* * * *
Jameson wasn’t speaking to me. In the week since I’d officially started working here, he’d avoided me like the proverbial plague. As a remodel project manager, I was under the supervision of his brother, Tatum. That was just fine with me. And I was happy as a clam, so to speak. I had charge over a small remodel at one of the Strip’s casinos, and I wasn’t doing peon work.
But like a clam, there was that little grain of sand irritating me. Namely Jameson and my never-ending desire for him. Although, I waffled between desiring his dick and desiring junk-punching him. On most days, both would make me equally happy. I didn’t see a pearl coming from the irritating situation. Unless you counted little baby Tate-should-be-Malloy.
Annoyed that my thoughts had drifted to him again—and let’s get real, when didn’t they—I grabbed up some paperwork Chase needed and headed over to the executive offices.
“Hey!” I heard just after I’d handed off the folder to his assistant.
“Emerson,” I exclaimed, hugging her. “How was your honeymoon?” I hadn’t seen her since her wedding, where I’d spent most of my time avoiding Jameson. I wasn’t sure he even knew I was there.
And there was that huge grain of irritation again.
“Perfect,” she sighed dreamily. The girl had it bad for her husband. Stars in her eyes and all that…
“You’ll have to show me pictures when you get a chance—PG of course.”
She swatted at me, rolling her eyes. “They’re all PG. Chase is completely paranoid about someone seeing too much of my skin. I just know he’s going to freak and make me see a female OB when the time comes. Heaven forbid, a guy doctor see the business.”
“Damn straight!” he called through his open office door.
She rolled her eyes again. “We should go to lunch,” she told me. “Catch up and stuff.”
“Oh,” I groaned in regret. “I wish I could, but I have a doctor appointment today.”
“Doctor?” Jameson said from behind me. I closed my eyes and huffed out a breath. Of course, he heard that.
“I’ll see you later,” Emerson whispered, giving me a pat on the shoulder before practically skipping away. I swear to God she should have birds, butterflies and fairy dust fluttering around her.
“Is everything okay? Why do you have to go to the doctor?” he demanded.
“Now you’re talking to me?”
“Cut the shit, Willow. Why are you going to the doctor? Are you okay?”
“It’s just routine,” I gritted out then whispered so the whole office didn’t hear, “It’s my first ultrasound.”
He swallowed hard, looking like he’d just tasted something bitter. And maybe it was a bitter pill to him that his booty call was out of reach.
“Is…um…” He scrubbed his fingers over his lips then looked over my shoulder. “Is the…father…going with you?”
“No.” Though I wished he was. And I really wanted to tell him he was the father more than I wanted anything, other than for him to love me.
“Can…can I come with you?”
Chapter Four
~ Jameson ~
What in the hell had possessed me to ask Willow if I could go with her to this thing? Two nurses and the lady at the intake desk had asked if I was the father, and I’d had to hear Wills confirm to them all that no, I wasn’t.
“So where is this asshat love of your life?” I asked, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest.
“Busy,” she snapped.
“Too busy to see the first images of his child?” I was being a dick, and I knew I wasn’t helping the situation. But I was in too much pain to find anything but anger.
When she’d told me she was in love with someone else, that she was carrying his child, it felt as if I’d died. We’d been each other’s firsts, each other’s only, since…whatever this was between us had started. I thought we’d both known we’d end up together, eventually. It never occurred to me that she’d find someone else.
I loved her. I’d always loved her. And now, I was way too late to tell her.
“You didn’t have to come,” she said with a sigh.
“You shouldn’t be here alone,” I argued.
I forced myself to loosen my posture and walked over to her. She was wearing a paper gown and lying on an exam table with a blanket over her legs. She looked so tiny. Her hand rested on her belly, which showed no evidence of a bump. How could she be pregnant?
“Sorry!” the doctor chirped when he came into the room. “We’re running a bit late today.” He held out his hand to shake mine. “I’m Dr. Bob.”
Dr. Bob? Her OB was named Dr. Bob.
“That’s okay,” Willow assured him, propping herself up on her forearms.
“Let’s get a look at that baby.” He dropped onto his stool and wheeled over. He helped Willow push her gown up under her breasts, and I had to clench my hands into fists to keep from knocking his hands away from her.
I had to get a grip. She wasn’t mine anymore. Apparently, she never really was.
Dr. Bob… Jesus, really? Dr. Bob squeezed some goo on Willow’s belly and started pressing the ultrasound wand over it. He pushed a few buttons and soon a soft thwump-thwump-thwump sound filled the room.
“Is that…” Willow’s eyes went wide.
“Baby’s heartbeat,” he confirmed with a smile.
Tears suddenly pricked at my eyes, and I had to turn away, not wanting to let her see what this was doing to me. Damn it, this should be the happiest moment of our lives. Instead, I was just an interloper, standing in a room with what could have been.
“And there it is,” Dr. Bob said softly.
I couldn’t resist turning to see the screen. My own heart was in my throat at the sight of the tiniest little bean, nestled inside Willow.
The doctor clicked a few more buttons, and little lines
