Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) (18 page)

“Would I have loved
to have been with them, to have seen my boy be born and take his
first steps? Hell yeah. But I get to watch him navigate high school
in a few years, and fall in love for the first time. I get to see him
grow into the man that I should’ve been. The man I’m trying to be
now. My son will never use the words I did, against a man or a woman.
He will have his faults, I’m sure, but they won’t be the same as
mine, because he was raised during his formative years by all of you.
I will never be able to thank you all enough for what you’ve done
for Tegan and Ethan, but in my weakest moments, I wish I’d been
there, too.”

“I was always going
to tell Blake.”

“Good. I’ve heard
that he’s great with his daughter, so I know he’ll want to be
part of your child’s life, even if he’s not ‘with’ you.”

“I know that too.”

“Thanks for listening
to me. You’re probably right—I needed that more than you did.”

“You’re a very good
man, Caleb. I’ve never seen Tegan happier than you’ve made her
since you’ve been back together, and Ethan is thriving, too. I’m
so happy for all of you.”

He leans over and
kisses my cheek. “Thanks for saying that, Audrey. I’m happier
than I’ve ever been.” He rubs his hands together and smiles at
me. “Now, let’s talk about what we’re each working on while you
wait for your breakfast. Chemistry makes everything better, right?”

“Right,” I tell him
laughing. We are such nerds.

* * *

Blake

A nurse came and woke
me up, to tell me Audrey’s awake, and I’m rushing down the hall
to her now. They wouldn’t let me stay in her room, but I was
allowed to sleep down the hall in another empty one. I let Jeanne go
home with Scott Griffin—maybe meeting his wife and son will stop
that damn swooning thing she keeps doing around him. I stop short
near the nurse’s desk when I see a man already in there with
Audrey, kissing her cheek.

“Oh God, Caleb Hall
is so hot,” one nurse says.

“I know. I mean he’s
a cowboy,
and
a
scientist. Damn, I wish he was on the market. I’d let him
experiment on me,” the other one at the desk says.

“Do you think he’s
the father of her baby?” I blurt out, before I can even think about
what I’m saying.

“No,” the first
nurse tells me, her eyes widening.

“I love Audrey, but I
wouldn’t share my husband with her.”

I turn, ready to face
the woman who just heard me ask if her husband was sleeping with
Audrey. She’s got bright red hair, and a cowboy hat on her head.
She’s smiling, so I think I’m going to live to see another day.

“Sorry about that.
I’m Blake.”

“I’m Tegan, and I
know who you are. He’s advocating for you,” she tells me, tilting
her chin towards the room.

“Me? Why would he do
that?”

She looks at the
nurses, and then motions me over to the chairs against the far well.
Once we sit, she leans towards me, and starts to tell me her story.
“When we were sixteen, Caleb and I were in love. And then his
friend drugged my drink, and even though I got away before anything
could happen, said ‘friend’ told him I had slept with him, and
Cal believed him.”

“That sucks.”

“Yep. Especially
because I had just found out that I was pregnant.”

“Whoa. That must’ve
been hard, getting past him thinking you betrayed him so you could
raise your baby.”

“I didn’t tell
him.”

“You didn’t—what?”

“I won’t go into
details, but he was pretty horrible to me. His friends were even
worse. My parents wanted me to have an abortion, and I had no one. I
needed Caleb, and he wasn’t there for me. The Society rescued me
from the clinic my mom took me to, and I left my small town, and all
the names I was being called, and gave my baby and me a fresh start.”

“How long?”

“Ethan was ten when
they met. He just turned eleven. They met a few months ago.”

“That’s…I don’t…I
can’t imagine not knowing my daughter for twelve years.”

“I know. Ethan never
thought he was missing anything because he had everyone in the
Society, plus the Griffins, and other friends to love him and teach
him anything he could possibly want to learn. But when he saw Caleb,
he
needed
him. I
could see it in his face, and feel it in my heart. He didn’t want
to let me down, but he had to know his father.

“Lots of different
people have opinions on what I should regret in my life, but I only
regret this one thing. Once I was safe with the Society, I should’ve
told Caleb. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I was
heartbroken, and scared. Probably a little bitter, too. If Cal’s
mom hadn’t asked us to protect him, I don’t know if I ever
would’ve taken Ethan back to that town to meet him. That’s
something I have to live with, and it hurts. I see the hurt in
Caleb’s eyes when he thinks I’m not looking, and although Ethan
would never tell me, I know he wishes his dad had been around.”

“You protected him,
and then got married?”

“No. I protected him,
married him, protected him some more—by making people think I was
sleeping with his friends without telling him what I was really
doing—and then we finally fought hard enough for each other to make
it stick. It wasn’t easy, and both of us said and did things we’re
ashamed of. We don’t dwell on those things, if we did we’d be
over before we even had a chance to start again. We’ve spent the
last few months concentrating on the present and the future, and I’ve
never been happier.

“No matter how happy
we all are, though, I’ll never fully forgive myself for keeping my
boys apart. Audrey would never do that to you. Our situations are
different, and she would want you in the baby’s life, even if you
aren’t together. You have to know that. I let him go in there,
because I think he needed to rally for you since he never had that
chance to do it for himself, but she was already going to talk to
you.”

“I believe that. I
don’t want to be a part-time parent. I want my baby, but I also
want Audrey. All day, every day, I want her.”

She looks at me and
smiles. “I think you mean that. Now you just need to prove it.”

“I will.”

Tegan surprises me by
giving me a hug, and then I walk to Audrey’s door. Caleb comes out
as I go in, and I shake his hand. “Thank you.”

“She’s a special
lady. Treat her right from now on,” he warns me in a smooth voice
that carries a Southern accent.

“I plan to.”

“Good.”

I stop inside the room
to take Audrey in. She has a bandage on her head, and her hands on
her stomach, where a monitor is attached. I can hear our baby’s
heartbeat, but it’s Audrey’s smile that I’m focusing on. She’s
smiling, and I feel like I just won everything in life. Every. Damn.
Thing.

Audrey

“Hi,” Blake says,
standing just inside my hospital room door.

“Hi.”

“Can I come in?”

“Hmm…that question
could mean so much more than you want it to.”

He looks shocked for a
minute, but quickly recovers. “I want. Believe me I want. I wasn’t
referring to that, but it’s always on the table where you’re
concerned.”

“Always?”

“Always, and
all
ways
, too.”

“Come over here so I
can kiss you.”

He doesn’t hesitate,
sitting on my bed and letting me have his lips. I know we need to
talk, but I’ve missed his mouth. And all of his other wonderful
body parts. The Griffin women all joked about being extra horny while
they were pregnant, and I totally understand. I may only be a few
weeks along, but I feel like an addict who hasn’t had a hit in
weeks. I haven’t had Blake in weeks, and I need him, especially
after being stuck in that office with Jimmy the other day.

I move my hands under
his t-shirt, and start to pull it off. “Dree, you’re in the
hospital.”

“No I’m in a
medical ward in a sublevel of Corrigan & Co. and I want you.
Now.”

“Someone could walk
in.”

“I just had my vitals
checked. We have a little time,” I say as I stroke him through his
jeans.

“Fuck.”

“Exactly.”

“What the hell, it’s
not like I haven’t shown my ass to the world before.”

“Best movie ever.”

“It was not even
close to being my best movie,” he tells me as he takes his clothes
off and gets under my blanket with me.

“None of the other
ones had your ass on full display, so I stand by my original
declaration.”

“Perv.”

“Says the man who
just got naked in a pregnant woman’s hospital bed.”

“You practically
begged.”

“You’re right.
Carry on,” I tell him as he slides his hands under the only piece
of clothing I’m wearing.”

He looks at the I.V.
and various wires all over me. “I don’t think we’re going to
get this nightie off you.”

“Can’t you tear it
off with your bare hands?”

“Um, no. I could
maybe tear a thong off of you, but even that would be pushing it. I’m
not really a superhero, Dree. I just played one once.”

“Where’s my call
button? I’ll ask the nurse to bring us scissors.”

“I am bare ass naked,
and you want to call a nurse?”

“Hmm, you’re right
again, she might try to join in and I’d have to use the scissors to
cut her. Just move the wires out of the way.”

He’s staring at me
like I’m nuts. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”

“So quit talking, and
use your mouth for better things.”

“Yeah. Good idea. If
I think about this conversation anymore, I may feel objectified,
rendering me incapable of performing to my best ability.”

“This is going to be
epic,” I tell him, arching my breasts towards his mouth. “And
you’ll perform. Little Hollywood loves me.”

He shakes his head as
he lowers it, and takes my nipple in his mouth. That’s more like
it. I pull him almost on top of me so I can stroke him without
pulling my I.V. out. He’s getting into it, and it’s hot. Until my
door opens, that is.

“Oh my God. You
women. You damn women,” Kendrick yells, turning his back to us.

“That was Blake’s
ass you saw, not mine,” I say, pulling my shirt back down. “The
whole world’s already seen it, so nothing new.”

“
I
have not seen it. I didn’t go to that movie. Why would I have gone
to that movie?”

“To study his
anatomy?”

“Stop, Audrey. Please
stop,” Blake begs as he puts his pants back on. “You can turn
around now, Doc.”

“This is
just…unacceptable. What if a nurse had walked in?”

“We wouldn’t have
let her join in. I promise.”

“I think she hit her
head too hard, man. She wasn’t like this before.”

“She’s always been
like this,” Kendrick tells Blake, looking at him curiously. “How
well do you know her?”

“Well enough to knock
me up.”

“Oh God. I’m in the
Twilight Zone, or there’s a hidden camera, right? It would have to
be HBO or Showtime with the nudity, but there has to be a camera in
here somewhere.”

“No cameras, Mr.
Armstrong. This is just business as usual here. I’d say you get
used to it, but I’ve been here for three months, and I’m still
shocked by one of them every single day.”

“We like to keep you
on your toes,” Reina says as she walks in. “What was so
disturbing that you needed to call me down here, Ken?”

“They were about to
be intimate when I walked in. That is not proper.”

“Aud?”

“We’d barely just
started the foreplay. We had at least a few minutes to go before the
main event.”

“Oh God. Is there an
escape hatch in here? There has to be, right?” Blake asks Reina,
practically pleading with her.

“It’s fine, Blake.
We’re all adults here.”

“It is not fine,”
Kendrick tells her.

“I explained that
you’d be facing some interesting situations if you took this job.”

“I expected
‘interesting’ to mean injuries and other such things you’d find
with a secret spy group.”

“You’ve had those.”

“Yes, but this…this…”

“Sex,” I tell him.
“It’s called sex, Kenny. I think you need some. Stat.”

Reina shoots me a
wicked smile before putting on a serious face for Kendrick. “I am
truly sorry that Audrey has upset your delicate sensibilities. Blake
and I will leave while you examine her.”

“Wait. Shouldn’t I
be here? You know, since I’m the dad?”

“Yeah. He needs to
hold my hand.”

“As long as that’s
all he’s holding, he can stay,” Kendrick tells us.

I hold out my hand and
Blake takes it with a rueful smile. “What have I gotten myself
into?”

“Me. And now we’re
having a baby. Buckle up, Hollywood. It’s going to be a bumpy ride
with me.
Always.
”

* * *

Blake

Kendrick checks
Audrey’s chart and then checks her vitals, and gives her an
exam—you know, the woman kind of exam. He says she’s doing well,
and can go home after breakfast. I hold out my hand to thank him, but
he just shakes his head. I was using it to hold myself up over Audrey
when he walked in, and not doing other things with it, but whatever.
He really is uptight.

“That was awkward,”
I say as he walks out.

“Ready to try again?”

“Definitely not.”

“He won’t come
back,” she tells me with a pout.

“No, but he said
breakfast will be here any minute.”

“Can we at least
cuddle?”

“That, we can do,”
I say, taking her in my arms as I lie down next to her. “I never
realized you were so funny.”

“There are a lot of
things we don’t know about each other.”

“I know. I was
thinking about that while I was waiting for you to wake up. Would you
go out with me?”