I stood outside Kelly’s door and knocked. It was a date, otherwise I would have just used my key and busted on in. But I wanted to do this right. I had a feeling Kelly had never been wined and dined, and I wanted to do that. Well, minus the wine.
She was taking forever to answer, so I tugged at the bow tie she’d given me. I knew she picked on my ties, but I also knew she loved them. Why else would she have given me one? I paired the music tie with a white dress shirt and dark gray slacks. I’d thrown a little gel in my hair and put on my best cologne. I hadn’t been on very many dates myself. Weren’t we a pair tonight?
The door opened and there she stood in a pale pink off the shoulder flowing dress that hit her just below the knees, her gorgeous legs on display. Her hair was down and curled around her face, and I could tell she’d added a little makeup. She looked beautiful. I wanted to push her back into the apartment and do an instant replay of yesterday when she’d ridden my cock against the refrigerator. Fuck, I’d been so hot, so ready for her, and she’d been so beautiful, lost in her pleasure. I wanted her. I didn’t want to rush her, though. Everything would happen in time. The first being our date. She was dealing with a lot. I was trying to ease my way into her heart. The bed would have to wait, even if it killed me. And it might with her looking like that.
I pushed a hand through my hair. “Fuck, you look good.” And clearly I wasn’t going for dashing or debonair. I’d just used the word fuck. My face got hot. “Sorry.”
Her face softened in the hallway light.
“It’s just you look really beautiful.” I wrung my hands.
She stepped out, closed the door, and put her arm through mine. “You nervous, too?” She steered us toward the elevator.
“Terribly.”
She laughed. “Well, we can be nervous together.”
She didn’t have a reason to be nervous. She looked gorgeous. We shot each other quiet smiles in the elevator, and I opened the door when we reached my car.
She fidgeted in the seat next to me. “So where are we going, Doc?”
“It’s a surprise.”
She reached over and touched my tie, and I remembered that day in the parking lot, how she’d thumped my tie. I smiled.
“You wore the tie.” It was just a statement, but it was loaded with sentiment and feeling.
I nodded. “I did.”
“It looks good.” Her face flushed and even though it was dark, I could see the red in her cheeks. I wanted to caress them with my fingers.
I remembered her words. A little of me and a little of you.
It wasn’t a long ride to our destination and as I parked the car Kelly studied the building in front of us. “Louisa’s?”
“Yep.” I walked around the car and opened the door, giving her a hand out of the low car. I could tell she was finding it more and more difficult to do the simplest of tasks. Baby girl would be here any day now. I was excited. I was frightened. I’d made all the necessary arrangements and had a doctor friend who flew in yesterday to be on standby. We couldn’t take any chances. He was a damn good doctor, and I’d put every bit of my faith in him and his ability to do his job. He’d done me a huge favor being away from his family for the upcoming days until the baby arrived. I’d owe him one. But I’d owe anybody anything as long as the baby was okay.
Kelly took in the old white building that had definitely seen better days as we walked the path to the front door. My eyes adjusted to the darkness as I looked around the crowded jazz club to find an available table. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her to one of the only tables not taken.
“What is the place?” she asked, hanging her purse on the back of her chair.
I looked at the stage. “I thought you’d like to hear some music.”
She grinned and looked around. I had to admit, it was pretty damn cool. I’d only ever been to Louisa’s one time myself. The outside of the building sure didn’t match the inside, which was the very definition of cool. Low lighting, exposed brick walls, and furniture and decor in sexy reds and blacks filled the space.
A waiter approached our table. “What can I get you?” He looked at me.
I ordered a few tapas they had on the menu for us to share and a soda water with lime.
The waiter looked at Kelly and back at me. “And what can I get your wife?”
“Oh—” Kelly started, but I cut her off. I didn’t know why she felt the need to clarify or why she thought it was awkward people thought she was my wife. After all, we were together.
“She’ll just have water.”
“Sounds good, I’ll be back with your drinks in just a moment.”
The waiter left and Kelly gave me a look. “See, that was weird.”
I scowled at her. “It wasn’t weird. There’s not a goddamn thing about you being my wife that’s weird.”
And there wasn’t. It was my dream, to be her husband, to have that baby call me daddy. But I knew dreams could easily be crushed, so I dared not let myself voice them.
She smiled at me. “Calm down, Doc.”
She loved to tell me to calm down. It almost always made her smile, and when she smiled I lost my fucking mind. That smile made me act like a lovesick idiot, so I dropped my scowl and smiled back at her.
The club darkened further and the stage lit as the performer for the night walked across the stage. I watched Kelly’s face.
Her lips curved and her eyes brightened, and I wondered how I was going to take my eyes off her for one second. Her head snapped to mine.
“Mo!” she whispered with excitement as he made his way to a piano and sat down.
Her excited face turned back to the stage, and Mo started into a slow jazz piece and that had Kelly rocking in her seat slowly. That piece fed into another and another, my girl completely absorbed in the music. He pounded the keys and rocked back and forth on the bench. Some slow, some fast, but my girl’s eyes never left the stage. Not even when the food and drinks arrived. I could tell she loved seeing Mo play. Her face said it all. That old man enraptured my girl. Every note he played she fell for him more and more, and every second she spent falling for him, I fell more for her. I tried to watch Mo, but instead spent much of the evening watching her. Fuck, I loved her. And I know it sounded stupid, but I wanted her to love me, too. More than anything. I wanted to hold that baby and know it was safe, and I wanted her momma to tell me she loved me. It seemed like I was asking for so little and yet so much at the same time. It felt like it was right there in front of me and miles away, the dream I dreamed.
Mo’s set closed, and Kelly turned to me, giving me the biggest smile I’d ever seen. “That was amazing. That man is amazing! Did you know he could play like that?”
I grabbed her hand across the table. I wanted her next to me. “I did.”
“I mean, holy shit, he’s so talented. God, I loved it.”
“I’m glad.” And I was. I wanted her to love tonight and remember it and think of me. I wanted her to think of me always.
A warm hand on my shoulder snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked over my shoulder to see Mo standing there, black suit on, his black fedora with a red strip of silk around it perched on his head.
“Dr. Jackson.” He smiled down at me. “Ms. Kelly.”
Kelly flew up out of her seat and around me. “Oh my God, Mo. That was amazing. I loved it so much. Can I hug you? Is that okay?” She didn’t wait for him to answer as she threw her arms around him.
He chuckled low as he hugged her back. Pulling out of her embrace he said, “You never came back and played the drums for me.”
She laughed and patted her round belly. “Well, I’ve been kinda busy.”
He gave me a look. “Well, I’m glad the good doctor could bring you to see me play.”
“Oh, me, too, you’re amazing!”
“Are you enjoying your drum kit?”
Now Kelly gave me a pointed look before answering, “Yeah, I’m enjoying it when the neighbors let me even if it was too much of a gift.”
“Mmm,” he hummed and looked at my tie. “Looking pretty smooth, brother.”
I grinned. “Thanks, man.”
He raised an eyebrow at Kelly almost teasingly. “Looks like you gave your man the tie?”
Her man. I waited for her to deny it. To tell Mo I was just a friend. It seemed she was always trying to deny what we were growing more and more into every day. But she surprised me tonight in the most special way when her eyes got soft on me.
“I did,” she said, and my chest all of a sudden felt too small for my heart. Like it might just burst wide-open.
Fuck if I didn’t wanna puff my chest out and bang it like a damn caveman. That’s right, I’m her man. Everybody pay fucking attention. I somehow just barely managed to rein my crazy in.
“How’s Noah?” I asked Mo.
“He’s good. I think he’s coming into the office for a checkup, so I imagine you’ll be seeing him soon. Says Lucille is gonna have a candy for him.”
I laughed. “I’m sure she will.” My mother spoiled rotten the kids who came in.
“Well, I don’t wanna keep y’all from your date.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “That is what this is, right?”
I nodded.
He laughed a little. “Well, y’all are both lookin’ real good. I’d say you suit each other nicely.” He kissed Kelly’s hand and looked back at me. “Bring her in to see me sometime. I gotta hear this pixie play the drums.”
And he was gone as quickly and as smooth as he walked up to us.
I held my arm out. “Ready?“
“Yep.”
“Who’s Noah?”
“Mo’s grandson.”
“And I imagine you saved his life, too?”
This was starting to get embarrassing, but I still answered. “Me and an awesome team of doctors.”
“How’d you get so damn amazing, Doc?”
I laughed.
“I’m serious. How are you so damn good, so sweet, so smart, and so damn sexy?”
My face heated at her compliments. I wasn’t used to such high praise from a woman. She thought I was sexy. And, God, I thought she was, too.
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing at all as I opened the car door for her. She paused on her way in and her baby belly pressed into my stomach as she leaned up and brushed a soft kiss across my lips. That kiss meant a fuck of a lot. She’d never initiated one between us since we’d been reunited. It wasn’t the kind of kiss that was full of passion and heat. No, it was better than that because it was full of love.
“You’re special, Doc. I hope you know that,” she murmured before getting into the car.
I didn’t know that, but she was making it clearer every day.