COLE (Dragon Security Book 1) by Glenna Sinclair Read Free Book Online Page A

urge to push down, as if I was constipated and it was finally working its way out. I cried out, grabbing Cole’s wrists and squeezing because it just seemed like the thing to do.
    I heard him curse. And then he was pushing me backward so that the gearshift and console were pressing into my back and I was lying across both front seats.
    “I can see the head,” Cole announced, quite unceremoniously ripping off my panties. “I thought labor took hours.”
    “It’s supposed to.”
    Another pain rushed through me, and I bit my lip.
    “Don’t fight it. Push.”
    It was almost a relief when he said that. I pushed, and the pain was still intense but it was different. Productive, I suppose. I cried out at the end of it, throwing my arm over my eyes as I waited for the next one. I was so tired…I wasn’t sure I could do this.
    “One more should do it,” Cole said. “I can clearly see the top of the head.”
    “Have you ever done this before?”
    “No. But I took health class in high school.”
    I groaned, but even in all that pain, I couldn’t resist his charming smile. He took my hand and squeezed it.
    “It’s going to be okay.”
    I started to nod, but another pain rushed over me. I pushed myself up a little on my hands and pushed with everything I had. “Good,” Cole said, encouraging me. “It’s coming. Just a little more.”
    I saw it, the moment my baby slid into the world. I was sitting up enough that I could see over my massive belly and could see the back of his head. Cole gently took him into his hands and twisted him just slightly, and he slithered out like an eel sliding through the water.
    I was suddenly gripped with this fear that the baby was dead. I didn’t know where the thought came from, but after everything else that’d happened in my life lately, it wouldn’t have surprised me. I lay back, afraid to look at him, afraid to see his face. This horrible image filled my mind and a sob jumped to my lips. But then…the sweetest sound in the world filled the silent world of the car.
    He was crying.
    “It’s a boy,” Cole said in a voice I almost didn’t recognize as his.
    I opened my eyes. Cole had the baby cradled against his chest, blood and God knew what else smeared over his arms and his hands. He was staring down at the baby with this look of awe on his face that softened the hard lines and made him even more handsome than he’d been before. When he lifted his eyes to mine, I swear there were tears in them.
    “He’s beautiful,” he said softly.
    “He’s okay?”
    “He’s perfect.” Cole lifted a foot. “Ten toes and ten…”—he hesitated a second as he lifted the baby’s right hand—“…fingers.”
    He looked at me again, and there was something different in his eyes. Respect, maybe.
    “We need to get you to a hospital,” he said. “Can you sit up?”
    I nodded.
    He helped me up, covering my legs as best as he could. Then he carefully laid the baby in my arms, brushing his finger over the side of the baby’s face. He stood and stripped his t-shirt over his head and wrapped it around the baby, my arms, and whatever else got in the way. Then he slammed the door and rushed around to the driver’s side, putting the car into gear and pulling out so quickly that we left quite a mark on the soft shoulder.
    The interstate was only four miles back, but we were still forty miles from Houston. A muscle worked in his jaw as he drove, faster than the already generous speed limit, easing the car around curves and other vehicles with the finesse of a racecar driver. I stared down at my baby, admiring the curves of his face, the shape of his lips. His nose was a little squished, but I thought it would look a lot like Peter’s in a day or two.
    I was so tired. The exhaustion that I’d been carrying around for the last three months suddenly descended again. But it was heavier, and it continued to grow heavier until I felt like I couldn’t lift my shoulders, my arms. I was afraid I