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Okay, that much was true. Besides, they had much more in their favor than phenomenal sex and an unborn child. They had an extraordinary working relationship and shared many things in common, including their love of horses, sports, and homemade Italian cuisine. They were also friends.
"Hope?"
"Hmmm?"
"Please tell me you're not having any regrets."
Rolling onto her back, Hope met his beautiful Blackwood blue eyes. "No." She shook her head. "No regrets,” she assured him.
She saw the tension in his whisker-stubbled jaw release as he brushed her hair back from her face and cupped her cheek in his hand. “There is so much I want to say to you right now.”
Hope turned her lips into his palm. "Tell me without words," Hope whispered and pulled his mouth to hers.
Chapter Thirteen
By her own choice over the next few weeks, Hope kept herself quite busy at Lone Oaks. When she wasn't assisting Zeke and Drew on calls, she treated patients at Doc's clinic for small animal care, updating his antiquated record-keeping system to a more efficient, user-friendly electronic platform, and pitching in to help Anna with Alex and Zach.
As if she needed more to do, within the last week, Hope had taken on the bottle-feeding responsibility for a calf whose mother wasn't producing enough milk. And for the previous three mornings, she'd baked cookies with Sarah for the Christmas bazaar at St. Luke's. All that, combined with spending her nights having the best sex of her life and being four and a half months pregnant sometimes left Hope too exhausted to pull herself out of bed in the morning.
Today had been one of those mornings. So, when Doc called at the ass-crack of dawn to inform them of a bovine emergency at the Howard farm, Hope had begged off. Instead, she'd curled herself around Drew's pillow and drifted back to sleep.
For over four hours.
Hope couldn't remember ever sleeping this late. If so, she must have been ill because, as the daughter of a horse trainer, early mornings at the barn or track were the norm. Even when she'd gone to college, if she didn't have an eight o'clock class, Hope was generally up by sunrise, either studying or working at one of the campus farms.
Old habits were hard to break.
Until this morning, apparently.
Stretching, Hope threw back the covers and crawled out of bed. Once she'd peed, she pulled on leggings and a thigh-length sweater, brushed her teeth, and headed to the kitchen for her one allotted jolt of caffeine. As she waited for her mug to fill, Hope sent Drew a text.
Sorry I bailed on you this morning. Hope everything is okay.
Drew didn't respond until she'd sat down at the table with a slice of buttered toast and a full mug of coffee.
Milk fever. Early stages. Dosed her up on an IV of calcium. Will swing by later to check on her. In between regular calls now.
With large animals, much of a veterinarian's job was with preventive care and maintenance, so visits were routinely scheduled at least twice a month and often weekly for the bigger operations.
Need my help?
No. We only have two more.
Okay.
She felt a little guilty, but not enough to insist. Sometimes, it was nice not to be on call and allow the morning to unfold naturally.
How about we go out tonight? Just the two of us.
Little tingles of delight shot through Hope's belly.
Sounds great.
His response was a smiley face emoji with heart eyes that set off its own wave of tingles throughout Hope’s entire body.
Except for the few times they'd ventured into Beaumont to have dinner with Jack and Tess, mostly their meals were eaten with Drew's parents or grandparents. Though she was grateful for the times they stayed put in the basement apartment and cooked for themselves, Hope also enjoyed spending time with Drew's family. Getting to know them. Watching the ease with which they interacted. Envying the powerful bond they shared.
And falling a little more in love with him every day.
