by Aria Grace
“Lips?” He turned me around, pressing my back against the door before kissing me soundly and leaving me breathless. Less than an inch from my mouth, he asked, “Did you say you want my lips?” Before stealing one last kiss, he pushed back off the car and looked me over with his heated glance. “Where would you like them?”
Everywhere. Every-freaking-where.
“Coop,” I faux scolded as I willed my erection to simmer down.
“What?” He chuckled as he reached behind me, pulling the door open for me. “You asked, and I wanted to deliver.”
He climbed in on his side as I fastened my belt while still painfully hard. I pointed straight to my cock before picking up where we left off our conversation. “You wanted to deliver a very horny and preggo omega to their doctor’s appointment?”
“Eww. Fine.” He turned the ignition. “I’ll stop. But when we get home, we are revisiting the where to put my lips question.”
“Not helping,” I grumbled as he pulled out of our spot and headed the short distance to the doctor’s office. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t keep my head from playing out all kinds of scenarios using his lips.
“Not trying to.” He gave my knee a squeeze before driving us the rest of the way in what turned out to be unusually light traffic. That was one of the bonuses of being in the college-saturated part of town. After finals, the place was dead for at least a week.
“It’s the building up there on the left.” I pointed to the medical building coming into view. Good thing I’d looked it up online or I would’ve missed it. The thing looked more like an insurance company than a medical complex.
“Want me to drop you off and park the car?”
I bridged the top of my nose with my forefinger and thumb, willing myself to not sound miffed. He meant well. He was over the top in his concern, but legit concern it was.
“Because you either think I’m ninety-four or an invalid?” I asked, hoping he’d see the ridiculous nature of his question.
“Neither, I was—you’re right,” he conceded.
“I do appreciate the offer though, and look.” I pointed to a spot right near the door.
“Perfect. Do you have the paperwork?”
“Of course.” I rolled my eyes as I climbed out of the car. He’d asked me no less than four times if I needed help filling them out. There were pages and pages of the same exact information just in different order and for different files, I guessed. Why they hadn’t gone digital for that was beyond me.
“Not sure why they need all that if they have your old files from both the hospital and your old doctor.” Coop said what I was thinking as he took my hand.
“Because then they can charge an intake fee.” Which was probably the entirety of their reasoning.
“Ahhh, but of course. It’s all about the Benjamin.” And my thirty-five dollar copays each visit plus ten percent of all labs and thirty percent of the hospital stay. Yes, medical care was all about the money, but given my history, home birthing was out of the question, so paying up was part of the package. Totally worth every penny to meet my sweet baby, though.
“Always.” I hip checked him as we walked in the main entrance and quickly found the office, signing in in the very “we care about you” manner of Insurance and License please. You can sit over there while never once meeting your eye.
“Ashton,” the nurse called from the little side door I somehow missed when we sat down. I got up, Coop by my side, and met her at the entryway. “Come, let’s take your vitals and weigh you before getting you settled in a room. Are you alright with—“ She eyed Coop, and I wanted to die a little inside for him. It was probably because she had read the hospital records, but still.
“My mate being here?” I was firm and strong. There was no need for him to feel less than even if he wasn’t my mate in truth.
Her eyes widened. “Yes,” she squeaked out. “I apologize. It said unmarried, and I assumed.”
Damn paperwork.
“No need to apologize,” Coop accepted her apology after the silence lasted just a bit too long.
She made quick work of gathering my vitals and having me pee in a cup. I’d put on a couple of pounds, which was about right for where I was in the pregnancy. My blood pressure was a tad higher than normal, but given the past couple of weeks, that too made sense.
We were settled in a room, me on the exam table wearing what amounted to a sheet of butcher paper and no pants, and Coop on the rolling stool that was probably meant for the doctor.
“When she asked you about me being allowed in the room, it was like a kick to the gut,” Coop said after sitting there in silence for far longer than was his norm.
“Don’t let it bother you. She's young and didn’t mean anything by it.” And it wasn’t like you could mate while pregnant.
“I wasn’t upset at her. I was upset because she was right. I have no claim here. None.” He sounded so dejected. I held out my hand to him and he rolled over.
“You are my mate. That’s all that matters.” And it was true. Every last word. He was mine, and I was his. Done.
“But we haven’t mated.” Coop’s head fell a little. Why did he feel the need to carry so much on his shoulders.
“Because I'm pregnant, and we can’t.” I waited until he looked up and met my eyes. “Don’t tell me that if I wasn’t carrying your baby you wouldn’t have mated me already.”
“True, but it doesn’t change things.”
“It’s fine. Truly. It is.” I tried to bring his hand closer to me so I could roll him in close enough that to touch his face without getting off the torture—I mean examine—table. He was staying put.
“No, but it will be.” He pulled out a ring box from his pocket. I was on a table, half naked and not in the sexy way, and he was on a doctor’s roly stool...and he pulled out a ring box. “Ashton Crawford, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”
The answer was yes. Of course it was yes. But that wasn’t what came out of my mouth.
“You bought a ring and decided to wait until I was covered with a paper blanket in an exam room to ask me?” I wasn’t even mad or upset, just trying to piece it all together.
“I had planned to wait until our dinner at Francesca’s on Saturday.” He shrugged with a smirk.
“But I was looking so hot in this paper blanket?”
“Don’t mock the alpha.” He could barely contain his laughter as he spoke.
“Knock, knock,” the doctor called out as he opened the door. Coop stashed the ring back in his pocket. “Hello, I’m Doctor Hanrihan.”
And just like that, the proposal was over and the answer was not given. But we got to hear the heartbeat and all kinds of reassurances that everything looked great with the baby, so that made proposal interruptus worth it.
22
Coop
When the doctor walked in and interrupted the worst proposal moment in the history of proposal moments, I should have been grateful. But I wasn’t. I was ridiculously disappointed. But those thoughts were quickly forgotten once the doctor pulled out his measuring tape and got to work on Ash’s slightly raised belly.
Thankfully, all was well with both Ash and the baby so it was easy to get distracted by the ultrasound images and strong heartbeat sounds. I didn’t realize how much that sound would reassure me that the baby was fine until I actually heard it. And all my fears and insecurities vanished as I kissed away the stray tears that slipped from Ash’s eyes.
But as we walked into the parking lot after the appointment, my anxiety over his lack of response to my proposal was back in full force. I didn’t think Ash would reject me, but I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed by how it happened. It’s true that I’d been carrying around that ring for weeks, just waiting for the right opportunity. It’s also true that in the middle of a sterile doctor’s office was probably not the right opportunity. But I panicked. Realizing that I had no claim on Ash or our unborn child was an eye-opener. If there were
any kind of emergency, I wouldn’t have a say over how either of them should be cared for. And that’s not something I could wait any longer to resolve.
As Ash reached for the car door, I stopped him, gently turning him so he was leaning against the window. “Ash…”
He grinned, a twinkle in his eye making my heart beat faster. “What, you mean now? Here?” He shrugged and undid the top button of his pants. “I didn’t realize you were an exhibitio—”
I stilled his hand with a low growl. “You know that’s not what I want…”
He cocked his head, still playing dumb even as he pulled me closer to him. “But your lips…”
“Fine.” I took a step back and rolled my shoulders, shaking out my nerves. “You want me to do this right? I will.”
Ash took a deep breath and locked his gaze with mine as I reached into my pocket to pull out the ring he’d already seen then dropped down onto one knee.
“Ashton Crawford, I have a history of screwing things up the first time, as you’re well aware, but I hope you’ll take me seriously this time.” I reached for his left hand and kissed his knuckles before holding his palm over my heart. “I want to spend the rest of my life loving you. I want to raise our babies and grow old together. And most of all, I want you to know that you’re the most important person in my life. Forever.”
His breath hitched as he covered his mouth with his free hand, already nodding even though I hadn’t actually popped the question yet.
“So, despite my penchant for making mistakes at the beginning of our story, I know I’m finally getting it right. Will you be my happily ever after by becoming my partner, my mate, and my husband?”
Ash’s eyes flooded over, and tears streamed down his cheeks while he nodded. “Yes, Cooper Daye. Nothing in this world would make me happier.”
As I slipped the ring onto his finger and kissed him hard on the mouth, I knew how right my words were. I would be happy for ever after as long as I always had Ash in my arms, just like this.
Wedding planning should be a required life skills course in college. As educated as I was, at least half of the words I read in the brochures and websites didn’t make sense to me. I wanted to help Ash as much as possible, but with my new job and taking care of Sylvia for four hours in the morning until Ash got home from his classes, I was feeling more pressure than I ever had before. I wanted to prove to my new bosses that I was capable of exceeding their expectations despite working remotely from the rest of the team, but that meant extra long hours and conference calls in the middle of the night. Neither of which helped get dinner on the table or diapers changed.
Nor did it leave a lot of time for choosing flowers or colors or menu fonts. And I was okay with that because those things didn’t matter to me. I would have been happy with Mama and Killian’s family meeting us at the courthouse for a simple marriage and dinner at a family-friendly restaurant. But I wanted to give Ash the wedding he deserved, especially when he started feeling tired at the end of his second trimester.
The phone app I consulted almost hourly for expectant dad advice assured me that months four through seven were supposed to be the easiest. Despite high emotions and unusual cravings, Ash should have been feeling great.
But he wasn’t. He started getting dizzy every time he lifted Sylvia up too quickly, and I caught him with his head between his legs a few times before finally confronting him on what was happening. He had been pale all afternoon, but now his lips were almost blue. “Ash, baby. What’s going on?”
“It’s probably nothing.” He wouldn’t look me in the eye. “I just need more rest.”
“Nope.” I shook my head, already reaching for my phone to call Ryan. He’d moved in next door a few months earlier and adored Sylvia. He could play on the floor with her for hours and not get bored, so when we needed quick childcare, he was our go-to babysitter. “If Ryan can’t come over, we’ll drop Sylvia off with Mama, but you’re going to urgent care right now.”
He closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths. “I’m just not ready...”
“Ready for what?” I put the phone down and brushed my thumb across his cheek until he was looking at me. “What are you worried about?”
“Everything.” He huffed and wiped away a tear. “To be told there’s a problem. To be on bedrest. I don’t know...but I’m not ready for it. I can’t take care of Sylvia if I’m stuck in bed for the next three months.”
“If that’s what your body needs, that’s what your body will get.” I pulled him against my chest and breathed in his scent, letting it calm my nerves while I tried to calm his. “I know you’ve had reservations about this pregnancy from the beginning, but we can’t ignore a problem if there is one.”
He sniffled and nodded. “I just want everything to be okay.”
I rubbed small circles over his back, just as afraid of what the doctor might say as Ash was. We both knew the risks of birth defects or premature delivery were exceptionally high. But that didn’t make our miracle baby any less precious to us. “I know you do, babe. And whatever happens, happens. We can’t keep you and the baby healthy if we don’t know what’s going on.”
He took a deep breath and finally smiled. “Okay, let’s go find out what our baby needs.”
23
Ash
Urgent care took one look at me and turned me away, which only sent my nerves through the roof. They told me triage at my hospital was my best bet, which would’ve been fine and dandy had they not then mentioned an ambulance. I understood the logic of seeing someone who had access to my records, but as soon as they mentioned the box of death, my brain filled with all the awful images I normally kept hidden away.
Coop was great, reassuring me the entire time and telling me that they were just covering their asses. He conjectured that there was no way they could know a blasted thing since they hadn’t even allowed me to so much as sign in. He’d been right, but that didn’t calm my nerves one iota.
We walked in through the emergency room entrance as instructed only to be told we were idiots and to go in through the main doors because it was before six. I already hated the hospital and had yet to get to triage.
The triage area was bustling. There were expectant parents pacing the halls, waiting for their name to be called, families were sitting in the waiting room, and three people stood in line to check in.
“Looks like we are in time for the party,” I jabbed as Coop stood there with his mouth open as if he never saw a pregnant person much less a pregnant beta in labor like the one currently moaning in pain as she paced the hallway.
“Must be why they sent us here.” He shrugged, his eyes never leaving the poor woman as the color drained from his face. It was probably for the best that I was predestined for a C-section if this was his reaction to what was not even close to the throes of labor. “I’ll go sign you in. You sit down, and try to relax a bit.”
I gave him a hug and sat down as he wrote my name on the piece of paper and waited for me to be called.
I had no idea what he wrote as our reason for being there, but they were at the door calling my name almost immediately, earning me a few not-so-friendly looks from some of the people in the waiting room. I got up and joined the intake nurse and Coop at the door, and then we went into a little cubicle to answer all the questions—after we gave them our insurance information, of course.
After about five hundred questions, most of which had no relevance on my health at all, she whisked me to the back and had me get undressed. It was all pretty familiar, except unlike at the doctor’s office, I was given a gown. True, it was still paper, but it was better than the paper blanket I usually had to rely on as the one thing in the way of me and embarrassment..
My first hint that this was more than me being paranoid was when the nurse took my blood pressure and told me to lay on my side and relax until she came back without telling me what my results were. When she did come back, it was with a urine collection bottle that she tried to nonchalantly
leave to the side as she took my blood pressure once again. I could see Coop itching to ask all the questions on his mind but refraining.
Good man.
The doctor would tell us what needed telling. I’d had too many nurses telling me their opinion and getting me worked up for nothing during my pregnancy with Sylvia to fall prey to that again.
“The doctor would like you to use this bottle when you urinate for the next few hours. I’ll send someone in with some water and maybe some juice for you to drink. We’ll bring some for your alpha too. It can be dry in here.” You could almost hear the fear in her voice. Almost. She had Mary Sunshine down pat.
“Will the doctor be in soon?” Coop asked, no longer able to hold his silence.
“He is closing up a patient, but he says you are next on his list.” She smiled her fake smile. This was not good. If she bothered him during a C-section, it had to be really bad.
“How high was it?” I broke the cardinal rule Coop and I set up within an hour. I stunk at playing it cool.
“Don’t you even worry about it, Dad. You’re just a little nervous being sent here is all.” She pointed to the collection bottle. “Don’t forget.” And with that, she left.
“It must be high.” I sighed, allowing myself to fall back to my lying down position.
“You are really worried. And you owe me a blowjob.” He plopped into a chair right beside my hospital bed.
“I’m not saying I won’t happily swallow you whole, but how do I owe you?” And dammit, now all I could think about was his scent, his taste. Better than worrying but not the best place to have a boner.
“You broke our only hospital rule: Never ask nurses about medical results.”
“So. I know you wanted to too, and how does that lead to blowjobs?” I couldn’t wait to hear his logic.
“Because when you announced the stupid rule, I told you to blow me, and you said only if you broke the rule first. And you did.”
