Take Me On

  When he’d gotten her so hot and wet and wild for him that climax was imminent, he moved up her undulating body, trailing more kisses, stopping to suck each of her nipples in turn deep into his mouth. She clawed at his back, begging, wrapping both legs around his waist, overjoyed when she felt him push his jeans down enough to free his hard cock.

  “Did you ever get tested?” she asked in a breathless rush.

  “I did. I’m clean.”

  “Me too.” She wanted nothing more than to feel him sink inside her with nothing between them, flesh to burning flesh. Reaching down to take him in her hand, she guided him to her entrance. “Give it to me,” she pleaded, rubbing the blunt, thick tip along her crease, and he lifted his mouth to hers.

  “Yeah? You want it?” He kissed her furiously.

  “Oh God, yes. Now, now, now…”

  She expected him to draw it out, torture her some more. But he was as tired of waiting as she was. With one long thrust, he took her, their mutual groans lingering in the air between their lips as he stared into her eyes. Nothing in the world had ever felt better. So thick, filling her so perfectly, and he barely gave her time to adjust before he began to move with gentle thrusts.

  She couldn’t look away from him. Never again did she want to hide from him behind her walls—she wanted him to break them down every time. Gasping as he slid even deeper, she grasped his face in her hands and brought his forehead to hers. “Ian…”

  “I love you,” he rasped, and it was even sweeter than the first time he’d said it.

  “I love you.”

  “Marry me.”

  Shock snapped her eyes wide, and he kissed her wildly, further tumbling her under the waves threatening to wash her away. The physical maelstrom of pleasure, the emotional joy of his words—it was all too much. She had only one reply to all of it, and she tore her mouth away from his to cry it out. “Yes!”

  And she barely got the word out before climax rendered her mute with all-consuming ecstasy. As she floated back down to earth, panting, shivering, Ian nestled his face into her neck and locked into her, groaning her name as she felt him pulse deep inside.

  For a moment, in the warm afterglow, neither of them spoke. Then he slid off her and pulled her into his arms, snuggling her close.

  “Yes?” he whispered with a smile as he rained kisses along her jawline.

  In the blistering heat of the moment, it had been easy to shout out her answer. It was no more difficult now. “I will. Of course I will.”

  “You don’t know how much that means to me,” he murmured, caressing her cheek with his thumb.

  Knowing what she’d been through before, he meant. God, she could even question her own sanity. Still, on some deep level, far below her hang-ups and her walls and all that other crap in her soul she didn’t like to deal with, she knew this was right. It was a certainty she’d never known before, even with Mark.

  Poor Mark. He wasn’t a bad guy, really, and she had some explaining to do. But she’d deal with that later. She and Ian had the whole night ahead. A lifetime of nights.

  Dreams really did come true.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  March

  At precisely 3:02 a.m., Gabriella Rhodes’s eyes flew open. She knew because she was staring straight at the glowing red digital numbers of her alarm clock.

  Sighing, she turned her face deeper into her pillow and mourned for the long-lost nights when she could sleep all the way through until sunrise. According to Kelsey, they were gone for good. Or at least for several more months.

  At the moment, however, there were any number of aches and pains or kicks or Braxton Hicks contractions or bathroom runs to disturb her rest, and turning over in bed was such a chore that it required her to be alert to pull it off.

  Would this ever freaking end?

  She was four days overdue, but no matter how much she begged and pleaded, her doctor didn’t want to induce her. Everything was fine, and she hadn’t dilated. So it was a waiting game. The baby was comfortable in there, apparently, and not ready to make his or her debut yet.

  Ian still slumbered peacefully beside her, and she had the thought that she should kick him. If she had to be awake, then he had to be awake. It was only fair.

  But no, fair or not, she’d rather kiss him than kick him. Gathering her strength to attempt a rollover, she noticed an uncomfortable ache low in her back. Huh. That was new. Not that her back didn’t hurt often, this just felt…different.

  Maybe this was labor.

  Ha! If only she could be so lucky. She’d been to the doctor two days ago. Not even one freaking centimeter dilated. Nothing worked—not walking, not sex, not the million and one different ways she’d tried to get things rolling. She was going to be pregnant for the rest of her life.

  The ache eased somewhat, and she shoved her weight over, wincing with the effort. This was fucking ridiculous. Her massive belly ensured that it took damn near all her might to even turn onto her other side.

  Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been this. The indignity of it all. It was one thing Kelsey hadn’t crowed about until Gabby mentioned it one day; then she’d said, “Oh yeah! Just wait until you deliver. By the time that’s over, so many people will have seen your vagina that you’ll automatically spread your legs whenever you hear the door to your room open.”

  Bitch. Everything else she’d warned about had been true. Horrifically true.

  Forcing her eyes closed, Gabby tried her best to get back to sleep. She almost got there. Except that dull ache in her back…

  And she had to pee. Of course.

  Flinging back her covers with a curse—she emitted them so often these days—she sat up with more great heaving effort…

  Oh dammit. This was the final straw. Everything else she could handle, kind of, but incontinence on top of everything else…that was a deal breaker. This baby had to come out, or she was going to stage a sit-in at her OB/GYN’s office. A couple of hours of listening to her bitch, and they’d gladly give her an epidural if only to shut her up. And she’d take it.

  So now she had to wake Ian up after all and tell him she needed to change the sheets she’d just peed all over.

  Except…that was quite a lot of…

  “Ian!” she shrieked. He popped up next to her, then sprang out of bed to grab for his clothes. She almost laughed. Was he even awake yet? Obviously, he’d been training for this. “I need some peppermint patties. Like now.”

  He stopped, jeans in hand, hair rumpled up, and stared uncomprehendingly at her. “Huh?”

  “Now. Keep getting dressed. Go get me some.”

  “Gabby.”

  “Ah! Seriously, you believe that? Oh my God. My water just broke.”

  Plopping his cute bare ass back on the mattress, he shoved both feet into his jeans. “You ask me seriously when you’re joking at a time like this?”

  “I’m sorry, I’m just ecstatic. Not two minutes ago, I was contemplating reaching into my uterus and pulling this baby out with my bare hands.”

  “That’s gross, Gab.”

  “You ain’t seen gross yet, baby.” After pushing herself up from the bed, she pressed both hands into the small of her back, stretched and grimaced as a vise seemed to clamp all the way around her nonexistent waist. “Yeah, that hurts. Okay. This is the real deal. Oh God.”

  Now that the time was here, really, truly here…she wanted to crawl back under the covers. All those traumatizing childbirth videos flashed through her head. This was happening. To her body. Soon.

  “Are you okay?” Ian asked, coming around their bed to stand beside her, fully dressed now. She needed to get changed out of her sopping-wet jammies.

  “I will be. Ugh. So much to do.” Gabby waddled stiff-legged to the clothes she’d already laid out for this very occasion. Ian helped her along as if he were afraid she might collapse and start pushing at any second. “I’m fine,” she assured him, taking a moment to look up into his beloved face and give him a smile. “L
et me get cleaned up while you grab our stuff and take it to the car. And can you call the hospital and tell them we’re coming in?”

  “Sure.” He drew her into his arms, and she went happily, needing that comfort and safety to face the thought of the long hours ahead…even if she couldn’t get as close to him as she used to, thanks to her ginormous stomach. Please, please let her labor be smooth. Preferably short, but she’d settle for slow and uncomplicated. No problems, no worries. Just happiness. They deserved that, didn’t they?

  Despite all her moaning and whining and complaining, she couldn’t wait to meet their baby. Count the little toes. Kiss the little hands. She certainly had felt them thrashing around her insides enough. It would be interesting to see what had been causing all the trouble. When she thought of how Ian loved to lay his head on her belly at night, the way his face would light up whenever he felt the baby move, a pang went through her. He wouldn’t be able to do that anymore; that time was over. She would miss that much, at least. But he’d have the baby here to love on, which would be a far better thing…and they would have more opportunities.

  Once in the car and on the way to the hospital—sitting on a garbage bag she’d put down to protect her seat—Gabby called Kelsey’s cell while Ian drove. Now it was almost four, but when Kelsey answered her phone, she sounded like she could’ve been up all night chugging coffee. “Are you in labor?” she trilled.

  “That’s how we answer the phone?”

  “At ten till four in the morning? You’d better believe it. Evan!” Gabby heard a grunt from her obviously still-sleeping brother. “Gabby’s in labor! You are in labor, right? Or are you messing with me?”

  “My water broke almost an hour ago. We’re on our way to the hospital.”

  Kelsey sucked in a breath. “Don’t you dare have that baby until we get there!”

  “I’ll cross my legs as tight as I can, Kels, but I don’t think it’ll matter much.” Beside her, Ian laughed.

  “Are you in pain?”

  She shifted around uncomfortably even as Kelsey asked the question. “There’s pain, yeah. It’s not too bad yet. Do not tell me how bad it will get.”

  “I wouldn’t do that to you now. I don’t want to scare you.”

  Oh, now she didn’t want to scare her? “You scare me by saying that. You are an evil, evil woman. I’ll get you back someday, I vow it.”

  “You love me, admit it. Okay, we’re getting up, and we’re headed your way. Keep us updated. Or tell Ian to, if you’re in too much agony to speak.”

  “I hate you.”

  “I love you! Bye!”

  Okay, so Kelsey had been Superwoman. She’d done the whole thing naturally. Good for her. Gabriella didn’t like pain, and she was all about some modern medicine. She wanted drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Since she’d known this about herself from the beginning, she could rest easy in the idea that it wouldn’t be too bad. There wouldn’t be any agony, nope, not for her.

  If Ian had been standing anywhere near Gabriella when she let out the first real wail he’d heard from her, he would’ve immediately moved his genitals out of her reach. Thankfully, though, he’d just walked into the room from getting her some ice chips and was still a safe distance away.

  All the Ross women in her hospital room—her mother, Kelsey and Candace—rushed toward her bedside to offer support, but her eyes found his through the crowd of her family.

  “Where the hell did you go?” she demanded pitifully.

  “I was getting you some ice.”

  “Did I ask for any fucking ice?” Most everyone standing around her laughed, though her mother shook her head at the ceiling.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Gabby grimaced and dug her heels into the mattress, trying to roll on her side. He made his way around to help her, his gut twisting at the sight of her in so much pain. Where was the fucking anesthesiologist? He was supposed to be here an hour ago.

  The last nurse who’d checked Gabby had told them she was halfway there.

  Kelsey stroked Gabby’s hair, her other hand holding Gabby’s tight. “You’re doing great. Remember to breathe through it,” she told her, leaning down to be close to her face. He felt that was where he needed to be, but Kelsey had been through this before and was no doubt a much better coach than he could ever be. So he rubbed Gabby’s back, trying to let her know any way he could that he was here for her.

  The Rosses had all shown up a few hours after Ian and Gabby reached the hospital. It was now early afternoon. Brian and Evan had come in periodically, but Gabby had shooed them out when the worst of the pains began. She’d said she couldn’t maintain her “scary big sister” status with them if they saw her beaten down. Candace had fearlessly remained even though she was due at any time. Brian had tried to talk her into staying home, but she’d said she wouldn’t miss it for the world.

  Ian had called his own mother and let her know the day was upon them. She hadn’t answered, but he’d left her a message. Whether or not she cared she was about to be a grandmother, it was on all her head now. He’d done all he could.

  It would’ve been nice to have family of his own bloodline here for the birth, but it didn’t matter. Gabriella was working hard, going through hell, to give him that. Today.

  She couldn’t lie still. From her back, to one side, to the other, finally back to her original position, she writhed and moaned. He fed her ice chips; he told her how strong she was and how well she was doing. How beautiful she was and how much he loved her. But if he could take every bit of pain away from her and bear it himself, he would.

  Especially when she looked up at him with agony in her eyes and said, “Ian, I can’t do this.”

  All right. He was gonna find the fucking doctor and drag him in here by the scruff of his neck. He’d have gone right then too, if she hadn’t had such an iron grip on his hand. “Yes, you can, baby. But let me go see what’s going on.”

  “Don’t leave me.”

  He cast a helpless glance up at Kelsey, who nodded and left the bedside. Mrs. Ross and Candace followed her out, and Gabby sighed with relief. “I hate to say it, but I’d rather them stay out,” she said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I only want you.”

  Jesus, he didn’t know if he could handle this. He’d gone to the birthing classes with her, but now that the situation was here, it felt like throwing a rookie cop into a roomful of crossfire or something. He gently stroked her forehead. “Tell me what I can do for you.”

  She cringed and squeezed his hand as another contraction wrenched her, forcing a pained growl from her throat. “Breathe, baby, breathe,” he said, for lack of anything better. Besides, even he could tell she wasn’t doing it—she was fighting the pain. But at his prompting, she began taking slow breaths. He watched the readouts on the fetal monitor connected to her. Her contractions were getting more intense.

  “Did every fucking woman in the city go into labor today?” she demanded suddenly through clenched teeth, and he had to laugh, though he quickly clamped down on it. A demon could’ve been speaking through her voice. “Is it a full moon?”

  “I don’t know. You’re doing awesome. Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?”

  It was true, even if she was bathed in sweat and pale with her hair plastered mostly over her face. “I’m gonna throw up.”

  “Well, damn, I’m sorry—”

  “No, I mean I’m gonna literally freaking throw up, Ian.”

  “Oh.” Shit. He made a grab for the wastebasket by her bed, but after she breathed steadily for a few minutes, her wave of nausea passed.

  “I can’t believe my mother went through this three times,” she said finally, as her contraction eased. “All for us to be little shits to her at one point or another. She must’ve wanted to slap the crap out of us. Especially Brian.”

  “My mom always said there’s a reason I’m an only child. Apparently, I nearly killed her.”

  “Great. You’ve prob
ably put some kind of monster baby in me or something.”

  “Nah.” He stroked her belly as best he could around her monitor belt. “He or she will be perfect.”

  “Do you have any regrets that we didn’t find out the sex?”

  “Nope.” It didn’t matter to him in the least. Boy or girl—his only hope was for health and happiness. Besides, the anticipation, the not knowing, was exciting.

  The anesthesiologist came shortly after, and Ian helped her through getting a needle in her spine—one of the hardest things he’d ever had to watch in his life. But as she lay back afterward and sighed in absolute relief even when her next contraction was damn near off the chart, he was glad for it. Gabby still didn’t feel well, so her family was gracious enough to retreat to the waiting room.

  And finally, as the day advanced into evening, it was time. Ian held her as she pushed, watching in astonishment as his child, their child, came into the world. Cheers went up from the staff. Tiny, pink, wrinkled, perfect…and, after a brief moment during which Ian held his breath, squalling with a strength that made him nearly collapse in relief.

  His daughter.

  He wasn’t the only one ready to collapse. Gabby’s head rolled onto his shoulder, her chest still heaving from her exertions. She laughed breathlessly, and he wrapped his arms around her. His voice was half strangled with emotion. “You did it, sweetie. I love you so much.”

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  “Can you see her?” he asked, watching as the nurses…did whatever they did to the poor little angel. If he hadn’t been so near tears, he might have laughed at his tiny daughter’s outraged cry.

  “I can. She’s beautiful.”

  “Like you.”

  It seemed forever before the nurse brought her over and laid her on Gabby’s chest. Ian crawled onto the bed as best he could, arms around them both, staring down at their miraculous little creation. Already, she looked so much like her mom, but he could see a resemblance to some of his own baby pictures too. Her eyes opened and peered at the world around her; she grasped their fingers in turn with surprising strength.