Page 43 of Rocky Mountain Home

Dare raised a brow, goading him to continue.

“—after you’ve gained enough experience.” Jesse pointed behind her. “The nurse is waving at you.”

This time he got pulled along into an examination room. The nurse ordered him to sit in the chair in the corner, then got Dare up on the table and wrapped a black elastic band around her arm, cord leading off to a tall machine on wheels.

“I’m going to take some tests before the doctor arrives. Blood pressure and temperature—basic information so we have a guideline to compare to down the road. Relax, Darilyn. You’ll feel a little pressure on your arm for a moment, but that’s all. It works automatically.”

“Are you going to take blood too?”

“And make you pee in a cup,” the nurse announced cheerfully.

“Damn, you should have waited,” Jesse teased.

Dare tilted her face toward him. “Trust me, I can pee anytime, anywhere.”

He snorted. “I don’t know that’s a ringing endorsement for pregnancy.”

“Still true.”

The nurse clicked a button on the machine, and a low hum filled the room. “After your appointment you can get the blood work done. Have your fiancé drop you off at—”

“Fianc—?” Dare’s lips slammed shut, and she glanced at Jesse before rolling her eyes. “Sorry. Go on?”

The nurse finished explaining, then checked the blood-pressure machine, frowning as she read the data. “I think I’ll run that again. It seems a little higher than it should be.”

“I think my fiancé distracted me,” Dare deadpanned.

If she was looking for an apology, she wasn’t going to get one. Not for that. “You need to learn to relax more, sweetheart.”

If looks could kill— Still, Dare angry at him was better than her shaking in her boots.

Though he hated to admit it, even to himself, distracting her was distracting him from all the unknowns that were rising up and flapping in his face.

He needed to do this, but that didn’t mean his heart wasn’t in his throat at the mere idea of becoming a dad. Of having to be there for Dare not just for the next five months, but all the years after that.

—and he wasn’t sure which was worse. The thought she might not need him, or that she would and his best wouldn’t be enough.

The door closed behind the nurse and Dare considered her options.

Jesse rolled himself to a spot directly in front of her, catching hold of her knees to pull himself in close. “I already looked, and unless you want to try to throttle me with the blood-pressure cuff, there’s nothing in here more dangerous than a tongue depressor.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass,” Dare declared.

“Guilty, but I’m now officially your pain in the ass. Congrats.”

God. Annoying, devastatingly gorgeous asshole of a man. “Everyone in town now knows we’re supposedly engaged and pregnant.”

“Officially pregnant and officially engaged. Did you not get the announcement?”

He caught her hand as she swung at him, standing between her thighs, the rolling chair rattling off behind him. He cautiously pinned her arm behind her as he pressed their bodies together.

“Manhandling the pregnant woman again. You are consistent, Jesse Coleman.”

“What can I say? I like handling you.”

She was going to tell him to put his handling where the sun don’t shine, but the words were cut off as he brought their lips together. Forceful, yes, yet careful. He held her so she couldn’t easily escape, but the touch of his tongue was a seduction. Stealing her senses as he dipped in again and tasted her deeper. Wiping away her logic and turning her into a mass of quivering need.

A soft cough broke through the sexual haze. “Ready for your checkup when you are.”