Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
6
Aiden
I stood on the sidewalk and stared at the placard on the white brick wall next to the building entrance on Park Avenue. When I tracked Bianca’s phone and saw that her location was in a doctor’s office, I’d freaked the fuck out. Then I’d rushed to the address and was about to barge in when I spotted the list of names and specialties engraved on the sign.
There were several different departments, but the one that stuck out to me was the OB-GYN office. I supposed it was possible that Bianca had come to see one of the other medical professionals, but my gut told me that I’d done my job and knocked up my woman.
Excitement coursed through my veins, but it was followed by a mix of anger and hurt. I’d missed waking up with her in my arms, missed the moment when she’d taken a pregnancy test, and I’d almost missed what I hoped was her first doctor’s appointment.
Grabbing the iron door handle, a blast of air-conditioning slammed into me as I pulled open the heavy wooden door. It was nearing the end of summer, but it was still hot as hell and humid. The cooled air felt good on my skin as it was even more heated from my heightened emotions.
The hallway was extremely dark compared to the bright, sunny day, so I let the door shut completely, and my eyes rapidly adjusted. Suite 501. The building was old, a converted brownstone, like most of the office buildings on this stretch of Park Avenue. The staircase was in front of me, covered in dark-red carpet that looked like it might have been there since the place was new. The small hall next to the wooden banister had a tiny elevator—in older structures, some of them would barely fit two people—but they often took forever to move between floors.
So I sprinted up the steps and made a sharp turn to my right, jogging back the other way on the landing before going up the next flight. Then again until I reached the fifth floor—which was really the fourth floor because they counted the ground floor as one, rather than zero, like the sensible Europeans.
The door to the waiting room was pushed open, and a young woman with a significantly swollen belly waddled out and over to the elevator. I couldn’t fucking wait to see my Bianca like that. But first, I needed to find her and blister her ass for walking out on me, then take her to the courthouse so she and our baby both had my last name.
I caught the door before it closed and walked inside, trying to appear calm so I wouldn’t scare anyone and be “escorted” out by security.
I did a quick scan of the place and didn’t see Bianca, so I walked up to the check-in window and gave the woman sitting behind it my most charming smile. The one that convinced many guilty people to spill their guts in a deposition because I was “easy to talk to.”
“Hello,”—I glanced at her name tag—“Margaret. I’m looking for my fiancée. Bianca Kendall.”
Margaret, who couldn’t have been less than sixty, patted her coiffed white hair while the apples of her cheeks dusted with pink.
“Um…name, please?”
“Aiden Bryant.” She turned to her computer, but I hurried on. “I won’t be on the list,” I said with a sigh. “I’ve been out of town and didn’t think I’d make it back for her appointment. But now, I get to surprise her. And I’d sure hate to miss the first ultrasound of our baby.”
“Oh! How sweet!” She gave me a soft smile, and her eyes twinkled. “Well”—she looked side to side then leaned in and whispered conspiratorially—“I shouldn’t, but…it’s just so sweet! She's in room two. Just around that corner and two doors down on the left.”
I grinned and winked at her, causing her to blush again. “Thank you, Margaret.”
Then I casually strolled to the room as she’d directed. The door was closed, but I saw Bianca’s chart in the plastic holder on the wall, so it was unlikely that the doctor was in there with her yet.
Quietly, I turned the knob and pushed open the door, stopping when I spotted Bianca lying on an exam table. Her face was turned away from me, so I observed her for a moment.
She was even more beautiful than I remembered, and there seemed to be a glow about her that hadn’t been there before. Her hands were folded and resting on her stomach. Despite only having that one night with her, I knew every inch of her supple body and didn’t miss the slight hint of a bump.
I shut the door behind me, and the click of the mechanism was much louder in the still and quiet room. Bianca turned her head in my direction, but the smile she’d been wearing fell when her eyes landed on me.