AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She looked down at the white lace dress she’d made to accommodate her growing bump. It had a sweetheart neck, fitted over her breasts before coming in to a pinch, and then flow out over her stomach. It stopped mid thigh, revealing her long, tan legs.
“It’s just something I made yesterday since nothing fits anymore,” she told him, smiling as he kissed her again. God she loved the way his mouth claimed hers, as though she was the oxygen he needed to live. As his warm hand cupped her neck, pulling her closer, her toes curled at the pleasure he gave her.
When their kiss ended, they were both breathless. The desire in his fiery eyes matched her own.
“Will you wait for me tonight?” he asked her, his voice low. “I should be back by se
ven.”
She nodded with a smile. Staying over at his place was becoming a habit – one she wasn’t willing to break. Yeah, she still went home sometimes to endure Caitie’s smirk and Breck’s raised eyebrow, but James’s house was beginning to feel like home.
“I should go,” he said, not moving an inch. “I need to scrub in.”
“Then go.”
“I don’t want to.” The corner of his lip quirked up. “I want to take you home right now.”
“I’m not sure your patients would be impressed.” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “And I have work to do. I’ve got a custom order to finish and I need to deliver some samples to the Angel Sands Boutique.”
He sighed. “Okay. Tonight then?”
She grinned, her heart still pounding. “Tonight.”
* * *
“Hey, you want to come out for a drink?” James asked Rich as they were leaving the hospital a week later. “My friend Lucas is celebrating the birth of his baby.
“You’re asking me to come for a drink?” Rich asked, feigning shock. “What’s happened to the recluse we know and love?”
James pulled his keys from his pocket as they walked into the parking lot. “Do you want to come or not?”
“I want. I definitely want.” Rich grinned. “As long as your friend doesn’t mind.”
“He won’t mind at all. I’m going to drop my car off and meet you there. Lafterty’s Bar on Main Street at eight.”
“And you’ll really be there?”
“Yep.”
Rich didn’t look as though he quite believed it. “Okay then, first drink is on you.”
* * *
“Okay, let’s all raise our bottles to Lucas,” Griff called out, his rough voice cutting across the chatter of the bar. “Intrepid firefighter, champion surfer, and now husband and daddy. Is there nothing this guy can’t do?”
“I can shut you up in one easy move,” Lucas told him, raising an eyebrow. “But thanks for the effusive toast.”
“To Lucas!” his friends called out. James grinned and lifted his bottle in salute, along with everybody else in the bar. It was hard to move with all the men standing in here – Lucas’ fire station buddies, friends he grew up with, along with his family. In the corner, James could see his own dad talking to Wallace Russell, the two of them sat at a table as they looked out at the crowd of men.
“Your friends are nice,” Rich said, inclining his head at the group surrounding Lucas. “Why haven’t you introduced me before?”
“I don’t know most of them that well,” James told him. “I knew Lucas when we were kids, but I hadn’t seen him for a few years. Then Ember got pregnant and we kind of reconnected.”
“I guess you both have that dad thing going on.” Rich took another mouthful of beer. “How’s the baby doing?”
“Lucas’s baby?”
“No, dumbass. Your baby. The one that’s going to be here in a few months.” Rich sighed. “Everything okay?”
