Page 13 of My Filthy Stepbrother
"No." I push out a dragging exhale to calm my nerves, but it doesn't do shit. This breathing crap doesn't work.
"Mrs. Dawson," the nurse is ready to chastise me again. "You have a few really big contractions coming, and when it's time to push, your body isn't going to give you any other options. This baby is coming out soon."
"I don't care," I scream from behind my clenching teeth. "My husband is not here, so this baby is not coming. Little Dominiccan't come until he gets here. Please don't make me push until he gets here."
The last word squeaks out just as another contraction jolts my body with a level of pain that shouldn't be allowed in the human body.
"Cody, that's not how this works," Dean says, walking into the room. He's in full tactical gear, with black cargo pants, combat boots, a polo shirt, and a bulletproof vest.
"Where have you been?" I growl.
Dean joins me at my side, steadily removing heavier pieces of his uniform to place in the chair beside the bed. Once he takes my hand, another contraction comes, forcing me to crush his fingers under my palm.
His grunts of pain are short-lived as the pain passes when the contraction subsides. Dean swipes hair out of my face while feeding me ice chips with his free hand.
"Tell me something, anything, to distract me from the pain, Dean."
He considers it for a beat before he says, "We were almost robbed today."
"What?" I turn to him in shock, eyeing him from head to toe to make sure there aren't any injuries to the man I love.
"Almost." He laughs. "That's why I was a bit late. We were in the middle of filling out paperwork with the police when you called me. We're fine, babe. I promise."
"That's not fine, Dean. What if you got hurt? What happened? The armored truck is armored for a reason."
"Babe…" He leans down, kissing me gently on the side of my face. "You're right, but see, I'm not hurt."
He spins around to show me his entire uniform is unscathed.
"I guess," I say, trying to stop my mind from the nearly dozen scenarios he must go through daily.
"Stop worrying, babe. Let's just focus on getting this baby out of you. I love you and I'm the luckiest guy in the world. You loving me is more than I can ever ask for, but you having our baby today is the best gift to our family. Thank you, Cody."
Before I can say anything else, another contraction comes. It's time to push a human being out of me. Over the next two hours, our darling son is born, happy and healthy. The love in Dean's eyes as I feed our boy is immeasurable.
Dean leans down to kiss us both.
This is the best life I can ever want. I get to work with the man I love, helping him run his business, and now I get to be a mother to our baby. I imagine this is only the beginning.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
DEAN
Ten Years Later
"Let's go. Let's go. Let's go," I call upstairs to my family as I stand by the front door of our house, with Dad sitting in the car.
Dominic comes barreling down the stairs first in a navy blue suit, a white shirt that's still clean, and shiny black dress shoes. It's like looking in a time machine at my younger self. His black hair is long in the back and short in the front whereas mine is looking more and more like a guy with an office job.
"Where's your brother and sister?" I ask him. "What's taking them so long?"
He raises his shoulders up and down. "I don't know, Dad. David's saying he can't find his fire truck and doesn't want to leave without it. Dana's locked in the room with Mom."
"Why did you say you didn't know when you literally know?"
"I don't know, Dad. Is Grandpa Joe here yet?"
"I don't know," I mock him. "Why don't you head outside and get in the car that he's driving?"
