He couldn 't even react. Cynthia had never talked to him like tha1t before. Dear God, she was in love with Sam.

A smile formed on his lips. "Wow. I never thought I 'd see you settle into one man. "

"Likewise with you. " She gave him a shove and then sat back down. "You 're in love with Simone and you probably hurt her feelings when you walked out on her. Sam is a caring, compassionate man who was probably only giving her comfort. "

When he thought about it that was exactly how it had looked too.

He would need to make it up to Simone, and probably to Cynthia too. He always hated when reality made sense and he didn 't.

He knew what he 'd do. He 'd stop by the clinic tomorrow and take Simone some flowers. Every woman loved flowers, especially when the man in their life was a jerk. In a week he had a full weekend off. Perhaps it was time to make sure he wasn 't available to the hospital and he could take Simone away, nowhere fancy, but just the two of them.

If she had been trying to propose to him maybe he 'd beat her to the punch. After all it was a man 's job.

A sharp pain pierced his chest. What the hell was he thinking? Did he want to get married? Did he want to marry Simone? It only made sense. He 'd never loved anyone before. But marriage?

His own head spun now. Love. He could absolutely say he loved her, that scared him more than the thought of marriage, but then again there was a comfort in it too.

He chuckled to himself. Who would have thought he and Cynthia were ready to settle down? He guessed the friends with benefits gig was over.

The next day Simone filed papers in the cabinets in the room designated for files. She appreciated the quiet of the job. Her mind was crowded with thoughts and the peace gave her time to consider what she was going to do.

Curtis needed to know about the baby. She wasn 't sure he 'd choose her over his job, but he needed to know.

She 'd called him four times to see if he 'd meet her after work, but all she got was his voice mail. It was nearing the end of the day for her and she figured if she hadn 't heard back from him by the time she got home she 'd call her father next.

"Room is open. " She looked up from her stack of papers and saw Sam standing in the doorway. "C 'mon, Monica is gone, we only have ten minutes to do this. "1

"Oh, the ultrasound. Right. "

She put the stack of papers back into the folder she 'd carried in, hurried back to her desk and slid them in her drawer. Her co-worker watched her a bit too intently so she gave her a smile and hurried off with Sam.

The room was dimly lit. There was only one bed and the machine occupying the room the size of a linen closet.

"Get up on the bed. " Sam instructed as he pushed buttons on the keyboard attached to the large machine.

Simone did as he 'd instructed.

"Now, lift your shirt up so I can see your stomach and roll down the waistband of your pants. "

She gave him a hesitant nod and again did what he 'd asked.

He took a towel and tucked it into the waist of her pants then ran his hand over her taunt stomach.

"Won 't be long. Your about to pop. "

"Pop? " Her voice cracked.

"Yeah, your baby bump is about to start showing. You have a cute little swell. "

Simone felt the surge of tears begin to surface in her throat as Sam took the blue gel from the holder. He shook it and squeezed some on her stomach. She winced for the cold.

"Sorry. Usually it 's warmed up, but there were no patients in here today. "

Simone nodded as Sam returned the bottle and grabbed the wand. "Okay, are you ready to see this peanut? "

Her throat was so clogged with the tears she knew were going to break free she only nodded.

Sam set the wand on her stomach and a moment later she saw the first pictures of her baby.

"Oh, my. " The tears broke free and there was no sucking them in. "I have never seen anything so precious in my life. "

"Hold on let me see if I can get the face. "

He managed the wand and then a perfect profile of the baby she and Curtis had created was there on the screen. His hand was near his face and he looked as though he hiccupped.

"Did you feel that? " Sam asked.

"Yes, " she said through her tears. "Yes, I did. "

"I can 't believe this. I can 't " She couldn 't speak anymore. She wanted to just stare at the image on the screen.

Curtis walked through the front door of the clinic and straight through the reception door. As giddy and stupid as he felt at that moment he wasn 't so sure he wouldn 't drop down on one knee and ask Simone to marry him.

He hid the flowers behind his back and walked directly to her office. There was no way to help the disappointment when he only saw the other girl she worked with sitting at her desk.

"I 'm sorry to bother you. I 'm looking for Simone Pierpont. "

The woman raised her eyebrows at him. "She just took off with one of the nurses, Sam. "

That didn 't sit well with him, but he 'd promised himself he wasn 't going to get worked up. "Do you know when they 'll be back? "

"Oh, who knows. They were being all secretive. She left her work in her desk and they ran off down the hall to the room by the bathroom. "

That straightened Curtis 's spine. He turned from her office, dropped the flowers in the trashcan in the hallway and headed to that room where she 'd snuck off with Sam. He 'd been a fool once, even twice, but there wasn 't going to be a third time.

He grabbed hold of the door handle and pushed it open.

Sam 's head shot up and Simone had let out a small scream, not one to cause alarm, but enough to let him know he 'd gotten his point across.

But then the moment hit him -hit him hard. He noticed her on the table, her shirt up. Sam had an ultrasound wand on her stomach and on the screen there was the image of a baby.

God damn! Simone was pregnant!

Chapter Thirteen

The moment was frozen in time. His breath caught in his lungs and wouldn 't move in or out. He could feel his head spin from the lack of oxygen.

The moment Sam stepped away from Simone the image of the baby disappeared from the screen.

Simone sat up and only looked at him. Did she have nothing to say?

Heat vibrated through his body. He 'd never been so angry in his entire life. He could feel the blood course through his veins and his jaw hurt from clenching his teeth together.