They jumped apart like someone dropped a snake at their feet. Gray’s face blazed a brilliant pink. While she stuttered out an apology, Ciar adjusted himself, his dick a single-minded beast.
The doctor was a smiling, middle-aged woman who didn’t miss a step at finding one of her mothers-to-be wrapped around a large, tattooed man in an exam room.
“Gray, you know the drill. Lie back and get comfortable. I’m happy to see that you’ve brought Baby Boy MacGregor’s father.”
Gray paused while draping the blanket over her legs, glancing at him uncertainly. He didn’t hesitate. “Baby Boy Murphy, Doctor,” he politely corrected.
“Oh, of course,” the doctor grinned at Gray and then Ciar.
She bustled around, uncovering Gray’s rounded belly, making his chest swell, as if he were the only man who had ever put a child in a woman’s belly.
While the doctor spread warmed gel over Gray’s belly, Ciar took her hand in his own, holding it close to his chest while the doctor rolled the machine over her skin. Gray gave him a small, nervous smile, and he was once again weak with relief that he was there.
A loud heartbeat filled the small room, making his own heart thump. “Our son.” He took her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“Would you come home with me so we can talk more about this?” Ciar laid his hand on the top of Gray’s rounded belly. He couldn’t get enough of touching her. Today had given him a resurgence of hope.
They were standing just inside the lower-level exit at the doctor's clinic. He was afraid that if he let her walk outside without a plan, she’d jump in a taxi and leave him behind.
“I have to fly to Japan early in the morning. I’ll be gone a week,” he sighed with regret at the timing. “This trip is an absolute necessity, or I would cancel it or send someone else in my place. It’s a £150 million deal, and Anders wouldn’t take kindly to me blowing it off.”
Gray looked uneasy about his offer. He understood since he’d given her nothing that she’d asked for yet. He would, though. He would swear to Gray that he planned on telling her everything, but at this point, she wouldn’t believe him.
“Umm, why don’t we talk when you get back from your trip. I’m flying out in four hours and promised to visit my friends first. We can discuss how this will work over the phone anyway.”
“Gray, please,” he begged. “I just found out that you and I are having a baby. I don’t want to separate. Not yet.” He placed his hands on her hips and brought their bodies close enough that he felt their child press into him.
She looked like she might be considering going with him when his phone rang loudly in his pocket. It had to be Tina. He’d turned his phone on do not disturb and had made Tina’s number the only one allowed while they were in with the doctor, and he hadn’t taken it off yet.
“Sorry, I have to take this.” He explained as he pulled his phone free.
Gray didn’t say anything, so he answered. “Tina,” he started tersely, “what is it?” He watched Gray take two steps back from him. He took two forward.
As he listened to Tina, he swore, and took Gray’s hand, and walked them outside and hailed a cab. Thankfully, she knew something was wrong and didn’t fight him putting her in the cab before sliding in next to her.
He gave the driver the address to his house. “Okay, Tina, calm down. I’ll be there in eight minutes. Go ahead and call an ambulance. They’ll have questions for you that I can’t answer. Stop arguing and do as I tell you.” Hanging up, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What’s going on?” Gray asked.
He took her hand and placed it on his thigh, feeling ten times better for her touch. “Tina was on a ladder for some damn reason and fell. She thinks something is broken. She was panicked about not being able to reach Imogen if she woke from her nap.
“She hadn’t even called the damn ambulance yet.” He felt awful for his nanny, but the timing was terrible. He briefly wondered if she’d sabotaged his time with Gray, though he knew that was absurd since she hadn’t known his plans.
“That’s terrible,” Gray gasped. “She must be in so much pain. As soon as we get to your place, I’ll have the taxi take me to Triskelion, so I’m not in the way. Bébhinn’s working today and can take me to the airport.”
Ciar’s mind was whirling, coming up with plan after plan, only to discard them. He might be shooting himself in the foot, but “I’ll have to follow the ambulance to the hospital and help Tina get situated. She told me once, after I first hired her, that she doesn’t have any family.
“If something is broken, she’ll be in the hospital for a few days at least, and then will struggle to take care of Imogen. Gray,” he started, praying for everything he was worth, “I don’t have anyone else who can watch the baby, and I’m leaving for Tokyo at four in the morning.
“Would you please stay with Imogen until I get home?”
Gray reared back like he’d slapped her. “You can’t be serious,” she questioned, appalled.
“Listen, Gray, I know we have a million things to work out between us, but my ultimate goal is for you to move in permanently. I want us to be a family, and it’s best you know now, I don’t plan on giving up on that dream.
“You don’t have to do this, Gray. I will beg one of the Byrne sisters to take her in until I can get back. It’s just, if you moved in, I hoped you might start work on decorating the place. Our son’s room, perhaps even Imogen’s, and,” he hesitated once more, “our bedroom.
“You were meant to decorate the whole place. You didn’t keep your word, and you always do. So, I’m asking you to do it now.”
