“She’s not supposed to be on the furniture,” Brad says.
“My house, my rules,” I reply and take another sip of the one thing in this world I’m addicted to, and give him a once over from head to toe. “You look like you got about as much sleep as I did.”
“Rough night?” he asks without confirming or denying.
“Babies,” I reply with a shrug. “You?”
He just shrugs. “Are you going to ask me in?”
“Sure.” I back up and gesture him into the room. “Sorry, I was sleeping pretty good. My energy level is about equal to a sloth on Xanax.”
“I can leave and let you go back to bed.”
His eyes roam up and down my body, reminding me that I’m just in a robe and nothing else. His green eyes are hot, and every muscle in his body is tight.
Even sleep deprived, I can tell when a man is in the mood.
“You’ve brought me coffee. I’ll never kick you out when you’ve done that.”
“I’ll remember that,” he says with a chuckle.
“Besides, I have plenty of room.” I turn and walk into my bedroom, glancing behind me to see that he’s following me. He makes a hand gesture at Sadie, which I assume means stay. “We can take a nap,” I suggest.
His lips twitch, but he doesn’t say anything when he joins me next to the bed. He takes my coffee and sets both of our cups on the bedside table.
“Is that what you want, Hannah?” he murmurs and skims his fingertips down my arms.
“Eventually.”
He hitches his finger in the belt of my robe. “What do you have on under here?”
I’m staring at his mouth. His lips are just… wow. I want them on me. All over me. Every fucking inch.
“Maybe you should just take it off and find out,” I whisper, unsure of where my voice went.
He takes a long, deep breath, his finger is moving back and forth under the belt. He leans in and kisses my forehead and pulls the belt loose, letting the robe gape open down the middle.
I expect him to step back to watch it fall away, but he doesn’t. He slides his large, warm hand under it, gliding against my skin at my waist, then back to cup my bare ass.
He takes a sharp breath and whispers, “You’re naked.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you always naked when you sleep?”
“Unless I just fall down in my clothes, yes.”
“I didn’t bring condoms,” he says, disappointment hanging heavy in his voice.
“I do this stuff for a living,” I remind him with a grin. “I’ve got pregnancy covered, and I’m as clean as a person gets.”
His lips twitch. “Me, too.” He kisses my forehead again, then my cheek, and he’s pushing my robe off my shoulders to pool around my feet. He lays his lips over mine, not moving them, just resting as his hands move from my shoulders to my breasts. Rather than grope, his fingers lightly skim my nipples, making them pucker in readiness, wanting his lips.
But his lips are still on mine, and now they begin to move. Slowly, lazily, fitting the mood perfectly, his soft lips brush over mine, back and forth. He nibbles the corner, making my skin break out in goosebumps.
He guides me onto the bed, but before he can settle in, I pull at the hem of his T-shirt, tucked into his jeans.
“You’re way over dressed.”
He smiles against my mouth, and then he’s gone to quickly discard his clothes. He went from lazy and slow to The Flash in 2.1 seconds, and now he’s standing next to me, all six-foot-five-ish of him, tanned and muscular and hard.
Hard everywhere.
“You can come back here now.”
He smiles and covers my body with his, but rather than kiss me all over, he braces himself on his elbows on either side of my head and holds my gaze in his.
“Hannah.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re sexier than I ever imagined, and I can’t wait to sink inside you.”
I can only smile at him.
“But if you think you’re running this show, you’re sorely mistaken, sweetheart.”
His lips are on mine again and his hands are buried in my hair, and I’m already lost to him. To his hands and body and mouth, and he’s only just started.
He kisses my jawline to my ear, then down my neck to my collarbone. My legs are restless, scissoring in anticipation, as he pulls one nipple into his mouth and tugs gently, then harder. He’s worrying the other with his fingers, and it’s like there’s a line directly to my pussy, making it pulse with every tug of his lips.
My fingers are in his hair, fisted, holding on for dear life. Jesus, I’m ready to come and he hasn’t even touched me farther south than my tits.
How am I going to survive this?
But then he drags his nose down my tummy, over my navel, and spreads my legs wide, and all rational thought flies right out the window.
Holy hell on wheels.
My wish from earlier is being granted as his mouth travels over me. My thighs, biting and licking his way up to the crease where my leg meets my core. He brushes his nose over my clit, then goes to work on the other thigh, making me writhe and curse, fisting the sheets.
“Do you have something to say?” he asks and looks up at me with blazing green eyes.
“You’re killing me,” I grind out through gritted teeth.
“You don’t like this?” He bites my tender inner thigh gently and makes me moan in pleasure. “Are you sure, because it sounds like you like it.”
“Dear God, I like it.”
“What about this?” His fingers stroke my outer labia, just enough to spread the wetness around, and make me about come out of my skin. “Do you like this?”
“Oh yeah.”
He chuckles and reaches up to cup my breast, flicking his thumb over the nipple. “Your breasts are perfect.”
“Small.”
“Perfect,” he says again, and with his hand still covering said breast, he holds my gaze as he lowers his mouth to my core, sucking my clit between his lips, and my whole world shatters around me, sending me into another dimension. My head falls back, and all I can do is arch my back and moan as he makes me feel things that I didn’t even know were possible.
Like shivers and contractions and my legs shaking uncontrollably.
He’s a wizard. This is fucking wizardry.
He moves his mouth off my clit and down to my lips, licking and nibbling, and the next thing I know, he pushes two fingers inside me as he moves back up my body, covering me fully.
“Look at me.”
I open my eyes to find his face hovering over mine.
“I’m going to see this happen this time.” His fingers are moving, twisting, inside me, brushing against a spot that’s making every hair on my body tingle.
I bite my lip and close my eyes, but his voice is firm. “Open.”
I comply, and he presses the flat of his hand against my clit, and I fall apart, crying out as he watches me in maybe the most intimate moment of my life.
Before I float all the way back down to earth, Brad moves between my legs, pushing my knees up, and presses his cock against my sopping wet core.
“You’re sure?”
“Please, God, don’t stop now.”
That’s all he needs to hear. He sinks inside me, balls deep, and rests there, breathing hard and watching me closely.
“You’re so fucking tight,” he growls. He falls to his elbows and buries his face in my neck, kissing me there as his hips rear back and then push against me again, picking up a pace that’s steady and sure, but not hard or too fast.
I feel so full. On fire. And when he lifts his head and smiles down at me, I feel adored. As weird as it sounds, that’s exactly the way I feel right now.
Like he just can’t get enough of me.
He holds my gaze as he moves a bit faster, pushing just a little harder, and finally succumbs to his own release.
“Holy shit,” he whispers, trying to catch his breath.
/>
“Yeah,” I agree and drag my fingers down his face. “Holy shit.”
***
“Can’t you call in sick today?” Brad asks me about two hours later after we’ve cleaned ourselves up, then got messy again before eating some eggs and bacon.
Sexy mornings should happen more often. They’re highly underrated.
“I don’t think so,” I reply and bite my lip in disappointment. “But we have two more hours before I have to be there. Don’t you have to go into work?”
“I should,” he says with a sigh. “After yesterday, I’ll have some paperwork to see to, and I need to get reports from everyone regarding the electricity in the water.”
“Are people able to swim and boat yet?”
“Yeah, I lifted that ban late last night when I got a call saying all power that runs under the lake has been shut off for now while they figure out what the fuck went wrong.” He sighs and rubs his hand over his face, and I’m sorry that I asked. He was finally relaxed.
“I’m sorry,” I say and straddle his lap. We’re on the couch, lounging with Sadie now curled up on my recliner. I cup his face in my hands and kiss him sweetly. “You’re not supposed to be thinking about that right now.”
He cups my ass, gripping firmly, and smiles up at me. “What should I think about?”
“Well, there was some pretty impressive sexy time this morning.”
“We could keep that trend going,” he suggests as I unzip his pants and set him free, already hard again. I’m in a sundress, with no panties, so it’s easy to slide right over him, making us both sigh in lust.
“God, you’re fucking amazing,” he says, pulling my dress up over my head so he can get his hands on my breasts. “Beautiful.”
“You feel so good.” I’m moving faster, riding him and glorying in how he feels from this angle. “So deep.”
“God, babe.” He takes my nipple into his mouth, and I can’t help it. I fall apart at the seams, bearing down on him so hard that he has no choice but to come with me. I collapse against him, breathing hard.
“Hannah. You asked me before what helps, remember?”
“I do.”
“It’s you.” He cups my face and kisses me softly. “It’s just you.”
***
“Is it weird that the hospital has better food than some of the restaurants in town?” I ask Drake the next afternoon. I’ve been running back and forth between the clinic and the hospital all day because I have a patient carrying twins who went into labor this morning. She’s still in labor, six hours later, but there’s no distress and she’s laboring well. Now that my appointments are finished for the day, I can hang out here at the hospital to be close by, just in case.
So, I’m having a quick late lunch with Drake while my patient takes a break, catching a quick nap.
“I’ve been in a few hospitals with good food,” he says and sprinkles pepper over his avocado salad.
“I guess I always expect it to suck.” I shrug and watch my friend, who has a frown on his handsome face. “So what’s been going on with you? Are you dating anyone?”
“Hell no,” he replies and licks a drop of lemon dressing off his thumb. “Women are trouble.”
“How so?”
“They start to get clingy and hint that they want a ring on their finger. And by hint I mean state it under no uncertain terms, and by ring I mean a sixty-thousand-dollar rock.
“Like I said, women are trouble.”
“True story,” I reply with a nod, and then giggle.
Drake sits back and watches me closely. “You’re dating someone.”
“True story,” I repeat and take a big bite of a chicken tender so I don’t have to answer his next question right away.
“Who?”
“Bffd mmm.”
He raises a brow and waits for me to swallow my food.
“Try that again.”
“Brad Hull.”
“The police chief?”
“Do you know of another one?”
He looks genuinely surprised. “I actually like Brad.”
“Did you think I’d decide to date someone you don’t like?”
“I’m surprised you’re dating at all. You’re usually too much of a workaholic like me.”
“I’m still a workaholic, but so is he.” I shrug. “So we only see each other a couple of times during the week, but it’s nice to find a guy who understands the long hours, you know? Who doesn’t complain about it. I mean, he did ask if I could call in sick yesterday, but that’s just because the sexy time was off the charts.”
“TMI,” he says and takes a bite of his salad. “Is he nice to you?”
“Yes, he plays nice.” I roll my eyes. “Plus, Sadie is such a sweetie.”
“This is a threesome situation?” he asks, blinking rapidly.
“What are you, twelve?”
“On a scale of one to ten, yes.” He grins. “Who’s Sadie?”
“His dog.”
“You’ve fallen for a guy’s dog?”
“She’s a super sweet dog,” I reply defensively. “She’s a retired police dog.”
“You know, you could just adopt your own dog. You don’t need a man for that.”
“Ha ha.” I throw a french fry at him and then laugh. “I like both him and the dog. He knows about the anxiety, and he’s actually really understanding.”
“Wow,” Drake says with surprise. “You’re serious about this one.”
“He gets me,” I reply. “So yeah, I want to see where this goes.”
“Good for you, Han. Maybe we’ll go on a double date sometime.”
“I thought you said you’re not dating anyone?”
He raises a brow again, and I dissolve into laughter. “Okay, I get it. Sure, we can do that.”
My phone rings. “This is Dr. Malone.”
“This is Siobhan,” my nurse says. “Your patient wants to see you.”
“I’m on my way.”
I hang up and sigh. “Lunch is over for me. I’m being summoned.”
“Take it with you.”
“Oh, I am. I’ll hide in my office and eat the rest later.” I wink at him and turn, but he calls me back. “Yeah?”
“You look happy. I like it.”
“Thanks.” I smile and hurry away, wondering what’s up with the patient. She might just be nervous and need another pep talk. That happens all the time, and is perfectly normal.
I stow my half eaten lunch in my office, wipe my mouth off, grab my stethoscope and hurry into the patient’s room.
“What’s happening in here?”
“Something’s wrong,” Jennifer, my patient says. Her husband is holding her hand and looks at me with desperation in his eyes.
I immediately look at the monitors, and everything looks normal.
“There are no warning signs here,” I reply, but I lay my hand on her belly, and she writhes in pain.
“It feels like my whole body is being squeezed by a giant hand.”
“Well, you’re having a baby. You’re having two babies, and it’s going to hurt. Did you go to birthing classes?”
“We did,” Trent says with a nod.
“Great. Remember your breathing.”
“Right.” Jennifer nods. “Breathing.” She begins to breathe quickly, pursing her lips and staring at Trent in concentration. The fetal monitor begins to move up, indicating another one, and she squeezes his hand even harder, making him wince.
“See?” I get her attention, pointing to the monitor. “You can see here when a contraction is coming, when it peaks, and when it’s coming back down. If it helps, watch this and breathe with it. I’m going to check you real quick.”
I turn away and wash my hands, then reach for the gloves. Jennifer is still breathing, and I expect to find that she might be already dilated to about an eight, if she’s in this much pain already.
I take a deep breath, telling my brain to shut off. I’ve delivered hundreds of babies, and I woul
dn’t do this for all of the money in the world. No way. I’m not going to turn my body inside out like this.
Nope.
But I put a smile on my face, and urge her to spread her legs so I can reach in to see how ready her body is to give birth to these babies.
Two centimeters.
That’s it?
I pull away and throw the gloves away, then wash my hands again.
“Well?” she asks. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
“Not at all,” I reassure her. “Jennifer, you’re dilated at two centimeters.”
“Only two?” Trent asks, reading my mind.
“I’m afraid so. I know you’re uncomfortable, and if you want to elect for a cesarean section, we can still do that.”
“No, I want to have them naturally,” she insists.
“Are you sure you don’t even want some medication?” I ask. “There are two babies here, Jennifer.”
“No meds.” She shakes her head and I sigh. She’s at a two, which tells me she has many hours ahead of her to labor, and she doesn’t want the drugs.
Take the drugs!
Always take the drugs. I know, many people would frown at that philosophy, but I’ve seen a lot of natural births. I’m never birthing anything, but if I did, I’d take all of the drugs.
“Okay, that’s your choice,” I reply, calm as can be. “I recommend getting up and walking around a bit. Up and down the hallway. That sometimes helps. After you’ve done that for a while, we’ll put you in the bathtub. A nice bath will sometimes help your muscles relax.”
“Let’s do that now,” she says, but I shake my head.
“There’s no speedy way to do this,” I reply. “Babies come when they’re ready. I think we’re going to be here most of the night, but you might surprise me. Let’s get you up walking, and we’ll go from there.”
She nods and gestures for her husband to pass her the pink terrycloth bathrobe over the reclining chair.
She also brought bunny slippers.
“I like your hospital style,” I say with a smile.
“I figured I should be comfortable. Well, my feet anyway.”
“Absolutely. Oh, and have Trent massage your feet, too. That will help you relax.”
“What helps me relax?” Trent asks.
“You’re not pushing two babies out today, my friend. It’s all about helping Jennifer relax.”