The Baby Jackpot Read Online Free PDF Page B

spring
from the couch dug into his hip, while across the room a low crackling noise
issued from the staticky TV. Most puzzlingly, his nose was buried in a tumble of
lily-scented hair and his hardened member was pressed close against...
    What was he doing?
    In his sleep...in their sleep...Cole had almost had intercourse
with his nurse. Now what? He doubted very much that this situation was addressed
in any book of etiquette or medical code of conduct.
    The longing was almost unbearable. Carefully, he tried to shift
away from her without knocking her off the couch. “Stacy?” he said hoarsely.
    “Oh, Lord, don’t stop,” she groaned, and ground her bottom
against him.
    That was all it took. In seconds, he’d done away with the thin
fabric barriers between them and buried himself inside her. Her little cries of
passion inspired wrenching moans from him, the likes of which he’d never uttered
before. His need for her was primal and all-encompassing. Fire flashed through
him, erasing everything but their astonishing fusion.
    The flames faded, leaving him drenched in sweat. Holding Stacy,
Cole gradually returned to a body he scarcely recognized. And to an ordinary
room that had, briefly, become paradise.
    He yearned for more—and knew he shouldn’t have allowed this to
happen in the first place.
    She lay very still. “Stacy?” Cole whispered, almost afraid to
break the silence.
    “I can’t believe we just did that.” She tried to turn over, and
nearly fell. Cole caught her and they balanced there, until she twisted around
and swung her feet down for support. “This is...”
    “Awkward?” He hoped he hadn’t hurt her. “Are you all
right?”
    She coughed. “I’d better clean up.”
    Cool air replaced her heat. Cole pushed up to a sitting
position until a sharp pain in his knee reminded him of his injury.
    His head swam. Yes, there’d been a little alcohol involved. He
couldn’t blame that for his lapse in judgment, though.
    In thirty-six years, Cole had committed his share of human
errors. But never until now had he erred on so many levels. Yet he wasn’t sure
he regretted a mistake that had led to such a profound sense of connection.
    Stacy returned with her hair tucked behind her ears, her skirt
and blouse on straight and her skin glowing. She wasn’t smiling, though. Or
looking at him.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” Cole said. “I hope this won’t make
you uncomfortable around me.”
    Sitting on a lumpy chair, Stacy clasped her hands in her lap.
“I thought my period was starting, but I guess not.”
    “You can take a morning-after pill,” he said.
    She flinched. “I wouldn’t feel right about that.”
    “Why not?” To him, it seemed an appropriate medical course of
action.
    “After all the effort it took for Una to get pregnant, I can’t
do that,” she said, talking to a point on the wall. “I’d never even know
whether...” She stopped.
    Cole had obviously missed something. “Who’s Una?”
    Stacy blinked. “My recipient in the egg donor program. The
program’s first successful pregnancy.”
    “Then she is pregnant?”
    “She texted me after surgery today,” Stacy said. “It hasn’t
been announced.”
    He ventured to ask her something he’d been wondering since he
learned of her involvement in the program. “Why did you decide to become a
donor?”
    She didn’t seem to mind the question. “In December, one of my
closest friends died in a car crash. Vicki struggled with alcohol addiction, and
she lost the battle. It made me think about how I’d been in survival mode since
my divorce, and that wasn’t good enough. I wanted to do something lasting,
something meaningful.”
    He would have reached for her hands had she been sitting
closer. “And Una’s the lucky mom.”
    “We went through a lot together. Now if I’m...well, I can’t
bring myself to take a morning-after pill.”
    That made sense. Still, Cole wasn’t sure how to process the
possibility of having a child.