Aidan laughed as he patted Beau’s back. “Don’t be so uptight, Em. He’s just a dog. Let him lick himself if he wants to.”

She shook her head. “If he keeps licking like that, he’s going to cause an infection with his stitches from his surgery.”

“Surgery?” Aidan repeated lamely. “What happened to him?” When Emma didn’t respond, Aidan glanced up to see her flushing and ducking her head. Oh no. She couldn’t have gone there. She wouldn’t have done that. Taking Beau by the collar, he turned him slowly around. At the sight of his lost manhood, he sucked in a breath. “You had him fixed?”

Emma nibbled on her bottom lip. “The vet suggested it. He said it would help calm Beau down and make it easier for him to get acclimated when Noah’s born.”

Aidan rose off the floor. “Jesus, Em, first you wanted my balls on a skewer, and now you had to take my dog’s!”

“I never wanted your…balls!” she huffed in protest.

“Symbolically you did.”

She rolled her eyes. “But look how much calmer he already is.”

Aidan glanced at Beau. As much as he hated to admit it, he was way more relaxed. “Yeah, well, you should have consulted with me first. He’s my dog!”

She winced as if in pain. She took a few slow steps before easing down into the chair. “Whoa, wait a minute. Don’t walk away. We’re not through discussing this.”

“Em?” When she didn’t respond, he walked around the side of the chair. He squatted down in front of her. His heart jolted to a stop and restarted at the anguished expression etched on her face. “Em, what’s wrong?”

“I’m…cramping.” She closed her eyes, and her chest rose and fell in harsh breaths. “It hurts really bad.”

Fear crashed over Aidan’s head. “Come on. Let’s get you to the hospital.” Before she could protest, he took her hand and helped her out of the chair. She whimpered and clutched her abdomen. “I’ll carry you if you need me to,” he said.

“No, I can make it,” she replied.

He wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. “Stay Beau,” he called over his shoulder. Beau whined, but reluctantly, he sat down in the foyer. When they started out the door, Emma froze. “My purse.”

“I’ll get it.” He whirled around and went to snatch it from its place on the floor. He then returned to Emma’s side to help her out of the door and down the porch steps. “You want to take your car since it’s closer? I can move mine.”

She shook her head. “No, no, yours is fine.”

“How’s the pain?”

“Intense,” she panted.

“Are you bleeding or do you think your water broke?”

“No, it’s just the contractions.”

A tiny flicker of relief filled him. “It’s going to be okay, Em. We’ll get you to the hospital, and whatever it is, they’ll fix it.”

His heart shattered when she stared up at him with eyes pooling with tears. “I hope so.”

“Have faith.”

He opened the car door and eased her down onto the seat. As soon as he shut her door, he sprinted over to the driver’s side. He climbed inside and cranked up. After pealing out into the street, he glanced over at Emma.

Her eyes were closed and her brows furrowed while she bit down on her lip. Taking one of his hands off the steering wheel he grabbed up one of hers. Her eyes flew open, and she stared over at him. “I’m here for you, Emma.”

“Thank you…I’m glad.” She squeezed his hand tight. Refusing to let go, she used her other hand to dig her phone out of her purse. She thrust it over at Aidan. “Call Casey,” she murmured.

Keeping one hand on the wheel, he used his other to scroll through Emma’s contacts. He braced himself for the wrath to come as his finger pressed dial. Casey answered on the third ring. “Hey Hot Mama, sorry I haven’t had a chance to call you back yet,” she said without a hello.

“Um, this is Aidan.”

A long pause came on the line. “What the hell are you doing with Em’s phone? Please don’t tell me you’ve done something truly insane to try to get her back? Because if you have, I will make sure that you go to jail for a long, long time where a very large and hairy man can make you his bitch!” she shrieked loud enough for even Emma to hear.

“Casey, listen to me. I haven’t kidnapped Emma. We’re on our way to the ER at Wellstar.”

Casey gasped. “Oh God, what’s wrong?”

Aidan glanced over at Emma whose eyes were once again pinched closed while her jaw was clenched in pain. “She’s having some contractions.”

“She’s not bleeding is she?”

“No, just the contractions.”

Aidan heard who he assumed was Nate talking in the background. “It sounds like a good sign that she isn’t bleeding. Nate thinks it might just be Braxton Hicks, but we’ll be there just as soon as we can.”

“Okay. Can you call Connor, too?”

Emma’s eyes flew open, and she looked at him in shock. Aidan figured she was amazed that he didn’t have to be told to do everything, and he could actually be considerate of her feelings.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Bye.”

Casey merely hung up, so Aidan cut the call off. “Anyone else you want me to call? Virginia?”

Emma shook her head. “I don’t want to worry Grammy yet in case it is something like Braxton Hicks.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

They made the rest of the drive in tense silence. After screeching into the hospital parking lot, Aidan wheeled up to the curb at the emergency room and killed the engine. When he got out and started over to Emma’s side, a security guard hustled over. “Sir, you can’t park there.”

“Look, my…” he trailed off when he realized he didn’t know what to call Emma. She certainly wasn’t his wife and their relationship status didn’t qualify as girlfriend either. “She’s,” he finally emphasized, “having early contractions, so I’m getting her inside. If you don’t like it, then tow my f**king car!”

The security guard held up his hands. “Sorry sir. Once you get registered, please come out and move the car. A nice Mercedes like that will get knocked to hell at the impound lot.”

Aidan growled with frustration as he held his hand out to Emma. “Fine. But I’m not coming back out here until I know both she and my kid are okay!” With his free hand, he dug a hundred out of his wallet. “Watch it for me, okay?”