Chapter 1 Lazlo
Lazlo
This was supposed to be a holiday. Kinda.
Sorta. As close as I ever got to a holiday, anyway.
After a dripping tap turned into a kitchen flood, I was having some much-needed updates done to my house, and since they had to shut off the water for a day, I figured I would splurge and spend a night at The Scarlet Hotel.
Have a nice meal at the restaurant, take a soak in the whirlpool tub, put my feet up and watch a movie, without having to worry about dishes or replaying the day’s patients in my head.
At no point had I expected to deliver a baby while on that holiday.
I chuckled, packing my few belongings into the overnight bag I’d brought.
I’d woken up in the pitch-black in the dead of night to those distinctive moans.
I would recognize those anywhere—even in my sleep, apparently.
I had immediately rolled over and turned on the light, reaching for my pants.
It took me a few minutes to clear the cobwebs from my brain, but there was never any question about what I would do.
Of course I would get dressed and offer my assistance. A baby needed me!
At least I got the dinner and the bath first.
I would never complain about delivering a baby.
It was what I lived for, after all. The reason I went into medicine in the first place.
My grandfather had recently retired from his practice, leaving me to take the helm.
His son, my father, had also gone into medicine, but he’d taken the research route, studying oncology from the Dufresne Cancer Treatment Center in Washington.
What we all had in common was the need we felt to save others.
It just so happened that I had a soft spot for babies.
The reason? It was probably because I was a beta.
Betas were considered fairly rare in our society.
Omegas carried the babies, obviously, and alphas sired them.
Betas? We were in this in-between limbo of sorts, not one or the other.
No slick, no knot, and no babies. I’d read studies about gammas, even rarer, with their ability to do both.
As fascinating as the genetics were, the knowledge didn’t help me build a family of my own.
Because there was nothing I wanted more than a family.
Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I headed out the door and down the hall toward the elevator. It really was a nice hotel. Maybe I would come back and try for a holiday again someday. Maybe next time I would bring someone with me…
It was a short trip down on the elevator from the second floor, but I still found my eyes closing, lids scraping over dry eyes, searching for a few more seconds of blessed sleep. As soon as my eyes closed, the image of Corey being loaded into the ambulance popped into my head.
I thought of the way he’d sobbed his thank-yous to me.
“My son is alive because of you,” he said.
Whether that was true or not, it was impossible to say, but I would never have risked it either way.
Seeing them both healthy and well, that was why I did this.
That young alpha from the hotel staff, Patrick, had been helpful too.
He listened well and didn’t fall apart like so many alphas I’d seen in the delivery room.
He’d passed me towels and held Corey’s hand, dabbed his forehead with a cool cloth.
We would’ve managed without him, but I saw the relief he brought to the new dad.
Labor was hard enough without having to do it on your own.
The elevator dinged, and I forced my eyes open, pushing off the back wall to get myself moving.
My feet felt weighted as I trudged across the marble floor toward the front desk to hand in my key, the scuff of my soles echoing around the glossy, vaulted space.
I was beyond exhausted, and I had to head into the clinic now, for a full day of patients.
Silly me, I’d thought these days of working on no sleep were behind me after graduating from med school.
At least it wouldn’t be the first time I’d pulled it off.
Turned out owning a private practice wasn’t as cushy as I’d thought it would be.
My lips twitched with a smile. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I set my key on the counter and slid it across to the man in the black three-piece suit with a red vest. His blond hair was perfectly styled, laced with the barest hint of silver, and a cleft in his chin gave him a sophisticated air. “Checking out of room 216,” I said, then turned, about to leave.
“Oh, Doctor Zappek,” the man said, bringing my attention back around.
“My name is Emerson Holland, and I’m the owner of the hotel.
” He stepped out from behind the counter and offered me his hand.
“I just wanted to thank you for everything you did last night. Having a baby delivered in one of the rooms was certainly a first for us. Not something you can ever prepare for, I imagine.”
“For me too,” I joked. Squared off with this man, so impeccably dressed, I suddenly felt like a giant slob in my blue polo and khakis. I’d planned on having time to go home and get dressed before work, but I simply wouldn’t have the time today. This was as good as I was going to get.
Mr. Holland’s blue eyes sparkled like sunlight off ice as he smiled at me.
He was just so nice. Was that all it was, gratitude?
I was really awful at picking up on cues.
Was he hitting on me or just kind? Out of curiosity, I found my eyes drifting down to check for a ring on his finger.
Married. All the good ones were, so I guessed he was just nice.
Either that or I was so desperate and lonely that I saw things that weren’t there.
Yeah, that was likely it. “I would like to offer you a refund on your room. You barely got to use it, after all. Considering all the work you did, I should probably be offering you a wage.”
I shook my head, where a headache was slowly forming.
I was in desperate need of some coffee, but I forced a smile anyway.
“No, I promise it’s no trouble. What kind of doctor would I be if I didn’t offer my help.
” I could tell he was going to press the matter, whether out of guilt or gratitude, but I simply didn’t have the time or energy for it right now, so instead, I held a hand up to forestall whatever he was going to say.
“I’ll tell you what. How about a rain check for another night in the future?
I’m in a hurry to get to the clinic this morning, but I would love to spend a full night in one of those beds. It was like a body-hugging cloud.”
Emerson smiled warmly. “I’ll even upgrade you to a full suite.”
“Consider it a deal.” We shook hands again, and I agreed to be in touch. Whether I would take him up on it or not was tomorrow’s problem. Today, the order of priorities was coffee, food, work. That was all I could manage right now.
Luckily, Crave Coffee was just down the street, so I ran down and loaded up with an extra-large Americano and a bacon-and-egg breakfast croissant, before jogging to the parking garage where I’d left my car.
Rush-hour traffic was just getting started, which meant I was going to be late to the office.
Of course, today of all days. I groaned and quickly called my receptionist with the hands-free speaker.
“Hey, Delaney. Sorry to stick you with grumpy patients, but I’m caught in traffic right now. I probably won’t be in for another 20 minutes or so. If they get rowdy, throw owie cures at them.” That was what I called the suckers I gave to the kids for getting their vaccines.
Her laugh was raspy through the car’s speakers. “Don’t worry, Lazlo. There’s nothing urgent. Did you have a good holiday?”
I blew a raspberry. “Turned out I was less on holiday, more on-call. I’ll fill you in when I get there, but I will say I’m ordering lunch in today. My treat.” I usually brought my own lunches from home, but that was a no-go.
“I’ll pull out the menus,” she said, before we disconnected the call.
I did my best to focus on the road while scarfing down my breakfast, but the brain fog was real. By the time I pulled into my spot in the parking lot, the sun was far too high in the sky, and I felt like I had spent the entire drive in a daze.
I burst into the office, expecting to offer a few apologies, but instead, I found a bunch of concerned expressions on the waiting patients and one very large man with a buzzcut, tattooed sleeves on display, holding a bucket car seat. “Are you the doctor? Please, can you help me?”
My eyes moved from the man, the epitome of masculine perfection, to the baby buckled into the carrier, and I felt the overwhelming fatigue drift away. Would I help? The answer would always be yes.