Page 50 of Worth the Risk

My cheeks hurt from smiling so wide. “Is that so? You seem a little arrogant, Dr. Whitmore.”

“You’ve made me confident, Angel. I’m afraid you’ll have to get used to it.”

His teasing tone made me laugh, and then we were kissing again. I could definitely live with that.

Epilogue: Ford

“Ford!”

I jolted as Zoey yelled my name, dropping the screwdriver in my hand. I was in the nursery, putting together the changing table that was just delivered yesterday, but I lunged to my feet. There was an edge of panic in her voice, and my girl didn’t get freaked out easily.

There was one thing that had her on edge lately, so I had a pretty good idea what I was going to find as I rushed into the living room.

Zoey stood in front of the couch, one hand on her swollen stomach and the other typing away on her phone. The front of her pants was soaked.

“My water broke!” She was practically yelling, so I didn’t point out that what she said was obvious.

I didn’t want to upset her when she was already so worried about giving birth.

I didn’t see it coming. As an ER nurse, keeping a cool head in a stressful situation was something that Zoey had to be good at. I’d seen her assess victims of horrible accidents with absolute professional calm and dodge a wild punch from an agitated patient without even blinking. She was the definition of cool, calm, and collected.

At least, she was at work while dealing with other people’s ailments. When it came to her own condition, it was a different story. She’d been nothing but excited about having the baby for a long time, but when she got to her third trimester, the panic started. For some reason, she was terrified about giving birth.

It was actually pretty adorable that she was so worried, but I only made the mistake of telling her that once. She’d glared at me and refused to talk to me for the rest of the day, and I realized that she didn’t see it as a compliment. Since then, I kept my comments about it to myself.

I definitely didn’t tell her that her out-of-control hormones were making her overreact. I didn’t have a death wish.

“Why are you just standing there?” Her voice was sharp with impatience, but I didn’t take offence because the next second, she was wincing and doubled over in pain.

I rushed to her side, one hand on her back and the other plucking her phone out of her hand before she dropped it. I saw that she’d been texting Ruby, and I finished the message for her, letting her best friend know that we were on our way.

I waited until the contraction passed and then lifted Zoey into my arms, striding toward the bedroom.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to help you change your clothes and then we’re going to Lakeview.”

“Ford.” She whimpered as I set her on her feet in the middle of the bedroom. “I’m scared.”

I was already pulling open her drawers, looking for a pair of her stretchy leggings, but I stopped and returned to her. Cupping her cheeks, I kissed her forehead.

“Don’t worry, Angel. Nothing is going to go wrong.”

“But it’s going to hurt.”

I hesitated, not sure what to say here. I couldn’t exactly lie and tell her it would be painless.

“I know,” I said, hugging her to my chest. “And I wish I could take the pain away from you. I promise, you’re strong enough to do this.”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”

She suddenly pushed against my chest, looking sullen. One thing I wasn’t going to miss having her blame me occasionally for all the unpleasant parts of her pregnancy. I went back to the dresser, giving her a little space as I grabbed leggings and fresh underwear.

Tossing them into the bed, I reached for the front of her wet maternity jeans, but she batted my hands away. “I can do it.”

Then, another contraction hit. I hated seeing her in so much pain, and my amusement about her panic faded. I wanted to get her to the hospital and demand an epidural for her.

As soon as this contraction passed, I ignored her protests and changed her pants for her. Her cheeks were red, as if it embarrassed her, and I had the thought that she was adorable again.