Chapter 20
Victoria
They rushed to the hospital. Their confrontation or conversation about today’s events dashed by Grace’s frantic call to announce she was finally in labor.
Victoria was more than exhausted but adrenaline ran through her veins the moment she clicked off her cell.
To his credit, Ben who she sensed was still a little on edge, had simply grabbed her by the arm and led her to the elevator at the police station.
He took one of the SUVs Trent and Devlin had used and drove, not saying one word to her.
She supposed she could’ve talked to him during the ride, tried to explain her reason for leaving without telling him, but she didn’t. Instead she stared out the window wondering if it were going to be a boy or girl. That seemed to be the easier train of thought, the more realistic one indeed.
The moment he pulled up in front of the hospital she grabbed the door handle. “Thanks for the ride,” she tossed over her shoulder as she moved to get out.
His hand on her elbow was just as unexpected, as the words he spoke.
“I’m going to park and we can go in together.”
“But that’s not necessary,” she argued.
“It’s what I’m going to do,” was his only response.
Victoria didn’t reply, mainly because he’d kept right on driving, quickly dispelling her get-out-of-the-truck idea. After parking, he grabbed her hand once again and took fast strides to the parking garage elevators where they boarded one and took it to the main floor.
“Grace Ramsey?” she asked when they’d made it to the information desk.
“Labor and Delivery, fifth floor. Go right down this hall, make a left at the circle, take the elevators to the right,” the sour-faced nurse informed her without once looking up from her computer.
On any other day Victoria might have called her on her rudeness but today wasn’t that day. Instead, she turned, reciting the directions in a whisper as she walked away. On the elevator for the third time in what seemed like the last half hour, she sighed and decided it was time for the inevitable.
“Look Ben, I know you’re pretty upset with me right now and I can’t really say I blame you.
But this is not the time. My best friend is having a baby and there’s nothing else I want in this world but to stand by her side at this glorious moment.
I appreciate you bringing me down here but it’s fine if you leave now. I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Are you finished?” he asked releasing her arm finally.
Victoria took advantage of the moment and stepped away from him. “I’m just trying to be honest,” she said.
“Oh, now you want to be honest.” Ben chuckled, but it wasn’t filled with any sort of humor or animation.
“Look Victoria,” he began mimicking her.
“You are on point with the fact that I’m upset with you right now.
But I’ve been to a few childbirths in my lifetime and I know that they are a time of joy and love.
So I’m not going to go over how foolish and immature your actions were.
I’m not going to say that you harassed me about being up front and honest with you, only to turn and do something dangerously stupid behind my back.
No,” he said holding up a hand when she would’ve began speaking again.
“I’m not going to say any of that, right now.
For the moment I’m going to go to the fifth floor and sit in the waiting room while Grace, an old college friend, has her first child.
I’m going to smile and rejoice with her and her husband for this miracle they’ve brought into the world. Then I’m going to take you home.”
The doors to the elevator opened and so did Victoria’s mouth, only to snap shut quickly because she didn’t know what to say.
So she simply walked off the elevator, approached another nurse about directions—this one moderately nicer than the other—and headed to Grace’s room.
She was happy to see Ben hadn’t followed her, but smart enough to know their real confrontation had only been postponed.
If there was one thing she’d learned about Ben Donovan in these last couple of weeks it was that he was a man of his word.
If he said he was going to be waiting right there for her after Grace had the baby, that’s exactly what he meant.
She didn’t know how things with the two of them would end or begin again, or whatever, and when she walked into the room to hear Grace’s high-pitched scream she figured she didn’t really have time to consider it any longer.
Ben
After three hours of sitting in the waiting room, nodding off, going for coffee, playing some game on his phone, and trying desperately not to think about the gun that had been pointed at Victoria’s temple, Ben was more than ready to call it a day.
It had been a very trying twenty-four hours and to tell the truth he wasn’t sure he could take much more.
But when he heard a rumbling that sounded strangely like wheels he looked up.
Every muscle in his body seemed to tense and retract in the span of ten seconds as he stood and watched while Victoria, with a nurse pushing a baby bassinet right beside her, flashed him with a million-watt smile.
He walked to where they stood and was scarcely able to pull his gaze from her but for the tiny sound coming from the bassinet.
He looked down and everything about today, every second of worry and doubt, of fear and helplessness, of adrenaline and impulsive action was washed away.
“It’s a girl,” he heard Victoria whisper. “Melody Grace Ramsey.”
“Melody,” Ben whispered. “Hello, little Melody.”
As if she’d heard him, the baby’s glassy eyes stared immediately in his direction. “Pretty little, Melody,” he continued, warmth rising in his body.
“We’ll be going to the nursery now,” the nurse said and Ben stepped back from the basinet, his fingers tingling with the urge to scoop Melody up and cradle her in his arms.
“She’s beautiful isn’t she?” Victoria asked from behind him.
“She is,” was Ben’s reply. Then he turned to face her. “And so are you.”
He reached out touching his fingertips to the spot where Hall’s gun had touched.
At that moment he’d wanted to yell with fury, to squeeze the trigger of his own gun killing the bastard where he stood.
But that moment had passed. Then he’d wanted to yell at her, to vent his frustration at her leaving him at the hotel, for not trusting him enough to tell him what she was doing.
Now, as she turned into his touch, closing her eyes slowly, Ben wanted something else.
He wanted to hold onto her for as long as he possibly could. Stepping closer, he eased his other hand around her waist, pulling her body up against his.
“I love you, Victoria. I’ve waited too damned long to tell you that,” he whispered, his lips brushing lightly over her forehead.
He felt her fingers tangling in his shirt as she sighed, her body leaning into his.
“We’ve both waited too long to say it. Today just proves how short life can be. We should really stop wasting time,” she told him.
“I’m so glad to hear you say that,” Ben told her releasing his own heavy sigh. Then he used a finger to slip beneath her chin, tilting her face up to his. “There’s something else I’ll be glad to hear you say.”
She smiled, slow and intoxicating, fresh and gorgeous.
“I love you, too, Ben Donovan.”
Hours later, they were in the shower, letting the hot water trickle off their skin, both moaning in gratification.
She stood in front of him, her ass pressed into his groin, his dick growing hard.
He’d been holding her around the waist but one of his hands slowly moved upward to grasp a plump breast. The other moved lower, until he could cup the close-cut curls at her juncture.
A finger slipped between her damp folds and she groaned.
He loved the feel of her, so soft and slippery, ready and waiting.
For endless moments he simply caressed her there, letting her desire trickle over his fingers the same way the water sluiced over their skin.
In his other hand her plump breast filled his palm, a tightened nipple rubbed over his thumb inciting a jolt of pleasure from his hardened shaft.
“I love your touch,” she murmured.
That was just grand because Ben didn’t think there was anything more he loved than touching her. His response came with action instead of words as he pressed her against the tiled wall, dipping his body with hers so that his dick could slip right through her wetness to thrust into her.
She gasped and moaned his name.
“Yes, Victoria,” he sighed hers, his lips flush against her ear. He thrust until he was completely embedded in her warmth, then gritted his teeth at how fuckin’ delicious that felt.
Every damn time. That thought sifted through the dense fog of pleasure clouding his brain. Each and every time he was inside her he felt this way. Like he was lost in these deep emotions, but still exactly where he belonged. With her was where he belonged. And now, she belonged to him.
Her short nails dug into his back as he lifted her legs and clasped them around his waist. He pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes half closed as he pulled out of her slowly, then thrust back inside with the force of desire that threatened to choke him.
“Shit, baby,” he murmured when her warm walls gripped his dick tighter.
“You feel so damn good.” Those words didn’t seem accurate enough but they were all that he could mutter.
“Yes!” she screamed and nodded as he pulled out and thrust into her again. “You do too, Ben. Dammit, you feel good too!”
He couldn’t go slow, didn’t even want to attempt it.
No, what he wanted more than anything in this world was to ride this wave of pleasure into the sweeping depths of total bliss.
He wanted her to cum all over his dick, to grip him tighter, to press her nails into his skin and continue screaming his name.
Then he wanted to empty everything he had inside of her.
And if possible, he’d love to rinse and repeat that over and over for the rest of their lives.
Round one culminated exactly as he’d planned and the water ran cold by the time they finally washed and stepped out of the shower to dry.
He carried her to his bed and they slipped between the soft sheets where he had every intention of taking her again.
But the events of the day coupled with the roller coaster of emotions they’d both been on for the last forty-eight hours finally caught up with them.
Sleep could not be avoided and if truth be told, Ben had no complaints.
Not as long as Victoria was safe and wrapped in his arms.