waging a war with fear. Was four weeks post-baby too soon to be intimate? Had the passion in Chicago been a fluke?

  But when David rounded the truck and grabbed her bag, then took her hand to help her into the truck, the jolt of electricity she experienced at the simple touch told her she had nothing to worry about.

  She settled into her seat, trying to act nonchalant. The trouble was she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

  David handed July her bag. “I see you changed.”

  July had traded Mary Karen’s cocktail dress for a simple cotton one. “I’m afraid I was in such a hurry, I forgot my panties.” She lifted one shoulder and gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’m sure it will work out.”

  The impish gleam in her eyes told him the omission had been deliberate.

  “That’s too bad,” he drawled, thinking it wasn’t too bad at all.

  The few blocks to his house were the longest in David’s life. By the time he pulled into his garage his desire for her had surged to a fever pitch.

  Take it slow, he told himself as they walked inside. Take it slow, he repeated as he showed her around the house. Take it slow, take it slow, take it slow, he told himself when she paused and lingered in the doorway to his bedroom.

  She gestured with one hand to the four-poster. “Is that as soft as it looks?”

  “It’s very comforta—” David stopped when he realized she wasn’t listening.

  Instead she made a beeline for the bed, kicking off her shoes along the way. When she reached it, she sat on the edge then flopped back onto the down comforter with a happy noise. “It is soft. I love it.”

  He followed her route across the room, discarding his own shoes and jacket.
Taking a place beside her, he was acutely aware that there were no panties underneath her thin dress. All he’d need to do was push the cotton fabric up a little higher and…

  Resisting the urge to roll over and bury himself inside her sweet flesh, he took her hand instead, reminding himself once again of the need to take.it.slow.

  She exhaled a sigh, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” he said.

  “I had a really good time tonight.”

  “You sound surprised.”

  “I didn’t know what to expect.” Her eyes remained focused on the ceiling. “But I enjoyed talking to everyone and dancing and—”

  “Don’t forget the moonlight golf cart ride.”

  She turned to face him, propping herself up on one elbow. The floral scent of her perfume teased his nostril. “Forget that? Never. It was my favorite part of the evening.”

  He rolled to face her. The back of his house looked out over the Elk Refuge. With the wood blinds open, the moonlight streaming through the window bathed her face in a golden glow.

  “The fact that you came to see if I was okay meant so much to me,” July continued. “I liked the talking, too.”

  Talking? She liked the talking?

  She laughed softly as if she’d read his mind. Her hands moved to unknot his tie. “But talking isn’t why I’m here.”

  The tie soon flew over his head and her fingers moved to the shirt buttons. Before she could get a single one open, his hands closed over hers.

  “I didn’t ask you over tonight just for sex.”

  “Really?” She lifted a brow and that gleam was back in her eyes. “Because that’s why I’m here.”

  David couldn’t help but laugh. With July he was learning to expect the unexpected.

  “Okay, so maybe that was part of it, is part of it. But I wanted to spend time with you, too. Just you. It seems like someone is always around.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I like it when it’s the two of us.”