by Jamie Pope
He was aroused again. He was in a constant state of arousal when he was with her, but it was nice to touch her body for the sake of touching her. It wasn’t going to lead to sex this time. That unexpected surge of lust had taken him over, made him snap and take her bent over the tub. He hadn’t planned for that when he walked in here with her. He wanted to prolong it, to savor it, to turn her on so much that she was squirming with desire. But she was too sexy, and he couldn’t go one second longer without being inside her.
“Tell me about this last boyfriend of yours.”
“He was incredibly sweet, kind and gentle. He’s a theoretical physicist and an even bigger blerd than I am.”
“What’s a blerd?”
“A black nerd.”
He laughed. “I’ve never heard that term before.”
“Of course you haven’t. You are very far from one. You might be the opposite of one with all your muscles and raging testosterone.”
“Hey! I like science and math. I’m a doctor.”
“No, you’re a surgeon, sweetie. They tend to think that they are truly more gifted and talented than any other doctor, that they do all the hard work while other doctors simply diagnose. There’s no nerd in you. You couldn’t do what you do without some hefty confidence backing you up.”
“You sound like you have something against surgeons.”
“I don’t!” She turned around to look at him with wide eyes. “I know a few, and most of them think what I do is a joke.”
“What you do is important. I can remove a bullet from a heart, but I can’t stop a disease from wiping out an entire population. Don’t stereotype us all.” He smoothed his hand over her stomach, unable to prevent himself from touching her.
“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I should know better.”
He wondered who the surgeon was who’d showed her the nastier side of his profession. “Most of the things you said were true. You should hear how we talk about anesthesiologists.”
She laughed again. He really liked her sweet laugh.
“You never finished telling me about your boyfriend.”
“You want to know about my sexual history or lack thereof?”
“You like sex. You’re very good at it. I’m just curious about how you could be with someone for so long who couldn’t give you want you needed.”
“I told myself that my love for him outweighed my physical needs. I loved his mind and our conversations. And he did touch me when I asked. He would research things that he could do to please me, and he would do them. But I knew those times weren’t enjoyable for him. Even if he were physically able, I don’t think he would have been that interested in sex. It’s hard to face up to the fact that your partner would rather be reading than touching your naked body.”
“But you stayed.”
“He was the one to end it. He said we were living more like siblings than boyfriend and girlfriend. He was right, but I didn’t think I would ever find someone as supportive and loving as he was.”
And now you have me, he thought. It alarmed him. He didn’t know why that thought had popped into his head. It was insane. He had just met her. So what if he couldn’t get her off his mind? So what if she was the best sex he had ever had? “Relationships are hard,” he said, more to himself than to her.
“I agree. I gave up on them after that.”
“And love and sex and closeness.”
They were quiet for a moment. He, too, had given up on love and closeness and sex. His quest to become head of his department had replaced his need for those luxuries. But human contact was important, feeling this close to someone was important.
“Tell me about your past loves,” she said to him.
“There’s nothing much to tell. My last serious relationship was when I was in medical school.”
“What happened?”
“Residency. Hers was in San Bernardino. I stayed in Miami. I think she’s married to a plastic surgeon now.”
“Fancy.”
“I know. Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone into plastic surgery as a specialty. The hours are better. The pay is ridiculous. I could actually buy a house like this and be able to spend time in it. Having a view of the ocean from your bathtub is something I could get used to.”
“I thought you were going to say that you wonder what would have happened if you had married her instead.”
“No. I liked her enough. But I didn’t love her. I haven’t thought about her in years.”
“One hopes when they leave a relationship that they are forever burned into their partner’s memory.” She turned in his arms again and kissed him for a long time. “I guess this doesn’t bode well for me. Our two-night stand will be a whisper of a memory to you.”
“I won’t forget you,” he said truthfully. “I don’t want to.”
Chapter 4
That night with Elias had turned into an entire week. One magical week of sex, deep conversations, breakfasts in bed and walks on the beach. They had only ventured out of her house a few times for food and fresh air, but when they did, Elias held Cricket’s hand. Their fingers interlocked. It was the most romantic week of her life.
It was the sweetest week of her life.
But he had to go back to Miami, and she had to get on with her life.
She was being honored at a conference in England, and old friends had wanted to see her during her visit. She hadn’t seen Elias in a month, and she found herself missing him every day. But the fact that he was her mother’s employee never left her mind. She had grown up with a surgeon. She loved her mother, but her mother’s career had always come first. She had worked long hours, and sometimes there were entire weeks where Cricket hadn’t seen her. Her mother was determined to advance her career and not be seen as just the wife of a rich man. She was working her way to the top, and that meant there was less time for her daughter. As a result, Cricket grew to think of their housekeeper more as a mother than her own. She didn’t begrudge her mother or her success. She was inordinately proud of all Frances had accomplished, but Cricket knew she couldn’t fall in love with a man who was on the same path. Elias loved his job. He wanted to be head of trauma. He couldn’t wait till he was able to go back into the operating room and master another complex surgery. Loving a surgeon was too hard, and she knew that if she saw any more of him, she would fall in love with him. Or rather, even more in love.
It would be impossible not to fall for a man who satisfied every need she had in every way.
Neither one of them had said anything about continuing what they had. It was like they both knew that something so perfect couldn’t last forever.
Cricket lay in bed for two days after she returned from her trip. She was feeling run-down. Her stomach was incredibly queasy. She thought it was just jet lag. But she was a frequent flyer and had experienced jet lag before. This was more than that. On her third day home, she dragged herself to the doctor. And now she was sitting in the examination room waiting for her doctor to return with the results.
“Well, Cricket—” Dr. Grey returned to the room with a smile “—you’re extremely healthy. You show no signs of infections.”
“A virus, then? It doesn’t present like a cold or the flu. I wonder if it’s a new strain.”
“What you have isn’t new. It has been happening to women since the dawn of time.”
Cricket frowned. “I’m not following you.”
“You’re going to have a baby.”
“Excuse me?”
“Is your period late?”
“Yes, but ever since I got back from Africa it has been irregular. Are you trying to tell me that I’m pregnant?”
“You are pregnant. Your ob-gyn will confirm how pregnant you are, but I’m guessing you’re about six weeks.”
“But I’m on birth control! I have been since I was sixteen.”
“Yes, but you were traveling in a lot of developing nations where infectious diseases are very prevalent. You were given a medication as a precaution to help prevent meningitis, tuberculosis and a myriad of other diseases that could potentially be fatal. That has significantly lowered the effectiveness of your birth control.”
Cricket stared at the doctor, dumbfounded, for a moment. “I—I—I can’t believe it.”
She had been foolish. She knew the risks of having unprotected sex, but she’d done it anyway and now she was pregnant.
She was going to be a mother.
“How do you feel about having a baby?”
She shut her eyes. “I’m shocked. Completely and utterly shocked.”
“Do you want this baby?”
Her eyes flew open, and she looked at the doctor. She’d never thought she wanted children. She had come in contact with them a lot through her work. She was content to help treat them, but she’d never thought she would have a baby of her own. Something that had come from her that she would be solely responsible for. It would change her life. Change her worldview and her career. Her life would never be the same.
And she found that exciting.
“Yes, I want this baby,” she said honestly. “I just didn’t know it until now.”
* * *
There was a knock on Elias’s door that evening. His Chinese food had arrived fifteen minutes ago, so he wasn’t expecting anyone. Normally he didn’t like unexpected visitors, but he was hoping it was one of his friends stopping by, or even one of his siblings. He had been in a funky mood all week after another visit from his doctor. He hadn’t been cleared to go back to operating. There wasn’t enough strength in his hand yet, and sometimes if he overworked it, there wasn’t enough feeling in it.
His doctor had scolded him once again for attempting to go back so soon after complicated hand surgery. The punch he had delivered to that guy had further damaged his hand. He didn’t need to be scolded by the woman. He had berated himself enough for everyone. He couldn’t work. The only thing he had worth anything in his life was out of reach.
Technically he could start treating patients again. He could diagnose colds, treat broken limbs and rashes. He could work in the ER, if he was dying to get back to work. But that put him at risk of reinjuring his hand, and then there was a chance that he might never get his strength back. His other option was to wait another six to eight weeks and try to strengthen it in therapy. It wasn’t much of a choice. He hadn’t spent all that time learning his specialty to give it up so soon after he had started. He’d just have to wait. He was a surgeon. That was his life.
But then he opened the door to see Cricket standing there, and he forgot all about his job. She wore a coral-colored sundress with a sprinkling of tiny white flowers on the bust and gold sandals. Her hair was loose in those big fluffy curls that he was so fond of.
She was a sight for sore eyes, and he had missed her. He didn’t want to admit it, but he had missed her a lot these past five weeks. There hadn’t been one day when he hadn’t thought about her.
He felt himself smiling—the first time he had done so all week. He grabbed her arm and without saying a word to her pulled her inside his town house. He shut the door behind her, pushed her against it and kissed her. It wasn’t a soft, controlled kiss. He swept his tongue deep inside her mouth, trying to taste all the sweetness that he had gone without for the past month.
“You’re happy to see me?” she asked with closed eyes when he lifted his mouth away from her. Her body had gone completely slack against him. She was warm and soft and smelled heavenly.
He had never been so hard in his life.
“Of course I’m happy to see you. Kiss me.”
She obeyed his order, and he slipped his hands up her dress, finding her underwear and pulling them down.
“Wait!” She broke the kiss. “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m here?”
“I don’t care why you’re here.”
He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and sank his fingers into the flesh of her behind.
“I have something to tell you,” she protested and moaned at the same time.
“It can wait.” He freed himself from his pants.
“It can’t!”
He crushed his mouth to hers and pushed his hand between her legs, feeling how slick with desire she was.
“You want this as much as I do.”
“Yes,” she cried.
He wrapped her legs around his waist and entered her in one hard thrust. She cursed and cried out his name.
She was so tight and wet and hot. She felt so good squeezed around him that he couldn’t force himself to slow down. There was no finesse to his lovemaking. Just frenzied pumping inside her.
She bit into his shoulder. She dug her fingers into his back. She cried out his name over and over again. She was never shy when they were together, never reserved. That’s why he loved being with her so much.
Her body fit just right with his.
Their thoughts meshed.
Neither one of them had experienced this type of high with another partner, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to experience it again.
She orgasmed hard, squeezing so tightly around him that it spurred him to come earlier than he wanted. It took his breath away. It made him see stars and forget where he was for a moment. It was powerful sex.
She was here. In his house. In Miami. She had tracked him down. This crazy attraction wasn’t one-sided, and he wasn’t sure he could just let her walk away for a third time. They were going to have to keep going until the intense spark they felt burned out.
After a few minutes of recovery, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to his couch. He laid her down gently, covered her body with his and kissed her softly this time. A deep, soft, long kiss. The kiss he should have given her when she walked in, before his control had snapped into a thousand little pieces.
“What did you want to tell me?” he asked her when he finally released her lips.
“We’re going to have a baby, Elias.”
He had heard her. He had looked into her eyes and watched the words fall from her lips, but he wasn’t sure he understood.
“What?” He scrambled off her body and sat up. “What?”
The worry returned to her eyes. He had seen it when she walked in the door, but he’d ignored it, because he had been so surprised to see her. He had been happy to see her.
She sat up and pulled her dress down to cover herself. “I’m going to have a baby.”
“Are you sure it’s my baby?”
She flinched as if he had struck her in the face. “I find that question very insulting.”
He knew the words were wrong as soon as he’d said them. Of course the baby was his. He had been her only lover. “I know. I’m sorry. I—I just can’t get my head around this. I thought you were on birth control.”
“I was up until today. I spent a lot of time with infected individuals in developing nations. I was exposed to a myriad of diseases and given medication to prevent contracting anything. They reduced the effectiveness of my birth control.”
“So you just found out today?”
“Yes. My GP informed me, and then I went right to my ob-gyn. I’m about six weeks.”
Six weeks.
They had met almost six weeks ago to the day. It must have happened that first night.
Elias buried his face in his hands. He was finding it hard to catch his breath.
He was going to be a father.
His life was about to change forever. Irrevocably. He could no longer do things just because he felt like it. He could no longer come and go as he pleased. He could no longer be so damn impulsive, bec
ause his decisions wouldn’t just affect him. Whatever he did from now on would have an impact on this new little life he had helped to create.
And yet, as scared as he was, the thought of having a child wasn’t an unpleasant one.
He had always wanted to be a father. He wanted to be like his father.
Hardworking, loving, always there for his children. And then there was Cricket, who was beautiful and brilliant and sweet. She would be a good mother.
His gut reaction was to blame her. For trapping him. For changing his life. But how the hell could he? They had had unprotected sex. He was a doctor. He knew better! He had always been so careful. Even when he was in his last committed relationship, he had been careful. But not with Cricket. Rational thoughts ceased to exist when he was with her. All thoughts ceased to exist whenever he was near her.
“Are you healthy otherwise?”
“Yes. I had my doctor test for everything. We’re both healthy.”
“You’re keeping the baby. There’s no question about that,” he said firmly.
“I very much want this baby,” she said softly.
He nodded and looked down at her hands, which she held tightly clasped on her lap.
“There’s more I think you should know,” she said gravely.
His head snapped up. He couldn’t think of anything else important that he needed to know right now. He could barely wrap his head around his impending fatherhood. “What else could there be?”
“Have you ever heard of Jerome Warren?”
“The inventor and tech genius.”
“He’s my father.”
It took a full moment for that to sink in. She wasn’t just the mother of his unborn child—she was an heiress to a billion-dollar fortune. That wasn’t even including the assets of her father’s company, which was so successful it was dizzying.
Normally if he had learned that a woman he was dating was an heiress, it would make him pause, but it wasn’t Cricket’s father that he was concerned about.
“Your father is married to Dr. Frances Lundy. She’s my boss. She’s chief of surgery at my hospital.”