that beautiful hair of hers, then the next second she’d been endearingly sweet and caring with their very difficult patient. Add to that a sexiness she seemed barely aware of and a sadness in the depths of those brown eyes, and she was fascinating with a capital F.
The vision of the smile in her eyes and on her lips as they’d danced last night, the sight of her beautiful naked body as they’d made love, the memories of how her skin had felt against his, had him closing his eyes to hold it all inside. Had him wanting to find her right then, pull her into an empty room, and kiss her breathless.
But she deserved better than him. Deserved more than a man who would only be around for a month or two. Deserved the kind of man who was capable of offering her a commitment and a future, if that was what she wanted. And he wasn’t that man.
No. For her sake, he should steer clear of her from now on. Let last night be one great memory for both of them. The last thing he would ever want would be to add to the sadness in her eyes after he’d moved on.
He sighed and, feeling a little bruised, rubbed his chest. Knew that the bruising was inside, not out, but it would heal. At least, he assumed it would. He’d never felt quite like this before, so he couldn’t be sure. But it would be far worse to keep seeing Gabriella and bruise her, too.
Time to stop moping and get to work. He stopped at the computer outside one of the nurses’ stations to check some charts, and decided to see Cameron Fontaine first. Medically, she was absolutely fine. But she’d wanted to stay at the hospital a little longer, both so she could be near baby Skye and because she didn’t want to be seen in public while she was losing her “baby fat.”
Rafael and everyone else had reassured her it was hardly noticeable, though he knew many of the new mothers giving birth at the clinic worried about the same thing, having to live in the very close scrutiny of the public eye. Cameron was happy to be eating healthy spa food specially prepared to have the nutrition she needed, while helping her lose weight as she worked with personal fitness trainers. And, Lord knew, a happy Cameron made the lives of everyone in the clinic easier.
Including Gabriella’s, and he again marveled at her amazing patience and even empathy with a woman who could be pretty demanding. Then realized his every thought seemed to lead right back to Gabriella. How had his head become so consumed with her in such a short period of time?
Deep in thought on his way to Cameron’s room, the woman on his mind seemed to practically materialize out of thin air. She’d probably come out of the door he’d been about to walk by, but since her face had been what he’d been seeing and not the hallway, it gave him a start to see her actually there.
From the expression on her face, he’d startled her, too. Her face seemed to flush as she stared at him, and she swept her hair behind her ears in a nervous gesture he’d only seen that night in his house when she’d run into his naked chest. The night he’d wanted to kiss her to see how she’d react.
Which reminded him all over again what it had been like to kiss her the night before. Along with all the other things they’d done together over the course of the night, and he had a feeling his face was flushed, too, but not with nervousness. With a heat he’d had a hard time banking down every time he’d thought of her since leaving her in the wee hours of the morning.
“Good morning, Ms. Cain.”
“Um, good morning, Dr. Moreno.”
Her voice was husky, and her tongue flicked out to lick her lips, and he was damned if all his resolutions to the contrary moments ago didn’t fly straight out of his brain. Replaced by that desire to grab her up, take her to the nearest empty room, and kiss her until neither of them could breathe.
“I was about to see Cameron Fontaine,” he said, forcing his mind away from the thoughts that were actually making his body hard as they stood there in public. “Have you checked on her this morning?”
“Yes. She’s in the gym with the fitness trainer right now, so you’ll have to see someone else first. Speaking of which, I have a patient waiting in my office. She’s feeling nervous about some pain and wants to talk to me about it. Excuse me.”
She turned without another word and hurried down the corridor. He watched her slim rear in her scrubs swaying slightly, which immediately took his thoughts back yet again to last night and how she’d looked in her sweats. Then out of them. Which he’d sworn to himself he’d stop thinking about.
Maybe he needed to hit the clinic gym himself for a long workout, then a nice cold shower.
“Dr. Moreno! Rafael!”
Gabriella’s urgent voice had him turning to see her running back in his direction. “What’s wrong?”
“We have a precipitous delivery. My patient thought she might be imagining things, but she’s already eight centimeters dilated. Would you go and see to her while I get the pre-cep pack? My office.”
Rafael strode to the room. Knowing Gabriella knew what she was doing should have prepared him, but he was still surprised to see a woman lying on the floor of Gabriella’s office, practically wedged between the chairs in front of her desk, writhing and moaning, with blood beneath her on the floor. He cursed under his breath, because it was pretty obvious it was too late to move her to a birthing suite. He gave her knee a quick, reassuring pat. “It’s going to be all right. I’m Dr. Moreno, and Ms. Cain is getting what we need to help you, okay?”
He shoved the desk against the wall then grabbed the chairs. As he carried them into the hallway to give them all room, he could see Gabby tearing toward him with a big bowl in her hands.
“Everything should be in here. Clamps, scissors, bulb suction, sutures. Syringe for delivering intramuscular Pitocin. Blankets.”
“IV bag?”
“Yes.”
He and Gabriella shared a look. It was clear she’d experienced this before, and also knew the potential hazards of delivering a baby under these conditions. A shriek of pain drew their attention to the patient, who was gasping and clutching her belly.
“I want...I want an epidural now.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” Gabriella said in a gentle, soothing voice. “The baby’s coming fast, Trina, but that’s good news, because it won’t hurt for long, right?”
“Then let’s get the C-section done fast. But you can’t do the C-section here, can you?” Trina sucked in a few heavy breaths. “I...I don’t think I can walk. Can you get me moved to wherever you do that, maybe in a wheelchair?”
“C-section?” Gabriella glanced at Rafael with a question in her eyes, obviously asking if he’d somehow had a conversation with the woman about a Caesarean in the minute she’d been gone. He shook his head but since it was her patient kept quiet to let Gabriella handle it as she saw fit.
“Yes. I talked to my doctor about a C-section so I wouldn’t have any changes in my, you know, down there, and he agreed.”
“Trina, a vaginal birth is always preferable to a Caesarean section, both for the baby and for the amount of time your body needs to heal.”
“I don’t care. That’s what I want. I know the scar would be low and not noticeable.”
The mulish expression on her face contorted into pain as she had another long contraction. Rafael placed his hand on her belly. He could feel the muscles pushing hard, and was sure the baby was on its way. Gabriella must have thought the same thing, as she efficiently set up an IV line in the woman’s arm.
Deciding that nature was making the decision for this woman about how her baby would be born, he figured an argument was unnecessary.
“Let’s see how much you’re dilated now, Trina,” he said, giving her what he hoped was a comforting smile. “Do you want me to do the internal exam? Or would you prefer Ms. Cain to?”
“You, please,” the woman gasped.
He