Page 27 of Ready or Not
“Every time you speak, I manage to feel like even more of a piece of shit,” he says, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry. That wasn’t my?—”
“No. God, please don’t apologize. I wasn’t looking for sympathy or anything.”
“I wasn’t going to give you any,” I say truthfully. “I also don’t want our relationship to devolve into taking spiteful jabs at one another. I think that would be really bad, considering we have to figure out how to deal with each other for the rest of our lives.”
Cooper’s hair falls over his forehead as he stares at his feet. His long-sleeve T-shirt clings to his muscular chest as he takes a few deep breaths. “All I’m asking is that you let me show you who I really am.”
I take a step back.
“So, you plan to tell the doctor that Aurora is biologically yours?” I just want to get to the bottom of this so we can leave and check on her.
“Yeah, I’m going to explain everything to Patrick,” he agrees, nodding toward the garage. “Are you going to be warm enough in that? Did you want me to run up and grab your coat?”
I glance down at the dress and leggings I’m wearing and sigh. I definitely forgot my coat on the bed. “I can grab it.”
“No, just tell me where it is.”
“On the bed in the primary bedroom.”
He nods and jogs off, making it back into the room before I would have even been able to make it up the stairs.
Cooper shakes out my coat and gives me a grin. “Arms out.”
I roll my lips together but stretch out my arms. He helps me into the jacket and gets close to my neck from behind. The sharp intake of air leads me to believe he just realized that Holt and I bonded.
“Wow,” he says as his warm breath fans over my neck. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” I spin around and head for the garage before this nightmare can get any more uncomfortable.
Dr. Garza meets us at his office to check on the baby, just like he said he would. Since it’s a weekend, there’s no one else around.
It’s strange.
Or maybe I’m majorly uncomfortable because of the tension with the guys.
Dr. Garza brings us into a room with an ultrasound machine. My old doctor had to send me to the hospital for my anatomy scan, since they didn’t have one in the office.
“We have a tech who runs the machine during business hours, but I know just enough to feel confident I’ll be able to tell if there are any issues,” Dr. Garza says. “Okay, so we’re going to give you a minute to get changed and settled on the table.” He hands me a terrible paper sheet and gown. “We’ll wait outside.”
“I’m staying,” Bishop grunts. “You’ll need help getting back up once you’re done.”
“Thank you,” I say as the others leave the room.
“Patrick, could we speak to you about something?” Mercy’s voice filters through the doorway before it closes.
“Do I want to know?” I ask as Bishop steps forward to help me out of my coat.
“Nope.” He tosses my jacket over a chair and helps unzip my dress.
“Okay,” I agree, relishing the feeling of his scratchy hands sliding down my shoulders as he helps pull the dress down my arms. He feels anxious in the bond. There are definitely things I don’t want to have to worry about. “Are you upset that Holt and I bonded? You can be truthful. I know it’s really quick.”
“I told you that I supported anything that might happen between you and them. I meant it.” He kisses my cheek. “Do we need to do away with the bra?”
I shrug. “I honestly have no idea. He failed to mention why I needed to get changed. I’d rather leave it on, if possible.”
Bishop nods against the side of my head. He squats down to help me out of my panties and leggings, then folds them up inside my dress before tossing my coat over it. He helps me into the awful paper gown, lifts me, and sets me down on the exam table before helping me cover up with the scratchy paper sheet.