Rachel’s pager buzzed on the nightstand, skittering across the uncluttered surface. She rolled over in bed with a groan that quickly evolved into a throaty chuckle as a pair of sensual, warm lips captured hers in one last kiss.

“It’s a conspiracy, I know it is,” Rachel said, swinging her legs out of bed and scooping up the intruding device in one move.  “It always goes off at the worst possible time.”  She walked into the living room to respond to the page, grabbing her discarded shirt from the floor on the way.

“This is Rachel Minter,” she said, her calm phone voice belying the fact that she was nearly naked and still trembling from the most mind blowing ***** she’d ever experienced. “Hello! How far apart are the contractions? And how’s she doing? Good. How about you? I know. But you’ll be be great.” Rachel checked her watch and walked back to the bedroom. “I’m going to get ready and then head over, okay? I’ll be there within half an hour. And if you need me before then, call on the cell. Everything will be fine. I’ll see you soon.”

Rachel disconnected the call and looked up with a grin. “Congratulations. You’re about to become an aunt.”

Shane sat bolt upright in bed. “Tina? Now? It’s almost a week early. I thought first-time mothers were always late.”

“Tell it to the baby,” Rachel said over her shoulder as she hurried out of the room.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t we be leaving? You have to get over there,” Shane insisted, pulling her clothes on.

“We have plenty of time. And I have got to take a shower or they’re going to know exactly what I was doing when they called,” Rachel said from behind the bathroom door.

Shane smiled and ran her fingers through her hair, pausing for a moment before digging through her jacket pockets for her cell phone.

~~~

“This had better be life and death because if it isn’t, I’m going to kill you,” Alice said, picking up the ringing hotel room phone.

“How long was the drive up there?” Shane asked.

“Have you thought about using Mapquest? Do you have any ***** idea what time it is? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”