Finding Her Prince. Robyn Donald

of his lips stopped her as surely as it shut down all rational thought. One moment his mouth was on hers and the next she was plastered against his body, her arms twining around his neck. His big, warm hands restlessly rubbed up and down her back until her skin prickled with awareness and every nerve ending was on fire. Her breasts were crushed to his chest and ached for the touch of his hand.

      In an awkward, erotic dance, he maneuvered her inside then closed the door. As he backed her against the wall, the sound of their raspy, ragged breathing filled her small front room and she let her purse fall off her shoulder. When her arms were around his neck again, he slid his palm over her hip then down her thigh before inching up the hem of her dress.

      He hooked his finger into the waistband of her panties and drew them down until she stepped out of the restraining prim cotton. Kissing her senseless, he slipped a finger inside her and played until she was mindless with desire. A breathy moan escaped her throat and he groaned.

      “Cindy,” he breathed against her cheek. “I’ve wanted you since the night of that damned dinner. But if you don’t want this, I’ll—”

      “No. I want …” Her voice was a wanton whisper. She’d never felt such a powerful need so completely consuming her. There was a very real possibility she would simply implode if he didn’t take her in the next ten seconds. “Now. Nathan. Please. Do you have—”

      “Yeah.”

      He dropped his wallet on the floor after pulling out a condom and lowered his pants and briefs before covering himself. Then he lifted her, and as her legs circled his waist, he entered her, bracing his forearm against the wall. The thickness of him filled her and took her breath away at the same time. He drove her higher and higher until she shattered into a thousand points of light and shuddered with the pieces of pleasure surging through her.

      Moments later he went still and tightened his arms around her, groaning out his own release. As his breathing slowed, he buried his face in her neck and kissed her gently, tenderly. Finally he let her legs go and they slid down as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist and held her to him.

      “Wow.” He rested his forehead against hers. “There’s no reason you should believe me, but I really didn’t mean for that to happen.”

      “I know.” And neither had she. For whatever reason, she believed him and here they were.

      “Bathroom?” He was asking where it was. Hard to believe he hadn’t been further inside than the front door.

      “Down the hall,” she said. “First door on the right.”

      When he was gone, she slipped her panties back on, picked up her purse and tried to figure out what to say when he returned.

      It didn’t take long. Unlike her with the nerves doing a rumba inside her, he looked as cool as Mount Charleston after the first winter snow. But the expression on his face told her there was a problem. And when had she learned to read him so well?

      “What’s wrong?” she asked.

      “Probably nothing.”

      “Then why do you look like that?”

      “The condom broke,” he said.

      She blinked at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “It broke?”

      “That doesn’t mean there’s anything to worry about. It’s probably fine,” he assured her. “I just thought you should know even though the odds of pregnancy are slim.”

      And so it had been the perfect storm of an evening. Dinner. Sex. And a broken condom.

      So what else was new? That was the story of her life.

      Three weeks later the pregnancy odds went up when Cindy’s normally punctual period was late. She’d told herself it could be delayed for any number of reasons and stress was at the top of her list. But just to cover her bases she’d peed on a stick and nearly fainted when the word pregnant appeared.

      On an ironic note, in the twenty-one days since “seeing” Nathan, he hadn’t once badgered her for a phone number or joined her in the cafeteria for lunch. So sleeping with him to get him out of her life had actually worked.

      What she hadn’t expected was relief and disappointment in equal parts. Then she did the pregnancy test and shock pushed out every other emotion.

      She’d just gotten off work and was waiting in the hall outside the NICU for Nathan to be finished with hospital rounds. This wasn’t the best place to talk, but she didn’t know what else to do. Thanks to her, no phone numbers had been exchanged. And it seemed like forever before he came out of the unit, but that was probably normal when your life was falling apart.

      Nathan stopped short when he saw her leaning against the far wall. There was an expression on his face that she couldn’t decipher. And it didn’t matter anyway.

      “We need to talk.” Her fingers twisted together as she looked to her left and right, making sure that employees moving in the hall were too far away to hear.

      “Hello to you, too.”

      “Sorry. I’m a little freaked out.”

      “Ah. So we should go somewhere private?” he asked.

      “That would probably be best.”

      He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “How about the Revello Lounge. It’s at the M Resort. Do you know it?”

      “I’ll meet you there.”

      The one-year-old hotel was on the corner of Mercy Medical Center Parkway and Las Vegas Blvd. Fifteen minutes after leaving the hospital she turned left into the resort lot and found a parking place close to the lobby entrance. She walked inside and took the escalator up, stepping off onto the shiny marble floor. To her right was the gift shop, a café and a pastry place called Baby Cakes. Fate was having a laugh at her expense.

      She found the lounge, which was all glass, amber lights and modern glitz. Nathan was waiting in a quiet corner and she took the leather barrel-backed chair across the chrome table from him. They each ordered club soda with lime. She would have preferred something stronger. There was no way to soften the news and she didn’t try.

      “I’m pregnant.”

      He was all brooding silence before saying, “I figured.”

      “I’m pretty sure when you promised me a good surprise at dinner you didn’t mean a baby.”

      “I never planned for anything to happen.”

      She believed that, and yet he carried a condom. A faulty one.

      Just then the cocktail waitress appeared with their drinks and set them down on napkins. “Can I get you anything else?”

      Cindy figured she had about all she could stand and shook her head.

      “We’re good,” Nathan said and the woman drifted away.

      “You might be good, but I’m pregnant.” Cindy picked up her drink and played with the straw. “This is Las Vegas and odds are fickle at best. But I can’t believe my luck is this bad.”

      “Yours?” He was still in his scrubs and checked the pager on his waistband. “What about mine? It appears the planets aligned just right and you were fertile.”

      “Right back at you, buster,” she said.

      “I was hoping you were on an alternative method of birth control.”

      “Since I’m not seeing anyone, there was no reason.” She glared at him. “And can we talk about the condom? That was yours so don’t even try to make this my fault.”

      “That’s not what I meant. Look, Cindy, I take full responsibility—”

      “Don’t.” She couldn’t handle an apology right now.

      She’d been a willing participant