Demon Fire (Angel Fire #3) - Marie Johnston Page 0,61

able to tell.” Uncertainty flashed in his brown eyes. “I think.”

“And then we can ghost them.” Her panic died down. “And figure out what to do after that.”

“Sure.” He didn’t sound convinced. “Do you want me to leave the room so you can get changed?”

“Close your eyes.”

He did and put his elbows on his knees with his face in his hands.

She took off her canvas shoes and leggings, the ones she’d fled Green Valley in. Her shirt was a light purple, so thin it showed the outline of her bra. She couldn’t bring herself to care.

She shrugged into the gown like a jacket, sat on the cool paper protecting the exam table, and covered herself with a coarse blanket. A second later there was a knock on the door.

“Ready?” a new voice called.

Fuck no. “Yeah.”

The doctor walked in and her kindly smile and warm dark eyes drained some of the tension from Sierra. Until she wheeled in a cart with a monitor. Was that the ultrasound machine? The vaginal one?

“Would you like me to go?” Boone asked again.

No. But he’d be two feet away while the nice woman stuck a wand up her.

“It’s totally up to Mom,” Dr. Winston said as she took a chair and logged in to the laptop the nurse had left behind.

Sierra managed a small shake of her head. Dr. Winston lobbed question after question, many of them the same as the nurse’s. Then she said, “Shall we see how far along you are?”

Sierra glued her gaze to the white drop ceiling as Dr. Winston lubed up the wand and inserted it. Cool and uncomfortable, Sierra failed to cover her grimace. Not. Fun.

When the doctor said, “There we go,” Sierra chanced a peek at the screen and couldn’t look away. “Oh, God, it’s real.” Her throat constricted and a band tightened around her chest. Sucking in air was like breathing through a straw.

Dr. Winston chuckled. “It is at that.”

A strong hand gripped hers. Boone was over her, his eyes on the screen, the corners of his eyes pinched. When his gaze caught hers, his lips lifted in a little smile. This was supposed to be a happy time. The good doctor probably thought they were a couple eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new baby.

How did Sierra feel about the baby?

Now that she saw it, she couldn’t deny the pull of a deep, instinctive emotion that she couldn’t identify.

“Fifteen weeks, does that sound about right?”

She didn’t bother doing the math. She’d be ashamed all over again about her time with Jameson. “Yes, I’m sure that’s accurate.”

The doctor hit a button and a piece of paper slid out. Dr. Winston handed it to her. “Congratulations, Mom.”

Sierra stared at the picture with Boone as Dr. Winston wrapped up the ultrasound. Boone gave her hand another squeeze. She couldn’t take her eyes off the blurry image. An outline of a baby. She could tell where the head was, and the body. Would she see any wings on this small of a peanut?

She made it through the rest of the exam clutching the picture. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. Her. A mom. Sierra hadn’t known her own mother. She’d been forced on the female who’d died birthing her. This baby wasn’t planned. Far from it. She could ignore the little beating heart on the screen, or she could make her father proud. Ransom Cormorant had given up so much to raise her. He’d lived under constant fear of being discovered. Yet he’d still nurtured her. He’d loved her. She would do no less for this child.

The doctor rattled off the treatment plan and timeline for the next twenty-five weeks, but Sierra hardly listened. She’d failed her father, but she could honor the way he’d sacrificed for her. She’d do it by ensuring that Andy and the demons after her ended up dead.

It was the only way her baby would be safe.

Millie’s body hummed from her latest release. The physical response had been there. Nowhere as powerful as when her mate made her orgasm, and without the mental closeness of being with someone she was head over heels about. But she’d done it again and that was what counted.

Leo had been knocked off his game. She’d climbed into bed and he’d even twisted around to stare at her. She’d smiled and wished him a good night. And for the first time since before his injury, they’d slept in the same bed.

This time, she’d gotten herself off in the morning.