ADELINE WOKE WITH a start, not realizing she’d dozed off. The sun was lower in the sky and Elias was nowhere to be found, but the bags were in the room. She checked her phone and she’d only been asleep an hour. She rose and cleaned herself up before venturing out.
When she stepped into the hall, she ran smack-bang into Rosa.
“Dr. Turner.” Rosa crossed her arms. “The least you could’ve done was told me you were engaged to my brother!”
“Are you always this confrontational?” Adeline asked.
Rosa smirked. “Yes.”
“Well, we weren’t engaged at the time I met you, and if you remember, that day was quite hectic.”
“Fine.” Rosa relaxed and then smiled brightly. “I am glad he’s moved on.”
Adeline eyed Rosa very carefully. Her belly had been high the day they met, but now it was low. Quite low.
“Your baby has dropped,” Adeline remarked. “Have you contacted the hospital in Napa?”
Rosa nodded. “Last night. My husband is out of town on business and I was contemplating heading back to San Francisco with you and Elias, but I hear that you’re staying here for now. So I’ll stick close to you if I can?”
“I am, or rather we are.” Adeline frowned. “Rosa, can I check you? You’re moving awfully slowly.”
“Sure. The room I’m staying in is just over here.”
“Okay. I’ll grab my bag and I’ll meet you over there.” Adeline was really thankful that she had brought a medical kit with her. She just knew that Rosa was going to be close to delivery. And she was not surprised to find out that the baby had dropped. At the last exam, Rosa had been fifty percent effaced and dilated one centimeter.
She headed across the hall and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Rosa called out.
Adeline headed in there and Rosa was on the bed. Adeline pulled out her stethoscope and listened to the baby. The baby’s heartbeat was strong. She felt where the baby was sitting.
“She’s engaged and head-down. That’s a good sign. She is measuring quite large. Did your OB in Napa say anything about a large baby?”
“No. Well, other than telling me I couldn’t have a VBAC and scheduling my C-section, but this OB is pro always doing a C-section. I’m glad she’s head-down.”
“What happened with your son, Manny, when you had him?” Adeline asked.
“He was born early at thirty weeks. It was a C-section. And he had patent ductus arteriosus, a hole in his heart. It was quite large and was closed when he was four. He spent a lot of time in the NICU. Ultrasounds showed that my daughter has a PDA as well. I’m worried.”
“I can’t check for sure without an ultrasound or a Doppler, but what I’m hearing sounds good. Nothing in distress. How are you feeling?”
“Tired. Sore. Ready for it to be over.”
“I’m sure you are.” Adeline held out her hands to help Rosa sit up. “Do you want my professional opinion?”
“My future sister-in-law’s professional opinion?” Rosa grinned.
That stunned Adeline for a moment. And it stunned her because she didn’t the find the idea horribly wrong. In fact, she didn’t mind it at all. The thought of being Elias’s wife gave her a thrill of pleasure.
It had shocked her when Elias had first suggested she pretend to be his fiancée, but she liked Rosa. She liked all the Garcia family members she’d met, although she was worried about meeting the woman who had held Elias’s heart before.
And she couldn’t help but wonder if this woman had the same hold on Elias still, because Elias had been worried about coming home.
He hadn’t been home in two years because his brother married his ex.
Was he still in love with her? Is that what he was hiding and why he was acting so strangely? There was another part of her that was a bit jealous.
Even though she didn’t want to open her heart to anyone again, she was jealous of the woman who came before her because she had something that Adeline would never have.
Elias’s heart. It made her sad. It made her envious.
“Yes,” Adeline said, shaking that thought away. “Yes, on the professional advice of your future sister-in-law.”
“What is it?” Rosa asked.
“I think you need to call your husband home. I think this baby will be coming in the next couple of days and I hope you have your go bag ready for a trip to the Napa hospital.”
Rosa looked terrified. “Oh, okay.”
“I’ll be here this weekend. Your brother wanted to return to San Francisco, but I think I’ll be able to convince him to stay.” Adeline smiled. “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
Rosa nodded. “Thank you, Dr....thank you, Adeline.”
“No problem. Now, do you think you could tell me where Elias has wandered off to?” Adeline asked, packing up her gear.
“I think he was out on the deck, watching the sunset. Since Aidan is in the field...” Rosa trailed off. “How much has Elias told you?”
“A bit,” Adeline said. “Aidan is married to the woman Elias was first engaged to.”
Rosa worried her bottom lip. “Yes. Elias was in love with Shea, but... I’m not sure she was fully committed to Elias. It was a strange relationship and they grew apart. He rarely came home, and Shea hardly saw him. Aidan was here and... It was hard. My parents weren’t exactly thrilled with how everything turned out, but Shea and Aidan are happy and now that Elias has found you, everything has worked out!”
Adeline nodded. “Right.”
Elias hadn’t found her.
They didn’t have a relationship. Sure, she was having his baby, but that was it. There was no relationship. There was no family rift being repaired, but she had promised Elias that she would keep up this pretense.
That’s what friends were for.
And that’s all she and Elias were.
Friends. And soon that would be over, when one of them got the fellowship and the other walked away. Except she wanted more. She wanted to be his. She wanted to have his heart.
And she wanted to give him hers, but she was too scared to.
“I’ll see you at dinner tonight,” Adeline said. “I’d better go find Elias.”
“I’ll see you tonight.” Rosa smiled.
Adeline left Rosa’s room and headed back across the hall to the guest suite. She set her case on the bed and walked out through the balcony doors onto the large deck. She found him sitting on a deck chair, his eyes closed.
“Relaxed?” Adeline asked.
“Not really,” Elias murmured. “How was your nap?”
“Good. I ran into your sister, Rosa.”
Elias sat up straighter. “How is she?”
“The baby has dropped.”
Elias’s eyes widened. “Really? So then your hunch was right.”
“Seems to be on that track.”
“So, are you suggesting we stick around?”
Adeline nodded. “Yes. The baby may have the same PDA as your nephew, Manny, and given the large size she’s measuring, I’m worried about her being so far from a hospital. How far is it to the Napa hospital?”
“Thirty minutes,” Elias stated.
“And if there is any issue, that’s too long.” Adeline chewed on her bottom lip. “Look, I know you’re uncomfortable with your family, but when we return to San Francisco, if Rosa hasn’t delivered, she needs to come back to the city with us.”
Elias nodded. “Agreed. I really didn’t want to stay long, but... I have nothing against Rosa. I don’t have a problem with her, and I’ve missed her.”
“It’s just your brother and your dad.”
Elisa nodded. “I ran into my ex. She’s pregnant.”
“How did that go?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the lounge chair he was relaxing in.
“Better than I thought.” He smiled at her softly. “I was scared of seeing her, but I don’t know what I felt.”
“Pretty much the same as you felt when you ran into your father, I suspect?”
“She ended our relationship because I was absent. I put my schooling first, and we drifted apart. It destroyed me when she left me, but I deserved it.”
“And that’s why you don’t want a marriage?”
His jaw clenched. “Isn’t your career the reason why you don’t want a marriage either?”
Adeline’s heart skipped a beat. “I suppose. My trust was broken. I almost lost everything.”
“You told me you had to switch medical schools because of a bad relationship. Why?”
Adeline sighed and she sat down in the lounge chair next to him.
“I fell in love with one of my professors.”
Elias’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Yeah. It was a huge mistake. I fell head over heels for Gregory. Back then I still believed in love and the fairy tale. It was magical, and then I found out he was married.”
“And you called it off?” he asked.
“I did. I’m not a home wrecker. I was so brokenhearted and humiliated, but I wasn’t going to be the other woman. So I ended it. He was furious, but instead of walking away, he exposed it. He said I seduced him, that I was blackmailing him for high grades. Everyone believed him. I had to leave the school, and I took a year off and reapplied. I learned then to keep myself independent.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So, yeah. I have something to prove too. At one time I did believe in a happy-ever-after.”
“Me too,” he said quietly.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she reached out and took his hand. “So you wanted marriage, kids?”
“I thought I did. I convinced myself I didn’t, but I do...” He trailed off. His gaze dropped down, and he reached out to touch her belly. That simple, gentle touch caused a warmth that spread through her.
She covered his hand with hers on her belly, and she wasn’t that jealous about his ex being so close. He had opened up to her like no one ever had before, and she was opening up to him. Trust was hard-won for her.
This was scaring her.
She got up, putting distance between her and Elias.
Her pulse was racing. This is what she wanted, but she was so afraid if she reached out and took it, it would slip away.
She turned and looked out over the vineyard. The sun was setting over the foothills, giving them a golden glow. She could see the appeal of staying here, but she understood Elias’s calling for medicine. She understood it all too well.
It was what drove her too.
“I want to thank you again for coming here and for putting up with this subterfuge,” he said.
“It’s okay. I wanted to be here for you and your sister.” Adeline smiled at him. Her heart was beating just a bit faster. Even though she was fighting her feelings for him, she couldn’t help herself. Elias made her body react.
She liked being with him.
“I appreciate that.” He got up and stood beside her, gently touching her cheek. Her breathing quickened. She recalled the last time he had touched her so gently. And she wanted to be in his arms.
She wanted to forget all the rules she’d set up to protect her heart from him, and just remember all the ways he had made her feel pleasure. And before she could stop herself, she moved closer to him, his arms were around her and they were kissing again.
That heated kiss that had caused her to give in to him a month ago.
This time it was something more than just lust. More than just that raw need, although that lingered there, but something else was buried deep.
Longing. And she felt it too.
“Uncle Elias?” Manny came across the deck, paused, and looked away, embarrassed. “Sorry, Uncle Elias.”
“No need.” Elias took a step back and Adeline tried to calm her breathing, regaining her composure from that kiss.
“Dinner is ready. Grandma sent me to find you both.”
“We’ll be right there.”
Manny nodded, still not looking at them as he backed away.
Adeline began to laugh. “Well, I think we’ve embarrassed your nephew.”
“I think so.” His eyes were twinkling. “Not that I mind in the least.”
His arms went around her again and she pushed him away. “We have to go to dinner.”
“Fine,” Elias said grudgingly. “I’m not looking forward to this at all. I haven’t seen Aidan yet and I’m not... I don’t want to see him.”
“You’re going to have to eventually see him. I mean...our wedding, for a start,” she teased.
Elias shook his head, laughed and took her hand.
She was nervous about the dinner, about their deceit and what was going to happen, but she was willing to try.
All Elias wanted to do was take Adeline back to their room and continue to kiss her. Truth be told, over the last month he had never really stopped thinking about her and their time together. He had tried to keep it to himself because it was better for both of them, professionally.
So he had kept it under wraps as they both dealt with the pregnancy and their work, but being here and seeing her fitting in with his family, it was hard to hold back how he felt about her.
Seeing her care for his sister and his unborn niece made him realize how lucky he was to have met Adeline.
He wanted her, but he was so afraid to hand over his heart to her.
When they got down to the dining room, Rosa and Manny were at the table, as were his parents, and there were two remaining seats for himself and Adeline.
There was no seating for Shea or Aidan.
And seeing that infuriated him.
Aidan was more childish and selfish than he had thought. Too afraid to come and see how much Elias had. A medical career, a fiancée who was a doctor.
She’s not your fiancée, though.
And that realization made him sad.
He didn’t have Adeline, but he wanted to.
Especially now that he understood her. She’d been through the same as him. She’d fought just as hard and he respected her all the more.
“Sorry we’re late,” Adeline said.
His father smiled at her. “No matter. We’re happy you can be here, Adeline.”
Elias pulled out Adeline’s chair so she could sit down.
“Well, at least my son still has manners,” his father said gruffly.
Elias ignored it. It was his dad’s usual comment.
Elias was used to his father criticizing him.
Now, if he started criticizing Adeline, then they would have a problem.
“Are Aidan and Shea not joining us?” Elias asked as he took his seat next to Adeline.
Dad looked up at him. “No. Aidan has work to do.”
There was no more that his father was going to say, but Elias knew his brother wasn’t hiding away because of work. His brother was hiding away because he was here. Elias hadn’t seen him since the day he had caught Shea and Aidan together.
The day that Shea chose Aidan over him.
Elias did not go to the wedding. Not that there was a big wedding.
Shea’s marriage into the family had caused a rift, but Elias had always felt that his father blamed him for the rift and not Aidan.
And that was part of the problem. Elias knew that he wasn’t the favorite child. He had given up the vineyard. Aidan hadn’t. Aidan was the perfect son who upheld all the values his father had.
Only, Elias had the same values.
Hard work. Compassion.
He cared about saving lives.
Yet he was the disappointment.
And there was nothing he could do to change that.
The problem was, he cared too much.
He didn’t want to be the disappointing son any longer.
He wanted to make his family proud.
He wanted to make Adeline proud.
He wanted to make his child proud.
Dinner was short and awkward.
Elias’s family was nice to her, but she could sense an undercurrent of tension, and it had to do with that rivalry between Elias and his brother, Aidan.
Adeline got the distinct feeling that it wasn’t tension about Shea anymore.
It was something deeper.
Elias’s father didn’t say much, and Rosa seemed uncomfortable. She went to bed early. Adeline tried to help Flora with the dishes, but Flora refused.
So Adeline headed back to the bedroom.
It had been a long day and yesterday had been even longer.
All she wanted to do was go to sleep.
Are you really going to sleep much, lying next to Elias?
Throughout dinner, she kept thinking about that stolen kiss out on the deck. The last time they had kissed like that, it had led to something more.
She had been grateful at the time that Manny had interrupted them, but now everyone was going to bed.
You’ve got this. Be strong.
Only when it came to Elias, she wasn’t strong.
She opened the door to the room and shut it. Elias was half-undressed, wearing his jeans but no shirt. It took her by surprise to see him. She’d forgotten how broad and muscular his chest was, visually, because suddenly she was keenly aware of how his chest felt under her touch.
Her cheeks heated and her body thrummed with need.
Her body was very much aware how it felt to be in his arms.
And she wanted him again.
“I tried to help your mother with the dishes. She refused my help,” Adeline said lightly.
Elias smiled slightly. “Yes, she never lets guests do that.”
“I’m supposed to be her future daughter-in-law. Wouldn’t she want help from me?”
“No. Well, not forever. If we were actually to be married, then she would probably start letting you take over.”
Adeline laughed. “That’s good to know.”
“So your mother makes guests wash dishes, then?”
“No. My mother doesn’t either. Of course, my parents have a housekeeper.” Adeline sat down on the bed. “You’re bothered that your brother didn’t come tonight, aren’t you?”
Elias frowned. “I don’t care. Actually, I’m glad he stayed away.”
“Have you always disliked him this much?” she asked.
Elias sighed. “No, but there was always a rivalry. Just competition, but I didn’t hate him. He seemed to dislike me, though. Always wanting what I had. Always angry at me. Always trying to gain Dad’s affection. Still, I never hated him until...”
“Until he stole Shea.”
“Yes, but the thing is, I saw her today and I don’t care anymore. It was hard seeing her, I won’t lie, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought because I realized something in that moment when I saw her.”
“What?”
“That I only have eyes for you, Adeline.”
Her pulse began to race, and she wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly. “What?”
“I don’t care about Shea. We drifted apart a long time ago. You’re carrying my baby. That’s all that matters.”
Her heart began to thump hard, and she stood up. “Elias, I’m not... I...”
“I know. I know. You don’t want to get married, we’re just going to raise this baby together, but Adeline. I still want you. I still desire you.” He closed the distance between them, cupping her face in his hands. His touch lit a fire under her skin. “Once was not enough. I have never stopped thinking about you or that moment in the on-call room. If we can’t have it all, why can’t we have tonight?”
There was a tiny voice inside her head telling her to run, not to trust him, that he was just using her to let out his frustrated emotions involving his family. But the other part of her, the one she’d been ignoring for the last month, was telling her to take it all.
It reminded her of their time together in the on-call room. When she had just wanted him out of her system and had thought once would be enough. She had been wrong, because she’d thought about it too. So many times.
She remembered how good it felt to have him inside her.
To be one with him. She felt needy thinking of him, thinking of his kisses.
And it wouldn’t hurt to taste that temptation again. Kissing him out on the deck had already whetted her appetite, and she wanted more.
“Elias,” she whispered. “We can’t.”
“We can’t, or we shouldn’t?” he asked huskily, and before she could let the rational side of her brain take over, she kissed him, lighting the same fire that she felt every time he was around.
The same fire of desire that hadn’t burned out, no matter how many times she tried to put it out.
She wanted Elias.
She wanted to feel him again and have nothing between them.
Just the two of them. Together.
Here.
Now.
This was what she needed more than anything. The more she denied it, the more real it became. She was in love with Elias Garcia. She was in love with a man who didn’t want a happy-ever-after either. Just like she didn’t.
You’re a liar. You want a happy-ever-after. Don’t deny it.
Which was true. She wanted it all. Her dream job, her baby, a family and Elias.
“I’ve missed you, Adeline,” he murmured as he kissed her neck.
“I’ve been here all along.”
He smiled at her and touched her face. “I’ve missed your kisses.”
Elias’s hands were hot on her skin. There was no more need for words. They both wanted the same thing.
They sank onto the bed, her body humming with excitement as they made fast work of their clothes. Soon there was nothing between them. His hands branded her flesh with his touch. His kisses were deep, possessive.
Adeline wanted to touch him everywhere. She wanted him to feel as much pleasure as he was giving her.
“Adeline,” he moaned against her neck. “You’re the only one I want.”
Same.
Only she didn’t say that thought out loud.
She couldn’t. She was afraid.
Elias’s hot kisses trailed over her body. Down her neck, over her breasts, making her body arch, wanting more and more. No longer wanting to wait. She needed him inside her, possessing her.
He entered her and she cried out as he filled her. No one else had ever made her feel this way.
Adeline was lost to him.
She only wanted him.
He’d broken down all her walls and it terrified her.
She never wanted this night to end. She wanted this moment to last forever. Only, forever scared her.
It wasn’t long before both of them came together, and as he held her close, tears stung her eyes. She clung to him, not wanting him to see her cry, but unable to stop all the conflicting emotions coursing through her.
The emotions that were telling her she could have forever. If she wanted it.