by Alice Ward
The walls were a yucky shade of tannish yellow. Hushed voices came from outside the door, and I was lying in a soft bed. The beeping of machines clued me in further that I was in a hospital. But I had no idea how I’d gotten there.
Taking a few moments to let my foggy brain catch up, I recalled feeling sick. Eli had held me, comforting me, and making me feel safe. How had he managed to get me to a hospital?
Rails surrounded me, and there was a small box clipped to the side. I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision enough to read which button to push. Slowly, a nurse’s hat icon became clear, and with more effort than it should’ve taken a normal human, I pushed the button.
I took a further assessment.
An IV ran from inside my left elbow, and sticky patches for the telemetry were all over my chest. I listened to the beep again, thinking it sounded steady enough. It told me one thing. I was alive.
But where was Eli?
Within seconds, the door swung open and a dark-haired nurse rushed in, followed by… Eli. Everything inside me sagged with relief. Both wore broad smiles, and Eli squeezed the pretty woman’s shoulder as they both stood over me. I didn’t say a word as I held his eyes.
“You’re awake. I’ve been waiting to see those emerald eyes.” Eli came to me, pressing his lips to my forehead.
“Welcome back, Miss Baxter,” the nurse said. “I’ll page the doctor and let him know you’re awake.”
Eli smiled up at her. “Thanks, Betty.”
Jealousy roared to life inside me as they exchanged a look that appeared much more personal than the situation warranted. It was happening already.
“So it begins,” I murmured, and Eli looked puzzled.
“What?”
It didn’t matter. I always knew it would be like this.
“Where are we?”
“The Isle of Skye. Isn’t that a beautiful name?” He couldn’t stop smiling, and it was throwing me off a bit.
“How did we get here? When?” The words were more than my parched throat could manage. “What happened? How—”
His mouth closed over mine, halting my words and causing my heart to leap with love.
When he released my lips, a small smile played on his clean-shaven and handsome face. He’d shaved. I really looked at him. This was New York Eli. He was cleaned up, wearing dark jeans and a black button-down shirt. I inhaled his expensive cologne.
“We need to talk,” he said as he traced a finger down my jawline.
Shit. That was usually the woman’s line.
I swallowed. “Okay.”
Why was I feeling so emotional? So sensitive? So negative?
My mind immediately went to all the worst scenarios. I was dying. He was leaving. I didn’t know which was worse.
The hand on my cheek trailed down my neck and over my hospital gown, all the way to my stomach. There, it stopped and rested, his fingers splayed. “You and I are going to be parents.” He smiled, the dimple so incredibly beautiful. “And I’ve never loved you more.”
I was speechless. I was pregnant, and Eli still loved me. “What does this mean?”
He chuckled. Then he took my hand and kissed it. “It means you and I are about to become a real family. In civilization.” His brow furrowed. “You remember everything that happened, right?”
“I remember everything.” I looked around the small room as my brain grew less hazy. “There is one thing I’ve forgotten.”
The pad of his thumb ran over my lower lip. “Kendra, I just told you that we’re having a baby. Are you okay? Are you happy?”
Was I?
I’d never planned to get knocked up while still in college. I’d always thought thirty would be a good age to settle down. I ran a hand over my stomach. There was a little Eli in there.
I should be happy, crying with joy. But I felt numb, unsure of how to feel.
Searching my heart, I found I was genuinely happy about the child growing inside me. “I’m happy, Eli. Are you?”
He kissed me again, taking my doubts away for a moment. He and I were alive and having a baby. When his lips left mine, I smiled for the first time.
He smiled in return. “That’s what I’ve been wanting to see. That bright smile of yours, Mommy.”
“Mommy,” I repeated. I was going to be a mommy. “And you’ll be Daddy. Does that scare you at all?”
He shook his head. “A few months ago, the thought would have terrified me. Now… it just feels right.”
My mind turned to another mommy and daddy. “My parents.”
“Were notified of the good news, sweetheart.”
Panic hit hard and swift. “Not about the baby!” My father was going to kill me!
He looked perplexed. “Of course not. I just made sure they knew you were safe. Apparently, your father hadn’t stopped searching since you went missing.”
“He’s here? In Scotland?” My mind was still a little fuzzy.
“Yes. He and your mother went back to the hotel to get some rest. He’ll be pissed to learn you woke up without him.”
“You met my father.” I examined his face. No bruises. No broken teeth. Maybe things had gone better than I thought.
“Of course. They’re wonderful people.”
I chewed my bottom lip.
“What’s wrong? Are you afraid to tell them about the baby?”
Um, terrified.
“Daddy’s little girl isn’t a virgin anymore,” he teased before growing serious again. “You know how I feel about you. And you feel the same way about me. In all the ways that are important, you and I are man and wife. You can explain that to your parents. The situation being what it was, they’ll understand. We’re only human, after all.”
“Yeah, only human…” I was lost in thought about what my father would say. How he’d look at me. The disappointment that would linger in his eyes, maybe forever. Or maybe not. I was still alive, after all. Surely that would take precedence. Which made me remember. “How were we rescued?”
He frowned, a haunted look passing over his face. “You were dying, slipping away in front of me. I panicked, swam through a swarm of sharks, and by some miracle was able to get the radio.” He pressed the heel of his hand into his eye as if pressing back the memories.
“Sharks?”
He nodded. “Whitetips. Five or six of them. In a feeding frenzy.”
“No! And you went into the water anyway.” My heart squeezed. “For me?”
He nodded and took my hand, holding it tightly. “I’d do anything for you.” His fingers laced through mine. “No reason to get worried. I survived without a single bite.” His deep chuckle made me smile. “A fun story to tell our grandchildren one day.”
“It’s amazing.”
His face grew serious. “Yeah. It really was. Odds were stacked against me, then they weren’t anymore. After I retrieved the radio, I thought I’d never get it to work, but I didn’t stop trying.” He shuddered. “You were dying, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was about to give up hope and then the captain of a fishing boat heard me. He answered my call.”
“I don’t remember a thing. Did I wake up at all?” I was shocked at how out of it I’d been.
“No, you were Sleeping Beauty. When the fishing boat found us, I kissed you.” He grinned. “I know, it was sick, you were sleeping, I’m a pervert.”
I laughed and pulled our clasped hands up to my lips and kissed his knuckles. “You’re a romantic, loving man. This makes you my hero twice now, you know.”
He leaned close. “I’ll always be your hero.” He kissed me again, and I began to cry.
The emotion hit me like a train, and I held onto him tightly as I sobbed. We were safe. We were back in the real world. We’d left it as two people and were coming back as three. A family. A real family.
Dad would just have to get over it.
A knock came on the door, and a man entered as Eli pulled away from me. Finding a box of tissues, he used one to dry my tears and handed
me one to blow my nose as the doctor strode in, eyeing me close.
“My girl is back.”
The doctor smiled. “I see that,” he said in a thick Scottish accent.
“Thanks so much, Doc. You fixed her up for me.”
“Almost. We still have some tests to run, and I want her numbers to come up before we release her.” He pulled the stethoscope from around his neck. “You had a serious infection, young lady. How are you feeling?”
“I feel good. How’s my…” I looked at Eli, not wanting to leave him out of anything. “I mean, our baby? Did the illness hurt him or her?”
“Your baby is doing fine. The heartbeat is good, and the scan showed normal development. Babies are hearty little creatures, and we took into account the pregnancy when we selected the medications we put you on. It helped that you were already eight or so weeks along. Does that sound about right?”
I met Eli’s eyes. We got pregnant the first time. “That sounds about right.”
“Seven months from now, you should be bringing this wee one out into the world. I suppose you’re very happy you were rescued before the baby came.” He looked back and forth between Eli and me, a huge grin on his face. “Childbirth on a deserted island may have presented a few challenges.”
I cringed at the thought of a world without epidurals.
“We’re thrilled to have been saved,” Eli answered. “We want our baby to be born healthy.”
I knew he really wanted us to never leave that place.
My heart ached a bit as I thought about never seeing our island again. I ran my hand up to cover Eli’s as it rested on my shoulder. “When can I leave, doctor?”
“I’d say another day or so.” The doctor turned his attention to Eli. “I know you’ve been sleeping in that chair, but I suggest you get some rest too. There’s a lovely little bed and breakfast not too far away from here. I can give you the number if you’d like.”
I stopped breathing as I thought about him leaving me. We’d been together day and night for what seemed like forever. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle being apart from him for even a moment.
“I’m staying right here. The chair is a luxury after our ordeal on the island.” He tapped my shoulder as relief flooded through me. “We’re very close. I don’t think either of us can take a night apart.”
“I understand completely.” The doctor gave him a wink. “I’ll have a cot brought up. Just don’t get rowdy and yank out her IV.”
I blushed as Eli laughed and the doctor walked away. “Thanks, Doc.”
“I’ll be back to check in later, Kendra.” He walked out the door, leaving us alone.
Eli kicked off his shoes and climbed into the bed with me, cuddling me close. Resting my head on his chest, I listened to his heart beating. “So we aren’t going to have a family on a deserted island, after all, Eli. What’s the plan now?”
“Go home and live our lives.”
“Together?” I hated the little niggling of doubt that prompted the question.
He lifted my chin until I was looking at him. “Really? Is that a thing you have to ask me?”
I gulped to push down the lump that had formed in my throat. Shaking my head, I rested it back down on his chest, comforted by his strong heartbeat.
But my mind wouldn’t stop.
The summer was over, meaning my internship was too. He’d go back to work while I… went back to school?
We’d be living our own lives again in no time. Apart.
I clung to him that night in the hospital bed in Scotland, hating that everything was going to change. It was over. The time on the island was already becoming nothing more than distant memories.
But we did have a baby that came out of that time. And that baby was like glue between us. I wasn’t sure how we’d do it. He needed to be in New York, I needed to be in North Carolina, and we both needed to be there for our baby.
Who was I kidding, we needed to be there for each other. I didn’t know how I could go back to life as I knew it. Life without Eli in it.
The way his hand traveled in slow strokes over my back told me he was deep in thought too. Being together so much had given us a sort of telepathy. He and I spent tons of time just lying around, our bodies touching in one way or another. Hours could go by without either of us saying a word. Not needing to.
One thing that I learned while we were stranded was just how very much alike we were, which was probably why we bickered so much. With nothing else to do but make love and gather food, we’d talk about sports, politics, hopes and dreams. Everything. And often, our views were on the same page.
“Are you mad at me for getting sick?” The question popped out before I could stop it.
His lips pressed against the top of my head. “Don’t be silly. Of course not. Don’t even think like that.”
He may not have been mad, but he had to be disappointed. I knew that because I felt disappointment too.
Our paradise had been interrupted.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Eli
After three days in the hospital, Kendra was finally released. She and the baby were fine, and we could go back home. A place neither of us seemed too keen on going.
Her parents had returned home the day before. Their reunion had been heartwarming and even I’d gotten emotional from witnessing the love they all shared.
Kendra had asked that we wait to tell them about the baby until we were home, so we kept that bit of information to ourselves. Her father was intimidating, I had to admit, but her mother was loving, mothering over me too, grateful that I’d taken care of her baby.
“Kendra can take care of herself,” her father had said gruffly.
“You’re absolutely right,” I agreed. “She’s the toughest, smartest, and most practical woman I know.”
That seemed to release the tension a bit, but I found him eyeing me closely several times. He’d shaken my hand and squeezed my shoulder before they left. “You’re a good man,” he muttered. I took that as the highest compliment.
I wanted to charter us a private jet to go back to New York, but Kendra objected to that immensely. “My nerves couldn’t handle that, Eli. A commercial airline is about all I’ll feel remotely comfortable with.”
“The men behind the kidnapping plot were all found and arrested, and as you know, the others are dead. There’s no reason to worry anymore.”
Authorities had pulled the bodies from the plane and were able to arrest Conrad Jenkins, a man I’d never met. A man who simply saw me as a ticket to easy money. It had been an elaborate scheme that had been in the works for many months… the moment Lola began working for me.
Yes, my secretary had been part of the plan, and if I’d fucked her, taken her with me on a trip as they’d hoped I would, it would have been easy for them to take me. As it was, they became desperate and latched onto the idea to kidnap me on the way to Scotland, which didn’t go according to plan.
Lola was singing like the proverbial canary, pointing fingers in all directions. I was told she’d probably get protective custody and escape punishment for turning state’s evidence, but the police could worry about that. My bodyguard, Scott, had been kidnapped too, but found safe and furious, and had resumed his place by my side.
I was just worried about getting the woman I loved home, then I was going to hire a grandma as my next secretary. I’d learned many lessons the past couple months.
“I know, and I’m so glad those people are out of our lives for good, but please…” She batted her pretty eyes at me, and I gave in.
“Commercial flight it is. Can I at least get first class seats?”
“Sure.” She was happy she got her way, and the flight was thankfully uneventful. She was even less fearful of the takeoff. I guessed her brush with death gave her confidence that she could face anything.
While she was still in the hospital, we hashed out our plans. “You can take the rest of your classes online and continue to learn at the School of Eli Reed
for hands on training.” I’d palmed her breasts for good measure, making her laugh.
God, I loved to hear her laugh.
“Nervous?” I asked as we approached the airport. Her hand was gripping mine tightly.
She shook her head, but she looked a little pale. “Not of the landing so much as this big shindig and all the press attention.” She ran a hand through her hair. “How do I look?”
I kissed her nose because I didn’t dare muss her lipstick. “Beautiful. As always.”
And she did. Beautiful in every way possible.
“Do you think your father will like me?”
Ah, that was where the nerves were coming from.
“He’ll love you, and he’ll be excited about being a grandpa. As I’m sure yours will be when we tell them. Don’t you think we should get it over with, sweetheart?”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Maybe.”
“How about we make the announcement at the welcome home party?” I suggested. “Surely your dad won’t slug me in front of all those people.”
She laughed. “You don’t know my dad.”
Shit.
“I think I’m even more nervous about telling him I’m moving into your apartment. Having sex on a deserted island is something he could reason out. Solitude, spur of the moment. Stuff like that. But by me on purpose living in sin.” She gave an exaggerated shudder.
“Then marry me.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ve talked about this.”
“No, you’ve talked about this. You want to give me time to make sure what we have is real, blah the fucking blah. It’s real, Kendra. As real as our child growing inside you.”
It was so frustrating that she still had doubts, that she didn’t believe me. I wanted to yell and scream with it all.
“We’re a good team, sweetheart. Don’t forget that. We’re our own family now. Our parents don’t rule us. And the moment you finally say yes, we’ll make it official.”
It was ironic that the woman who’d insisted on marriage was the hold out.
She rubbed her forehead as the worried look remained. “You don’t know my parents. Dad will hate this and Mom will back him in that.”
“If they want to see their grandchild, they’ll come around. I’m betting holding this little one for the first time will make everything else obsolete. How about your sisters? They should be happy about becoming aunts.” I kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand. “It’ll all work out. You’ll see.”
