He thought about Patrick instead. Now that his son had moved back in with him, whenever Patrick was gone, the house felt too big. And what was it with kids today? Did they all have to spend the night at each other’s houses all the time? Patrick was so excited that his new friends had invited him to sleep over and play their newest computer game that Gavin hadn’t been able to come up with a good reason to say no. Especially after their recent heart-to-heart talk when Patrick had admitted he didn’t think anyone liked him, and how he’d had trouble making friends at his new school.
Carmen appeared at the office door shortly after the
“What are you doing here?”
“I picked up a night shift for one of the other nurses. You know my aversion to spending Saturday night alone. I’d much rather work.”
She plopped into the chair Jablonsky had just vacated. “Mercy Hospital is my life, Gavin. What else can I say?” she asked rhetorically.
He’d heard it all before. Her husband had divorced her and a few years later both kids had moved out. He knew how hard it was for her—hard enough to keep her working fifty-hour weeks. Maybe that was the same reason he worked as if the end of the world was coming. Loneliness. Well, he didn’t feel lonely with his son around…and when he was with Beth.
Carmen crossed her legs and leaned on one hip and elbow. “Maybe I should ask you the same thing. What are you doing here? Didn’t you have something going with Miss Allergy today?”
He gave Carmen an irritated glance and mumbled, “She has a date.”
“What?” She sat up straighter and her eyes emerged from post-nap status to fully awake.
“What do you know about Larry, the lab guy?”
Carmen sputtered a laugh. “Larry Rossmore, the evening lab supervisor? She’s out with Larry? Ha.” She worked to put a serious expression back on her face. “I can read the headline now: LUKEWARM LARRY ABSCONDS WITH HOT ER DOC’S MAIN SQUEEZE.”
“Keep the commentary to yourself, would you please? Just tell me about the guy.” Gavin suppressed a smile, feeling transported back in time to grammar school, pumping a friend for information about his big crush.
She drew in a long breath and searched the floor for her answer. “I guess he’s nice enough. Never married. Are you yanking my chain? She actually turned you down for a date with him?”
Gavin festered in his chair and defended himself. “Evidently their date was arranged a long time ago. Before we met.” He rubbed his still-tender jaw and thought about what they’d been doing on her couch before she’d made him see stars with her surprisingly hard head. “What I don’t get is how much the fact that she’s out with him is bugging me.”
A gentle expression lit Carmen’s dark eyes. A look Gavin had rarely seen except when she watched Patrick. “You’ve got it bad.” She stood to leave.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Under different circumstances, maybe he’d tell Carmen the full story. He needed someone to help him figure out how he’d fallen so head over heels for a woman in record time—a woman who happened to be carrying his child, no less. If things could only be perfect, he mused.
He could trust Carmen to keep the news to herself. But she was getting ready to start her shift and he did have that apology to make.
“Cardiac arrest. Room two.” Boomed over the intercom.
Gavin recognized the room number as the one in which Jablonsky had been treating gall-bladder symptoms. He
“Everyone out of here except the code team,” Jablonsky commanded.
Like bumper cars, the EKG technician, rolling the portable electrocardiogram out of the door, almost collided with Gavin. “Have you run a 12-lead?”
“Just now.”
Gavin positioned the cart close to the bed. All the emergency equipment they’d need was either on top of or inside the crash cart—everything else was clutter in an already cramped room.
“Stick around,” Gavin said to the technician.
A nurse grabbed the backboard from the cart and with the help of Jablonsky placed it under the patient’s back. Another nurse grabbed an Ambu-bag and hooked it to the wall. Another broke the lock on the cart and yanked open a drawer.
Jablonsky found an airway and worked to insert it into the patient’s throat.
“How long has she been in V-tach?” Gavin asked.
“Just started,” Jablonsky replied. Gavin could only imagine the guilt his resident felt, especially after the tongue-lashing Gavin had dished out a few minutes earlier.
Though the heart monitor showed an erratic wide ventricular rhythm, the first nurse still checked the carotid artery for a pulse. The patient needed an electrical jolt to reset her heart, and once it was up and running again they could figure out what type of cardiac damage had occurred. The before-and-after 12-lead EKG would be the
Gavin ran the code with studied calm. Only a fine tremor betrayed his adrenaline rush. Years of practice had taught him to move slowly and deliberately for the patient’s good. Over time he had learned when he allowed himself to get caught up in the frantic battle for life, mistakes happened. Now, at the risk of appearing too casual, he held defibrillator paddles in readiness and called out orders to save the life of a sixty-something grandmother so she could spend another spring with her family.
A few minutes more into the code, after a second zap with the defibrillator, the V-tach stalled, flat-lined and miraculously the first blip of normal sinus rhythm returned.
He’d let an obviously relieved Jablonsky and the rest of the code team take over from here.
Several minutes later, back in his office nursing a weak cup of mint tea, Gavin stroked his jaw. He was tired with just thinking about Beth and wanted to see her. Edgy and loaded with pent-up tension, he eyed the phone. One in the morning. Would she be home yet?
Beth lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying hard to fall asleep. She’d enjoyed a pleasant evening out, but if she was honest with herself, she’d rather have spent the evening with Gavin. He’d been on her mind all night and it’d kept her feeling restless. They’d had such a great time at the soccer game, and his afternoon kisses had sent fireworks up her spine. If she’d spent the evening with him, by now they might have been wrestling beneath the sheets.
Why did her mind always wind up in the bedroom when she thought about Gavin?
Where he was concerned, she was probably better off playing it safe. Too late! She tugged at her covers in frustration, rolled onto her side and squeezed her eyes closed. If she had to resort to counting sheep, she would. One. Two. Three. Four.
The phone blasted out in the dark, bringing a gut reaction with it—something’s wrong with Mom. With adrenaline pumping through her, she answered, “Ma?”
“You’re home.” It was Gavin.
Elated to hear his voice, she didn’t disclose her satisfaction. “What makes you think I’m alone?”
The show had been terrific, but the evening with Larry had seemed endless. And she was damned if Gavin hadn’t been right! When Larry had walked her to the door, she had looked in her purse to locate her keys, and he’d moved in for a kiss. She’d turned her head fast and his mouth had only caught her cheek.
“Very funny.”
Gavin grew quiet for a moment, and took a breath before speaking. “The way I see it, we can do this one of two ways.” The hour of the call and the conviction in his voice confirmed his intent. Her skin prickled in anticipation. “I can take an antihistamine and come to your place. Or you can put on something slinky and meet me at mine.”
A practical thought popped into her mind. “What about Patrick?”
“He’s spending the night with his new friends, which gave me the idea to hold a slumber party of my own.”
Gavin wanted to be with her. Wasn’t that what she’d just
“How about five minutes ago?”
Thirty minutes later she pulled up to Gavin’s gate, which immediately opened. He’d been watching and waiting. Something about that gave her another thrill. A tin
y fraction of her brain called out, Are you crazy? She ignored it.
She’d never driven anywhere in her nightgown before. Even though she’d covered it with a hooded sweatshirt, there was something daring and exciting about it, which turned her on even more.
She parked and, letting a single kernel of doubt take hold, nervously gathered her makeshift overnight bag. An old canvas tote with the words “Nurses Do It for Love”, handed out by Mercy Hospital on Nurse Day a couple years back, held her essential belongings.
She’d had the excuse of peach daiquiri intoxication the last time she’d made love with Gavin. What was her pretext this time? The answer was simple. Stone-cold sober, she wanted him. The rationale she’d used on the drive over had started with the fact that he’d turned out to be an honorable guy when she’d told him she was pregnant, and had offered to help with expenses. It had continued with the memory of their thighs repeatedly brushing in the hot sun all during the soccer game and had ended with the thought of the dynamite kiss he’d stolen from her before he’d left her apartment the previous afternoon. Her body was running on autopilot and logic got forced into the backseat where it would remain until daylight.
The thought of spending the next few hours naked and in bed with Gavin already had her hot and moist.
After tuning out the last whisper of reason, she eased across the driveway and up the porch stairs as if she was a burglar. The cool air tempered the warmth and excitement circulating throughout her body. Maybe she was out of her mind but right now, with her senses heightened and all systems ready to go, she was glad.
Gavin leaned against the doorframe, his dark eyes glinting in the night. He already had his shirt off and his low-slung boxers ready to tug down. Funny how quickly she noticed that. Her heart palpitated at the sight of him. They wouldn’t waste time with small talk.
Her breathing went awry.
As she approached, he reached for her bag with one hand and her elbow with the other, pulling her inside. Only one small nightlight lit the living room, making a dark and intimate cave.
“What took you so long?” He closed the door, tossed her bag on the nearest counter, dug his fingers into her hair and bent to kiss her hello. Sparks flew before she even opened her mouth. The greeting went on for several more delicious mint-flavored kisses. His welcome grew harder and poked against her stomach, sending a deep pulsing message. She let go of every last whimpering and annoying resistance. She’d deal with reality later. After they’d made love.
Without further words, he led her down the hall to the bedroom. Excitement coiled tight as she followed.
Candlelight dappled the walls of the bedroom with shape-shifting shadows. She detected the subtle scent of
As his sexy bedroom eyes drilled into her, heat flickered across her chest and rose up her neck. He enveloped her in his arms and backed her up to the bed, where they toppled over.
His hands moved over her, kindling chills and tingles everywhere they touched. He peeled her spaghetti straps off her shoulders and worked the nightgown down her body while she snaked her way out of it. His breathing grew faster and roughened as he savored her inch by inch. Baring all, she stretched and posed like her cat Lila. He gently touched one of her breasts, which tightened and peaked under his attention. With a steamy smile he cupped and lifted her. She answered by pressing against him and prodding with her hips.
In a flash his boxers were gone. For the first time Beth studied him completely naked: long torso, flat abdomen, powerful thighs, and fully erect. His handsomeness took away what was left of her ragged breath.
Their first time together they’d only removed the necessary clothing to do the deed. Tonight they’d have the chance to see, feel and explore each other at their leisure. The heady thought fed her already straining excitement as she reached for him.
He dipped his head and their lips tugged and playfully tore at each other, growing more serious with each kiss. Beth anchored her arms around his neck and rolled on top of Gavin. After a few more kisses he rolled her back where she’d been, beneath him. Preferring the upper hand, she
As their bodies melded into each other, she shifted over his skin, inhaling his scent deeply and tucking it into her memory. She rubbed her hands over his shoulders and back, marveling at the strength and power she felt. Gavin pulled her close, mashing himself against her breasts. Only then did she remember they were tender from her pregnancy.
He pulled back and stroked her stomach, caressing the flesh above her womb then bending to kiss the spot where their deep connection could not be denied. When he lifted his head, their eyes met in silent understanding. A geyser of emotions poured out, mixing with her intense physical desire, almost making her cry.
He balanced on his knuckles, and delved into her eyes with a look so penetrating she surrendered every part of her body to him. She’d hold nothing back. Ready long before she’d reached his house, Beth opened her legs and his steel-strong thigh rolled over hers. With one glance they both realized there was no need to don a condom. Beth cupped his shoulders and Gavin entered her. He made a long steamy hiss as he filled her. Pregnancy heightened her sensitivity. She couldn’t breathe, the pleasure was so intense.
He groaned and she rolled with him as they got reacquainted and created their own special rhythm. Heat flamed deep in her center, sparked and spread outward to her stomach. Hot shivers fanned across her breasts,
Growing even firmer, Gavin probed and rocked her into taking him deeper inside. The rush was so consuming she made a guttural sound, pulling him closer and deeper still. He thrust faster and she cried out, quickly quieting herself down, but he continued his rhythm and she erupted with feelings so intense she couldn’t bite back the sounds. She’d never made a sound with her exhusband.
In full stride, he took her, for what seemed like for ever, and finally drove her to the edge as she crested into blissful release. Delicious spasms burrowed and throbbed into her very center, making her groan and buck against them.
He echoed her pleasure and moved faster and harder. She wasn’t sure she could take any more but didn’t want him to stop. Wave after exquisite wave began at the soles of her feet and spiraled upward, circling her skin like a swarm of electric fireflies. Gavin stiffened and surged powerfully, bringing her quickly to a second climax when he came.
She lingered outside time, paralyzed with pleasure, unable to string a single coherent thought together. Leftover tingles and throbs traveled deliciously throughout her body. He’d brought her to the brink of heaven.
A moment later he collapsed next to her, kissed her chin and gruffly whispered, “We’ve definitely got something going on.”
Beth grinned at the understatement, but was too spent to utter a sound. Instead, she curled her arm around his neck and kissed him back.
Gavin rose early, took a quick shower and strode to the kitchen to make a pot of decaf for Bethany and whip up his banana oatmeal pancakes. He only made them for special people. Patrick would be jealous he’d missed out, but Gavin would be sure to save some for him to heat up and eat later.
Today, his usual edgy attitude had been replaced with an optimistic “all is right with the world” mellow feeling. He grinned at his cup of coffee. Great sex was life’s best tranquilizer. And being more than sufficiently immunized, on his first Sunday off in three weeks, he’d simply enjoy whatever the day brought his way.
He sipped his coffee and glanced out the kitchen window, noticing the recent blooms on the vine around his veranda. Morning glory purple. Beautiful. Unable to fool himself any longer, he admitted it wasn’t just fantastic sex where Beth was concerned. He’d let himself fall for her. After his divorce, he’d promised to never let it happen again. He smiled at the thought of Bethany and all she had to offer. She even came complete with a ready-made family. Was he ready to deal with that?
At least he’d held off from getting involved for over three years. Being honest, the thought of marrying again made his toes turn to ice. Keeping it real, he
had a way to go before he’d be ready to make a huge step like that, even though Beth was already pregnant. And he’d have to tell Patrick about her sooner or later. It may as well be today when he came home.
Oh! Patrick! Gavin looked at the clock.
His head bobbed up in time to see Patrick and his two newest friends walking up the steps to the front door, a few minutes earlier than scheduled. He must have used his own key to open the gate. The boy noticed him through the window and casually waved. Gavin could read his lips. “Hi, Dad.”
He rushed to the front door to let them in.
“Hey!” He bent down and hugged him. “You’re home bright and early.”
“Yeah!” Patrick broke free from his hug. “I want to show them something in my room.”
“OK. Hi, guys. Did you have fun last night?”
All three boys called out in unison, “Yeah,” as they rushed down the hall.
Gavin grabbed Beth’s bag from the counter and skidded down the corridor in his socks. He careened off the walls and hurled into his room. Bethany lay naked in a pool of sheets, her hair covering her face. She looked so cute he wanted to climb back in bed with her but, under the circumstances, couldn’t give it a second thought.
“Beth,” he whispered hoarsely. “Wake up. Patrick’s home. Put on some clothes. Quick.”
She rose up and gaped at him. “Patrick’s home?”
He rushed around the bed as she slowly came to, and rummaged through her tote, finding a T-shirt and some shorts. He tossed them at her. “Here, put these on.”
She grabbed the clothes and scampered toward the master bathroom.
He watched with great admiration as her curvy hips
To his dismay, he heard faucets being turned on. No. We don’t have time. But he couldn’t very well deny the mother of his future baby a shower, could he?
Pregnant Nurse, New-Found Family Page 10
