Playing for Keeps

by Shiloh Walker

  The world spun around her as he pushed away from the wall, supporting her weight with his hands and body as he took her to the ground. Levering up on his knees, he cupped her ass in his hands and lifted her as he did just that—fucking his cock in, out with slow, lazy thrusts. The heavy sac of his balls swung forward, slapping against the crevice of her butt. He trailed his fingers down her torso, traced the tip over one hipbone before traveling lower.

  When he touched her clit, Dana arched and cried out, clenching down around his invading cock.

  “So damn hot,” he muttered. “So damn beautiful.”

  She wasn’t—she knew that, but when he looked at her, she felt beautiful. Lifting her lashes, she stared at him, smiled. His lids drooped low over his eyes as she cupped her breasts in her hands, plumping them together, then pinching her nipples.

  Then lower, one hand stroking down over the slight bulge in her belly, lingering as a look passed through his eyes, gentle, amazed…awed. He covered her hand with his and muttered, “Mine.”

  Hunkering down low, he started to ride her, harder. Faster. The slow, lazy rhythm took on a desperate, frenzied greed, a greed mirrored in the way his mouth crushed down on hers, kissing her, devouring her…

  “Mine.” As she started to come, he tore his mouth away and rasped it against her ear.

  “Yours.”

  Inside her sex, his cock jerked in a slow, pulsating rhythm as he came. She felt the heat of it spread through her and she moaned, shuddering as the climax continued to ripple through her body. Little aftershocks continued to hit even as he pulled away and collapsed against her, his brow pressed against her tummy.

  His shoulders lifted and fell, his breath hitting her in hard, hot bursts. Once his breathing started to slow, he lifted his head and stared at her seriously. “I’ve thought about it, and I think maybe putting my house up for rent would be a good idea.”

  A wave of exhaustion struck her and she smiled, yawned behind her hand. “Okay. Sounds good to me.”

  Chapter Five

  It was Friday.

  The last day of a very long week, and thank God, he wasn’t on call. That morning, Dana had gotten out of bed looking a little less worn and she hadn’t snapped or growled for coffee once. If he got out of here at a decent time, he was thinking about seeing if she wanted to take off for the weekend.

  They had a realtor coming by Monday evening to help them get things rolling with putting his house up for rent, but he’d spent several nights the past week cleaning it up, packing the stuff he’d need, going through the stuff he’d just put into storage for now.

  A weekend away sounded damn good.

  If he could get out of here… It had already been one hell of a morning and he still had three patients to finish up with before he could even think about lunch. The afternoon wasn’t looking much better.

  The girl in the room was one of Jake’s favorite patients. Yeah, doctors weren’t supposed to have “favorites” but it was hard, sometimes. He loved what he did, and some of the kids, they just had a way of working their way deep inside him. This girl had big blue eyes, Shirley Temple curls and she loved to tell knock-knock jokes. Very bad ones, usually made up right on the spot and she’d laugh and giggle in a way that had everybody else laughing right along with her.

  At least usually.

  “Hey, Daisy.”

  She glanced up at him, and then back down at her lap. She had her arms folded across her belly and a pout on her little cupid’s bow of a mouth. She also had a rash all over her arms and cheeks that were a bit too rosy, even for her.

  “Somebody doesn’t look too happy.”

  “I’m not happy and I’m not sick. I wanna go home.”

  “Well, lets get this done…then you can go home.” Glancing at the chart, he checked to see what her temperature had been when the medical assistant worked her up. No fever. But that rash—he knew that rash, without even seeing it any closer. He gave a reassuring smile to the older woman with her and settled on the stool by the exam table.

  “Where’s Mama at, Miss Daisy?”

  It didn’t seem possible, but that lip poked out even farther. “She’s with the baby and they’re coming home tomorrow, but I don’t wanna wait. I haven’t seen the baby yet.” She kicked at the table with a small foot and said, “Mama said if I wasn’t sick today, I could go see him. I’m not sick no more. I wanna go see the baby.”

  “If you’re not sick, how come you’re here?”

  Pouting, she pointed at the lady sitting by the table. “She said I had to, because I got a rash. Does a rash mean I’m still sick?”

  Jake smiled in sympathy. Poor kid. “Yeah, Daisy. I’m afraid a rash means you’re sick. It looks like you’ve got something called Fifth’s disease. It’s nothing to worry about—you already had the fever and the other yucky stuff. I think you’ll feel better in a day or so.”

  A hopeful look entered her eyes. “Can you make me better now, Dr. Mac? I wanna go meet my little brother.”

  “I’m sorry, baby. This will go away on its own—I can’t make it. But it won’t take long.”

  Daisy stared at him with big, tear-filled eyes. “But I wanna see my little brother.”

  “And you will—soon, too. So Mom had the baby, huh?”

  Daisy nodded. “He came early. His name is William Sean Moseir.”

  “Big name for a little guy.”

  “I’m gonna call him Billy. Nana won’t be here until tomorrow and I can’t go to the hospital. Daddy was gone when they made Mama go to the hospital, so Mrs. Crumb came and stayed up there with me and I waited forever and forever at the dumb doctor’s office while they looked at Mama and made her go to the hospital, and then I waited and waited there with Mrs. Crumb, then Mrs. Crumb took me home because it was so late, but then they wouldn’t let me go back because I had a fever and couldn’t be there when the baby was borned. They told me I couldn’t see the baby until I wasn’t sick but I’m not sick no more. Today, Mrs. Crumb won’t take me there because I got a rash.” She paused to take a breath and scratch her arm. Scowling, she said, “I want to see my little brother.”

  He kept up with the long-winded monologue easily, filtering through all the jabbering for the important information.

  A trickle of unease worked through him. New baby brother… Daisy had been at a “dumb doctor’s office”. He already knew that Daisy’s dad did a lot of business travel. In the back of his mind, he could remember Dana talking about the little girl she’d been chasing after a few days earlier at her own office. A mom going into early labor, the father was out of town.

  Jake wasn’t much on believing in coincidences and it didn’t help that he knew Daisy’s mom was a patient of the OB/GYN group upstairs.

  Still, despite his worry, he kept his voice casual and smiled at the older woman. Mrs. Crumb, he presumed. He checked the back of the chart. They kept track of who was allowed to bring the kids to the office when the parents couldn’t. Smiling at the woman, he asked, “I take it you’re Mrs. Crumb?”

  She gave him a tired smile. “That’s me. I’m sorry, I’m rather worn out, not used to having a little one in the house any more and she’s been with me for a few days now.”

  Daisy scowled, her brow wrinkling. Giving Mrs. Crumb a glare, she said, “I’m not a little one.”

  Mrs. Crumb shook her head. “She’s usually not this grouchy. Poor thing, having that cold…not being able to see the new baby. She acted like she was feeling better yesterday and we thought I could take her in today, but then she woke up with this rash.” She smiled and stroked Daisy’s curls. For a second, Daisy looked like she’d pull away and then she sighed and leaned against the older woman, sniffling.

  “I wanna see the baby. I wanna see Billy.”

  Jake smiled. “We’ll get you feeling better as soon as we can. Can’t have the baby catching any yucky germs, though.” Feigning nonchalance, he asked, “So who delivered the baby?”

  Mrs. Crumb pursed her lips. “Hmmm…Cas
tle—no, that’s not right. It sounded Hispanic. Casteel…”

  “Castillo?” Jake offered.

  His gut cramped as the woman beamed at him. “Yes, that’s it.”

  It wasn’t in Jake’s nature to obsess and worry over something that may or may not happen. He preferred to watch, wait…see what happens, deal with it when it became necessary. Dana was the exception.

  Dana was the exception to everything for him and she had been for most of his life. Taking the stairs two at a time, he told himself not to worry. Probably nothing. And even if it was something…

  No. Don’t go there. He hit the fourth floor and just barely managed to keep from running to the OB/GYN practice where Dana worked. He flicked a glance at his watch—not quite lunch time, but close—the place would either be deserted or have two or three moms all but going into labor in the waiting room.

  He was in luck. As he entered the empty waiting room, he rolled his shoulders and tried to dispel the tension mounting there. Nothing. Probably nothing. He approached the window and gave a half-hearted smile to the medical assistant sitting on the other side. She slid the window open and gave him a friendly, flirtatious smile. “Dr. McCoy, how are you doing?”

  Maintaining the smile was too much work. He gave her a shrug and some empty reply he forgot even as he said it.

  “I need to talk to Dana Cochran if she’s available.” Something else occurred to him and he added, “And one of the doctors if they are free.”

  “Might be a few minutes for one of the docs, but I think Dana is back in the break room.” She glanced off to the right at the sound of a voice “Give me just a few minutes…”

  The door banged open as a rambunctious pre-schooler came barreling through, father in hot pursuit. Jake didn’t wait another second, catching the door before it could close and striding down the hall.

  The office layout was similar to his own and he headed down the hallway, taking a couple of turns and going through a door marked Office Staff Only, which led to another hallway. The break room was at the end.

  Through the open door, he could see Dana. Sitting at a table, leaning back in her chair. Her head rested against the wall behind her and her lashes were closed. Quietly, he entered the room and settled in the chair next to hers. With his heart pounding somewhere in the vicinity of his throat, he stared at her.

  She was asleep, he realized, her breathing soft and steady, breasts rising and falling in a slow, easy rhythm. Beautiful—staring at her was always like getting punched in the chest. He knew others probably looked at her and saw an attractive woman, with a wild riot of curls, a smile that brought out dimples in her cheeks and a way of laughing that invited others to laugh with her.

  But she wasn’t just attractive to him—hell, even beautiful didn’t seem to do her justice. Not in his eyes. She was beautiful, but so much more than that, to him. To him, she was everything. A knot formed in his throat. Without realizing he’d moved, he reached out, laid a hand on her belly.

  She started, eyes opening wide to stare at him. “Jake…” A smile formed on her lips and she stretched, arched. Her hand came down and covered his.

  Her belly had gotten firmer over the past few weeks and there was just the slightest rounding. If he didn’t know her body the way he did, he’d never guess she was pregnant.

  “You look so serious,” she whispered.

  She cupped his cheek in her hand and he turned his head, nuzzling her palm.

  “Crazy morning,” he said, trying to figure out the easiest way, the best way to ask. But diplomacy and subtly weren’t two of his stronger skills. He reached up and caught her wrist, tugging her hand away and then linking their fingers. “Do you know if you ever had Fifth’s disease when you were a kid?”

  She blinked. “Fifth’s disease? I really don’t know.” She studied him, eyes narrowed. “I get the feeling this isn’t just a casual question.”

  She leaned forward, inspecting his arms. Jake shook his head “I caught it in medical school while on my pediatric rotation.” Then he sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. The thick black strands tangled around his hand and immediately fell back into his eyes. “But you’re right. It’s not a casual question.”

  Screw confidentiality—technically, this was personal business. Personal as in Dana was the mother of his child, not his patient, not an employee. What he should do was discuss the matter with the doctors, then they could discuss it with their employees and patients that might be affected. He didn’t give a damn about what he should do. Not in this moment. He covered her belly with his hand again, stroking that firm mound while the knot in his throat threatened to choke him.

  He finally managed to force the words past the knot. “Daisy Moseir.”

  He didn’t need to say anything else. She went pale, her eyes dark and glassy in her face. “The little monkey…”

  “Yeah. A neighbor brought her into the office. Fever. Rash. Fifth’s disease, no doubt about it. Rash didn’t come up until sometime during the night. Had the fever, runny nose for a few days, then seemed better yesterday. Today, she woke up with the rash.”

  She swallowed. “I…I can call my mom, see if she remembers. But hell…it’s just a fever most of the time. I don’t see her remembering every last time I had a temp.” Shoving out of the chair, she stood up.

  But before she could start to pace, Jake came and stood behind her, looping his arms around her waist. “Go ahead and call her.”

  She shot him a look over her shoulder. “And if she doesn’t know?”

  “Then we wait. Not much else we can do.”

  “You make it sound so easy,” she muttered, scowling.

  “Easy?” His hands flexed. He wanted to haul her close, shield her. Protect the baby growing inside her. But not everything could be fought. Nuzzling her neck, he said, “Not easy. My gut’s a mess. Call your mom. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about.”

  Her mother didn’t remember.

  “Is everything okay, baby?” Liz Cochran asked.

  Gripping the phone so tight, the plastic bit into her hand, Dana tried to smile. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”

  “Have you forgotten this is your mother? That might work on your father, but not me. Come on, Dana. What’s going on?”

  Dana forced herself to take a breath, to swallow the saliva pooling in her mouth. “There was a girl in the office a few days ago that had it.”

  “This…Fifth’s disease? I’ve never heard of it. Is…is it bad?”

  “No. Not even that big a deal most of the time. A fever, headache, runny nose, kind of like a mild case of the flu sometimes. But…”

  But. She couldn’t say it.

  Couldn’t.

  “Dana?”

  Mouth opening and closing, she tried to speak and just couldn’t. She shot Jake a wild look. He reached out and gently took the phone away.

  If she could have uprooted her legs, she would have left the room. She didn’t want to hear it as Jake explained that moms in their first trimester didn’t want to be exposed to the disease if they hadn’t had it. Didn’t want to hear the possible risks, although she already knew them.

  Possible risks—like the baby dying. Tears burned her eyes and she collapsed onto a chair as her legs gave out from under her.

  Possible risks—knowing them and facing them…two totally different things. With a hand that shook, she touched her belly, thought of the small life there.

  God, please…

  She was cold, icy cold. Distantly, she heard the quiet sound of the phone being placed in the cradle and then footsteps. Jake crouched in front of her and covered her chilled hands with his. “Are you okay?”

  She blinked back the tears and tried to force a smile, but she couldn’t. “No. I’m not…but what can I do? All we can do is see what happens, right?”

  She could have attributed the headache to worry and a seriously shitty night. Tossing and turning for hours on end would give anybody a headache. But it wasn’t a headache that had
her shivering in the bed the following morning. It wasn’t a headache that her cuddling up against Jake and desperately trying to warm herself as the fever built inside her.

  He rolled onto his side without speaking and slid an arm under her, easing her body against his. She forced her lashes to lift, made herself stare at him. He stroked his fingers across her brow and his mouth tightened. Once more, tears started to burn in her eyes and she had to bite back a sob as he cupped her cheek in his hand. “You’re running a fever,” he said softly.

  “I know.”

  She pressed her heated brow against his chest and started to cry.

  Jake didn’t offer any false comforts, no promises of maybe it’s nothing. Everything will be all right. He just held her until she was done crying and then, he climbed out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom. He returned with a thermometer and a bottle of Tylenol. They didn’t say anything until after the thermometer beeped and she took it out of her mouth, stared at the read out for a long moment and then passed it over to Jake.

  101.8°. Blowing out a shaky sigh, she took a couple of Tylenol, washing them down with the bottle of water she kept by her bed. “You know that Why me feeling?”

  “Yeah.” He tossed the thermometer on the bed beside his table and settled back into bed beside her. “I’m having a major Why us feeling right now.”

  A reluctant smile tugged at her lips. “Yeah. It’s not me. Us. Why us, Jake?”

  He brushed her hair back and whispered, “Don’t think about it right now, Dana. It won’t help.”

  “How can I not think about it?”

  “By thinking about what you know—nothing’s written in stone.” A muscle jerked in his jaw and he reached down, laid a hand on her belly. “You and me both know that a risk is just that—a risk.” He paused for a minute, stroking her belly with slow, gentle circles. “You want to call Castillo?”

  She shrugged. One of her bosses, Joe Castillo, had come into the break room just a few minutes after Jake had finished talking to her mom, and she’d sat there, in icy, scared silence, while Jake filled Joe in, explained about Daisy. They’d done an ultrasound but what should have been a moment of utter bliss had been marred by fear.