by Elle Wright
Pushing past his uncle-brother, he made himself comfortable on a little bench by the window. “We need to talk.”
“You’re lucky my appointment canceled.” El took his seat, crossing one ankle over his knee. “What do you want?”
“Love might be pregnant.”
El stared at him, a blank expression on his face.
“Say something,” Drake said. “Wait.” He pulled a dollar out of his lab coat and slapped it on the desk.
El shook his head. “In a minute, I’m going to recommend you spend a few days in the ward. Take that damn dollar back.” He picked the bill up and flung it at Drake.
The weightless paper didn’t make it far, landing on the floor in front of the desk. “Keep it. I need to know you won’t tell anyone about this.”
“I’m a little insulted that you feel the need to constantly swear me to secrecy, as if I make a habit of telling your business.”
El the psychiatrist would never even think of sharing a patient’s stories with anyone. El the uncle-brother would definitely spill the beans at the wrong moment, like a family barbecue or something. Of course, he wouldn’t do it maliciously. It was just what “big brothers” did. El had tormented him and his younger siblings for years. If that meant embarrassing them in front of everyone and their mama, El couldn’t resist at times.
Drake jumped to his feet, pacing the room with long, impatient strides. “We haven’t talked about a divorce,” he confessed. “It’s kind of an afterthought. When we left Vegas, we were committed to ending this marriage as soon as possible. And we haven’t even hired a lawyer. What does that mean?”
What Drake didn’t add was that he wasn’t as miserable as he’d imagined he would be. Being married to Love wasn’t awful. It was actually pretty damn good. “It’s only been a few weeks, but it feels right to me, like this is the way it’s supposed to be between us.”
“You slept with her again,” El said. It wasn’t a question.
Drake glared at him. “How the hell do you do that?”
“Occupational hazard.”
“More than once.” Drake pinched his nose, feeling overheated. “I’m not sure I can stop at this point.”
“Are you in love with her?”
It was unrealistic, plain and simple. They’d been married for only a few weeks, had never even been on a real date. But he was sure he was. Hell, he’d probably always been a little bit in love with her. “It’s impossible, right?”
El shrugged. “Not really. Not with your history with Love.”
“I guess not, but it’s still weird.” The feeling only seemed to intensify as the days passed.
“Love is a beautiful person, bruh.”
Drake smiled to himself, thinking about his wife. Love was beautiful and intelligent, and she took good care of him. She was the best of both worlds. “What happens if this doesn’t work out?”
He didn’t expect a verbal answer. It was El’s style to just let him talk until he figured it out himself. So when his brother said, “Why would you go into this thinking it will fail?”
Sighing, Drake told El about the confrontation with Love’s father. “The man has a point. I suck at being committed to any woman. If I mess this up, I not only lose my job, but I will destroy the best relationship I’ve ever had. She’s my best friend, my confidante, my support. Do I risk that for an uncertain outcome?”
“I think your question should be, how can you not? Look, love isn’t easy. You know that. It hurts, but when it’s good, it’s really good.”
Drake knew El was speaking from experience. Even though things hadn’t worked out with El and Avery, his uncle-brother still believed that love was worth it. “You’re right.”
“Are you afraid to fail, afraid to take a chance on Love?”
“It’s not like I had a good role model on being faithful and committed to one woman.” Drake had made it a point to date wide and far. His father had set the example for him. But El’s assertion that he was afraid to take a chance on Love was wrong. One thing that Drake always did was bet on Love. She’d never failed him. That alone made him want to be what she needed, whether it was with her or without her.
“I don’t want to disappoint her. If I hurt her, I hurt me.”
“Don’t you think Love knows that about you?”
He didn’t even blink before answering, “Yes. She knows everything about me.”
“And she loves you, anyway.”
That she did. Drake bent down, picked up the dollar bill and dropped it on El’s desk. “You earned that today.”
“Get the hell out of here.”
Drake barked out a laugh. “I do have to study. I better get to it.”
“Wait, all this mushy talk, and I conveniently forgot to ask about this whole pregnancy thing.”
Drake told El about Love’s text, and his uncle-brother snorted in amusement. “Wow, you two are made for each other. I’m assuming Love is on some sort of birth control, correct?”
Pausing, Drake thought about that for a moment. They’d never talked about it, but knowing her, she had it under control. He nodded. “I guess. I can’t see her not being on the pill or something.”
“Well, I suggest you definitely have that conversation. Can’t have any Drake Juniors running around the hospital.”
“Shut up.” The thought of a mini-Drake or a little Lovely was uncomfortable, but a pregnant and glowing Love was appealing on some level.
“Hey, I’m just saying...”
“I gotta go. Basketball tomorrow?”
“Sure thing. Are you going to that fund-raiser next week?”
Drake groaned, unable to hide his disgust. “I am, unfortunately.”
“Tell me about it. I won’t be there long, though. One of my patients will need me.”
Drake waved a dismissive hand. “And you know that already?”
“Yep.”
Drake snatched his dollar from the table. “I need this back to buy a bag a chips out of the vending machine.”
Drake made plans to meet El for breakfast in the morning, before heading to the gym. Then, he gathered his things and went to see his wife. They had to talk.
Chapter 15
Love sat on a swing in the park next to her condo rental, a beer in hand. The day had been longer than she’d hoped, and she’d needed a breath of fresh air and solitude. It was cold as hell, but she was bundled up. And she wasn’t pregnant. Thank God.
She peered up at the endless sky. The chill of the night was somehow overshadowed by the magnificence of the stars. One of her favorite things to do was visit the planetarium. Love was a proud nerd. Astronomy was one of her favorite subjects in school, and she’d spent hours at the College of Southern Nevada Planetarium as a young girl. Even now, as an adult, she would walk over to the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History and sit in the planetarium. Nothing beat the real thing, though. And the clear night above her was proof that God existed.
Drake pulled into his parking spot, and she watched him hop out of the car and grab his things. He was so confident in everything he did, from school to work to driving. They hadn’t talked much since she’d sent the dreaded text earlier. His three-word response only served to ramp up her anxiety about their situation.
She could admit that she wasn’t as experienced as he was with the opposite sex. While she hated to think of him with other women, even before he was with her, she knew he’d had many lovers. She’d had only three: terrible sex with the popular jock in high school, Derrick, and now Drake. Bad-sex guy had ruined her first time by behaving like a jerk during and after. She wasn’t even sure why she’d done it. She didn’t even like the guy that much.
Love took another swig of her beer and tugged her favorite Michigan hat over her ears. Drake had given it to
her for her birthday a few years earlier. He’d had it specially made for her. It was blue, with hashtag “Hail” in gold writing across the front. It was a University of Michigan thing, short for “Hail to the Victors,” the Michigan Fight Song.
Drake spotted her on his way into the building and headed over to her. “What’s up?” he asked. “You do know it’s forty degrees outside.”
She smiled at him. “I’m bundled up.”
“Did you bring an extra?” he asked, gesturing to her beer.
Pulling one out of her coat pocket, she handed it to him. “Of course.”
He set his stuff down, and sat in the swing next to her. “Long day.”
“Tell me about it.”
They swayed in their swings for several minutes, in a comfortable silence. Drake broke the ice first when he said, “You’re not pregnant, Love.”
Giggling, she finished off her beer. “I know.”
He glanced over at her, sending a bolt of awareness through her body. “What was that about?”
She toed the dirt below her and hooked her arms around the swing chains. “I guess I panicked. Sydney came into the hospital, thinking that she was pregnant.” The results of Syd’s test had already come back positive. Love had called her friend personally to deliver the news.
“Good. I’m sure Morgan is happy.”
Syd had cried uncontrollably on the phone after she gave her the results. Initially, Love didn’t know how to react, whether they were tears of joy or not. Eventually, after the tears subsided, Syd exclaimed that she was happy and couldn’t wait to meet her new bundle of joy.
“He is,” Love told him. “The whole situation got me thinking. We haven’t really discussed sex. We just keep having it.”
Drake laughed then, a low, husky chuckle. “Actually, I don’t think we’ve had enough,” he said with a wink.
Love pushed him away from her. “Ha ha. I’m trying to be serious here.”
He tapped his beer bottle against his thigh. “Fine. I’m being serious with you.”
She twisted in the swing until she was facing him. “You should know that I am on birth control.”
“I figured you were.”
Love had thought about how to broach the subject of the marriage and what they were ultimately going to do about it. But the selfish part of her wanted to enjoy him for a little while longer, before they had to start thinking about lawyers and court dates.
“Do you think we’re past the point of no return?”
His eyes flashed to hers, locked on them. Love sucked in a deep breath, waiting for him to say something. Words didn’t come, though. Only silence, for what seemed like an eternity. She wanted to look away, but couldn’t force herself to break the trance.
“Drake,” she finally croaked, clutching her throat. “Are we—”
Before she could finish her sentence, he grabbed the plastic-coated chain of her swing, pulled her to him and took her lips in a searing kiss. She gripped the chains, held on for dear life as he kissed her hard, parting her lips with his tongue.
He broke the kiss first, leaned his forehead against her shoulder. “Love, I want to be honest with you. At this point, I’m not sure I want to let this go.”
Her heart soared at his admission. She’d been thinking the same thing. The more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to spend with him. Thoughts of late dinners, weekend getaways, Top of the Park in the summer, with her resting between his legs while they watched a movie on the big screen...she envisioned it all in her mind. She found herself thinking about him, even when she should have been studying or listening at lectures. It had been only a few weeks, but he’d branded her.
“I’m glad you said that,” she said. “I feel the same way.”
He closed his eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. “Good.”
“Good.”
Drake stood up and tossed their empty bottles into a nearby recycling bin. He walked over to her, ran the back of his finger over the tip of her nose. “You’re cold. Let’s go in. I’ll warm you up.”
“Not yet. We have to race.”
He grinned. “You’re silly. We may have done that when we were kids, but I’m too old for that now.”
“You act like you’re ready for Geritol. Sit down.”
“Okay.” He sat on the swing. “Ready, set, go.”
Just as she did when she was a kid, Love pumped her legs, propelling the swing higher. The brisk air against her cheeks and the sheer happiness she felt from doing something so simple and free with Drake made her feel giddy. As their swings moved higher, she screamed with glee. He was going to beat her to the top, as he always did, but her dismount would clinch the score.
“You ready?” he asked, from way above her.
“Go ahead.”
Without warning, he jumped, soaring through the air to land on the dirt. He stumbled, but remained standing.
“Yes, you suck,” she teased.
“Just jump, woman.”
At the apex of her next swing Love kicked forward, flying up, then down. When she hit the ground, it was a perfectly stuck landing. She did a fist pump and took a bow. “Yay! I still got it.”
Catching her breath, she beamed up at him. He rubbed her shoulders. “I can admit when I fall short. You did good, baby.”
She wasn’t sure when she’d started being his “baby,” but she’d take the endearment gladly. She rose up on the tips of her toes and brushed her lips against his. “Race you home,” she murmured against his mouth before taking off.
* * *
Drake turned off the lights in the kitchen and started up the stairs. They’d spent the evening watching a movie with Gloria and eating popcorn. Since Gloria had insisted they all spend “family” time together, Drake hadn’t had a chance to cozy up with Love the way he wanted. It was his turn now.
Opening the bedroom door, he halted at the sight of his wife standing before him in nothing but a pair of thin lacy panties.
“Drake!” She folded her arms over her bare chest, covering herself. “You should really knock.”
“It’s too late for shyness, Love. I’ve seen everything.” He burst out in a laugh, tugging his shirt over his head, then set his watch on the nightstand.
A pillow against the back of his head knocked him forward. He rounded on her, picking up a throw pillow and tossing it at her. She ducked easily and ran to the other side of the bed. They stood facing each other, her chest heaving as her eyes shone. Love picked up another pillow, raised it above her head and swung it at him. He grabbed it and pulled, but she didn’t give up easily.
“Let go!” she ordered.
“Don’t hit me,” he warned.
She eyed him, her grip tight on the pillow. “Let go.”
“You let go.”
It was a battle of wills, and she had the upper hand. Only because she was basically naked. Her smooth brown skin was waiting to be touched, caressed...kissed.
“Come here,” she demanded, with hooded eyes.
He released his hold on the pillow and circled the bed. Hooking a finger into the waistband of her panties, he tugged her forward. Sweeping his hand over her chest, then her shoulders, he watched her eyes darken with desire for him. The control he had over her in the bedroom was like a drug. There would never be a better high. The more she gave him, the more he wanted.
Before he could kiss her, though, she smacked him in the head with that damn pillow and bolted toward the master bathroom. He jumped on top of the bed and caught her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and pulled her against him.
Laughing, Love told him to put her down. She snorted, gasping for air as he spun her around and dropped her on the bed.
Love rolled over on her back, fanning herself. She pointed at him. “The look on your face.
..” She dissolved into a fit of laughter again.
He climbed over her, between her legs. Grabbing both her thighs, he yanked her forward until he was pressed against her heat.
He trailed kisses down her neck until he reached her breast, pulling her nipple into his mouth and sucking until she cried out his name.
She tugged at his hair, urging him up and kissing him with an urgency. He pulled back first, smirking when she cursed in frustration.
A pretty pout formed on her lips. “You’re playing with my emotions.”
“Are you ready?”
Love nodded, and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Drake mimicked her action, running his tongue over her full mouth before he kissed her. He groaned into her mouth when she rubbed him through his pants.
“You have on too many clothes,” she mumbled.
She helped him unbutton his pants, and he kicked them and his underwear off at the same time. Settling between her legs, he placed a soft kiss on her lips and pushed inside her. He held still, relishing the feel of her. It was too intense, almost too much.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
She grinned. “You are, too.”
Drake kissed her forehead, her cheeks, then her chin and finally her mouth. “I love you.”
The words left his mouth before he could stop them. His pulse raced as he wondered if he should backtrack. Had he ruined the moment?
She arched her hips against him, taking him in farther. He stifled a groan, tried to hold it together.
“I love you, too.”
A whimper escaped as he moved, slowly at first, taking his time to work her into a frenzy. She squirmed beneath him, writhing as the thrusts grew more intense. He was ready to let go, but he needed her with him.
Gripping her hips, he flipped over on his back. She sat astride him, her hands planted on his chest and her hips grinding down on him. He sat up, smoothed a hand up her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they rocked together, giving themselves over to each other.
“Let go,” he said, guiding her movements.
Slick with sweat, they picked up the pace. Her fingernails scraped his back, and he bit down on her shoulder. She groaned, long and hard, as her orgasm ripped through her. He felt his release build, then he exploded with her name on his lips.
