Mixed (A Recipe for Love Book 3)

by Lane Martin

  “It’s Miss, and I’m by myself,” I told her as I handed her the clipboard. Jesus, what year was it? She gave me a sad smile.

  “First I’ll need to get your weight.” I couldn’t help but cringe as I stepped on the scale. She jotted down the number before handing me a plastic cup. “Go ahead and leave this on the shelf in the bathroom and then meet me out here when you are done.” Yay me, first the scale and then I got to try and pee into the little cup. Good times.

  Operation get it in the cup and not on your hand was a success, and I met the nurse back in the hall before she took me into the exam room and instructed me on what to do before leaving me to change. I was alone in the room. The only noise was my rapidly beating heart and the crinkling of the paper that covered the exam table. If I wasn’t already sitting there in one of those disposable tops, I might have bolted. The appointment is for your baby. I reminded myself as someone knocked at the door. At least the doctor wasn’t making me wait long. “Come in,” I called out.

  “Look who we found.” The perky nurse announced as she opened the door further so Logan could walk in. She shut the door behind him and left us alone before I could argue with her.

  “What are you doing here? How did you even know where I was?” I fired off.

  “I was worried about you.” He shrugged. Shrugged? I wasn’t sure if I should kiss him or punch him. Maybe both. After the kiss we shared last night, I was more confused than ever. Logan showing up here sure wasn’t helping. How did he even know I was here?

  “But …” I was still trying to figure out how he knew where to find me when it dawned on me. Yesterday, before all the drama, he was talking to Emily on my phone when the reminder in my calendar about my appointment today went off. Damn technology. Another light knock at the door interrupted us before I could tell him to leave. Do you really want him to go?

  “Well hello, I’m Doctor Proby.” It took everything for me not to giggle at her name, but according to all the reviews I’d read online, she was an excellent doctor. Logan wasn’t so successful at hiding his chuckle. Obviously, she was used to it because she didn’t react. “So, I looked over your file from the clinic in Nashville. They did a pelvic, and everything was fine, so I’m not going to do another one today.” Thank god, no stirrups for me today. “And I’ve looked over your health history.” Oh shit, please don’t say anything about my previous pregnancy. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” She winked and squeezed my hand. Would it be wrong to offer to buy her a drink at the bar? Several for that matter. “Go ahead and lay back and I’ll take some measurements before we take a look.” When I booked my appointment, I was told they would most likely do an ultrasound to confirm my due date. I looked at Logan, and when the doctor began to examine me, he stepped forward and took my hand. Instead of watching the doctor, he looked straight at me. It just confirmed all the things I’d already thought about him. He was one of the good ones, even if he didn’t believe it himself.

  “Thank you,” I mouthed.

  Having Logan here with me shouldn’t have felt so right. He was my boss. Yes, I was attracted to him, but nothing could come of it. He had been clear on his policy. Then why was he here? I almost forgot doctor Proby was even in the room. “I’m just going to squirt a little gel on your abdomen. It’s nice and warm but feels a little weird.” A little? She placed a wand over the gel and began to move it around before she hit a few buttons and noise filled the air. Fast. Steady. My baby.

  “Was that…?” I didn’t know if it was hearing the swish, swish, swish, of my baby’s heartbeat for the first time or the awe in Logan’s voice that brought tears to my eyes.

  “Your baby.” Doctor Proby confirmed by looking at both of us. Logan didn’t correct her as he leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Jesus, could the guy be any more perfect. “Well, you measure at a just past fifteen weeks. We’ll do a full ultrasound at twenty weeks. It looks like you’ve got a thumb sucker.” My eyes continued to leak. I’d never been a crier before. Damn hormones. The doctor hit a few more buttons before she turned off the machine and wiped the gel off my stomach. Logan never let go of my hand. “Everything looks good. Keep taking your prenatal vitamins. If you don’t have any other questions, I’ll see you next month. Here’s a picture to take home.” She handed it to Logan, and he looked at it adoringly before slipping it in his shirt pocket.

  “I think we’re good,” Logan answered with a warm smile I hadn’t seen before. We’re? Shit, since when had Logan, the baby, and I become a “we?” Maybe it was because he was the first one to know my little secret. Perhaps it was the way he held my hand or kissed me tenderly. Whatever it was, it was too much, and it was wrong. He was my employer, not my boyfriend, and surely not my baby daddy. It was all too much. I had to get out of here. Fuck, I was still wearing a paper top.

  “I’ll wait in the hall,” Logan announced as he left with the doctor. Why didn’t these exam rooms have windows so you could just crawl out? Maybe I could just hide in here and sooner or later he would get sick of waiting and just leave. At that moment I swear I felt a flutter. It seemed a little early, but from what I’d read it wasn’t unheard of. It reminded me I was going to be someone’s mother. No, not someone’s, this ones. I placed my hand on my abdomen, and I swear I felt the flutter again. I squared my shoulders, hiding in the exam room wouldn’t change anything. Logan was my boss and a great guy who was here for me when I needed a friend. Nothing more. I kept repeating it over and over again as I got dressed. Maybe if I said it enough times, I would believe it. Yeah right. He took my hand when I exited the room. Friends hold hands. I made my next appointment. He took the reminder card and put it in his chest pocket with our picture. My picture. You’re just friends Libby. He didn’t let go of me when we left. The man was on a mission to get somewhere fast, and it appeared I was going with him.

  “Where are we going?” I questioned when he hailed a cab. He didn’t answer me, but he opened the door of the waiting cab and gave the guy an address I didn’t recognize. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I questioned again. He didn’t answer me. “Are you kidnapping me?” Maybe he would tie me up. Fun.

  “Stop talking Libby.” What was his problem? Was he angry with me? He’s the one that crashed my appointment. I didn’t ask him to come.

  “Did you just tell me to shut up?” Mister sexy arms and beautiful eyes fuckin’ smirked at me. I wasn’t sure if I should punch him or kiss him. “I …” Before I could say anything else, his lips were on mine. I guess that answered my question. Kiss, I decided, would always be my answer given the option with Logan.

  We separated, and I tried to form a sentence again, what I was trying to say I had no idea. “I told you to stop talking Lib,” and once again he kissed me. Good lord, the man, could kiss.

  “Twenty-two fifty,” the cabbie grumbled as he stopped in front of an apartment building not far from the restaurant. Logan tossed him a couple of bills before practically pulling me out of the vehicle. I didn’t say a word. Not in the elevator. Not in the doorway as he fumbled with his key, and certainly not when he pushed me up against the back of the door as soon as we were both inside.

  He kissed down my neck and along my collar bone before falling to his knees at my feet. He pushed up my shirt and kissed my stomach. My knees nearly buckled when he whispered something to my belly, and I felt the flutter again. When he pulled down my leggings and panties together, my knees almost gave out again. This time for an entirely different reason.

  “Oh god,” I moaned when his tongue flicked across my clit. He laughed when my head made a thumping sound against the door. I wanted to yell at him not to dare stop what he was doing. It was torture. The good kind, but he did tell me to stop talking, so I didn’t say anything else.

  “I think we can do better than this.” I didn’t dare open my eyes because that would mean I was awake and this dream would be over. He carried me without any effort to another room and set me down on a bed and then he was
gone. “You can open your eyes.”

  “No,” I shook my head. “I don’t want this to end before we get to the best part.” He laughed again, and I couldn’t help but open my eyes all the way because I wanted to see his handsome face.

  “I couldn’t stop this if I tried.” He flicked both of my shoes off my feet before pulling my leggings and panties completely off. He licked his lips as he looked at me bare from the waist down.

  “Oh fuck,” I sighed as I recalled what his scruff felt like against my skin.

  “That’s the plan. Actually, multiple fucks if you’re up to it.” Was that a challenge? This girl was all over that shit. I tried to sit up to reach for his belt. He had way too many clothes on. “Nope, ladies first.” What a gentleman.

  Who was I to complain about that?

  “Are you okay?” I'd fucked Libby like a possessed man. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never felt anything like it before. Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. I’d felt it last night when I kissed her in my office. What the hell was I thinking being so rough with her? I could have hurt her or the baby.

  “Are you kidding me?” Her cheeks were still flushed, and her hair was a tangled mess fanned out on my pillows. Her lips were swollen from our kisses, and she had red marks on her neck and chest, no doubt left by my stubble. She’d never looked more beautiful, which was saying a lot because she was the most gorgeous woman on the planet. She tried to hit me playfully on the chest, but I grabbed her hand and brought it to my lips for a kiss.

  “I shouldn’t have been so wild with you.” I released her hand and trailed mine down until it rested protectively on her stomach.

  “What the hell Logan?” She sat up quickly on the bed, the sheets pooled around her waist and my cock began to harden again even though I’d just finished thoroughly fucking her. “Do you have some weird pregnancy fetish?” Her perky tits must have had me mesmerized because she reached out and twisted my nipple.

  “Owie,” I yelled before she let up.

  “Owie? Did little old pregnant me hurt the big strong man.”

  “Yes, you did. Want to kiss it and make it better?” I pouted.

  “I’m having a child; I don’t need a man-sized one too.” She had me there. “What happened to your policy about not sleeping with your employees anyway? You found out I was knocked up and you went crazy on me.” She was right on both accounts, but no sleeping would be done anytime soon.

  “You’re fired.”

  “I’m what?” He couldn’t possibly be serious. I tried to scramble away from him, but he just pulled me closer. How could I have been so stupid? We had been in such a hurry he still wasn’t even fully undressed. I could already feel him hardening against me again. Oh shit. I had to get out of here. This time when I ventured to smack his chest, it wasn’t playful, and he had no time to catch my wrist.

  “Christ Lib,” he bellowed, but I got the result I wanted when he let me go and sat up allowing me to get up. He yanked the wife beater he still wore off. “That hurt,” he uttered more softly while I scrambled around the room to find my clothes. How could I have been so foolish? I thought, fuck I don’t know what I thought. I was angry. At him. At myself. At the nurse who let him in my damn exam room in the first place. Tears formed in my eyes. Frickin’ hormones.

  “I was kidding Libby.” I hadn’t stopped to look at him. My body was a traitor. I already knew what he felt like if I saw him too, there was no telling what the Benedict Arnold, or should I say, Benedict Libby, would do. “Would you just get back over here so we can talk about this?” He was still sitting up in the bed, and he sounded so sincere I couldn’t help but look up at him. He was holding up the blankets at his hip and smiling. I took in his now bare chest. Flutter. Fuck! I knew he had more ink; I caught a glimpse of it the other day when he was shirtless in his office. Men with ink are my kryptonite. I was transfixed by one, in particular, it was right over his heart. He pulled my hand, and I willingly moved closer to get a better look. Parts of it were faded, but other parts were red and inflamed, new. The faded crude heart design was stitched, even now, in its healing state; I could tell the new work was impeccable. The artist was a surgeon who lovingly sutured the broken organ. Would it ever be completely healed? No. It was one of the things that made it so remarkable, that and the wings that were also a new edition to the piece based on the angry red skin and swelling surrounding them. Even so, they were delicate, beautiful. Oh shit, I just hit him. He must have registered the look on my face.

  “I’m fine baby, or I will be when you get your lovely ass back in bed with me.” Baby? The single word was like a bucket of ice water being poured over me even in the presence of a gloriously hard, nearly naked, tattooed man. Yes, there was a baby here. The one growing inside of me and as usual, I had done something unbelievably stupid. I slept with my boss, and it cost me my job, and the health insurance my unborn child was counting on. My kid wasn’t even born yet, and I was already breaking promises to him or her left and right, and this one was a massive one. I’ll always put you first.

  “I need to go.” I yanked my hand away from him so hard I almost fell off the edge of the bed.

  “Don’t run away from me baby.” I cringed at the use of the endearment again. He got out of the bed and stood right in front of me, blocking my departure as I sat on the edge of the bed. Shit, looking at his beautiful body wasn’t any better than looking at his gorgeous face. “Libby.” He corrected before tipping my chin up, so I was forced to look into his eyes, “what did I do wrong?” God, even the sound of his voice was perfect, deep and authoritative, yet full of concern.

  “You fucked me like a champ, and then you fired me. I need this job, Logan.” The smug bastard smiled.

  “Fucked you like a champ, did I?” He leaned over and tried to kiss me. I put my hand over his mouth blocking his advance, and he took a step back, which was a good thing because somehow the master chef was standing gloriously naked and raring to go again between my parted legs. He crossed his muscled arms while I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of his apartment. And let me tell you, it was hard to think about it with his penis standing at attention just a few feet away. I crossed my arms too. Mainly so I wouldn’t reach out to him, maybe stroke him. He cleared his throat. Eyes off the beautiful penis Libby. He was still smiling which just infuriated me.

  “Did you hear anything after I said the word champ?” He shrugged. “Really? God, you’re such a man.” All man.

  “What, I was just thinking how to follow-up for round two since round one was a total knockout.”

  “You just fired me, Logan.” I reminded him. Although, what would another round hurt if I was already out of a job? Mom fail again, and my kid wasn’t even born.

  “Do you see this Lib?” He pointed to a tattoo on his forearm. I nodded. “What does it say?” I didn’t have to look at it to tell him. I knew exactly what it proclaimed. I had from the night I met him. It was also scrolled across the wall of his office, and Mikey mentioned it was how he lived his life “now.”

  “No regrets,” I whispered not looking at him. He fell to his knees in front of me.

  “Again,” His tone wasn’t angry, but I had no doubt in my mind that he was serious, so I repeated the two words. This time louder while looking him straight in the eyes.

  He cupped the side of my face, and it made me feel so cherished, I closed my eyes. “That’s right.” He pressed his lips to my temple before whispering, “Being with you will never be something I regret Libby. I know it doesn’t make sense since we hardly know each other but you make me believe that things I never thought were possible again, are.” Flutter. He cooked, he had tattoos, he was gorgeous, was great in bed, and had a mouth that was equal parts dirty and sweet. He was perfect. And he’s still the reason you don’t have a job.

  “But…” Oh shit, I guessed time for talking was over and round two just begun.

  Logan had already given me my job back and kissed me before promising “we” would fig
ure things out. I was still trying to figure out when we became a “we.” The orgasms must have been affecting my brain cells. “When are you going to tell your sister?” I knew I shouldn’t have still been there, naked in Logan’s bed, sprawled across his chest. But one, I didn’t know if I could walk after the way he’d just banged me again and two, I didn’t know when or if I’d ever have sex again after I left. Did they allow nuns to be pregnant? Shit, they’d probably kick me out of the Abbey like they did to Fraulein Maria.

  “You’re not going anywhere, and you’re avoiding the question.” How did he know what I was thinking? Sleeping with the boss. I hoped it wasn’t another error in judgment t to add to my ever-growing list. No regrets Libby. I tried to adopt Logan’s motto. I wished I didn’t regret it later.

  “What makes you think she doesn’t know?” I questioned playfully.

  “No way in hell your sister would have missed your doctor’s appointment.” He was probably right.

  “She just has a lot going on right now.” She and Willow had been working non-stop on the care packages to send to her husband’s deployed unit. They were calling them Hugs from Home because that was what Willow’s adorable daughter Fay wanted to send her daddy and his men. Not to mention, her new employee. His name was Zeke Sherman, but everyone called him Tank. He was a wounded veteran who served with Dillon Hill, Willow’s husband. Tank’s a southern boy with dimples and loads of that “yes ma’am” charm that made girls swoon, but he was all also a badass who had lost part of his leg serving our country. I liked him. It was also nice for Emily to have someone around to do the heavy lifting. Willow said he looked at my sister like she hung the moon, I didn’t see it. I thought he was just grateful to be there. Emily was still head over heels in love with Declan. Everyone, including Tank, could see it.