Take Me On

“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 f**king 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.”

He lifted his gaze from her hands to her face, counting on her to be honest with him. She didn’t let him down. “You’re right about that. No use denying it. It’s not that I wouldn’t have liked to see you again. I just…wouldn’t have let myself become distracted by you if I didn’t have to.” She looked down at her belly with a chuckle. “Seems someone else had other plans.”

“Our circumstances have kind of forced us into action, but I don’t want that to be the reason you’re with me. Not the only reason, anyway.”

“Trust me. It’s not. And I don’t think hormones are clouding my judgment or anything either,” she said.

“When do you leave for Dallas?”

Cringing, she raised a hand to her forehead. “Next week. And there’s so much to do. I mean, depending on how this turns out today. If I’m deemed high risk or anything, I couldn’t go back to school now if I wanted to.”

He was so f**king tired of feeling guilty, but he couldn’t do anything to stop the gnawing ache of it in his chest. All the girl had wanted was a night of abandon. She’d chosen him—and holy shit, thank God she had and not one of those other bastards at her pool table. Now, because of that, her world had been upended. “I’m sorry, baby. So sorry to interfere with your dreams like this.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I have another dream now.”

The partially closed door swung all the way open, and a nurse strolled in. Ian stood and moved his chair, feeling uncomfortable as hell as she checked on Gabby. But he didn’t want to leave her. If he was in this thing, then he was in it. He’d have to get over his mild phobia of all things medical, because it looked like it might become a big part of his life for the next little while.

The nurse made a note on her chart and told them the doctor would be in soon. As she went back out, Gabby shifted in the bed, and he was at her side in a heartbeat. “Do you need anything?”

“To get out of here would be spectacular,” she said dryly.

“I’m with you there.”

The door opened again, and her parents came into the room with their Styrofoam coffee cups. Instinctively, he wanted to snatch his hands off their daughter—he’d caused her enough trouble by putting his hands on her, after all—but she held on tight to him.

“Any news?” her mother asked.

“Nothing really,” Gabby said. “A nurse just came by and told us the doctor would be in soon.”

“Oh, good. Maybe they’ll discharge you.”

Gabby and her mother went on talking, but Mr. Ross stared silent daggers at Ian. Jesus, he looked like a man who could f**k your world into oblivion if he wanted. This was Brian’s dad? Poor guy. Earl probably would’ve wept and bowed down to this dude.

“You work for Brian?” Mr. Ross asked.

Yes, and please allow me to continue to do so for now, if he’ll have me. “Yes, sir.”

He nodded and took a sip of his coffee but didn’t comment further. Ian figured he knew what he was thinking, though. Fucking little horny-ass bastard who nailed all of his clients and had finally found a way to screw his way into the Ross family. Goddamn, he was so gonna get fired, if not literally chased out of town. He racked his brain for something to say, but what was there? Anything that came to mind would probably make Mr. Ross feel as if Ian had only confirmed his suspicions. He didn’t want to spout anything about undying love or devotion to Gabby. It would sound fake and lame at this point.

All he could do was try to prove himself. Let his actions speak for him. It was the way he’d lived most of his life.

“Brian knows,” Gabby said to her parents, pulling him from his thoughts. “Ian had to tell him when he left work to come here.”

“Really?” her mom said. “Well, we might as well not keep Evan in the dark either.”

“I’ll call him tonight.”

Mr. Ross raised an eyebrow at Ian. “How did Brian take it?”

“Not well. I had to tell him he could punch me later.”

“Would you let him?”

“I guess if he felt that strongly about it.”

That got a chuckle out of him. “I wouldn’t worry.”