Page 43 of Stone Vows

The baby starts to jerk around.

“Baby’s got the hiccups,” she says, laughing. “Must’ve eaten too much.”

I find the baby’s head again and we watch her jump around on the monitor.

“Can you feel it?” she asks.

“No. But I can see it on the monitor.”

“You have to feel it. It’s the best feeling. Here, give me your other hand.”

I hold my free hand out and she takes it, placing it on the left side of her belly. My eyes close momentarily as flesh touches flesh and I feel her taut skin under the palm of my hand. When I feel the tiny jerking movements, my eyes fly open to meet hers.

“Pretty great, huh?” she asks.

Life. There is a new life under my hand. A girl who might someday look just like her mother. She could have short brunette hair, falling just past her chin in soft waves. She could have stunning blue eyes that can draw any man’s stare like a tractor beam. She could have soft hands and perfect pink toenails and full pouty lips. She could have that curve to her smile that lets you know you are important. She could have that giggle that brings you to your knees.

Suddenly, the walls of the room start closing in on me. My heart starts pounding. I can’t breathe. I’m suffocating.

I pull my hand away and take the wand off her belly. I hand her a towel to wipe the gel off. “I’m sorry. I just remembered I have somewhere to be.”

“Oh.” She looks sadly at her tray table where the cups of Jell-O sit untouched. “I was hoping . . . never mind, you need to go.”

“Yeah, I need to go.”

I walk out of her room, not even bothering to bring the ultrasound machine with me. I need to go. I need to go like I’ve never needed to go before.

I need to go, because what I just experienced in that room was something I’ve never felt.

What I just experienced in that room was so wrong I can’t even begin to list all the ways.

But how come what I just experienced in that room feels nothing but so fucking right?

Chapter Twenty

Hot air rolls across the nape of my neck as I fill out a chart at the table in the resident’s lounge. “I’ve got a few free minutes. You?”

I don’t have to look up to see that it’s Gina. I recognize her whisper, the touch of her hand on my shoulder. Her scent. I close my eyes and sigh. This is the right call, Kyle.

I nod before turning around. “Let me drop off my chart. Meet you there in a second.”

She smiles before she heads out the door. It’s a nice smile. Gina has perfect white teeth. Almost too perfect. Everything about Gina is perfect for me. She’s a doctor. A second-year. She understands my schedule and the demands of my time. She’s driven by her job like I am. She doesn’t have time for things like watching baseball games and reading romance novels. Let alone time for kids. As far as I know, she doesn’t even want kids.Idon’t want kids. Not yet anyway.

We’re perfect for each other.

Yes, this is the right call.

I drop my chart off at the nurses’ station and head to the on-call room. When I arrive, Gina is already undressed and under the covers. I lock the door and strip myself naked on the way to her. I rip off the sheet and gaze down at her body—her large breasts that don’t even fit in my hands. Her trim waist. Her toned thighs. Her triangle of brown curls.

It’s there where I focus my attention. I catch myself wondering if Elizabeth has brown curls as well. Maybe not as well manicured as Gina, but brown none the less. I quickly look up at Gina’s face—if for no other reason but to remind myself exactly who I’m here with.

I climb on the bed with her and palm her breasts. She pulls my head down until our lips meet. She kisses me hard and with more feeling than she’s ever kissed me. And I let her. I let her because this is the right call.

“You feel so good,” she says, squirming underneath me. “God, I needed this. I’ve missed you this week.”

“Mmm,” I mumble, working my mouth down to her chest so I can suck on her nipples. She grinds her hips into me from below as I take one into my mouth while I pinch the other. My free hand traces a line down her flat stomach, down past her patch of curls to find her wet and ready. I slip in one finger, then another as she moans under my manipulation.

I work my thumb around her clit and she bucks her hips into me. She’s close already. It won’t take much to get her there. I increase the pressure I’ve got on her nipple, pinching and twisting as I continue to work the fingers of my other hand inside her.

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