Family & Promises Read online

  The playroom was a sore spot for all of the nurses as well as Phaedra. It was a last minute "add-on" and one they had had to fight for. It overlooked a portion of the roof of the hospital, and you could only see a tiny bit of the park, some distance away. It was a rather depressing view seeing the low roof, surrounded by the newer, and higher wings of the hospital. But pediatrics was not a "money-maker" and anything extra was a battle to the finish, and often long past the peace treaty.

  Phaedra came over to stand next to Rand. She looked at him in his three-piece suit, designer made and very expensive from the look of it. Somehow, he had managed to stay as pristine as when he had started, unlike Phaedra, who always seemed to need a shower after she'd been doing crafts with the children.

  "I'm hungry." She told him softly, unable to tell from his face what he was thinking.

  Rand turned slowly, and it seemed to take him a few moments to focus on Phaedra. He smiled finally. "That is exactly what I came here for. To see if you wanted to join me for lunch." He paused to look at his watch. "Are you done here for the day, or should we eat in the cafeteria?"

  Phaedra almost told him she had to work longer, just to have the pleasure of seeing him confront a hospital cafeteria, and the food. But she shook her head. "I'm finished. But I'm afraid I'm not fit for public viewing," she added disparagingly.

  Rand smiled, his eyes crinkling. "I want you strictly for private viewing, my sweet." He laughed when a bright flush ran up Phaedra's neck and stained her cheeks. "I am curious though."

  Phaedra frowned at his suddenly serious tone. "About what?"

  "How the hell did you manage to get here this morning? All you needed to do was let Fernando know what time you needed to arrive and be picked back up."

  Phaedra stewed for a moment, as she considered just how honest to be with Rand. She was inherently honest, in all her dealings with people. But, it was probably for the best that he didn't know that she'd checked the bus schedule, and finally reached the hospital after three bus transfers! Instead, she decided to only tell him part of the truth. "It was easy to hop on the bus. No problem!"

  Rand met her gaze, and knew there was more to the story immediately. But he also hadn't become as successful as he was by not learning which battles to fight to win the war. Nodding his head, he leaned forward and kissed her lips softly. "In future, we'll set up a schedule so you don't have to ride the bus. You finish off here and I'll call for the car." Rand turned away, and took his cellular phone from his jacket pocket.

  Phaedra walked out of the playroom, and made her way to the nurses' station. She no sooner reached the desk than she was assailed with questions.

  "Who is that gorgeous man?"

  "Is he married?"

  "What's his name?"

  "Has he got a brother?"

  Phaedra laughed and held her hands up in protection. "Aren't you all married?" She asked her friends with a smile.

  Jeanine smiled at her and laughed. "A girl can still dream, can't she?"

  Phaedra stood at the tall counter as she signed a few papers, and quickly made a note in Shelly's chart regarding something the young girl had said to her. As she closed the file, she felt Rand standing beside her. She turned her head and saw her friends were all staring at him, and a few even had open mouths. Rand smiled at the women and greeted them warmly.

  "Good afternoon, ladies."

  Phaedra grimaced as they all answered eagerly. She looked disgusted as she introduced Rand to the nurses' by name. She was glad when Rand made their excuses a few moments later though, and escorted her down the hall. He was quiet on the ride down in the elevator. And Phaedra wasn't surprised to see the limo parked in a no-parking zone. Rand held the door for her, and as soon as they were seated, the car pulled back out into traffic.

  "Do you want to go home and change first?" Rand offered quietly.

  Phaedra had to laugh. "I look that bad, do I? All right, I wouldn't want to embarrass you in public."

  Rand shook his head, but leaned forward to use the intercom to direct his chauffeur. He started to say something, when his cell phone rang. He answered it, and it was obviously something he had to deal with. Phaedra turned her head and watched the passing scenery. He was still talking when they arrived at his house, and Phaedra hopped out of the car without waiting for the door to be opened for her.

  Rand found her a few minutes later already in the shower. He propped his hip against the counter and watched silently as Phaedra lifted her arms to wash her hair. His eyes went immediately to her up-tilted breasts, and watching them jiggle with the movement of her hands through her hair. He groaned. Watching her was difficult, and not stripping naked and joining her was even more grueling. He was rock hard by the time Phaedra finally turned off the water.

  She saw him as soon as she opened the shower door, and realized he must have been standing there for a while. Seeing that he was holding a towel out between his hands for her to step into, she came close to him. A moment later she felt him fold the edges of the soft, warm towel around her, his hands coming together at her back. He pulled her close and inhaled her clean scent. Phaedra could feel his hard manhood against her, and was surprised that he hadn't joined her in the shower. She looked upwards and met his gaze.

  "I was so tempted to join you in there, honey. But then, we'd both be starving and possibly fainting from hunger."

  Phaedra laughed as he had intended with his jest. But she was finding that being this close to him was having an effect on her. And coupled with the turbulent feelings from earlier, she realized with a start of surprise that she was not only aroused but she was becoming emotionally involved, which shook her. She wiggled her arms free and encircled his neck. She saw the surprise on Rand's face at this first voluntary gesture of hers towards him.

  "I'm not that hungry…" Phaedra smiled and pulled on his neck for him to lower his head. She stopped with their mouths a breath away from one another, before she added, "for food anyway."

  Rand groaned loudly and released the towel. His hands threaded through her wet hair and held her head as he kissed her mouth. Or perhaps, it was Phaedra who was kissing him. He wasn't sure, but it didn't take long for them to end up back in the bedroom, on the bed, and his clothes literally tossed wildly as they crossed the room. Phaedra didn't pause as she lay back on the bed. As Rand moved over her, her legs came up and encircled him. She tilted her hips and could feel the head of his cock pressing against her wet, shaven pussy lips. Her smile was as old as time as she tightened her grip and literally jerked him downwards, impaling her with his shaft. Or perhaps it was really the other way around and Rand found himself embedded within her eager body.

  They both cried out as flesh entered flesh, wet, hot and eager. Phaedra was already moving her hips, and lifting them, moving him just a bit, in and out of her. Rand rose up on his hands and straightened his arms. He quickly took charge and set the pace of his thrusts to be slow, and deeper. He looked down at Phaedra, and saw her eyes were closed, with her lips parted as she breathed in and out quickly. He moved his eyes down, and watched the bouncing and jiggling of her breasts with each thrust. He felt Phaedra's hands move to caress his chest, and then curve her fingers inwards squeezing him. And then, she started to pluck and pull at his hard nipples. Her eyes opened and met his.

  Phaedra held his gaze as her body accepted his thrust. She moved her hips, rotating them, deepening his penetration and stimulating her clit as well. She squeezed his cock with her cunt muscles, his nipples with her fingers and told him softly, "Fuck me! Cum in me! Take me!"

  Rand lost his edgy control, which had been miniscule at best, and thrust deeper and deeper, making sure each slide in and out rubbed her clit. Phaedra screamed his name as her climax crashed through her. As he felt the muscles of her cunt grabbing and holding his cock, he moved with shorter and faster strokes. And when he felt her cunt start sucking the end of his cock even more deeply into her womb, he groaned and filled her belly with his hot cum.

  Ran
d felt his body spasm with orgasmic release as his cum erupted from deep within his balls. His hips jerked over and over, as he shot five, no six streams of hot, sticky and hopefully, baby-making seed into her body.

  When he stopped, he rolled them in the bed, plugging her cunt with his cock and draping her across his chest. His arms held her tightly as their breathing slowed. He realized that he wanted to get Phaedra pregnant! He wanted to find a way to keep her in his life. And a baby seemed the only sure fire method in his mind.

  Rand fell asleep listening to Phaedra's deep breathing, and imagining her belly beginning to round and her breasts to swell. He would happily volunteer to help her bring her milk supply in, and toughen up her nipples for breastfeeding!

  Chapter 5

  The next few weeks passed in much the same fashion. Phaedra became an accepted addition to the weekend football games, but she always ended up on Rand's team after the first time. Her playing improved with practice, and the other team started protesting that it wasn't fair. So she started switching teams after the fourth game Rand's team won. Phaedra even volunteered to sit the game out, because she was having so much fun playing with the twins during the half-time break. But no one would let her.

  She maintained her regular schedule at the hospital. Their mornings were usually hectic, with them both hurrying around to get ready. It was difficult to remember that they didn't have all the time in the world to fool around in the shower. To save time on the mornings when temptation beat the clock, they both sat down at the table for a quick breakfast with wet hair. Carlita never let on, but she always got a big smile on her face whenever she saw their wet heads.

  The ride to work was usually in the limousine. Phaedra was finally getting over her self-consciousness about getting out of the limo at the hospital. But she was still asking Fernando to use the quieter side street entrance, even though she had to walk longer to the door, and she was at the wrong end of the hospital for pediatrics. But since they let Rand off at his building first, he didn't know about the change.

  Phaedra was completely caught off guard one day when she visited Shelly in her room the second day after they had made silly putty. She was making her rounds to see who felt well enough to come down to the playroom. When she entered Shelly's room, Phaedra was reading the notes she had gotten from the day charge nurse. And when she looked up to greet Shelly, she dropped her clipboard.

  She saw what had to be the world's biggest bouquet of flowers. The flowers were all yellow. On the note with the flowers, Rand apologized for not being able to find her real sunflowers, but he hoped the picture he included helped. Shelly had eagerly pointed out the framed, signed print of some beautiful sunflowers. Shelly had even offered her one of the out-of-season bananas in a lovely basket that had come, but Phaedra declined.

  Phaedra had left Shelly's room, reeling under the obviously caring gesture of Rand's. She hadn't gone far when she saw Charlie coming down the hall in his wheelchair, dressed in a pirate's outfit, complete with eye patch, hat, rubber sword and leather sash across his small chest. The nurses were all a twitter with the presents that had arrived for the children. It appeared that he had sent something for every child on the ward: fruit, a stuffed animal or an electronic game.

  At the nurses' station, she saw three large baskets of fruit, and a large gold box of chocolates. She had of course then spent most of her time at work that day explaining just who the man was that had visited her the other day.

  Rand also started dropping in unexpectedly causing many a female heart to flutter, and several times she would come from the playroom and discover him chatting with their department head. Her friend would never tell her what they'd been discussing, and neither would Rand.

  When he learned that she needed to do some repairs in the playroom, he helped her do some repainting on one of the walls of the playroom. Phaedra explained that if they waited for the bureaucracy of the hospital, they'd be ready for something else to be done. She had explained that it was cheaper and easier for her to buy the paint, and come in when the administrators were home in their beds.

  They came in late in the evening, after all the children had been settled for the night. They had spread their drop cloths, and with frequent visits from the evening, and then the night shift, nurses they had finally got the wall painted. After cleaning up, they headed back to Rand's house and bed. Neither bothered to shower, they just stripped off their clothes and climbed into bed.

  When they finally woke up late that afternoon, Rand grabbed her hands and pulled her into the bathroom. Grinning at her, he started the water running into the tub. "I thought we could soak for a while, and then pick and scrub the paint off each other."

  Phaedra smiled, nodding her head. She giggled when Rand added soap that bubbled up under the jets of the tub. They had a lot of fun in the double size bathtub under the pretense of scrubbing the paint flecks off each other. At times, Phaedra had to remind herself how this relationship began in the first place. And then, she'd have to tell herself that she wasn't going to fall for this handsome, heart breaker. He had a lot of charisma and sexual appeal. Resting in his arms while they turned into matching prunes, Phaedra knew she should live for the moment.

  Every time he appeared at the hospital, on some pretence or another, Phaedra often found him talking to the nurses and just as often she saw him talking to the patients and their families. Over and over, she heard from her little patients, and their families, how nice "her friend was." Many times she was confused and didn't know which was the real Rand Scott-Thomas. Some times she felt as if she knew who he was. He enjoyed arriving early at the pediatrics ward, and would spend time playing with one child or another.

  One day she returned to the unit late. She had been attending a meeting about funding, which was going to be cut again, and was in a bad mood. Slamming her notes down on the desk, the department head looked over at her, smiling. "Maybe this will cheer you up, Phaedra. Your man got here early, and he's helping out the mom of the twins in room 1502."

  Phaedra asked what she meant, but her friend refused to tell her more. Leaving her notes on the desk, she walked quickly down the hall. Outside 1502, she peaked through the window of the closed door. Inside she saw the young mother who was overwhelmed with twins, let alone ill twins, was asleep in her lounge chair. Seated across from her, finishing feeding one of the twins was Rand. She knew it was against policy, but if the mother had accepted his help, that was different.

  As she peered through the window, she watched as Rand stroked his finger down the baby's cheek as it took the last few sucks of its precious formula. Rand removed the bottle and lifted the baby to his shoulder for burping. She almost opened the door when she saw him lean over just a bit and press a soft kiss to the infant's head. In that instant, tears flowed from her eyes, and sobs clogged her throat. Abruptly, she turned from the door, rubbing her fingers over her cheeks. Wanting to deny the ache in her heart, she walked quickly to the restroom.

  Pretending to wipe the smeared makeup from beneath her eyes, she tried to avoid meeting her reflected gaze. But she couldn't. In her eyes, she saw the love she felt for Rand, and had been working furiously to deny and suppress. Turning away from her accusing gaze, she quickly dabbed a cold paper towel to her eyes and face, and then returned to the desk to await Rand.

  * * * * *

  After about four weeks of living with Rand and seeing him meet surreptitiously with the department head, Phaedra refused to be misdirected and confronted her friend. With some intent questioning and letting the other woman know she could not be put off again, Phaedra finally discovered what the meetings had been about. Phaedra's mouth dropped open as she listened to her friend explain to her the future plans for the unit, and especially the playroom.

  Phaedra stood out front a few hours later, waiting for Fernando to pick her up. Her mind and her emotions were awash with confusion. She had to see Rand and she couldn't wait until this evening. She had Fernando drive her to his office. Feeling ver
y self-conscious, she made her way to the top floor, where Fernando had told her his office was. She was stopped by security at least twice before she finally reached the outer doors of Rand's inner sanctum.

  His personal assistant took her name and told her to be seated. Instead of calling Rand, because she had never seen any woman other than Mr. Scott-Thomas’ mother come to visit, she called Mark.

  Less than three minutes after she'd sat down, the far doors opened and Mark walked quickly towards her. He grinned when he saw Phaedra. He had been pretty stunned too, and had come to see the woman who was trying to see the boss. He realized that Rand's assistant must have gotten the name wrong, the second he saw the pretty woman with the long auburn hair.

  "Did you bring the football?" Mark asked.

  Phaedra smiled back. "No, but I'm still waiting for my chance to baby sit. I thought you two were going out for a romantic dinner. I'm free most of the time."

  Mark shrugged. "Can I blame it on too much work?" he joked as he sat down next to her.

  Phaedra shook her head. "No, but if I have to, I'll call Naomi myself and we'll plan your evening out."

  "Women! Good thing I've got sons or I'd go crazy when they turn into teens."

  Phaedra laughed. "If need be, I might have to bring force to bear through…" She leaned close to whisper to Mark, "Your boss."

  Mark really laughed at that. Before he could reply, the double doors that Phaedra had suspected led into Rand's office flew open. Rand came through the doors a moment later, speaking loud enough for the next floor to hear him. "Where the hell is Mark? I've been calling…"

  Rand stopped as he saw Mark. But his mouth dropped open when he saw Phaedra sitting outside his office. Mark laughed out loud. "Hey, boss, we've got company!"