Claiming His Baby

by Nikki Chase

  There’s no time to worry about that, though. I need to get ready.

  There’s no time to shower, obviously, so I’ll just… I don’t know, put on my scrubs and hope I look presentable. Definitely no time for make-up.

  I flip the blanket open and…

  What am I wearing?

  Why did I wear a dress into bed? And this dress, too. This dress is way too special to wear to sleep. What if it gets stained or torn before I even get to see Gabe?

  Wait a minute…

  I stare absently across my bedroom. All my brainpower goes into trying to remember…

  Gabe.

  Oh, shit.

  I check my phone for messages, and find just one from Karen.

  Hey, I just dropped you off. You totally passed out! Hope you’ll feel better in the morning.

  Gabe.

  There’s nothing from Gabe.

  But of course! I didn’t give him my phone number.

  I didn’t give him my phone number because… I was supposed to see him again right away.

  Then I went to see Karen… and that’s all I remember.

  Shit!

  I was about to see Gabe in his room and I passed out?

  I have the worst luck in the world.

  I must’ve passed out after I saw Karen.

  I guess I can’t complain too much. At least I didn’t puke on Gabe or something.

  But damn it, how could it have gone so unexpectedly right, and then so unexpectedly wrong?

  I don’t have time to dwell on this. I already wasted about thirty seconds reading Karen’s text.

  I grab the door of my wardrobe open and take the scrubs at the top of the pile.

  I’ve had so many 16-hour shifts that I don’t remember the days anymore. They’re all blurred together in my mind—except for last night.

  Last night stood out because I knew I was going to see Gabe.

  On the first day of my internship, I asked to have last night off. That was before I knew I could attend the event. I didn’t even know Karen at that point.

  But I knew I was going to see Gabe, ticket or no ticket. Worst case scenario, I could hang around outside the building and wait for the party to end so I could “bump into” Gabe as he’s walking out.

  But I totally didn’t expect him to not even recognize me.

  As I close the wardrobe door, a silver flashlight catches the sunlight on its reflective surface, momentarily blinding me.

  I almost forgot that thing’s still in here. When I was a little girl, I used to hide inside my wardrobe and read a book under the flashlight. I found the enclosed space comforting, and Ray never looked for me in there.

  With lightning speed, I take off my dress and underwear, then put on my scrubs.

  I check my reflection in the mirror. Of course I didn’t remove my make-up either. I take off the hairpins poking me in the head and run a finger under my eyes to remove the black mascara that has smudged there.

  Done. Ready for work.

  I run downstairs.

  “Oh, look who’s decided to join us for breakfast,” Ray says.

  “I’m not having breakfast. What are you doing up so early?”

  “What, I’m not allowed to wake up in the morning now? Maybe I just want to see how you deal with your first hangover.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have a hangover.” I check the hallway table, where the keys are supposed to be stored.

  Nope. Not there. Of course they’re not there.

  “You look like you’re in a rush, honey. Do you want Ray to drive you to work?” Mom asks as she appears from the kitchen with a stack of pancakes.

  What is with my family today? Why are they being so nice and helpful?

  Is this opposite day? Am I still dreaming? Is this just how vivid dreams are when I’m drunk?

  “No, thanks, Mom. I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t think Ray wants to leave his pancakes.”

  “Damn right I don’t,” he says.

  I can always depend on Ray to be selfish.

  I don’t need either of these two to show up at the hospital and see Gabe’s dad.

  They’d get out of control like they always do and embarrass me. Worse still, they’d give me shit for working there and Ray would finally have an excuse to try to drag me down with him.

  “You know, Mom, Jackie came home wasted last night. About time, don’t you think?” Ray asks.

  “Oh, don’t bother her, Ray. She went out with Dr. Brown’s daughter to that award event. Did you meet any nice guys, sweetie?”

  I roll my eyes. Of course Mom would judge how worthwhile my activities are based on how many wealthy men I meet in the process.

  This time, though, the answer is actually yes. Yes, I did meet a very nice guy, Mom. But you wouldn’t like him.

  I ignore Mom’s question, and Ray does too.

  “She’s already twenty-four,” Ray says, pausing to chew his food, “and I expected her to start binging at twenty-one, at the latest. And even that’s late for our family. You have a lot of catching up to do, little sister.”

  Mom stays quiet, and I can’t see her expression because I’m crawling around the entryway, but I finally find the keys.

  I grab the damn things and bolt out the door.

  I walk down the street to where Mom and Ray can’t see me and call a cab. It comes in no time. We live in a pretty central location, so it’s also going to be a short ride to the hospital, but I’m still going to be late.

  In the cab, I think about the events of last night, replaying as much as I can remember in my head.

  I remember going outside and asking for a cigarette because I needed an excuse to talk to him. Then, he told me not to smoke and invited me up to his room instead.

  My face heats up as I remember all the dirty things he said.

  I had no idea Gabe had such a filthy mouth. I didn’t expect him to be that dominant either.

  I mean, he was always a gruff loner, but he was a sensitive soul inside.

  But I like the rude, arrogant Gabe. He’s hot as hell. My panties were completely drenched last night, and I desperately wanted him to pop my cherry.

  God, why didn’t I go to his room last night? It was the opportunity of a lifetime. Now he’s probably going back to Africa soon, and I’m never going to see him again.

  Okay, maybe “never” is an exaggeration. I’m sure there’s something I can do to figure out his schedule. Or I don’t know, he’s bound to come back again someday, right?

  All things considered, I guess things worked out okay last night…?

  Up until last night, Gabe had never seen me as anything other than his friend’s little sister.

  To be fair, I was only sixteen when It happened and Gabe left. He was the same age I am now. And from my current point of view, sixteen-year-olds are immature brats.

  Now that we were both grown-ups, I was hoping he’d see me as a woman. And he did.

  It was just a shame the moment didn’t last as long as I hoped it would.

  As the cab pulls up in front of the hospital, I grab a $20 bill and hand it to the driver as soon as we come to a stop. “Keep the change.”

  I walk briskly—I can’t run because that would attract too much attention—toward the spot where we’re supposed to meet this morning, a nurses’ station on the third floor.

  I find the group easily. Trying to blend with the crowd of medical interns, I start at the back and slowly sidle up to Karen.

  As soon as she sees me, she widens her eyes and whispers, “Where were you? I told your brother to set an alarm for you before I left.”

  Damn it. Ray deliberately didn’t set an alarm for me even though he knew what time I’d have to get up. Jerk.

  I give Karen a smile and a shrug. It would take too long to explain why I didn’t wake up on time, because I’d have to go through everything that’s wrong with my family.

  Besides, I don’t want the stern residency director, Dr. Crenshaw, to notice me. I�
�m already late, so I probably should shut up and listen to him.

  I take out my pen and notebook to jot down my tasks for the day, copying a few lines from Karen’s notes. When I’m done, I look up, only to see a tall, dark, and gorgeous man beside Dr. Crenshaw.

  Gabe.

  He’s staring at me with an angry flame in his bright green eyes and a smirk on his lips.

  Gabriel

  Finally, I find her—well, only her name. But this is a big clue.

  Just when I think I won’t ever see her again.

  It’s kind of poetic, if you think about it.

  But “poetic” won’t help you, angel. You’re really in trouble now.

  Last night, before I went back into my hotel room, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the guest list from one of Dad’s important friends.

  I scoured through the names, but I couldn’t find a Jacqueline. I couldn’t find anyone with the surname Summers either.

  I had no other leads to use to find her. So even though I knew that brief meeting with a gorgeous, mysterious girl under the moonlight was going to haunt me for the rest of my life, I thought I had to let it go.

  But there she is.

  I didn’t see her name on the guest list from last night, but her name is printed right here, on the list of interns working under Dr. Crenshaw.

  Jacqueline Summers.

  She’d really messed with my mind last night, to the point where I was starting to think she was just a figment of my imagination. She was the perfect girl—physically, sexually, and personality-wise. No girl like that could exist. It was the logical conclusion.

  So she lied to me about smoking. She lied to me about wanting to come up to my room. And she probably lied to me about the friend, too.

  I was starting to assume everything that she’d told me was a lie. Including her name.

  In fact, now that I’m staring at her name in black and white, I can’t quite believe that she’s real, that she’s really going to come into this building and work here today.

  Is it possible she gave me a false name and made sure I was going to come across that name the next morning?

  Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch. Let’s take off the tinfoil hat and try again.

  It could be that Dad had really hired an escort to seduce me, and absentmindedly plucked a fake name for the escort from memory, not realizing that the name belonged to an intern. But then why would she back out of our deal?

  No.

  None of those scenarios sound right at all.

  Despite everything that has happened, despite the fact that she didn’t show up last night, my gut tells me it wasn’t some kind of a dumb prank.

  Her reactions were too genuine. Not even an Oscar-winning actress could act out the little signs of her arousal as perfectly as she did, without a script and under pressure.

  No, I really did have her wrapped around my finger. And at least up until the moment she gave me that lingering glance through the door from inside the event hall, she fully intended to come up to my hotel room.

  Even after giving it a lot of thought, I still have no idea what happened last night, and why she left without an explanation.

  But I’m about to find out. It’s only five minutes until the interns gather to do their rounds.

  I check my watch obsessively, scanning the faces gathered around Dr. Crenshaw and me.

  She’s not here.

  I don’t know if Jacqueline Summers is here. All I know is the girl from last night isn’t here. Her name could be anything.

  As the interns bow to read the handouts, a head of blonde hair bobs closer to join the edge of the crowd. It continues to move forward until finally it stops and I hear a soft whisper.

  That light shade of blonde… Could it be her?

  My heart beats faster as I keep my eyes on the blonde. Jacqueline Summers, is that you?

  As if she hears my question, she looks up, and my heart stops.

  Oh, shit.

  It’s really her.

  Holy fuck.

  I’m really glad I’ve found her. Now we can pick up where we left off.

  Yet there’s also some anger simmering under the surface. She left me hanging without an explanation, and with a dumb excuse that, come to think of it, really insulted my intelligence.

  Luckily, in my world, attraction and anger can go hand in hand.

  I’m starting to count the number of minutes she’s been late, up until now. She won’t be able to sit for a while when I’m done spanking her ass.

  When she catches my gaze, her big doe eyes widen even more, and her lips part in surprise. In her eyes: recognition, attraction, lust, and panic—all at once.

  It’s a beautiful sight. I get high on that mixture of lust and fear. It’s my elixir.

  It starts out as a huff of breath that’s just a little too loud. I’m just so fucking glad to have found her again, and God, the way she looks right now…

  You know when you watch a stupid cat video on YouTube and it’s so damn cute you can’t help but smile and want to reach into the screen to grab all the fucking adorable cats?

  Yeah, that’s how I’m feeling now. I watch her expression change while she decides which mood to wear, and I can’t stand it.

  I look away and clear my throat before a chuckle escapes my throat. That would’ve been inappropriate.

  Dr. Crenshaw starts walking, and the interns follow. I fall back to match Jacqueline’s pace. The slight worried frown on her face only fuels my desire.

  You’d better be worried angel. You’re about to get fucked like you’ve never been fucked before.

  She looks different with her hair down and a pair of glasses perched on her nose. The loose blue scrubs she’s wearing obscures her figure, but I know she’s hiding a tight little body underneath.

  A part of me likes that she’s nerdy during the day. It turns her sexy, night-time persona into a little secret.

  But I don’t like how many secrets she’s keeping from me.

  “Where were you?” I ask under my breath as the group keeps moving.

  She glances up at me and softly says, “I, uh, I was too drunk to stay.”

  “You couldn’t have come up to let me know?”

  “It was pretty bad,” she says, her cheeks growing red. “I had to go home right away.”

  “It still would’ve been faster to go up to my room. I’m not a complete asshole. I would’ve let you sleep and not bothered you if you were feeling unwell.”

  “Yeah, but I…” Her sentence hangs in the air as she hesitates. She lets out a soft sigh. “I passed out. My friend took me home,” she admits, her gaze flicking away from me in embarrassment.

  What the hell…?

  After all the conspiracy theories I came up with, it turns out she just couldn’t handle her drink?

  I hide a small smile. “You’re not going to apologize to me for standing me up?”

  “Sorry,” she says quickly.

  “It’s going to take more than words to make up for it.”

  She gazes up at me from underneath her lashes, arousal flashing in her blue eyes. This girl likes being told what to do. It wasn’t just because of the alcohol.

  “You're coming to dinner with me on Thursday,” I state.

  I was planning to take her straight to my hotel room, but there’s something about this girl. She’s so full of contradictions.

  Sometimes she’s sassy, but she can also be so naïve and innocent. Her tough act is amusing, and it’s even more amusing when she inevitably gets tangled in her own little lies and becomes all flustered.

  I’ll have to figure her out. And a dinner is perfect for that—not to mention, I’d love to see her get all dressed up again.

  She seems unsure. “I’ll have to check my—”

  “Your schedule? I’ve already done that for you. You’ll get off at 7. I’ll be waiting for you outside at 7:30.”

  And then maybe later that night I’ll finally get off.

 
“Okay,” she says.

  “Good. Don't make me wait this time. Or you’ll really regret it.” I hold out my hand. “Give me your phone.”

  Jacqueline hesitates for a moment, but then she hands it to me.

  I make sure both phones are silent so I don’t disrupt Dr. Crenshaw’s lesson. I call myself from Jacqueline’s phone so she has my number, and her number shows up on my screen too.

  I give Jacqueline a small smile before I give her back her phone and leave the group of interns.

  The last time I promised to punish her, she didn't show up and nothing happened.

  But this time it's happening. Jacqueline’s ass will glow bright red with pain. She’ll get the punishment she deserves.

  Jacqueline

  “Wow, looks like you really charmed him, huh?” Karen puts her plastic tray on the cafeteria table and sits down.

  I give her a weak smile. “I’m not thrilled about him seeing me like this, though.”

  Karen looks put together—clean hair tied into a ponytail, light make-up…

  Me, on the other hand… I’ve been spending all morning worried that Gabe had smelled me before he’d seen me. In fact, when he first opened his mouth, I totally expected him to say something about my disheveled appearance.

  My hair is a tangled mess that’s crisp to the touch, thanks to the copious amounts of hairspray I dumped on it last night. I put it up into an easy bun, but it’s… voluminous in a weird, unnatural way.

  My make-up is basically the same as last night—in other words, it’s completely inappropriate for work. I managed to remove some smudged mascara this morning, though, and the whole thing has also kind of faded overnight. So I have too much and too little make-up at the same time, somehow.

  “Don’t worry about it. He asked you out on a date, right?” Karen asks.

  I nod.

  “Then he still likes what he sees. Trust me.” Karen makes a face when she takes a closer look at the Salisbury steak on her plate. “Ugh, with the kind of bills the hospital charges our patients, you’d think they could afford better food.”

  “It’s not horrible. I’m getting used to it.” I stab a piece of the brown meat and pick up some of the thick liquid pooling at the bottom of my plate.