Page 35

TWENTY-SEVEN

ALEJANDRA

We sit together in the waiting room in the OB department at the naval hospital, waiting for my name to be called by a nurse.

Gage is in his uniform, bouncing a giggling Zoe on his knee and tickling her.

I am trying so hard to keep it together, but I don’t know if it’s the added hormones or if I’m just not as strong as I thought I was.

Going into this marriage, I knew this would happen: him leaving.

I just didn’t think they would send him back out this soon.

You can do this, Ale.

We can get through anything as long as we communicate.

“What’s the matter, Hermosa ?” Gage shifts Zoe to his other knee and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

“Nothing.” Lie. “I’m just going through the week’s dinner plans and the laundry that needs to be done for your packing.”

“ No me mientas, carino. ” Switching to Spanish to keep the conversation to ourselves. “ Sé que estás preocupada. Saldremos de esto. ”

“ ?Podemos dejar de hablar de ello ahora? Solo quiero asegurarme de que el bebé esté bien. ” I close my eyes and let out a slow breath, hoping the nausea doesn’t kick up right now.

“ Necesitamos hablar de esto, Hermosa. ” His hand trails over my spine and gently caresses the space between my shoulder blades, where my muscles are tight. “ Relájate. Te tengo, amor. ”

“Alejandra Donovan?” The main door opens, and a nurse steps out with a clipboard. It still sounds strange to hear Donovan as my last name. It gives me those butterflies in my stomach, and then I feel proud that I have it.

“Let’s go.” I stand, bending over to grab the diaper bag and Zoe’s car seat. Gage reaches for the handle and I whisper. “I’ve got it.” Probably with a little too much feeling behind my tone than was necessary.

But that man doesn’t miss a beat.

“ Sé que lo tienes, carino. Deja esa actitud y déjame ayudarte. Sabes que esa actitud solo te va estresar. ” I drop my hand while his grips the carrier and he smirks, then nods for me to move forward.

Jesus, that shouldn’t be so hot.

I turn and look at him and he raises his eyebrow at me, and I swallow hard. “Okay.” Just give in, Ale. Knowing Gage, he would have me bent over the tailgate in the driveway, fucking the attitude out of me faster than I could even bring up the situation.

Heat pools in my belly and I can feel my thong dampening. Shit! Don’t get turned on before the doctor checks you out.

We follow the nurse through the door and she asks the routine questions, takes my vitals, then hands me a cup. “The bathroom is over there.” I give Gage a nervous smile and head that way.

Once done with that, I hand the nurse the cup and she leads us to an exam room. “Doc will be in shortly.”

“Shortly,” Gage snorts. “More like we’ll be in here for at least an hour.”

Not even ten minutes later, the door opens. “Sorry for the wait! I’m Doctor Nieto, and I’ll be your OB today. So,” She looks at her clipboard and looks up at me, then at Gage, and then at Zoe on his lap. “We don’t advise pregnancy this soon after the birth of a child.”

Both Gage and I talk, but I talk over him. “I’m not her birth mother.”

“Oh, well then, that’s different.”

“So I am pregnant?” I ask, my clasped hands now moving over my lower stomach.

“Well, the urine test was very positive. We’ll do blood work after this. Technically, you should have gotten blood work before I saw you. But they saw this one.” She scoots closer on her chair to Zoe and makes a face at her. “And the nurse thought you needed to be seen ASAP.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, no. We wouldn’t be doing that.”

Gage turns and gives me a look, one that says, Are you sure about that?

The doctor catches him looking at me, clears her throat, and then scoots back.

“Okay, so… blood work. Then if that is all good, you’ll get a referral to radiology for an ultrasound.

Do you know when your last period was?” I give her the date and she clicks on the computer.

“So, the due date would be February twelfth. Almost a Valentine’s Day baby. Will this be your first?”

“Yes,” I nod.

“Well, they could very well be a Valentine’s baby. First babies are notoriously late.” Doctor Nieto stands and holds her hand out to me. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.” I take her hand and nod.

Gage interrupts. “So I’m deploying in thirteen days. Is there any way the ultrasound would be before that?” He gives her a pleading look, and at first I don’t think she is going to go for it.

“Wait here.”

The doctor leaves the room and I look over at him. “Really?”

“Hey, it’s gonna get us to see the baby faster. I mean, if me using the ‘I’m deploying’ gets us an ultrasound tomorrow, I’m totally cool with milking it.” Zoe fusses in his lap and I reach into the diaper bag and hand him her bottle.

“You’re horrible.” I chuckle as he cradles Zoe and begins to feed her.

“Last I checked, your pussy doesn’t think I’m horrible.”

“Gage!” I feel the heat flush my cheeks and my pussy. “Seriously.”

“I’m always serious about your pussy, baby.” He smirks, and the door opens back up and Doctor Nieto carts in an ultrasound machine.

“You can’t say a Doc never did anything for you, Gunny.” Gage’s mouth hangs open and then he nods enthusiastically.

“Thank you, fuck. Thank you so much.” His voice cracks and for a split second, I think he’s going to cry. But he just clears his throat.

“Okay, Alejandra,” she takes out a sheet and hands it to me. “I’m going to step out and I’ll have you take your bottoms and underwear off and then cover up. We’ll just do the internal probe because you’re still early. If that’s okay.”

“Yes, absolutely.” I smile. We get to see the baby, I’m good with whatever she suggests.

She steps out into the hall and I unbutton my jeans and pull them down with my thong. Gage groans from behind me. I’m turned away with my back to him but I can already tell where his eyes are.

“ Joder, me estás matando. ” I look over my shoulder and the man is practically salivating.

He’s insatiable.

I settle myself on the exam table and lie back, covering myself with the sheet. “Okay, ready.” The door opens and the Doc walks back in.

“Alright, you’ll still need to do the blood work afterward. But at least you’ll have a picture to take with you.”

Why does that make my heart hurt so much?

“Put your feet in the stirrups and then slide all the way down to the edge.” I do and the sheet shifts. Gage, now burping Zoe, takes his free hand and pulls up the sheet.

“ Te tengo, Hermosa. ”

He’s got me.

And I’ve got him.

I reach for his hand and squeeze. “ Lo sé, carino. Yo también te tengo. ”

Zoe falls asleep and Gage puts her in the car seat, then scoots closer to me, both of his hands cover mine. His lips press to our joined hands and I feel them moving.

Is he praying?

“Okay, this is going to be a little cold.” Squirting some lubricant on the tip of the probe and then going under the sheet. A little pressure and she’s adjusting and looking at the screen. “Okay, there is the gestational sac.”

Both Gage and I are glued to the screen, and then I see it. It’s the tiniest little flicker and it hit me harder than I could have expected. Gage stares at the screen, and I wonder if he sees them like I do. “ Carino , that’s our baby.” I shift my gaze to the doctor. “Right?”

“Yep, that’s your baby.” She clicks a few times and something prints. “Here, listen to this.” Another click and a static whooshing sound, and then the quick thuds of a heartbeat.

“Is that…” His voice trails off when she nods at him. “Can I record this?”

“Sure thing, Gunny.”

Gage fishes his phone out and holds it closer to the machine, catching the heartbeat of our child. “Thanks. Really, I appreciate it more than you know.”

“Just don’t be telling everyone. Everything looks good and is on track for the due date. Baby measures great. So go to the lab and get the tests done and a nurse will call and schedule another appointment. Congratulations!”

She takes the machine with her as she leaves the room and we’re left there, just the three of us. Well, now, the four of us. “Come on, baby. Let’s go get your blood work done and then I’ll take you to get something to eat before I have to head in.”

Reality smacks me in the face, and I take some of the tissue and clean myself up. Let’s get this blood work done and get out of here. My phone pings in the diaper bag and I hop down off the exam bed, reaching for my jeans.

“Will you check that for me? It might be my brother.” Gage is silent. “Gage?” I turn around and he is staring at my bare ass with a grin on his face.

“I’m already pregnant.” I laugh. “Keep it in your pants until we get home.”

“You mean until we get to the truck?” He stands just as I bend over to pull my jeans up. His hands go to my hips and he pulls me back into him. I can feel how hard he is.

“Gage,” I whimper as his hands help me pull up my thong, his lips on my neck. “We can’t.”

“I know.” Kiss . “I’m just keeping that desire burning for when I get home later.” He drags his nose from the crook of my neck up to my ear. “I want you so needy for me that you’d be waiting for me in a dress with no panties, ready for me to fuck you.”

He buttons my jeans and pulls the zipper up, then steps back, leaving me wanting. I have to take a second to get myself together before he opens the door and we walk out.

After the crazy amount of blood work I had to get, we finally get to the truck and head off base.

We grab some food through a drive thru and Gage has to drop me and Zoe off.

He was getting chewed out for taking so long by his Top.

Zoe is still napping, so I transfer her to her crib.

Immediately, I run to our room and go through all of my dresses to pick the best one to wear when he gets home.

Needy is a bit of an understatement.

If he isn’t inside me within five minutes of getting home, I might combust.

I never thought I would feel this way towards anyone. Yet here I am, desperate for Gage.

I take out my phone and check my messages and sure enough, Pedro sent me a text during the appointment.

Pedro

I’m sorry I was an asshole. If you’re happy, then I’m happy for you. Tell your husband if he hurts you, I’ll kick his ass.

Pedro

Tía is kicking us out when I graduate. Juanita, too. I know you hate the idea, but she’s gonna have to live with me until we can figure out whatever you think is best.

Fuck!