Cherrie Lynn - Take Me On

It might very well be rage building behind that stare, but he hoped Brian was only trying to come to terms with the words he’d heard fall from Ian’s mouth like stones in a still pond. That once he did, he’d relax and take it in stride.

But then he spoke. “I really, really want to knock you the fuck out right now.” So much for hope.

“Hey, I’ll give you a free shot later, man, whatever you want, but right now I gotta go.” He let his hand shoot out to clutch Brian’s shoulder, trying to insinuate his urgency into the words. “She needs me. She wants me there. Come on, you gotta know how this would feel.”

“All right. You go.” Brian’s voice vibrated with barely repressed fury, and his jaw was tight enough that he could probably crunch glass with his molars. “And you let me know what’s going on. Then you and me? We’re gonna have a long fucking chat.”

Ian didn’t look forward to that. But whatever it took to get him out of here, to get away from the accusation in his friend’s eyes. Whatever could get him to Gabriella as fast as possible.

“Where the fuck you goin’, dude?” Ghost yelled after him as he ran through the front of the parlor toward the door. He didn’t stop to answer. Brian could tell whoever he wanted. Ian didn’t give a shit.

He broke a few traffic laws getting to the hospital, using his bike to his advantage to weave through cars. He wouldn’t do her any good dead, but every time he slowed down, his frustration reached a fever pitch. Cussing a blue streak, he finally made it through and wheeled into the hospital parking lot.

People probably thought he was insane, and he was sure he scared the lady at the front desk to death. She directed him toward the back, no doubt to get him out of her face. Another nurse pointed out the room Gabby was in, and he sprinted toward it, halting in the doorway like he’d hit an invisible wall.

She lay partially upright in the hospital bed, her gorgeous dark hair stark against the white sheets. She saw him, and her face lit up, and nothing else mattered…until the couple standing beside her bed turned and looked at him.

Shit. Obviously her parents. Even if Gabriella hadn’t looked like a younger version of the woman, the way they both stared at him as if they wanted to rip his fucking spine out was a dead giveaway.

“Ian, I presume?” her dad rumbled, moving toward him. He was a big guy, gray-suited and authoritative, and Ian contemplated backing up. But instead of delivering the punch Brian wanted to give him (and the dude did look at him a lot like Brian had), the man stuck his hand out.

“Yes, sir,” Ian said, cautiously shaking it.

“Alex Ross.”

“Pleasure to meet you.”

Mr. Ross didn’t return the sentiment, but that was all right. He was just glad not to get coldcocked. Mr. Ross nodded and held an arm toward his wife, introducing her as Gianna. Gabby watched, amusement lightening the worry in her eyes. “Well,” her dad said at last, “let’s give the kids some privacy.”

“We’ll be in the coffee shop,” Gabby’s mother told her, leaning over to stroke her daughter’s forehead. “See you soon.”

A moment later, the two of them were alone, and Ian suddenly remembered: Holy fucking hell, I hate hospitals. But the itchy anxiety wasn’t creeping under his skin this time—all that mattered was the woman on the bed, who hopefully still carried his child.

He didn’t know what to do or what to say. Now that he was here, he didn’t want to know what had happened.

“You made it,” she said finally, holding her hand toward him.

“Yeah,” he softly replied, awkwardly running his fingers through his hair as he approached her bedside. “Drove over a few cars on my way, nearly gave a couple of pedestrians heart attacks.” She chuckled, and he nearly broke. He seized up the hand she’d offered. “Baby, I am so fucking sorry. I left my phone in the break room, and I was with a client. I got here as soon as I saw what had happened. Are you okay? Is everything…okay?”

“They’re thinking so,” she said, rubbing her free hand over her stomach. Her voice sounded so sweet right then. “They did an ultrasound, and everything looked good.” She smiled. “I could see the little heart beating. Just flickering away.”

He stroked the hair from her forehead. It felt so good against his fingers, he kept doing it. “I wish I could’ve seen it with you.”

“They want to monitor my bleeding before they send me home, and we’re waiting on labs. I might be looking at bed rest if it doesn’t stop, but if it does, I should be good to go. Sometimes this just happens, I guess.”

He sighed, relief a balm to his every sense. She was so beautiful, a dark angel. Drinking in the sight of her, her emerald eyes, her lips that slightly trembled, he wanted to grab her and never let her go. “I might have, um, told your brother.”

“Well, after this, I couldn’t expect it to be a secret for very long.” She winced. “How did he take it?”

“I got away unscathed, but just barely.”

“Leave him to me.”

“No. I’ll handle him myself.”

“Gotta be men about it, I guess?”

He chuckled. “Something like that. Gabriella…” She gazed at him expectantly, color flushing along her delicate cheekbones. He moved his stroking fingers to the curve of her eyebrow. “I’m…so glad everything is okay.”

“Me too.”

“I know I don’t have a fucking thing to offer you.” His voice nearly cracked, but he struggled to keep it steady. “I know you’re a woman who has it all in the palm of your hand.”

She lifted one of those hands and put it to his cheek. “Maybe now I do,” she said, smiling. His heart jumped and pounded hard. “I’m so sorry for acting like I wanted to shut you out from the start,” she went on. “When this happened, all I could think about was how I wished you were with me. I knew something had to come up for you not to be here. I was so scared I might lose the baby, and I kept imagining having to tell you—” She stopped and shook her head, closing her eyes against tears. They escaped anyway, getting caught in her spiky lashes. He gently stroked them away with his thumb until her erratic breathing returned to normal.

“We still don’t know each other very well, sweetie, but I’m ready to give this thing a shot if you are. It might work and it might not, but I can’t stand never knowing. I want to be around. If you wake up craving weird shit in the middle of the night, I want to be the one to go get it for you. If you have to go on bed rest, I want to be the one taking care of you.”

“Are you saying…?”

“I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I’ll stay. I’ll move. We’ll work it out. I just want to be with you. If I’m scaring the shit out of you with all this, I don’t mean to. Just…please don’t keep me at arm’s length.”

Her tremulous smile warmed his heart. “Good, because I don’t think I can stay under my parents’ roof anymore. Not that they’ll kick me out. They’ll just drive me nuts.”

Was she serious, or was he hearing things? Maybe he’d hoped so hard for this that he’d finally gone insane. “You want to stay with me?”

“Is that weird? Too soon, right? Ugh. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s…it’s what I was getting at. I can’t believe you want to do it, though.”

“What better way to see if it’ll work than finding out if we drive each other nuts?”

“There’s one thing I want to make clear, though.” When she frowned at him, he sighed and dragged a chair from the corner to her bedside. Her fingers were warm and supple as he reclaimed her hand in his. “I realize none of this would be happening with us if you hadn’t gotten pregnant.”