“You already had your first appointment?” he asked quietly.
Dani nodded. “A couple of weeks ago.” And he’d missed it. Guilt punched him square in the ribs because he should’ve been there, even if they barely knew each other. Even before the paternity results, he should’ve been there.
“When’s the next one?” he asked.
Her eyes widened slightly. “You want to go?” The surprise in her voice irritated him instantly.
“Of course I want to go,” he growled.
“Oh,” she breathed.
Jonnas set the folder down carefully before walking toward her. “You really still don’t understand this yet, do you?”
Her brows furrowed slightly. “Understand what?”
“I’m in this.” He stopped directly in front of her. “Completely.” Emotion flickered across her face so quickly it nearly broke him.
“I don’t know how to let someone help me,” she admitted softly.
Jonnas reached up slowly, brushing his thumb across her cheek. “Then we’ll learn together.” Dani looked up at him withthose big, uncertain eyes, and something deep in his chest locked into place permanently. Mine. The realization settled heavily into his bones, and for the first time in his life, Jonnas Black realized he wanted more than one reckless night with a beautiful younger woman. He wanted mornings, too. He wanted to go to her doctor's appointments and argue over baby names. He wanted her things in his apartment, and her curled against his chest at night. He wanted all of it. The thought should’ve scared the hell out of him. Instead, it felt suspiciously like peace.
Jonnas had exactly thirty-seven unread emails, three department heads waiting on approval signatures, a budget review meeting in twenty minutes, and not a single damn thought in his head that wasn’t about Dani Hart. It was becoming a problem.
He sat behind his desk pretending to review staffing reports while actually staring at the prenatal paperwork she’d left with him earlier. She was eight weeks pregnant, and her estimated due date was circled neatly in blue ink. A strange tightness settled in his chest again, and he still couldn’t fully wrap his mind around it. Somehow, one reckless night had shifted the entire course of his life, and the truly insane part was that he wasn’t angry about it anymore. Was he terrified—absolutely, but not angry. If anything, he felt restless now and protective. Like some instinct inside him had fully woken up the second Dani admitted she was scared.
A knock sounded against his open office door before Jessica, the hospital’s chief operating officer, stepped inside. Jonnas immediately sat up straighter. “Tell me you finished the staffing proposal,” she said without preamble.
“Working on it,” he lied.
Jessica narrowed her eyes. “That response concerns me.”
“She’s pregnant,” he breathed, as though that might explain everything. The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Jessica blinked at him. “Who’s pregnant?” Fuck.
Jonnas rubbed a hand over his face. “Ignore that.”
“Oh no,” Jessica said immediately, shutting the office door behind her. “Absolutely not. You don’t get to casually drop a statement like that and move on.”
He groaned. “Can we not do this right now?”
“No.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. “Who’s pregnant?” she asked again.
Jonnas stared at the ceiling briefly, reconsidering every life choice that led him here. “Dani Hart.”
“Oh my God,” Jessica whispered. “The baby is yours, isn’t it?”
“Please stop reacting like that,” he said.
“You got one of our nurses pregnant?” Jessica said.
“It sounds significantly worse when you say it out loud,” he mumbled.
“Because it is worse said out loud!” she spat. Jonnas dropped his head into his hands as Jessica paced once across the office before turning back toward him. “Please tell me this happened before she started reporting through your department.”
“It did,” he admitted.
“Thank Christ,” she grumbled.