She turned her head toward the window, but the curtains were still drawn, so she couldn’t tell if it was raining outside.

Jamison glanced down, stifling a laugh.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I don’t mean an umbrella for the rain,” he said, leaning in to whisper something in his wife’s ear.

Ivy’s cheeks flushed pink. She swatted his shoulder playfully. “We only moved in yesterday. When would I have had time to buy that?”

He grinned. “Then I’ll come home early tonight, and we’ll go shopping together.”

Ivy rolled her eyes, not bothering to dignify that with a response.

Shameless. Absolutely shameless.

Well, if there were no safety measures, then they’d just have to call it quits for now.

Jamison rolled off her, pulled her into his arms, and tried to calm the waves of desire still surging between them.

Ivy looked up at him, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

He gazed down at his pretty wife, kissed her forehead, and teased with a smile, “Sorry, sweetheart. It’s not that I don’t want to–it’s that I can’t risk it.”

Ivy finally caught on, her cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. “It’s just once. What’s the big deal? I mean, it’s not like I’m easy to get pregnant…”

The medication she was taking to suppress her estrogen acted as a kind of birth control anyway, and she’d always had trouble conceiving. There was no way one accident would seal her fate.

“There’s still a chance,” Jamison said, his tone serious. He was thinking of her studies–if she got pregnant by accident, it could mess up her plans, and he didn’t want to put that burden on her.

But Ivy saw it differently. “So what? If I actually managed to get pregnant, I wouldn’t even mind taking a break from school.”

She even found herself thinking, if she really could get pregnant, maybe it’d be better to go ahead and have the baby sooner rather than later. That way, if her adenomyosis couldn’t be treated, she could just have her uterus removed and be done with it.

Jamison looked at her, hesitating.

Embarrassed now, Ivy suddenly pushed him away. “Forget it, then! Go to work. I’m going to sleep for another half hour.”

Really–after all that, getting her all worked up, and then pulling away at the last minute.

Jamison couldn’t help but laugh at her sulking. He leaned over to kiss her neck. “Want to keep going?”

He knew, of course, that the odds of something happening were slim. But he was the sort of man who liked to have everything under control–methodical, careful, never leaving anything to chance.

“No. Just go already,” Ivy huffed, elbowing him away.

But he just laughed, catching her arm and pulling her close from behind, spooning her tightly.

She could feel the heat of his body pressed against her lower back. Just as she tried to wriggle free, his arm tightened around her waist, easily overpowering her resistance.

She froze, the only sounds left in the room were their ragged breaths…

Ivy was mortified, her face burning as she half-heartedly scolded him. He only smiled, devilishly handsome, and turned her face toward him, silencing her protests with a kiss.

That early-morning bout of intimacy left Jamison in a much better mood for the rest of the day.

On his drive to the hospital, he got a call from the family estate. The housekeeper’s car had already left, taking his grandmother to the hospital for her checkup.

Jamison suddenly remembered–he’d arranged with his mother’s doctor to have his grandmother come in for a follow-up today.

Judging by the time, it would take him longer to get back to the hospital from the university, so after hanging up, he pressed harder on the gas.

But the morning rush-hour traffic through the tunnel was a nightmare. He still ended up stuck behind Adela Ludwig’s car.

Fortunately, the hospital administration and all the senior doctors knew Adela Ludwig well. As soon as the old lady arrived, a staff member came out to greet her and led her straight to a private VIP suite.

“Ma’am, if you’ll wait here for a moment, I’ll go get the equipment and start your preliminary tests,” the head nurse said politely before stepping out.

The butler went to pour her some water. Adela settled herself on the sofa, put on her reading glasses, and checked her phone for messages.

A knock at the door made her look up. A young woman in a doctor’s coat entered.

“Good morning, Mrs. Ludwig. Dr. Jamison hasn’t made it back yet, but if you need anything, please let me know. My name is Celeste.”

Celeste entered with a warm, professional smile.

Adela Ludwig found her face unfamiliar, but smiled back. “Are you in Jamison’s department as well?”

“Yes, we’re from the same program. He’s something of a role model for the rest of us,” Celeste replied, opening the folder in her hand. She bent down beside Adela, her tone gentle and patient. “Ma’am, here’s the list of tests you’ll be having today. All the paperwork is ready. I’ll need you to remove any jewelry, just so nothing gets damaged during the exams.”

Adela was immediately taken with her gentle, capable manner. As she removed her jewelry, she asked, “So you trained under the same professor as Jamison?”

“That’s right. I’m a few years behind him, and I’ve just started my hospital rotation. Still in the internship phase, actually.”