“What the hell was that?” he asked, pointing at the door.
“Nothing.” I sat down, and dug in for my food, shrugging and clearing all rage from my voice. “I’m just hungry and didn’t feel like waiting for you to finish eye-fucking Nina to eat.”
“I wasn’t—” He halted and paced two steps before turning back. “Jesus. I asked her if you were in a meeting and got caught up for a minute when she asked me about a software program. Sorry it took so long.”
His tone let me know he wasn’t really all that sorry. Or if he was, he was more irritated than anything.
Annoyed at his annoyance and shitty apology, I slapped my burger down on the table. “God, you can’t even admit when you’re flirting on your way to bringing the mother of your child lunch.” I stood and faced him head-on, letting the emotion bursting from me come out. “I don’t know why I’m surprised. You probably have women in a line to be with the great Ian Bergamo.”
An incredulous laugh broke free. “Are you kidding me?” He shook his head before leveling narrowed, steel eyes at me. They were no longer confused. No, they were taunting and angry. “What? Is the ice-queen Carina Russo jealous?” he sneered.
I stumbled back like his accusation was a physical force and scoffed. “No.”
His lip curled, and he took a step closer. “Come on, Carina. Admit it.”
Pulling my shoulders back, I channeled the same power I used in a boardroom. “Don’t turn this around on me. You’re the one screwing around.”
“I’m not,” he said with a hard edge. “We’ve promised each other nothing, so we don’t owe each other anything.” He took a few more steps, the lines between his brows softening and a dark glint entering his eyes. He didn’t stop until he stood right in front of me almost brushing my stomach, forcing my head back to meet his eyes. I swallowed when his lips tipped up in a devious smirk. “Unless you want to.”
“I want nothing from you.” I tried to hold on to my anger and infuse my voice, but when he stood so close, it was like he stole my oxygen, and it all came out breathy.
He brushed my hair back, and a shiver ran down my back. “You sure about that? Didn’t seem so sure last week.”
I licked my dry lips, struggling to hold it together. It was so hot in here, my head swam. “It was a mistake.”
It was his turn to scoff as he ran his fingers across my cheek. I struggled not to sink into it. His hand slid around the back of my neck, and the shock ran down my back again, wrapping around to form an ache in my stomach. I was almost panting for him, and I was almost past caring.
How did he do this to me?
“Are you sure you don’t miss my kiss?” he asked just before his lips pressed to the corner of my mouth. “Tell me you don’t dream about our date, about being together. Tell me you don’t remember how good it felt.”
“Ian.” Was that breathy moan from me? My body sizzled like a live wire, all of it moving to my lower belly, pulling tight like an aching need.
He leaned down, pushing my hair aside so he could whisper in my ear. “Because I do. All the time. Sometimes…” Warm lips sucked on the lobe of my ear, coming off with a pop. “I wake up with my hand on my cock, stroking myself to the memory of your heat, your moans, until I come, your name falling from my lips.” He pulled back to meet my eyes again, his lids heavy over dark charcoal eyes. “Just say it, Carina.”
My lips parted, and another wave of need hit me.
Wait.
No.
My stomach pulled tight, my back ached, and I gripped his shoulder for support as the pain racked through me and liquid began trickling down my leg. My face flushed even more because all I could think was that it felt like I was peeing myself.
“Are you okay?”
Ian looked down with concern more than desire now.
“My water just broke.”
Any desire that had been there had vanished, and he stepped away, his hands pulled back like I just told him I had the plague. “What the fuck?”
“My water just broke.”
“What do you mean your water just broke?”
I clenched my jaw as the feeling I’d thought was desire coiling through me hit again, only harder with no doubt that it was a contraction. A real one. “I mean, my water. Just. Fucking. Broke.”
He stared on with wide eyes and swallowed. I realized he had no idea what to do. We’d gone to all the appointments, but we never talked about when the baby came. I’d never talked about the birthing classes I’d taken and what to expect.
“I need you to take me to the hospital.”
His brows lowered, and he hesitated. “Will it ruin my seats?”
If I could have lit him on fire with a look alone, he’d have been ash. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I almost shouted.
It did the trick because, in the next instant, his hands dropped, and he blinked the shock away. “Right. Doesn’t matter. Okay,” he said, stepping back up to me to take my hand. “Just…just tell me what to do.”
I took a deep breath because now that I didn’t have his dirty mouth distracting me, all I could think about was every feeling in my body. “I have a bag in my car. We need to grab that and head to University Hospital.”
“K. On it.” He actually walked in a circle, looking around the office like he was lost, before coming back to me. It was almost enough to make me laugh. “Should I carry you?”
I did laugh at that. “No. I can walk. I just need my phone to time my contractions.”
“Got it.” He snatched it off my desk and handed it to me. “What about the food.”
“No food.” He took my hand, and we were almost out the door when I stopped.
“You okay?”
“Maybe just the French fries.”
He smiled, nodded, and grabbed me my fries, holding my hand the whole way to the parking lot.
While I chomped down on the fries, getting more nervous as the miles passed, Ian looked like a Zen monk in the driver’s seat. I wanted to slap him as he helped me from the car with a comforting smile. I really wanted to smack him when he looked back at the passenger seat to check I hadn’t ruined it with my broken water. He’d breathed a sigh of relief when I’d told him I had a spare towel in my car just for this situation.
“Hi,” I greeted the front desk attendant of the hospital. “My water broke, sooo yeah.” He looked up with one eyebrow raised and didn’t say anything for a minute, and in my nervousness, I rushed to fill the silence. “I’m probably overreacting and should just go home…”
I faded off as a contraction hit me hard, stealing my breath. This one lasted longer than the others, and Ian’s hands held me up even when I kind of wanted to sit down on the ground.
“We just need to check-in,” Ian stepped in.
The attendant’s concerned gaze scanned me over and passed a clipboard to Ian. He filled out all the paperwork, and we had someone waiting with a wristband and a wheelchair to take me up to the delivery floor.
“Hey, Mom and Dad,” the nurse greeted. “I’m Mary, and I’ll be your nurse for the next few hours. Dr. Abrahms is on call right now. Why don’t you get changed out of your clothes and I’ll be back with him to check you out.”