Nothing Left to Lose (Guarded Hearts 1)

Anna had finished school, so we moved to Los Angeles. For the last two and a half years, she’d been working for a large graphic design company, and she loved her job. My career had also taken a slightly different path. I was now heading up a brand new specialist department that was kind of a first base for terrorist attacks. Testing potential locations for weak points and running through possible attack strategies was a small part of my new job. That was what I’d been doing nearly all day today – scouting a couple of locations for a presidential seminar that was due to take place in a few months.

I was in desperate need of a coffee as I climbed the stairs and walked into my outer office. Immediately, Raine, my secretary, jumped out of her seat and ran towards me, looking slightly panicked.

“Ashton, where have you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours! Your cell phone’s off,” she scolded, following me as I carried on walking to my office at the end of the room. I really needed to sit down.

“I was scouting locations, Raine, you knew that.” I laughed and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, looking at the blank screen. “Battery must be dead. What’s up anyway?” I asked, throwing my cell onto my desk and pulling out the charger.

“It’s time! You need to go there right now!” she cried excitedly.

My heart stopped and my mouth popped open in shock. “Now? Right now?” I shouted, frantically searching my desk for my keys. I felt sick. This was too early. It shouldn’t be for another two weeks. “Where are my damn keys?” I shouted, practically pushing everything off my desk in a bid to find them quicker.

Raine laughed and grabbed my wrist. “They’re in your hand, silly! Just go,” she ordered. “And make sure you call me.” She was practically jumping on the spot with excitement.

“I will, and thanks!” I cried, as I sprinted at full speed back through the office, ignoring all of the stares. I jumped to the side just as someone stepped out of their office, narrowly avoiding taking them out because I was running so fast. “Sorry!” I shouted over my shoulder.

I couldn’t help the nervous excitement that was building inside, but the thing I felt most was worry. What if something went wrong? What the hell would I do? As soon as I was at my car, I jumped in and threw it into drive, pulling out and snapping on my seatbelt as I drove through the parking lot. I plugged my cell phone in to charge for a few minutes while I drove. Thankfully, there weren’t many other cars on the road, so I made it there in record time. The blue lights that I’d put on top of my car probably helped with cutting through traffic.

As soon as I was in the hospital parking lot, I pulled into the first available space and ran for the building, praying I wasn’t too late. In the foyer, I pressed the call button for the elevator, but it was stopped on seven. “Come on, come on!” I chanted, practically bouncing on the spot and I tapped the button again and again. The elevator wasn’t moving, so I decided to go for the stairs instead. I took them three at a time and got to the fifth floor, grinning excitedly as I spotted the ‘Maternity’ sign over the door.

I burst in and squirted some sanitizer on my hands as I ran to the desk. “Hi, where’s Annabelle Taylor?” I asked the lady sitting there.

She smiled kindly. “Room three.” She pointed down the hall so I turned and ran off.

As I got to the door, I took a couple of deep breaths. I needed to be calm. Being all super excited and scared shitless wouldn’t help Anna. When my heart had returned to a normal pace again, I pushed the door open and peeked in. She was sitting up in the bed, chatting to Rick, her near guard. Her head snapped round to look at me as I walked in, her face lighting up. She looked incredibly beautiful as always, even in a hospital gown.

“Hey, you! I was wondering if you were going to show up,” she teased, grinning.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” I chirped, heading over and sitting on the side of her bed, putting my hands on her swollen tummy, rubbing it in small circles.

“I’ll leave you to it now that Ashton’s here. I’ll just be outside,” Rick announced, standing up and heading to the door.

Anna smiled and nodded. “Thanks for staying with me.”

He grinned. “Of course.” Rick had been guarding Anna for the last four years. When we were together, I was sufficient as her near guard, but when I was working, Rick took over. He was actually a great guy, and we were all friends outside of work too.

Once we were alone, I turned back to my wife. “You okay?” I asked, looking to see if she was in pain or anything. She seemed like she was okay though.

She smiled. “Yep, it doesn’t hurt between contractions, so I’m good right now.” I grinned and moved up the bed so I could kiss her softly. Her brown eyes were burning into mine making me feel slightly weightless. “You ready to be a daddy, Agent Taylor?” she whispered against my lips.

“Hell yeah I am,” I admitted.

We’d been trying for this baby for the last two and a half years, practically as soon as she left college, and finally she’d fallen pregnant. Because of Anna’s injuries to her stomach, and scarring from her miscarriage when she was with Carter, we’d had to try a lot harder to conceive than most couples, but we’d finally gotten there.

“The baby’s eager to get out of there,” she said, rubbing her stomach, smiling.

“Yeah, you know why he wants to get out of there?” I asked, raising one eyebrow.