Iris in Bloom: Take a Chance, Book 2 (13 page)

“Were you so convinced I was a sure thing?”

He smiled down at her. “No. But in case you were I wanted to be prepared.” And then he kissed her again and she lost the ability to tease.

His hands caressed her and wowed her and moved her ever closer to the brink until she could hear her own breath coming in heavy gasps.

“Ready?” he asked.

Words wouldn’t form. She could only nod.

He ripped open the box, pulled out a square package and began to tear it open.

She made a move to stop him. More in instinct than conscious thought as she imagined all that lovely, baby-making sperm going to waste. Then, realizing what she was doing, dropped her hand.

“What?” he asked, breathing as heavily as she.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t you want to? We don’t have to—“

“No! I do want to. I really, really want to.”

“Okay.” He looked at her doubtfully for a moment until passion overcame his obvious urge to quiz her on why she’d almost stopped him putting on a condom.

Of course an instant’s reflection told her that – apart from the obvious health concerns – she had no business taking the man’s seed without his permission. When she had all her senses back she’d take a moment to feel remorse but she knew that her instinctive reaction was exactly that. Some inner instinct to mate with a man who would give her healthy, strong and intelligent children.

In a second he was sheathed and once more began kissing her, this time, when she rubbed against that lovely hardness he didn’t pull back, he pressed forward, entering her slowly, letting her enjoy the stretch and open to that lovely cock pushing all the way into her body.

When they began to move she felt a quiver run over his skin. First time since his wife, she realized dimly, giving him comfort as well as sex.

Then, because she didn’t want him thinking about anyone but her, she held onto his jaw and looked right into his eyes, all the way into his very essence as their moves became faster, less coordinated. He didn’t flinch. He stayed right with her, gazing into her eyes until she saw those gorgeous blue eyes lose focus and knew he was out of control. The knowledge fired her body so she was already convulsing around him when she heard him groan and pound into her a few times as he fell off the world with her.

She stayed beside him, resting her head on his sweat-damp chest, enjoying the pulses of her aftershocks as their breathing slowly returned to normal.

They didn’t talk for a while, just lay there, listening to the rain and their own heartbeats and some soft music coming from the sound system that she thought might be Diana Krall.

After a while, he turned his head and grinned at her. “You get that out of the tantric sex book you were so taken with?”

“Get what?”

She couldn’t remember one thing she’d read in her life and that included
King Lear
.

“The technique of looking your partner in the eye at climax. It’s frighteningly intimate.”

“Oh. No. I didn’t even think of that. I wanted to make sure you knew who you were in bed with, I guess.”

“Oh, darling. When a man’s lucky enough to have you in his bed there’s no room for anyone else.”

She turned her head and bit his nipple lightly. “Good.”

They lay there a little longer listening to the rain. He played with her hair.

“First time since your wife?” she asked.

There was a tiny pause. “Yes.”

“You okay?”

He put a hand under her chin, tilted it so he could look right into her eyes. “I am so much more than okay.”

A tiny smile pulled at her lips. “Okay, then.”

Not letting her go, he said, “How about you?”

“I never slept with your wife.”

“Very funny. How long since you were…intimate.”

“About six months.” Probably more like seven or eight if she got out a calendar and started counting.

“What happened there?”

She shrugged one naked shoulder. “It ended. Rob was a nice guy. No hard feelings on either side. Just didn’t work out.”

They stayed in for dinner. While the rain continued to pound down outside, she raided his fridge and freezer and made a respectable pasta dish from frozen shrimp and peas, some asparagus that was wilting slightly in the fridge, some cherry tomatoes and white wine, lemon, coffee cream and spices.

“This is fantastic,” he said as he tucked in. Then he glanced up at her. “You’re fantastic.”

She shook her head.

“No. You are. I can’t believe I found you.”

She reached out and touched his hand. “Don’t get too carried away. Remember, this is your first time out.”

He stopped chewing to stare at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I’m only saying, you’ve been married for what? Six years? You’re going to want to get out and date. It’s natural.”

She hated saying that. She felt like she was chewing on razor blades. But the sooner both of them were aware of the reality, the better.

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of what’s natural for me.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“You know what I want right now?” he asked.

“No. What?”

“I want dessert.” His eyes crinkled at the corners in a very sexy way.

“Well, we are out of dessert, Mr. McLeod.”

“No lemon bars?”

She shook her head.

He rose from the table and started stalking her. “No wicked chocolate brownies?”

She shook her head, her skin already beginning to tingle.

“Then,” he grabbed her and lifted her so fast she gasped, “I guess I’m going to eat you for dessert.”

And he did.

She didn’t mean to spend the night at Geoff’s. It was the last thing she intended. The final time they’d made love she’d told him she needed to get home. He’d kissed her sleepily and agreed.

While their hearts settled to a more regular rhythm that seemed to thump in time to the rain on the roof, he said, “When I came out of the shower and saw you at my desk, and you came right across the room and kissed me, was it—“

“It was the paragraph you wrote in class. You used every one of the five senses, by the way. Excellent work.”

“I used every one of the five senses to describe how much I wanted you.”

“You did.”

He shifted, ran a hand over her breasts. “I wooed you with my words.”

“You did.”

“And I thought it was my hot bod.”

She rolled so she was on top of him. “That too.” And feeling sleepy and sexy and sated, she kissed him, her hair falling like a curtain around them.

The next sound she heard was his alarm dragging her out of the sweetest dream, one so nice she didn’t want to leave it even though once her eyes were open she couldn't remember what had happened. She thought Geoff might have been in it. And she suspected from the tingling in her body that it had been an erotic dream.

He groaned. Opened one eye then the other flew open to join it. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think. You should be open by now. Come on. Let’s get up. You’ve got to get going.”

“No. I don’t. Dosana’s opening up. I’m going in later.”

“But you’re always there on the week days.”

“I’ve got an appointment. Dosana knows.”

“Oh. Okay.” He didn’t ask but obviously wondered what kind of appointment would take her away from her business.

Because he so carefully didn’t ask she told him. “It’s a medical test. No big deal. I’ll be back for the lunch rush.” Probably.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and shook it gently. “You sure there’s nothing I need to worry about?”

She shook her head. Smiled at him. “No. A routine thing. I’m healthy as a horse.” Hopefully a mare in heat in fact.

She could hardly tell the man she’d gone through half a box of condoms with that she had an appointment with a fertility specialist.

Some things you didn’t need to share with a brand new lover and she was reasonably certain that her plans to become pregnant through a sperm bank were right up there.

“Okay. You need a ride or anything?”

“No. But thanks for asking.”

He kissed her swiftly. “I’m here.”

She stared at him. Usually, that was her line.

Chapter Thirteen

“Congratulations,” her doctor told Iris at her next visit. “We scanned your ovaries and you’ve got the eggs of a twenty year old.”

“Well that’s good.”

“Sure is.” The fertility doc tapped on a keyboard. “Next step is to see whether your fallopian tubes are open enough that you can conceive. It’s a simple test. We shoot some dye into the tubes and check for blockages. If that’s as positive as I suspect it will be then we’re good to go.”

“Why doesn’t that sound as positive as I feel like it should?”

“Because I don’t want to raise any false hopes. You’re a good candidate for artificial insemination, no question. However, you have to understand that it doesn’t always work.”

“What are my odds?”

She’d asked Rose this same question but she wanted to see if both of the doctors she trusted were on the same page.

“Obviously, every body is different, but statistically, your chances of conceiving with AI are between ten and twenty percent.”

Yep, her two trusted docs were on exactly the same page.

“So, statistically, if I try this five to ten times…?”

“I can’t make any promises.”

She nodded. And at several hundred bucks a pop, she was going to have to sell a lot of muffins.

She supposed she should be grateful that her chances were good that she could conceive instead of feeling that fate should have sent her a life partner by now.

“I want to get going on this.” She had this strange sense of urgency, as though time was running out.

“Okay then. Here’s the drill. You buy your sperm so it’s ready when you are. You can schedule the procedure with my nurse for next week. If you’re clear then on the first day of your next cycle, you’re going to start taking your temperature.”

By the time her doctor had finished, she felt like a science experiment. Pregnancy vitamins were first on the list. She was to start taking those right away.

Of course, if she walked into the local pharmacy and bought prenatal vitamins she might as well take out an ad in the
Hidden Falls Record
.

She’d have to drive to Eugene to get the vitamins and the fancy ovulation-detecting thermometer.

When she got to work later that day, Dosana appeared very happy to see her. “I was swamped this morning.”

“Sorry.”

“You think about more staff?”

“Yes. I’ll do something. Put an ad on Craigslist, something. I promise.”

“Okay.”

She was icing the newest batch of cinnamon buns when the bell jingled. She put down the icing bag and went out front. It looked like one of the grim reaper’s anorexic minions was out front. He was all in black, hunched into a black hoodie so all she saw was a pale oval of face. But she recognized that face and her own lit up when she recognized the promising creative writer from Geoff’s class.

“Milo,” she said. “You came.”

“Yeah,” he said to the floor.

“Come on in and have a seat. I’m really short staffed so I can’t sit with you right away but let me give you a hot chocolate or a coffee or something and I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”

“Sure. Cool.”

And he wafted to the back and sat at a table for two, pulled some books and a notebook out of his backpack and settled in.

Of all days, did he have to choose this one? Because she’d left Dosana on her own all morning, she’d felt guilty and let her employee off early as she had an exam to study for. Of course, the second Dosana left, every single citizen of Hidden Falls and way too many outsiders suddenly became overcome with caffeine withdrawal. As one, they converged on Sunflower.

She barely had time to think; all she could do was take orders, run the espresso machine. She’d never felt so close to losing it when she felt a presence behind her. Milo had one of the rubber tubs she used for dirty dishes and was hefting it, overflowing with dirty plates and cups into the back.

He didn’t say a word, simply found a dishcloth and headed out front to wipe down tables.

On his next trip back, she shoved an apron at him. “Can you take this Panini to Eric? The guy with the red hair and the computer sitting in back?”

“Sure.” He delivered the food and then returned. And from then on he ran food out, cleared, cleaned, swept. He couldn’t run the cash register or the espresso machine and she wouldn’t let him touch food, but it was so nice to have an extra pair of hands.

By four-thirty the rush ended as suddenly as it had begun.

“Phew,” she said. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“You ever work in a coffee shop before?”