Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (32 page)

He could tell her first instinct was to say no
– it was obvious that she didn’t want him taking care of her – but
then she nodded.
 

He squeezed her shoulder.
 
“Be right back.”
 
He bypassed the machines lining the
hallway, the kind that allowed you to insert a dollar and make a tea or a
coffee, and instead headed for the cafeteria.
 
Anna had been something of a tea
connoisseur when they were younger, and Jaxon could only infer that her tastes
had grown more refined after living in London.

He picked through the meager selection of teas
that sat in a small wicker basket near the coffee station, finally deciding on
a calming earl gray chamomile.
 
He
poured boiling water over the bag and added one sugar.
 
It was exactly how Anna liked it.

When he returned to the waiting room and handed
her the styrofoam cup, he was rewarded with a grateful smile.
 
“Thank you,” she said, and took a
sip.
 
There was a look of surprise
in her blue eyes when the hot liquid hit her tongue.
 
“One sugar,” she said.
 
“No milk.”

He nodded, then sat down next to her.

“You remembered.”

“Of course I remembered,” he said.
 
“How could I forget?
 
Anytime we’d end up at a coffee shop,
everyone would be getting iced coffees or lemonade, and you’d have to have your
tea, even in the middle of summer.”

She wrinkled her nose.
 
“Coffee and tea are not meant to be
cold.”
 
She gave him a tiny smile
and then clutched the cup tightly in both hands.
 
“Do you think Katie’s going to be okay?”

“Of course she is,” he said.
 
“The doctors are with her.”
  
He wasn’t sure if it was true, but
it seemed to comfort Anna.
 
And
right now, all he wanted was to make her feel better.
 
That look on her face – one of
sadness and anxiety -- was sending stabs through his heart.
 

Is that how she’d looked that night all those
years ago, when he’d stood her up?
 
The thought was almost unbearable.
 
He imagined her waiting for him, checking her watch, calling his house.
 
Had she thought he’d been in an
accident?
 
Or had she known
immediately that he wasn’t coming?

“Katie’s just such a good person,” Anna
said.
 
“I just want her and the baby
to be okay.”

“They
are
going to be okay,” Jaxon said. He reached over and put his arm around her.
 
Anna’s body stiffened, and for a
horrible moment, he thought maybe she was going to pull away.
 
Even though he’d been kissing her just a
few hours ago, this gesture somehow seemed more intimate, and the rejection
would have been a sharp sting.

But then her body relaxed, leaning into him,
and Jaxon pulled her close.
 
He took
in the smell of her hair, vanilla and lilac, the same exact way it had smelled
all those years ago.
 

His heart ached, wondering if the mistake he’d
made by leaving her had been the biggest of his life.
 
How would things have been
different?
 
Would Anna be the one in
the delivery room right now?
 
Would
he be holding her hand, waiting for their son or daughter to arrive into the
world?

No.
 
Anna had been the one to turn him down.
 
He’d put himself out there by asking her
to come with him to Los Angeles.
 
She’d been the one to say no.
 
He’d stood her up that night, sure.
 
But she’d been the one to reject him first.
 
He would have done anything for Anna,
and she’d made it clear that the feeling wasn’t mutual.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the
waiting room, and a doctor appeared in front of Jaxon and Anna. Another person
interfering on their moment was enough to snap the spell, and Anna jerked out
from under Jaxon’s arm.

“Are you two here with Katie Randolph?” the
doctor asked.
 
He was an older man,
probably about sixty or so, with a shock of gray hair and a kind-looking
face.
 
His white coat was pressed
and immaculate, a fact that Jaxon somehow found comforting.

“Yes,” Jaxon said, standing up.
 
“I’m her brother, Jaxon, and this is her
friend, Anna.”

The doctor nodded.
 
“I’m Dr. Gallagher.
 
Your sister’s baby seems to be having a
hard time getting oxygen.”
 

From next to him, Jaxon felt Anna tense.
 
He reached out and grabbed her hand.

“It’s nothing to be too concerned about right
now, although we don’t want the baby to be in distress for long.
 
So Katie’s going to go in for a
c-section.
 
The quicker we can get
the baby out, the better.”

Jaxon nodded.
 
“Can we see her?”

“She’s being prepped for surgery right now,”
Dr. Gallagher said, shaking his head.
 
“Will you be waiting here for her?”

“Yes,” Jaxon said.
 

Next to him, Anna nodded.

“I’ll send someone out to update you as soon as
she’s out of surgery.”
 
He gave them
both a kind smile.
 
“And please, try
not to worry.
 
Katie and her baby
are going to be fine.”

***

The next three hours were torture.
 
Anna couldn’t believe how keyed up and
anxious she felt.
 
While she knew
intellectually that a c-section was a very safe procedure, she couldn’t get
over the fact that her friend was having surgery.
 
A major surgery that was predicated by a
doctor using phrases like “baby in distress.”
 

She felt completely helpless, and she just
wanted the whole thing to be over with.

Jaxon had been great – he’d taken control
of things immediately, bringing her that tea, then walking with her outside
when she was too jumpy to sit still in the waiting room.

“Should we go back in?” Anna asked as they
walked along the sidewalk outside.
 
The morning sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, warming her
skin.
 
The hospital was starting to
become busier, with cars pulling up to the traffic circle and doctors and
patients filing in through the automatic doors.
 
The dawn made things seem more hopeful,
and Anna felt herself relaxing just a tiny bit.

“We can go back in if you want,” Jaxon
said.
 
“But they’re going to call us
as soon as she’s out.”
 

Jaxon had charmed one of the labor and delivery
nurses into promising to call his cell phone as soon as Katie was out of her
surgery.
 
Anna had stood by and
watched, biting back the sting of jealousy she’d felt, telling herself she
didn’t care who Jaxon flirted with if it was going to get them information
about Katie.

“Okay,” Anna said now.
 
“Maybe one more lap around?”

“Sure.”
 

They walked in silence, falling into step next
to each other, their feet tapping out a steady rhythm on the pavement.
 
Anna had always been a walker.
 
Back in London she would get up early,
slip on her sneakers, and slide outside.
 
She’d watch the city wake up as she moved through the streets, never
taking the same path twice, tracing a zigzagging route all around her
neighborhood.
 
Walking calmed
her.
 

Anna appreciated that Jaxon was staying
silent.
 
She found his presence
comforting, but at the same time, she didn’t want to talk about what was going
on with Katie.
 
She liked being
alone with her thoughts.

When Jaxon’s phone rang, breaking the early
morning tranquility, Anna jumped.
 

“She’s ready,” Jaxon said when he hung up.

They trooped back into the hospital, hurrying
up to the labor and delivery floor.

As soon as Anna rounded the corner and walked
through the door of Katie’s room, her breath caught in her chest.

There was Katie, holding a tiny little bundle
in her arms.

“Oh, my God,” Anna breathed, moving
closer.
 
She peeked into the soft
folds of the baby blanket.
 
A tiny,
wrinkled little face stared back at her.
 
“Oh, Katie,” she whispered.
 
“He’s beautiful.”

“Tyler Harrison Randolph,” Katie said.
 
She traced her finger over her new son’s
face.
 

“He’s perfect,” Adam said.
 
“And Katie did great in the surgery.”

It was only then that Anna realized Jaxon’s
hands were on her shoulders.
 
She
turned her head, taking in his profile, the look on his face as he laid eyes on
his new nephew for the first time.
 

“He looks like a football player,” Jaxon
said.
 
“For sure.”

Anna smiled and shook her head.
 
It was such a guy thing to say.
 
It was such a
Jaxon
thing to say.
 
Jaxon’s eyes met hers, the sides crinkling as they shared another
smile.
 

C
hapter
F
our

The moment between Anna and Jaxon in the
hospital was short-lived, as a second later, Katie asked Anna to go back to her
house and pick up some of Katie’s things.
 
Katie had forgotten a suitcase on the way out, and because of her
c-section, she needed more clothes than she’d originally anticipated.

“Why can’t I do it?” Jaxon asked.
 
“I’m staying there, for God’s sake.”

“Because I don’t trust you,” Katie said
simply.
 
She looked at Anna.
 
“You don’t mind, do you?”

Of course Anna didn’t mind.
 
But since Jaxon had driven her to the
hospital, he needed to drive her back to Katie’s house.
 

When they got there, Jaxon put the key in the
lock of the front door, and Anna couldn’t help but think about the last time
she’d been here -- yesterday, at the shower, when Jaxon had kissed her for the
first time.
 
Had that been only
yesterday?
 
God, it seemed like
forever ago.

“This must be the bag they were talking about,”
Anna said, pointing at the hunter green suitcase that was sitting in the front
hallway.

“How could they have forgotten it when it was
sitting right there?”
 
Jaxon shook
his head.

“They had other things on their minds,” Anna
said.

Now that Katie and the baby were fine, Anna had
nothing to distract her from Jaxon being right here, so close to her in this
small hallway.
 
She backed as far
away from him as she could, hoping that putting some distance between them
would calm her beating heart.

“Really?” Jaxon gave her his patented
smile.
 
“That makes sense.
 
I can see how easy it might be to have
other things on your mind.”
 
He took
a step toward Anna.
 
The glint in
his eye let her know exactly what he was referring to when he said “other
things.”

Anna took a step back, but the entranceway was
small, and there was nowhere to go.
 
She found herself with her back against the wall, literally, and Jaxon
in front of her, moving in for the kill.

He pressed up against her body in one smooth
movement, his lips landing on her neck, his breath teasing her skin.
 
Pleasure flowed through her, sliding
like hot lava from her neck all the way down to her toes.