Page 39 of Surgeon's Surprise Baby
“Damn it.Now I’ve woken the baby.”
“She’s probably hungry.Want me to go fix her a bottle?”
“She isn’t crying anymore.I’ll go check on her and see what’s up.”
Ryan followed her into the baby’s room.Sure enough, she’d fallen back asleep.“She’s so beautiful,” Aria said softly.
“Yes, she is.Like her mother.”
“Flattery won’t change my mind.”
He shook his head but didn’t respond until they left the room.“You need to quit worrying about this whole sex thing.”
“What does that mean?”
He took her hand and held it between both of his.“Even if you hadn’t suddenly decided we shouldn’t have a sexual relationship, we wouldn’t have had sex tonight.”
“You said—”
He held up a hand.“You’re upset.Understandably so.I’m not interested in taking advantage of you.I’m in this for the long term, Aria.I want us to be a family.Together.I’m dead serious when I say I love you.I know you don’t love me.Or at least, you won’t let yourself because you’re afraid I’ll leave you again.”
“Do you blame me?”
“No.But I’ve changed.And if I have to prove it to you by being your friend before you let me back in then I will.”
“What if I never ‘let you back in’ as you put it?”
“I’ll just keep trying.Until you convince me there’s no hope for us and we aren’t there yet.”
She wanted to argue with him but she couldn’t.Her feelings were a mess right now.All jumbled up with how she felt about Ryan.Should she admit she still loved him?But she couldn’t.All mixed up in that were her feelings, her total shock, about having her father drop back into her life.
Assuming he really was her father.She had a feeling he was.Typical, the man had showed up at a time when she was all screwed up over Ryan.One more thing she didn’t need.
“Let me stay with you,” Ryan said.“I’ll sleep on the couch.We can talk or if you don’t want to talk we can watch a movie.I’ll even go buy some ice cream if you want.”
“You know ice cream is my weakness.”
He grinned.“Yes, I know.How about it?”
“Chocolate.Double fudge chocolate.The most chocolaty chocolate you can find.”
“Works for me.I’ll be back.”
Why was he being so nice when she was so wishy-washy?Could he really have fallen in love with her?
It seemed really unlikely.
Chapter Fourteen
Aria called Steventhe next morning.Even if he was her father she wasn’t calling him Dad.His first name would do.He didn’t have his own phone so someone had to go get him.When he answered the phone she said, “It’s Aria.Can you come see me?I have questions for you.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.It might be a while, though, if I can’t borrow a car.”
He didn’t have a phone or a car and he lived in a group home with other veterans.Clearly he wasn’t do well monetarily.
Ryan had gone into work and was on call, so he’d be out of touch.He might squeeze in a phone call, depending on how busy surgery was.It irritated her that she missed him.She was getting far too accustomed to his presence.
Sophie was on the floor on her baby gym mat when Steven showed up.She let him in, wishing she didn’t have to let him meet Sophie, but there was no help for it.
