Take Me by Locklyn Marx Read Free Book Online

going to be okay, honey,” Adam said. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

    The last thing Jaxon saw as he led Anna out of the room was the nurse slipping an oxygen mask over Katie’s face so that the baby would have an easier time breathing.

    ***

    Jaxon’s cell phone rang again as they walked into the waiting room, and he pulled it out to check the caller ID. It was Donovan Cuban. Why the hell was he calling again?
    Jaxon shoved the phone back into his pocket. He would worry about that later. Right now he had to concentrate on getting Anna to the waiting room and making sure she didn’t freak out.

    Her face was white as he sat her down in a chair. “You want some tea or something?” he asked.

    He could tell her first instinct was to say no – it was obvious that she didn’t want him taking care of her – but then she nodded.

    He squeezed her shoulder. “Be right back.” He bypassed the machines lining the hallway, the kind that allowed you to insert a dollar and make a tea or a coffee, and instead headed for the cafeteria. Anna had been something of a tea connoisseur when they were younger, and Jaxon could only infer that her tastes had grown more refined after living in London.

    He picked through the meager selection of teas that sat in a small wicker basket near the coffee station, finally deciding on a calming earl gray chamomile. He poured boiling water over the bag and added one sugar. It was exactly how Anna liked it.

    When he returned to the waiting room and handed her the styrofoam cup, he was rewarded with a grateful smile. “Thank you,” she said, and took a sip. There was a look of surprise in her blue eyes when the hot liquid hit her tongue. “One sugar,” she said.
    “No milk.”

    He nodded, then sat down next to her.

    “You remembered.”

    “Of course I remembered,” he said. “How could I forget? Anytime we’d end up at a coffee shop, everyone would be getting iced coffees or lemonade, and you’d have to have your tea, even in the middle of summer.”

    She wrinkled her nose. “Coffee and tea are not meant to be cold.” She gave him a tiny smile and then clutched the cup tightly in both hands. “Do you think Katie’s going to be okay?”

    “Of course she is,” he said. “The doctors are with her.” He wasn’t sure if it was true, but it seemed to comfort Anna. And right now, all he wanted was to make her feel better. That look on her face – one of sadness and anxiety -- was sending stabs through his heart.
    Is that how she’d looked that night all those years ago, when he’d stood her up?
    The thought was almost unbearable. He imagined her waiting for him, checking her watch, calling his house. Had she thought he’d been in an accident? Or had she known immediately that he wasn’t coming?

    “Katie’s just such a good person,” Anna said. “I just want her and the baby to be okay.”

    “They are going to be okay,” Jaxon said. He reached over and put his arm around her. Anna’s body stiffened, and for a horrible moment, he thought maybe she was going to pull away. Even though he’d been kissing her just a few hours ago, this gesture somehow seemed more intimate, and the rejection would have been a sharp sting.

    But then her body relaxed, leaning into him, and Jaxon pulled her close. He took in the smell of her hair, vanilla and lilac, the same exact way it had smelled all those years ago.
    His heart ached, wondering if the mistake he’d made by leaving her had been the biggest of his life. How would things have been different? Would Anna be the one in the delivery room right now? Would he be holding her hand, waiting for their son or daughter to arrive into the world?

    No. Anna had been the one to turn him down. He’d put himself out there by asking her to come with him to Los Angeles. She’d been the one to say no. He’d stood her up that night, sure. But she’d been the one to reject him first. He would have done anything for Anna, and she’d