by Jamie Pope
“Thank you, Daddy.” She left her chair to hug her father, and as soon as she let him go, she turned to Elias. “Can you take me home? I don’t feel well.” She swayed a little.
He was out of his seat in an instant, grabbing her and pulling her close to him. “What’s the matter, baby?” he asked as she clung to him.
He was worried about her. She hadn’t eaten all day because she was nervous about how this evening was going to go. It had gone as badly as one could expect, and he wanted to take her away from here. He wanted to protect her from her mother’s vitriol that was partially his fault. If he were any other man, he knew it wouldn’t have gone so poorly. But he wasn’t any other man. He was her husband now, and Dr. Lundy was just going to have to get over it. Being head of trauma was his dream, but he had a family now. His father had always put them first. Elias was going to do the same for his family. His father would have been disappointed in him if he led his life any other way.
“Can you make it to the car or should I carry you out?”
“You already broke your hand. Do you think I want to be the cause of your broken back? You’ll never operate again. No, thank you. I can’t live with that kind of guilt.”
He grinned. He couldn’t help it. He kissed her cheek. He couldn’t help that, either. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Hamburgers,” she whispered into his ear.
“Anything you want.”
Chapter 6
When they got back to Elias’s town house, he ordered her to bed. She wasn’t used to anyone ordering her about, and the independent woman in her wanted to bristle. But she was too tired and numb, and frankly it was a little nice to have someone else to think for her when she couldn’t manage to herself. He was protective. He might not have married her for love, but he was going to take his duty as a husband seriously.
He had promised her a hamburger, and she thought he was going to run out to get dinner. But a few minutes later, the doorbell rang and he walked into the bedroom with a greasy bag that looked large enough to hold food for a small army of people.
“Smells like heaven.” She sighed as she kicked off her shoes. Her lower back was aching in a way that it never had before, and suddenly she felt too tired to eat. “When did you order it?”
“I have an app on my phone. It took less than two minutes.”
She struggled to unzip her dress, but then she felt large warm hands on her back and soon his knuckles were pressed against her bare skin as he unzipped.
“Do you want me to get you something to sleep in?” he asked, knowing that most of her clothes were in Hideaway Island, because she hadn’t planned to still be here. She especially hadn’t planned to marry him today.
“No, thank you. I think I should eat first.”
“You should. I was worried about you,” he told her as she sat down heavily on his bed.
“Don’t be. Fainting and dizziness are a sign of early pregnancy. So is lower-back pain.” She propped up the pillows behind her, making a mental note to make sure she got some more for the bed.
“Rationally and medically I know that, but still, when it’s your wife and your child, you can’t help but worry.”
She found his words sweet, but there was still some of that awkward tension between them that had been there most of the day. The only time it had disappeared was when they walked into the restaurant as a united front. But now that they were alone again, it returned.
Part of her wondered if part of him thought she had done this to him on purpose. Women trapped successful men all the time. And ever since he found out that she was hiding the truth about who her mother was, he didn’t trust her.
But after tonight, who could blame him?
“I’m going to feed you well tonight.” He sat next to her on his bed. Technically their bed, but she wasn’t sure if it was ever going to feel like she belonged there. “I’m going to advise against eating like this throughout your pregnancy. But tonight I say we make an exception. We deserve it.” He began unloading the bag. “I wasn’t sure what kind of loaded fries you’d prefer, so I got buffalo chicken and bacon and just plain old cheese and bacon–loaded fries. There’s cheeseburgers in there. I normally get mine with everything on it, but I had them put everything on the side for you because I don’t know how you like your burgers yet. There’s onion rings. A slice of chocolate cake, a piece of apple pie and I left the milkshakes in the living room.”
“I could cry,” Cricket said to him. “This is a heart attack in a paper bag, but it’s so beautiful I could cry.”
“You are crying,” he said quietly as he wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb.
“Am I? I’m sorry. It must be the pregnancy hormones.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re tired and hungry, and we just had a very tense meeting with your parents. It’s okay to be upset.”
“I feel like we should talk about it.”
“I feel like you need to feed my baby first.”
He handed her the container with her cheeseburger, and she absently loaded it with every fixing that was in there. “You keep saying your baby. You’re quite possessive over something that is going to come out of my body in a very painful manner.”
“I know.” He flashed her that devastatingly gorgeous grin of his. “That’s the best part of being a father. All of the glory. None of the excruciating pain.”
She laughed, still feeling the tears run down her face. She didn’t feel particularly sad, but she couldn’t stop them.
“Eat.” He leaned over and kissed the side of her face and let his lips linger there. “You’ll feel better after you do.”
She shut her eyes, willing him to keep his lips on her skin. It reminded her that she was no longer alone in this world. There was a time in her life when she’d never thought she would have a family of her own, and now she was going to have one. It might not be the way she’d dreamed of but it was a family all the same. She had been alone for years. It was nice not to feel that way anymore.
“So you like your burgers with everything on them, too?”
“Not usually. But tonight if you hand me a can of cold gravy, I would pile that on top, too.”
They ate mostly in silence with his large-screen television on in the background, but Elias sat close to her, their sides pressed together. She found his presence comforting, even with the heavy silence surrounding them.
When they were done, he removed all of the food from the room, leaving her with just a milkshake.
She knew she should get up and take off her fancy dress, but she was too tired to stand. So she sat on the bed, her hands folded over her belly, and thought about the life growing inside her. The life her mother was very upset about.
It was too soon to know the sex of the baby she was carrying, but she kept thinking it might be a boy. She hoped he looked just like Elias with his beautiful black curls and his strong build.
“Cricket...” Elias gathered her into his arms and held her tightly against him. “I don’t like to see you upset.”
She was crying again. She hadn’t realized she’d started, but the hot tears splashing down her cheeks told her she was.
“She’ll come around. It will be okay.”
“I’m so happy about this baby. She acts like I’m ruining my life.”
“She’s mad about me. She thinks I’ll ruin your life.”
“Any other mother would be thrilled that I came home married to a gorgeous surgeon.”
“You think I’m gorgeous?”
She gave him a wobbly smile. “I only have sex with gorgeous men. Makes for better-looking kids.”
The corner of his mouth curled. “She thinks I’m using you to get ahead in my career.”
“You aren’t devious. I know that.”
“I’m glad you do.
But the truth is, you don’t know me that well. I could be a ton of things.”
“You don’t know me well, either. But you married me.”
“I needed to.”
Because of the baby. Not because he was fond of her or thought he could love her. He’d married her because he felt he had no other choice. It didn’t make her feel very good about their chances in that moment.
“Help me get out of this dress?” She stood up, feeling a little wobbly, and went to his side of the bed. “It’s too tight. Can you pull the top down?”
“Yes.” He did as she asked, and she couldn’t help but notice that he touched her more than necessary while he did. He didn’t just pull her arms out of the sleeves. His fingers slid across her shoulders and skidded down her back. The dress was tight on her hips and he had to yank it down, but he took her underwear with it.
His lips grazed her lower back, and every nerve ending in her body screamed for more. “Do you want to have sex now?”
“No. We’re both exhausted and full. I just want to touch you.”
“But I’m willing.” She turned around and looked down into his eyes. There was arousal there. She loved when he looked at her like she was the sexiest thing ever created.
“You don’t have to have sex with me because it’s your wifely duty.”
“I know.” She lifted his hand and placed it between her legs, inside her lips so that he could feel her moisture.
“Spread your legs a little more.”
She did.
“Kiss me.”
She did that, too, and took so much pleasure in it. He just touched, slowly working his fingers in her folds. His pace should have slowed down the climax; instead his gentle touch brought it on quick and hard. She was crying out and breathless, and as soon as she had shuddered for the last time, he stood up, scooped her into his arms and placed her on the bed on her belly. He unhooked her bra, and she was expecting him to turn her over and cover her body with his and push inside her, but he didn’t. She smelled lightly scented lotion and then felt his big hot hands on her back.
It was sweet. It was perfect. She felt like weeping again. But she held back. “Talk to me, Elias.”
“About what?”
“About us. About anything. I think we have so much to say to each other.”
“But where to start?”
“What do you want out of life?”
“I wanted that job. I wanted to be head of trauma. I wanted to eventually head up my own hospital.”
“But now?”
“I just want to do the right thing.”
“Oh.”
“I like Miami Mercy. I liked working for your mother, but if you want me to quit that hospital, I will. I can find another job someplace else. We might have to move out of the state, but I will leave if you want me to.”
She was touched by the offer, but she couldn’t ask him to do that. She was already holding on to the guilt that she had made him marry a woman he didn’t love. She hadn’t actually made him propose, but she should have said no, should have stood firm and made him see reason.
“I don’t want you to leave.” She didn’t want to do anything that would make him unhappy.
“This is a premature conversation. I’m still not allowed to go back to work. It will be at least another six to eight weeks.”
“You had another appointment since I last saw you. You weren’t cleared to go back?”
“I wasn’t expecting to be. Wishful thinking on my part. I knew that it was going to be at least six months because of my specialty. I couldn’t just fracture my wrist—I had to break the hell out of it. I live my life doing just a little bit too much,” he said as his strong hands traveled down her back.
“Comminuted fracture?” she asked, but it came out as a moan.
“Yes.” He kissed her shoulder. “Extra-articular displaced.” He lifted her hair to kiss the back of her neck. “I’ve never dated a woman who knew her medical terms so well.”
“It turns you on that I know that you broke your bone in more than two pieces?”
“Yes. Your brainy medical knowledge is the reason I married you.”
“You married me because you impregnated me.”
“That was a very small factor in my decision.” He was quiet for a moment as he continued to massage her back. “I don’t regret asking you to marry me, you know.” It was as if he was reading her mind.
“We’ve only been married for twenty-four hours. Give it a few weeks.”
“You’re easy to be with, Cricket.”
“I’m sorry about today.”
“It was just one bad half hour. The whole day wasn’t bad. I like your father,” he said, changing the subject as he focused his hands on her lower back. “How often does a man get to meet a billionaire?”
“My father is pretty wonderful. He was born in the Deep South. Poorer than piss and turnips, as he is fond of saying, and then he pulled himself up.”
“He is self-made. Just like your mother.”
“That’s what they have in common. They both made everything out of nothing. She thinks I have it easier than they did, and I do in hundreds of ways, but my life hasn’t been easy. I worked hard, too. My mother thinks I have wasted my potential.”
“You have two doctorates. You’re well respected in your field.”
“My mother says while my nose is in a book, real doctors are out actually solving problems.”
“And now I get your issues with surgeons. I thought you were just stereotyping us. You were speaking about your mother.”
“Yes. I’ll stop complaining about my mother now. It must be really sexy to have a complaining, weepy pregnant woman in your bed.”
“If you could see what I see, you wouldn’t doubt why I have you in my bed.”
“Lie down with me,” she said to him as she slipped off her loosened bra.
“Okay.” She watched him as he stripped down to just his underwear. She knew she would never tire of looking at his body. He was so beautifully built. Her own body was about to go through a massive change, and she wondered if he still would want to touch her after it did. Their bodies were what kept them connected. What kind of marriage would they have when he was no longer attracted to her?
“Take everything off, please.”
He slid his underwear down, revealing his manhood, which was nearly fully erect and gently bobbing as he looked at her.
“Let me love you,” she said, reaching out to him.
He took her hand and slid into bed beside her. “I don’t think I could stop you.”
Chapter 7
A week after the revelation to Cricket’s parents, they returned to Hideaway Island. Elias had been planning to go back briefly for a family function, but Cricket asked him to stay on the island until he was cleared to go back to work. She had been afraid to ask him, he could tell. He still remembered the look on her face when she approached him. All flustered and adorable.
I—I don’t want to interrupt your life any more, but would you mind if—if we lived on Hideaway until you go back to work? Or at least go back on the weekends. If you don’t want to go, I could go by myself. But I would like you to come. That is, if you want to.
He’d wanted to kiss her right then, take her to bed and peel her clothes off and spend a few hours just buried inside her body. But he didn’t. He just agreed to go back with her. Elias was never the type of man who had vices. He drank responsibly. He never gambled. He didn’t chase after women. But Cricket had turned on something inside him that made him want to touch her. All the time. Be with her every second of the day, and there were a lot of times when he had to hold himself back. Prevent himself from touching her. He didn’t want her to think that all he thought about was sex. He wouldn’t blame her if she di
d, because their relationship had started because they couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
He still couldn’t keep his hands off her, but he liked her, too. He liked her smile and her voice and the nerdy things she said. He liked that she was his and no one else could claim her.
He saved his passion for her until night fell, and then he loved her for hours. There were times when he tried to give her a break and let her rest for a night or two, but she wasn’t content to sleep. She would reach for him, or touch him or simply look his way, and he needed to have her.
Needed to.
It was more than a want.
Much more.
“Are you sure I look okay today?” she asked him, worry in her eyes. She’d often seemed unsure of herself during their short marriage. Like she was afraid to upset him. She wanted to make sure he was happy.
He wanted to reassure her, but he didn’t know how. He didn’t know how to be married, and in the end, he knew it was his job to make sure she was happy, too.
“You’re beautiful.” He grabbed her hips and kissed along her jaw. He felt her relax a little. “It’s just a barbecue with my family. Stop being so skittish.”
She wore a short white dress with multicolored sailboats on it and cobalt blue sandals. She had left her hair down at his request. It probably made more sense for her to wear it up in the humid Florida heat, but it was one of those little things she did to please him. She had no idea that she pleased him without even trying.
“They don’t know about us,” she said, wrapping her arms around him.