Unexpected Legacy: Once Pregnant, Twice Shy / A Baby for the Doctor

He groaned on contact, and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Kate, I don’t have the energy to do this with you today.”

“This what? I’m not planning to fight you.”

“This... Damn.” He made another deep noise when she lightly massaged his scalp. As her fingers twined in his hair and he pressed closer and tightened his hold around her, her body experienced all sorts of chemical reactions. He was adorable. She wanted to hug him. To tuck him into her suitcase and take him with her.

Crazy girl. The point was to get away from him, wasn’t it?

She continued caressing his hair until he relaxed against her, and her body also turned mushy. When his voice reached her ears minutes later, she started, for she’d almost been falling asleep with him.

“You used to bring me soup when I was sick.” He spoke in a murmur against her chest, and his warm breath slipped seductively into her cleavage. “I liked getting sick because of you.”

She laughed. “You’re a very troubled man, Garrett.”

“I was a very troubled young boy.”

He angled his face so he could peer up at her, then raised his hand and absently ran his thumb down the bridge of her nose. “And you? You weren’t Little Miss Perfect. When you heard the thunder and lightning and that huge storm one night, you lost your marbles completely. Do you remember?”

She dropped her hands as he sat up.

“I’m not sure, since I lose my marbles with all the storms.”

“The one that made both you girls run into the boys’ room. Before we knew it, Molly had jumped into Julian’s bed and you were in mine. But Jules tried to hide her under the covers, and you and I immediately went all around the house looking for Molly, thinking she was somewhere else.”

“Okay. Now I remember.”

He sat back with his temple propped against the headboard, his eyes suddenly warm with the memory. “You and I ended up splitting up to find Molly, and I found you asleep in the living room after I found out Julian had hijacked her and was hiding her in his bed. Do you remember what you said?”

Kate was so riveted by his retelling, by the way his smile flashed as he remembered, she’d lost all power of speech. He looked...happy. And also sad?

And devastating.

When she didn’t answer, he tipped her head back by the chin, and his voice acquired a strange note. It was deeper. Especially with that strep-throat rasp. “You asked me why I hadn’t hijacked you, too.”

A strange tingle was growing in the pit of Kate’s stomach, and she couldn’t stop it, couldn’t control it.

“I was probably more asleep than awake.”

The atmosphere around them felt heavy with something unnameable and untamable. She became fiercely aware of every point of contact of their bodies. Her knee against his thigh. Her shoulder against the side of his arm.

“Do you want me to hijack you now, Kate?”

Her stomach tightened at the question. “What do you mean?” She narrowed her eyes and told herself his husky tone was due to the strep throat, but it was too thick, too heavy, as heavy as those coal-black eyes.

He cupped her cheek in one huge, dry palm. “You always took care of Molly until she found Julian. You always put her first, before anything else. Didn’t you?”

When Kate could only nod, he continued.

“This is how I am with you, Kate. It’s instinctive in me. Putting you first. I’d never take advantage of you, that’s my number-one priority. But if I knew you might want something from me, I would like to give it to you. So...”

Suddenly he looked as hungry as he did when he ate her food.

“Do you want me to hijack you?” he asked. “Want me to come after you? Is that why you’re leaving for Florida? Do you want me to give chase?”

His stare was so piercing and primal, he didn’t look weak or sick at all.

He looked predatory and male, and she felt fragile and female. Inside her, a dozen words rippled with the need to come forth.

I want you. Please give me your love. Yourself.

But how could she tie him up this way? Was this really the answer he wanted? Or was he seeking for her to appease him by saying that she didn’t need anything else from him? He’d given her so much already. For his whole life.

A sound of protest tore from her chest, and it sounded so sexual, Kate swallowed it back in horror.

He smiled slowly, almost seductively, as his thumb trailed down the curve of her jaw. “Cat got your tongue?”

Kate couldn’t think. Speak. Breathe.

His thumb went lower, and now slowly brushed over the sleeve of her dress. Then it trailed down her bare arm, the touch a shivery, silken whisper that made her insides quiver with yearning. Her heart galloped as pure need kicked in. His other fingers joined his thumb to caress the inside of her left arm, and her skin broke out in goose bumps as her lungs strained for air.

Garrett was quiet as he watched her reactions. She realized she hadn’t pulled away from his touch, but instead had leaned closer.

He slid the fingers of his other hand into her hair, softly tangling them inside the loose mass. He watched her with somber expectation, as though wondering if she would stop him.

She didn’t.

Oh, why didn’t she?

What on earth was he doing?

What was she doing?

Intense sexual thoughts began to flicker through her mind. Garrett’s lips, his beautiful body naked against hers...

Their gazes held, both of them silent, their eyes almost questioning but also on fire with desire. His breath, slow and deep and slightly uneven, bathed her face.

Suddenly, he tugged her dress up her thighs and then slid his hand under the fabric, up her panty-clad bottom, then up her back, his fingers slowly tracing the little dents of her spine.

Kate sucked in a mouthful of air.

She probably should stop him. She probably should. Instead, she trembled and bent to brush a kiss across his lightly stubbled jaw. Then she drew back and noticed that his eyes were closed, his face almost in an expression of pain. She cupped his jaw and kissed his forehead, her insides melting when he groaned, encouraging her, so that she kissed the tip of his nose.

His hands were suddenly on her hips. Pushing her away? No. He drew her over his lap, guiding her so that she straddled him, and suddenly his fingers stole under her panties to caress her buttocks as his nose slid down the length of hers. She should pull away, but she was breathless, waiting for something, anything, as he buzzed her lips with his. “Kate, stop me,” he said softly.

Five (#u25c01d60-acb3-526f-9b8b-57f7b6b9f078)

Holy hell, what was he doing?

He blamed the seven freckles on her nose. They made him do stupid stuff.