When the door beside the receptionist’s desk opened, I turned my head, expecting a nurse to be standing there to call us back. The beast of a man standing there instead caused me to blink a few times because I could have sworn the guy looked familiar. He could have easily been as tall as Devlin. His hair was short, and there were muscles everywhere. Everywhere. All of that with some freaky cool-gray eyes mixed together to make a combination of hot and scary.
He barely glanced at the rest of us before he turned to hold the door open for the chick behind him.
Mister tall, hot, and scary smiled down at the chick and she gave him a beaming smile in return. My mouth dropped open at the sight of just how beautiful she was. Damn. I wasn’t one to appreciate another girl’s beauty but this chick was drop-dead gorgeous, with long strawberry and gold hair, and a creamy complexion that was without makeup yet completely perfect. She was thin, with just a few curves. She reminded me of a dancer with the way she moved so effortlessly.
“Kieran?”
I turned my gaze from the couple at the sound of Dallas’s voice then glanced back at the man. His head had snapped around when Dallas had called his name. His face scrunched up as if he were trying to place the blonde who was now out of her chair and heading for him. “Dallas?” His face split into a grin. “Well hell, I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”
Dallas wrapped her arms around the beast named Kieran’s neck and he swung her around twice before placing her on her feet. “What are you doing here?” she demanded at the same time he did, making them both laugh.
“I live here now,” Kieran informed her as he placed her on her feet and stepped back to grasp the hand of the girl beside him. “What are you doing here? The last time I asked your dad about you he said you were in New York and were a nurse.”
Axton was up and next to his wife now, his hand moving to her waist to stake claim. I rolled my eyes at his possessiveness. It was more than obvious that he hadn’t needed to stake any claim. Kieran the Beast was so in love with the chick beside him that he was oblivious to anyone else.
Dallas glanced at her husband then back to Kieran. Kieran did a double take when he got a closer look at the rocker now standing in front of him. “Well fuck.” He laughed, holding out his hand. “Axton Cage, right? We actually have tickets to tonight’s show.”
After a small hesitation, Axton shook the man’s hand. “Yeah, dude. Wait… Stone? You’re the MMA superstar.”
That was when the reason the beast had seemed so familiar clicked. Of course he had. I’d seen his MMA fights on both television and live with Linc. The man was the undefeated heavyweight champ. Did he know that Dallas knew one of his idols? Probably. He had known Dallas a long time so he probably knew Kieran as well.
“So what brings you to this doctor?” Dallas asked, her blue gaze going to the beauty beside her friend. “Are you two…?”
The girl shook her head, a small smile tilting her lips. “No. Not this time. I just had to come in for a checkup. Our daughter is with my grandfather this evening.”
Dallas’s eyes widened. “Kieran Stone has a daughter?” She grinned. “Is he as overbearing as I suspect he is?”
“Worse.” The chick giggled. “Let’s just say that he’s already preparing for her teens.”
Kieran made a grunting noise. “I’ve put on ten more pounds of muscle since I found out we were having a girl. There are too many dicks to worry about when Melanie looks so much like you, Reese.” He pulled her close and kissed her lips before turning back to Dallas. “This is Reese, by the way. Baby, this is Dallas Bradshaw. Her dad owns that huge ranch across from my parents’.”
“Austin’s your dad?” Reese’s smile brightened. “I really enjoyed meeting him.” The smile dimmed. “It was about the only thing I enjoyed about our visit to Oklahoma to see his parents.”
“It’s actually Dallas Cage now,” Dallas corrected them. “And yeah, my daddy is a pretty great guy.”
While the four of them stood there talking, I turned back to the two men I was sitting between. Drake had Lana tucked into his side to my left. They were whispering something back and forth, grinning from time to time, and I knew it was something naughty. Dallas and Kieran’s commotion earlier hadn’t even made them lift their heads. I rolled my eyes at them in their own little love-filled world and turned my gaze to the man on my right.
Devlin was flipping through a Pregnancy Fitness magazine. He seemed oblivious to the scary MMA fighter just a few yards away from him. On the other side of him, Harris still had his Beats on his ears while he typed away on his phone. He looked bored and I couldn’t help wondering how he was going to react when the nurse called my name.
As if I’d conjured her with my musings, the door opened again and a small woman in Hello Kitty scrubs stood there with an iPad in her hand. “Cage?”
“Guess that’s you two. Congrats on the new baby and your son.” Kieran hugged Dallas then offered his hand to Axton. “We’ll see you guys later tonight, then.”
“Bring your daughter,” Dallas told them. “We have special headphones for Cannon so the music doesn’t hurt his ears. I have a few extra pair so she will be set.”
Reese smiled but shook her head. “I would love to, but she’s spending the night with my grandfather and his new wife tonight. He says it’s so that Kieran and I can have a night to ourselves, but I know it’s because he wants to have her to himself without anyone trying to hog her.”
Dallas grinned. “Yeah, I get that. Daddy and Tink are always doing that with Cannon.” She waved and then she and Axton followed the nurse back to the exam rooms.
I bit my lip as I watched Kieran and his Reese leave, not so much curious about those two than I was nervous of what was going to happen in the next few minutes. Neveah produced yet another toy for me to gush over before running back to her fun time. I tapped my fingers on the armrest of the seat between me and Devlin, trying to dispel some of the excess energy that was rushing through me from my growing anxiety.
When long fingers threaded through mine, some of my nervousness disappeared. He lifted our linked fingers and kissed the back of my hand without taking his gaze from the magazine in front of him. I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder.
The door opened again and a different nurse stood in the doorway. She smiled. “Stevenson?”