Page 45 of Sometimes You Fall

I’ve seen Scottie in a uniform on the pitching mound and dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, but I’ve never seen her like this. Just the sight of her dressed like she’s in charge makes me want to get sent to the principal’s office so I can see what kind of punishmentshecan dish out. Or better yet, let’s reverse the roles and I can punish her for denying what’s between us all these years later.

Focus, Grady. You can revisit that little fantasy later.

“Well, let’s get you back here then.” The nurse gestures for us to follow her, but I hold the door open so Scottie can go ahead of me.

“Thank you.”

“Of course.” As she walks ahead of me, giving me the perfect view of her ass in that tight dress, I remember what that ass looked like bent over in front of me all those months ago.

I wonder ifthatinstance was the time that did it, the one that knocked her up—because my memory likes to venture back to that night frequently, and howthatorgasm felt like my soul was leaving my fucking body.

Perhaps that was the moment when our souls werecreating a new one.

The nurse stops us in the hall to take Scottie’s vitals. I watch her cringe as she steps on the scale and takes in her weight, rolling her eyes when she steps off and slides her heels back on to continue down the hallway.

“Here we are.” The nurse opens a door to an exam room and motions for Scottie to take a seat on the bed. “We need you to undress from the waist down and cover yourself with the sheet.”

“I know. This isn’t my first rodeo.” Scottie places her purse on an empty chair against the wall, irritation lacing her words.

The nurse doesn’t even react. “The doctor will be in to see you shortly.”

As soon as the door clicks shut, Scottie looks at me. “Do you mind turning around, please?”

“What?”

“I need to take off my underwear and get on the table, and I don’t need you staring at me while I do it.”

I close the distance between us, loving how she has to crane her neck back to meet my gaze. “Scottie, you do realize I’ve seen your pussy and your ass, right? In fact, I know them intimately.”

I swear I see flashes of our night together shine through her eyes before she visibly swallows and takes a step back. “This is different. I’m…I’m in a vulnerable state.”

Lowering my voice, I reply, “Having my face nose deep in your pussy wasn’t vulnerable enough for you?”

Her eyes widen. “Grady…”

But before I say something else, I remind myself that pushing Scottie isn’t going to get me anywhere, even though all I want to do in this moment is bend her over the exam table and remind her of how perfectly her pussy grips my cock, how insane our connection was andstill is, and how her coming back to Carrington Cove couldn’t have been a coincidence.

It’s the resolution I came to when we spoke the other night at her house, when I asked her about us, and she blew it off like our night together meant nothing.

Well, I call bullshit. I could read her like a fucking playbook. She was pushing me away because she’s fucking scared. But the thing is—I’m scared too, of a lot of things.

The one thing Idoknow, though, is that wanting her is not something I should be scared of. In fact, it’s the only piece of our puzzle I’m sure of.

Before that night, I had no romantic interest in women, but that’s because none of them were her. She’s always been the one that broke the mold for me, something that is so blatantly clear now that we’re back in each other’s lives. Now, I need to play this right to prove to her that we belong together—not just because we’re having a child together, but because our child couldneverbe a mistake.

I take a step back and hold my hands up in surrender. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll turn around.”

She watches me cautiously as I slowly face the wall, shoving my hands in my pockets as the sound of her movements filters behind me.

“I can’t believe I’ve already gained seven pounds,” she mumbles as I hear the rustle of her clothes and the crinkle of the paper sheet.

“You look perfect, Scottie.”

She scoffs. “Easy for you to say. You’re the father. You aren’t growing a human being, and your body looks like it was carved from granite.”

I clench my jaw, waiting for her to finish covering herself so I can refute her statement, even though her comment about my body was slightly revealing. But I can’t focus on that right now.

With a peek over my shoulder, I see her smooth the paper over her legs, so I take that as my cue to close the distance between us again. Peering down at her as she lies back on the exam chair, I make sure she’s looking at me before I speak again. “You’re right. I’m not growing a human. But you are, and that’s such an incredible fucking thing. Hell, reading about everything your body goes through while pregnant makes my mind spin.” I stroke her cheek with my finger, and for a second, I swear she leans into my touch before she catches herself and looks away. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling, but just know that no matter how your body changes, it will never change how sexy I find you.”

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