Undeniably Convenient (Boston's Irresistible Billionaires Book 1), page 21
Cricket is still standing across from me, and you could hear a pin drop for how silent this room is. I likely shouldn’t have publicly berated her that way, but right now I don’t care. I’m too worked up, and Cricket picked the wrong time to be a bitch. There’s no way I’m not going to defend Katy when she’s not here to defend herself. Katy was taken out of here unconscious on a gurney, and instead of giving two shits about a woman she’s worked with for the last four going into five years, she took advantage and tried to use this as an opportunity to play chess with me, and I won’t have it.
“Dr. Lawson—”
“Don’t make me say it again, Dr. Peterson. I expect better from the surgeons on my service. You may not like Dr. Barrows, and you may think of her solely as your competition, but you will treat her with respect.”
“Yes, sir,” she utters, turns, and walks out with her head high, despite blatantly avoiding eye contact. I hope she’s embarrassed. She should be fucking embarrassed.
I blow out a strained breath and roll my neck until it cracks. “I apologize if I made anyone uncomfortable, but there is no excuse for that sort of behavior, and I won’t abide by it.”
“Don’t apologize.” Tamara, the circulating snorts. “I’m glad someone finally said something to her. She is a mean girl, and I think I’m speaking for all of us when I say I was happy to leave that nonsense back in high school. There is no place for it here when we’re working to save lives.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I’m texting with Margot Albright, who is the head RN in the emergency department,” she continues. “She said they’re working to get Katy’s blood sugar up and that her vitals are stabilizing. She came around for a bit but is unconscious again. She was pretty dehydrated too. Her uncle Callan is there with her.”
Dehydrated too. And I allowed her to stay and see this case because I wanted to show off in front of her and make her happy by allowing her to scrub in on a once-in-a-lifetime trauma. What is wrong with me? I should have forced her to go home. I should have made sure when I came in this morning after not seeing her all night that she had been taking care of herself.
April, the nurse on my right laughs interrupting my self-misery. “I’m sure half the hospital will be down there once word gets out. You know she has like twenty cousins, uncles, and aunts who work here in some capacity or another. That’s not even an exaggeration.”
My lips twitch behind my mask, and I’m relieved no one can see it.
“Let’s hope Zane doesn’t find out until they discharge her. That man is relentless with her.”
“Yeah, I heard he stalked her to the parking garage a few weeks back.”
“I heard he trolls her in the elevators.”
As the nurses and techs continue to go back and forth, I go from a barely there smirk to a deep frown. Zane. I can’t blame him for trying to win her back, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also want to kill him. Katy hasn’t mentioned him to me in a while and hasn’t said a thing about any of this. Though, now that I think back, Cayden mentioned something about pretending to be her boyfriend in the elevator with her ex. I was too worked up from seeing him to give it any thought.
Between my relentless ex and Katy’s, we make quite the pair.
I told Zane if he didn’t leave her alone, I’d ruin him, but that’s the problem. He’s not doing it on my floor, and I have no real jurisdiction over him. I can’t fight him off as her man. This constant feeling of being stuck in between is stifling.
Katy is mine. She’s always been mine.
And my heart irrevocably belongs to her.
The woman who brought sunshine back into my dreary life and made me long for everything I’ve been reading to my mother in her romance books.
I want us to be something real—something lasting and permanent and for more than just the baby we’re trying to make—except she’s nowhere close to wanting that with me. So that’s where my pretending comes back into place. Because I don’t think I can do it again. Not with her. I can’t offer my heart up to her on a shiny silver platter and have her smash it into oblivion.
I will love the baby we make, and I’ll love it more because I’m in love with its mother, but I have to learn to accept that that’s where my love needs to end.
After an eternity in the OR, we finally manage to save this patient’s life and tell his family that he needs to not only stop drinking but that he needs a new liver. They don’t even try to play it shocked or cool. My guess is they’ve heard this before and know exactly how bad his alcohol addiction is.
The second I’m done with them, I race my ass down to the ER, through the back web, and after checking the board, straight to Katy’s room. The door is closed, and I hesitate for only a second before I slide it open and freeze, my heart in my throat. Katy’s small body is on the gurney, wearing only a hospital gown and a thin blanket, with an IV coming straight from her arm up to a bag of saline with glucose. She’s pale and her hair is a matted mess, but she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
I stand here for no longer than a second or two before my gaze flickers up to the monitor, where I do a quick assessment of her vitals, and then over to the tall man sitting in the chair beside her bed. I haven’t met Callan Barrows yet, but I know it’s him without requiring introductions. They have the same eyes, and I wonder if her father had them as well.
Entering the room, I shut the glass door and close the curtain behind me to give us privacy.
“Hi,” I say, extending my hand. “I’m—”
“Bennett Lawson,” he answers for me, half-standing and shaking my hand before he retakes his seat. “Yeah, I know who you are. You’re the man getting my Katy pregnant.”
That pulls me up short, and I practically fall into a chair on the other side of her bed.
“Um, yes, sir, I am. But that’s not—”
He holds up his hand and stops me with a chuckle. “Relax, Bennett. Call me Callan. I’m too old to kick your ass, and if her cousins haven’t done it already, then there’s no need for me to. Owen, Vander, and Mason are terrorizers when it comes to her. They’ve scared off nearly every boyfriend she’s had and then honestly nearly killed Zane when he didn’t heed their very direct threats about not hurting her.”
“I can’t blame them for that. I’d love to kill him myself.”
He nods and stares thoughtfully at me. “I figured as much. Katy told me about your situation. You’re taking quite the risk with her.”
I wipe at my lips. “She’s taking quite the risk with me too.” Which is probably why I trust her as much as I trust anyone right now. Yet another realization that leaves me winded. Katy is everything lovely and selfless in this world. So different from everything I’ve known in the past. I don’t think Katy has it in her to intentionally hurt or betray anyone, and fuck if that doesn’t make me love her even more.
“Katy has always done things her way and made no apologies or excuses for it. The fact that you’re still here is reassuring for me, and the wrecked and terrified expression on your face when you came in and saw Katy like this makes me think she’s more to you than just a ride to a baby. Am I wrong in that assessment?”
I lean forward, my elbows digging into my thighs. I glance over at Katy, who’s still asleep, and then back at him, staring him straight in the eyes, man to man. I won’t lie to him. It’s not who I am. “No. You’re not. She is a lot more than that to me.”
He tosses his ankle up to his opposite knee and leans back, throwing his hands behind his head and butterflying his elbows out.
“I’m assuming based on the way you said that, she doesn’t know that’s how you feel?”
I shake my head.
A wry grin hits his lips, and he sets his forearms down on the arms of the chair. “So then tell me, Bennett, what’s your plan?”
My eyebrows bounce. “My plan?”
He pans a hand in my direction. “I’ve been where you are before. I loved the hell out of a woman who didn’t want any of that with me. She too had been hurt by an asshole who didn’t deserve her. It sucks, so I get it.”
I let out a strange, strangled laugh, not even bothering to deny the love part. I sit up and rub the back of my head. “How’d that turn out for you?”
“One day I decided I was done giving her the choice, and I showed her that not only would I be different from the others, but that I’d never stop fighting for her until I not only won her, but she realized she couldn’t live without me either.”
My lips twitch. “Was she as stubborn as Katy is?”
“Every bit as much. Men like us wouldn’t have fallen so hard for them if they weren’t. It just depends on if you’re up for the challenge she presents or not.” He leaves that hanging in the air between us and I don’t bother reassuring him that I am. He can see it all over my face. “I’m going to get her discharge paperwork sorted.” He stands and plants a kiss on Katy’s temple and then goes to leave. “Hey, Bennett?”
I glance up at him. “Yes, Callan?”
“Take care of my Katy for me.”
I swallow thickly. “I intend to.”
“Good. Because you should probably be the one to tell her she’s pregnant.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I feel like total and complete trash right now. Everything hurts. And I’m tired. Like so damn tired I can hardly move, and the thought of opening my eyes feels like the effort of a lifetime. I think I remember what happened. I think I passed out on the damn OR floor, which is, well, gross and humiliating all at the same time.
Not to mention, my family will never let this go. They’ll be up my ass and around the corner over it. Then there’s Bennett. Ugh. He’s going to be supersonically pissed. Rightfully so, but still. Maybe I’ll just sleep for a while longer. Like another decade or so.
“Katy baby, are you awake? Your heart rate is going up a little.” Bennett’s soothing voice filters through my ears as he runs a soft hand over my head and through my hair.
“That depends on how mad you are,” I rasp, my voice sounding like I ate a hundred pounds of cotton and washed them down with sand. “On a scale from one to a hundred.”
“I’m pretty fucking mad so I’ll have to go with a hundred.”
“Then I’m still asleep.”
His lips plant against my forehead, and he murmurs into my skin, “You scared me.”
“I know—”
“No, baby, you don’t. I’m not sure I’ve ever been as scared in my life as when I saw you pass out like that. You have to take better care of yourself. You’re my baby’s mommy now, and that means your health comes first.”
It takes a half-second longer than it should for my sluggish brain to catch up, but when I do, I blink open my eyes, squinting against the harsh fluorescent lights, and meet Bennett’s deep blue ones from inches away. “Baby’s mommy?”
He smiles, his nose brushing mine as he cups the back of my head. “That’s you.”
“So I’m…”
“Pregnant. Yes.”
“Oh my god.” I start to tremble, my eyes closing as tears immediately fill them. “Bennett. Are you sure?” I can’t say anything else without sobbing.
I’ve never cried happy tears in my life. Not when I won big swim meets or got into the medical school of my choice or landed a residency back here in Boston. I know we have a long way to go, and anything can happen, but I can’t begin to explain the unadulterated joy and relief swimming through me right now. It’s consuming and overwhelming and I’m so glad Bennett is here right now.
I’m so glad he was the one to tell me.
“I’m sure. Your uncle told me, and then I broke about seven thousand rules, laws, and regulations and checked your chart. But only for that. I swear, I didn’t sneak or look at anything else, but I had to see for myself, so I hope you’re not mad about that.”
“I’m not mad about that. I’m so many things right now, but mad is definitely not one of them.”
He wraps his arms around me and presses his head and chest against me as I cry into him, no longer able to hold back my sobs. I reach behind his head and grip his scrub top. I’m trembling, and this time it has nothing to do with my low blood sugar.
I’m pregnant.
I’m fucking pregnant.
My life will never be the same again. And Bennett will always be a part of it.
My tongue thickens in my mouth, and I try to swallow past it. Everything is going to change now, and I need to be ready for that. A weird, almost panicky burning hits the center of my chest. It makes it feel like I’m inhaling a lungful of fire with each breath. I reach up to wipe it away only it’s not going anywhere.
“Bennett…”
“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you. I know, and I’ve got you.”
“You’re shaking,” I note, needing to focus on anything other than this feeling.
He holds me tighter. “I’m so fucking happy we’re pregnant, but every time I close my eyes, I see you on that floor,” he whispers, his voice hoarse. “I can’t take it, Katy. I can’t have anything happen to you. Not just because we’re pregnant now. You hear me?”
I nod against him. “I’m sorry,” I croak.
He kisses my head before pulling back and wiping the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. For a long moment, he stares into my eyes, and everything starts to shift and move. Into place or out of sync, I can’t tell which. He leans in and presses his lips to mine, so gently, so tenderly, so reverently it steals my breath. His hands thread through my hair, and he holds me as he deepens it, parting my lips and tickling my tongue with his.
All too soon it’s done and he’s pulling back, and part of me wonders if that’ll be the last time he kisses me. Can I handle it if it is?
“Can I take you home now?” Another swipe of his thumb across my cheek.
“What about your shift? What time is it?”
“It’s noon. I had Dr. Wilson cover my shift. I told him I had a family emergency and that I’d pick up half of his on Saturday.”
“Bennett—”
His flinty gaze cuts to mine. “Don’t argue with me, Katy. No one knows I’m here with you, and I’ll have your uncle wheel you out, but I want to take you home.”
“Okay,” I relent because I’d like to go home too. I need a shower and to sleep for a hundred years. My heart quakes in my chest as more tears fall. “I’m really pregnant?”
“You’re really pregnant.” He puts his hand over my lower belly. “We have a lot to talk about.”
We do. A lot to talk about. And a lot is about to change between us. I went from possibly planning to move out to now living with Bennett at least until the baby is six months old. That’s a long time to live with him.
My gut sinks at that thought, but I don’t dwell on it. Not now. Not when I’m so fucking happy, I could burst.
“You need to talk,” I tell my uncle as he wheels me out toward the ambulance bay. I remember once when I was just coming to live with him, and he brought me here, and Layla hung out with me in the ambulance bay and braided my hair because I refused to go inside the hospital. I didn’t know how to talk to my uncle at the time, but Layla had been through the same hell as I had, and she understood my pain.
I remember thinking I could make it through not having my parents if I had Layla, and my uncle made it so that I did. Now I’m starting to think that I could make it through this if I have Bennett.
But what does that even mean?
Yes, I know I care a lot for Bennett. I do have feelings for him. I have all along.
I’m in a unique position where I don’t have to put my child—or myself—through the tumult of heartbreak and separation of ending something romantic with their father. My baby can be born into a clean world where its parents are amicable, their relationship is solely parental and platonic, and there is no angst or resentment as part of the equation to divert focus from them.
I can do that for my kid.
And I need to.
Falling in love with Bennett isn’t an option.
Even when he holds me just right, kisses my face, wipes my tears, and tells me he wants to take care of me. He’s a good man, and that’s the sort of thing good men do. He’ll be a great dad, which fills my heart with so much warmth, I’m overflowing with it.
It’ll be fine. Hell, it’ll be fucking great.
“I’m happy for you. So happy, Katy.”
“You’re quiet.”
He chuckles. “I’m always quiet.”
“Not like Uncle Lenox quiet.”
“No. Definitely not that quiet,” he agrees. “My Katy is pregnant and making me a grandfather. It’s a lot to take in. What I will tell you is that you’ll be fine. You’re strong and smart and resilient and more ready for this. You’re going to be a fantastic mother, Katy, and I can’t wait to see it. And no matter what, you have us, your whole family, by your side and always on it.”
“Am I making a mistake with him?”
He laughs incredulously. “You ask that now?”
“No. Yes. I’m not. I know I’m not.”
“I agree. You’re not. So stop your brain from going down rabbit holes it doesn’t need to go down. Trust your gut. Trust your heart. Rely on your intuition. But also, I believe Bennett is going to be an incredible dad to your child.”
He’s right. As always, he’s so freaking right. “Thank you,” I mumble, crying again, but I needed to hear that now, even if he’s said it to me dozens of times before. We reach the edge of the garage, and I slowly stand up. I’m feeling better, but I’m still a bit shaky. I turn and hug him, squeezing him tight. “I love you, Uncle Cal. Thank you for always being my hero.”
