Autumn has it all, and I’d be a fool to let her slip through my fingers. She pulls back, breathing heavily as she rests her forehead against mine. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I promise. I’ll be better from here on out.”
“No,” I say shaking my head. “It’s your third day and I should have given you a warning that you were going to be delivering those babies. That’s on me. I should have prepared you properly and made sure you were aware of what was going on before you walked into that room.”
“I’m not going to let you take the blame,” she says, running her fingers up through my hair. “I’ve had five years of nursing experience before this. I know better, but I allowed my excitement to run the show and assumed it was a normal delivery. That’s on me, but now I know better, and I swear, I will never make such a moronic mistake again. You have my word.”
I watch her for a minute, pulling her back in and gently brushing my lips over hers. “For what it’s worth, you delivered that baby perfectly. You’re a natural.”
Her eyes shimmer with joy, the pain and despair instantly fading from her eyes. “You mean that?”
“I do,” I tell her. “You really are going to be the best in the field, and with me at your side, you’ll be unstoppable.”
Autumn’s lips come crashing back to mine, and she kisses me deeply, her lips moving as though she doesn’t have a care in the world, and right now, it’s easy to say neither of us does. Her tongue explores my mouth and I let her, knowing damn well that I’ll give her anything that she wants.
When we finally pull away, she stares at me with wide, beaming eyes. “What does this mean?” she asks, panting as she untangles her fingers from my hair.
I shake my head, unable to keep the smile off my face. “I have no fucking idea,” I tell her. “But there’s no way in hell that it’s going to stop.”
Autumn grins back at me, and without another word, crushes her face back to mine.
CHAPTER 12
AUTUMN
Aalia’s high-pitched squeal rocks right through my chest as I watch her fly down the slide at the park across the road from her apartment. “Holy shit,” I gasp as I sit by her mom’s side. “I swear, she gets faster every time she goes down that thing.”
“Tell me about it,” KC says. “It scares the living shit out of me every time I bring her here. I mean, if you weren’t medically trained, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
I can’t help but laugh, but she has a point. That child of hers is as wild as they come. Screw the Barbies and tea parties, she’ll be asking for a motorbike for her next birthday to send her mother insane with worry. “I’m sure she'll be alright,” I tell her, sipping on my milkshake. “She hasn’t got hurt yet.”
“Yeah,” KC scoffs. “Yet being the keyword. My luck isn’t that good. It’s bound to run out sooner or later.”
“No,” I laugh, watching as Aalia runs back up the stairs of the play equipment, nearly falling on her face in the process and making both of us flinch. “Don’t say that. You’ll jinx yourself.”
KC shakes her head. “Tell me about you. I need to get my mind off it before I go and be one of those helicopter moms and wrap her wild little self from head to toe in bubble wrap. How’s that whole ‘relationship’ thing with Brandon going? Are you still sticking with that?”
My eyes bug out of my head, and instant guilt fires through me. It’s been nearly two weeks since I ended things with Brandon. Has it really been that long since I’ve hung out with KC and dumped all my problems on her? Shit. I’m an awful friend.
A cringe spreads across my face and KC narrows her eyes on me. “What? Spit it out.”
I can’t help but grin back at her. “I’m so sorry,” I say with a laugh. “Don't hate me. I’ve been so crazy busy that it completely slipped my mind.”
“What did?”
“I dumped his sorry ass nearly two weeks ago when he stole my money to buy himself a goddamn PS5.”
Her eyes widen in shock. “What?” she says, her voice coming out as a breathy gasp.
“Yeah, you know the box I keep under my bed for emergencies?” She nods and I go on. “The dickhead was hanging out uninvited in my apartment again and found it. So he took it upon himself to buy a PS5 and then had the nerve to try and rationalize it by saying that it was the birthday present I was going to owe him anyway, so he was technically doing me a favor.”
KC gapes at me as though she can hardly believe what she’s hearing. “Are you kidding me? That’s insane.”