Baby rabies! That was all I heard. Baby rabies?
I stared at him, my mouth open in surprise.
He seemed to only just realize what he had said, because he jerked and then he said apologetically, “That didn’t come out exactly right.”
But all the fight had gone out of me. I slowly turned and sank onto a kitchen stool, staring at my hands.
“Oksana” he tried, placing a cautious hand on my shoulder.
I threw it off and then I said woodenly as I rose suddenly to my feet, “Do us both a favor and don’t touch me.”
“Baby” he tried.
My eyes cut to his, empty and lifeless and wiped clean of all expression. He flinched when he met my gaze.
“I’ll be going back to the store to get some whipped cream,” I intoned. “If you’re not out of my house by the time I return, I’m calling the cops and pressing trespassing charges.”
I’ll say this for Jake, he might be clueless about a lot of things but not about when I meant what I was saying.
As he watched me walk towards the door without so much as a word of protest, I knew he had acknowledged in his heart what I had just come to realize: our relationship was over. Finished. Done with. Dead.
As I strode out the door, I waited to feel the inevitable pain of a heart shattering into a million pieces but all I felt was the relief of a huge weight being lifted.
Nicholas Carradigne
Something was wrong, I decided, stretching out my long legs, one slim finger absently stroking my slight goatee. I was watching my little niece skid around the ice rink, her childish giggles drifting to where I sat. I had been restless for months now and even though I was on vacation for a month, out of which I had already taken two weeks, the restlessness hadn’t gone away.
I was bothered about something, but I wasn’t even sure what. Or to be perfectly honest, I didn’t want to examine it too closely. A pair of brown sloe eyes, cute little pouty mouth and soft jheri curls sprang to mind and I ruthlessly squelched the image.
Nikki’s childish giggles rang out with a cry of, “Uncle Nick! Uncle Nick! Look at me!”
I sprang to my feet instinctively as she did a slow pirouette. Nikki was a precocious child; she had been named for me and she was every bit as willful and stubborn as I had been as a little boy. I didn’t mind the scars and scrapes from my boyhood rambunctiousness but Nikki Durante was the only child of my only brother and if anything happened to her, it would be my head on a platter, I thought with a muttered oath as I headed straight for the little girl.
“Nikki, slow down,” I shouted anxiously.
She continued to pirouette, ignoring my warning. I was so worried that I didn’t even notice the sheer expertise and raw beauty of her movements. Other people noticed though and gradually everyone was slowing down to watch her.
Nikki was nothing if not an attention hog and she laughed aloud, delighting in the attention everyone was giving her as she spun faster and faster and faster. Her speed was almost giving me whiplash at this point and I trudged carefully across the smooth ice of the skating rink, desperate to haul her into the safety of my arms. I couldn’t get to her fast enough as she continued to twirl with a child’s confidence, heedless of danger.
Someone grasped my hand and murmured in a laughter-tinged voice, “You’ll only frighten her and cause the very accident you’re so eager to avoid if you march over there with that thunderous scowl on your face.”
I spared the woman a distracted glance, noting automatically that she looked vaguely familiar. I nodded and attempted to shake her off and keep going but she held fast, forcing my attention back to her.
Her voice lost all trace of humor as she enunciated carefully, “You’ll only hurt her if you go there, Doctor. I won’t allow you,” she added with quiet determination.
It was the ‘doctor’ that did it; my gaze cut to hers in surprise that she knew me. A familiar pair of brown sloe eyes stared back steadily at me out of a smooth, pretty, almost poreless face. I recognized her immediately even as my brain provided her name from memory: Oksana Davies!
“She’s going too fast. If you get there and try to stop her, she will likely crash. She has to stop herself, and apparently, she knows that too,” she added now, nodding towards Nikki. “She’s a natural,” she said with a tinge of…unhappiness?
Everyone was already applauding the little girl as she slowed and slowed until she came to a stop with an artful flourish, one leg extended behind her in a classic pose as she bowed to her fans, arms wide.
I couldn’t help myself, I roared with laughter and pride as I swept the tiny terror into my arms. She had frightened me half to death but in that moment, I was so proud I could burst my buttons. If David had only seen his daughter, he would never be able to stop crowing.
“Your daughter is amazing,” one man chortled, coming up behind me and clapping me on the shoulders. “She’s a natural!”
“She’s my niece,” I corrected absently, already looking over the crowd for Oksana.
I spotted her a few yards away, taking off her skate shoes and reaching into a backpack for what I assumed were her regular shoes.
“Oksana!” I called, striding towards her, Nikki clutched protectively to my chest.
She turned in surprise. “You remembered me?”
I grinned, feeling absurdly pleased. “I recognized you at once,” I affirmed, feeling like a school boy eager to impress his favorite teacher.
She smiled up at me, obviously pleased, and in that moment, I could have sworn the day got a little brighter.
“I’m Nikki Durante,” Nikki piped from the safety of my arms. “Who are you?” she demanded in that confident way children had.
Oksana grinned at her again. I wished heartily that she would stop smiling. It was doing strange things to me; things I didn’t want to examine too closely.
“I’m Oksana,” she said simply, smiling at the child in my arms.
At five, Nikki was at that stage where children knew when they were in the presence of an adult who thought they were cute and she was currently milking it for all she was worth. She tilted her head to the side looking like an adorable cherub, and I had the strangest inclination to protect Oksana from Nikki!
“You’re so pretty,” Nikki noted artlessly in a breathy voice as she wriggled out of my hands and onto the ground.
I gamely fought back an ‘amen’ to that observation.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked next.
I saw Oksana’s eyes widen as she made to take an automatic step back; she noticed me watching her and she immediately checked the movement.
“That’s not a very polite question to ask a stranger,” I pointed out chidingly, ruffling Nikki’s hair as I spoke to take the sting out of my words.
“No it’s alright,” Oksana said hastily, smiling down at Nikki. “Um, no I do not have a boyfriend at the moment.”
I stilled, looking at her over Nikki’s head. Sincerity blazed back at me from her brown depths before she dropped her gaze to Nikki’s, tugged gently on one pigtail and said in a wistful voice, “You’re not half bad yourself, Nikki. I hope my daughter looks just like you someday.”
Nikki threw back her head, laughing merrily and basking in the warmth of the admiration but my gaze went to Oksana’s trim middle; her stomach was as flat as I remembered. She wasn’t pregnant yet, I realized with a pang. I hadn’t seen her in the four months since she and her boyfriend had opted out of the fertility program but in all that time, I had thought of her almost every single day. I had often had to fight the urge to call to see how she was getting on because like it or not, she had been a patient and she had a boyfriend who looked like he ate rocks for breakfast. But now, according to her, she didn’t have a boyfriend anymore and I knew for sure she wasn’t a patient anymore.
The possibilities made my blood sing with excitement.
I reluctantly admitted to myself that Oksana Davies was the source of my continued restlessness. From th
e very first day I’d met her, her nervousness and sheer determination to have a kid had gotten to me. I had felt an inexplicable magnetism towards her and then when she had lay down on the examination table, I had felt things no doctor had any right feeling while examining a patient.
She had felt them too because she had been delightfully responsive, her nipples beading into hard points beneath her thin lacy bra and her pussy completely wet so that I could have slid in the speculum easily without need for any lubrication. I had been careful to keep my touch impersonal and professional but even that had been pure torture because every time my hands brushed against her smooth, soft skin, I broke out in sweat. By the time I had finished the examination, I was sweating profusely and she was avoiding my gaze.
As I looked at her now, laughing and complimenting Nikki on her skills with the ice skates, I knew with a bone-deep certainty that I had to have her at least once! I was an intensely sensual man and I had had more than my fair share of partners in the past but never had a woman reduced me to the sheer state of quivering want that Oksana did. I wanted her with an intensity that defied reason and I knew I had been restless all these months because thoughts of her continued to assail my mind.
Even now, dressed simply in baggy cutoffs and a black tee-shirt with white trainers, she set my blood on slow simmer just looking at her. Her caramel skin glowed with good health and a little something extra that made me long to reach out and caress the smooth warmth of it. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she laughed. She had even white teeth, a long slim neck, generous hips and breasts, an ample backside and long legs that seemed to go on for miles. She was so sexy it was a wonder men didn’t whistle endlessly as she walked by.
Unbidden, an image flashed into my mind’s eye of those same legs wrapped around my waist as I plunged into her, cradling her generous buttocks in my large palms; my penis stirred warningly. Hastily, I dragged my thoughts away from Oksana’s buttocks and focused deliberately on a safe subject, Nikki.
I was just in time to hear Nikki ask Oksana if she had any kids of her own and I saw her eyes darken with unmistakable sorrow.
“Stop hassling Miss Davies with all those questions, Nikki,” I chided softly.
“I don’t think I’m hassling her,” Nikki countered.
For once, Oksana did not leap to her defense as she straightened and began to shove the rest of her things into her bag. Watching her, I realized this was a sore subject with her. She was visibly upset, her hands were shaking, and she looked to me on the verge of tears as she began to zip up her bag.
I glanced at Nikki, dug out a dollar and sent her to the vending machine a few feet away, careful to keep an expert eye trained on her as she went.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
She looked at me, her eyes completely dry and wiped clean of all expression. “Perfectly.”
“Nikki didn’t say something”
“Nikki’s a doll, Dr. Carradigne,” she cut in. “You and your wife are very lucky to have her.”
She sounded completely sincere.
“She’s not mine,” I intoned. “She’s my niece. I’m not married and please call me Nick.”
Was it my imagination or did she look happy to hear that I wasn’t married?
I decided to press my luck. “Listen, you’re not a patient anymore and so there’s really no reason why we can’t socialize. Would you like to meet tomorrow for coffee?” I asked bluntly. “Or dinner.”
She appeared to give the question serious consideration, a slight frown appearing on her forehead as she thought about it. Tension curled through me as I stood there, suspended in a sea of uncertainty while waiting for her response. I felt a trickle of sweat start to work its way down my back as I watched her.
Then she smiled at me and I sagged with palpable relief as she said, “I would love to.”
Four simple words and somehow, they made me feel like I had just conquered the world.
“I mean I’m not seeing anyone who would object and I’m no longer your patient,” she added, her brown eyes shining up at me.
“Dinner it is,” I said, smiling back at her and wondering why in the world her response had been so important to me.
Oksana Davies
I was almost dizzy with excitement as I prepared for dinner with Dr. Carradigne, Nick. He had asked me to call him by his first name, I recalled, a happy little smile playing about my lips. It wasn’t everyday a girl went on a date with a handsome, absolutely delicious, medical doctor now was it?
I turned this way and that, admiring my reflection in the mirror and my hand reverently touched the pearls at my throat. They had been my mother’s gift to me before she had gone on a tour of the world with her latest beau. I’ll say this for the woman who gave me life: she sure knew how to live it up. So far, she had visited seventy-three countries at my last count; who knew where she was now and with whom? A postcard arrived every two weeks to let me know she was still alive but other than that, she was still riding the waves of the wanderlust that had risen when my father had died fifteen years ago.
Sometimes I missed her a lot but I knew she was happy traveling around the world and that worked for me, plus the gifts she sent regularly were nothing to sneeze at. The only drawback as far as I was concerned was Daisy, her little kitten which had grown into a cat that hated everyone including me. Every time I got close to her, she hissed and bared her claws unless I was bearing a bowl of milk; even then she watched me warily, careful to stay out of reach.
My little black dress had been sent by special courier from her last vacation in Spain and was extremely beautiful. It had short cap sleeves, a wide belt cinched in at the waist that emphasized my voluptuous hour-glass figure, and a full skirt that made my legs look longer. I was beautiful, I decided, giggling gaily at my reflection. My makeup was barely there and flawless, making my eyes look dark and smoky and emphasizing the ripe fullness of my lips.
I was nervous, I realized. I hadn’t been on a date in years. Ever since Jake and I became an item, we had sort of settled into a comfortable companionship that meant we always ate at home and never spent time together out of the house. And on the few occasions either of us had had some time off from work, the other was too busy.
Well, all that was about to change. I was done giving my entire life to a career. I wanted to live; I wanted fun; I wanted disco lights; I wanted my color to darken from a tan and not stress, and I wanted a man to feel me up in the dark.
“Alright not just any man,” I admitted aloud to myself. I wanted Nick’s hands feeling me up and caressing me.
Having admitted my attraction to him, I waited for a lecture from my subconscious but it was blessedly quiet, which was a good thing because with the way I felt around the man, I likely wouldn’t have listened to any discouragement anyway.
I still remembered my light-headedness when I had spotted him at the ice rink. It was a wonder I didn’t pass out from sheer breathlessness last night.
The doorbell interrupted my reverie and I went to answer it, my heart thumping in my chest. Nick stood on the other side, or at least I assumed it was him since all I could see was a pair of long legs encased in well-tailored pants. The rest of him was hidden behind the incredibly huge bouquet of roses he carried.
“What are you doing?” I got out.
His head poked out at the side. “Flowers for you, Oksana.”
“Oh my goodness! Come in! I’ve never seen such a huge bouquet,” I said honestly as I stood aside to let him pass.
He deposited the flowers onto the kitchen counter and turned around to look at me. A look of unhidden pleasure crossed his angular features. “Wow,” he murmured.
“Am I over-dressed?” I asked anxiously.
He didn’t answer, just lifted heavy-lidded eyes to mine. I had my answer in the naked male appreciation and banked fire in their smoldering green depths. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the unmistakable desire in his eyes.
I nervously licked my lips and h
is gaze fastened onto my mouth.
“I’ll um, I’ll just put these roses in water,” I gasped, backing away from him.
I plunked the roses in a vase and then I grabbed my purse and my shawl and headed towards the door, my stilettos making sharp noises on the tiles as I went. The sound drew Daisy out to investigate and when she spied me obviously on my way out, she howled in anger. Her cat eyes started accusingly at me and I remembered belatedly that I hadn’t filled her bowl.
I paused comically in my tracks even as Nick’s gaze went to the cat. “Wow. She’s a beauty. I never pegged you for a cat lover,” he mused aloud.
My jaw tightened as I glared right back at Daisy. “I’m not a cat lover. She’s my mother’s.”
He didn’t respond, but I caught his quick surprised glance. “Alright, I love cats usually but Daisy here is a trial,” I said more truthfully. “I can’t get her to trust me.”
Her Designer Baby: (Loving Over 40 Book 1) Page 43
