get down. I’m sorry about that. Just tell her no, and she’ll stand down.”
“It’s okay.” He dropped to one knee, setting the bag down so he could use both hands to scratch the dog behind her ears. The animal showed her appreciation by jumping up again and licking Nick’s nose.
“Priscilla. Stop it,” Becca said. “Mind your manners.”
“She’s a corgi?” Nick asked as he got to his feet.
“Yes. A very spoiled corgi who needs to learn how to listen.”
Nick smiled. “We had a corgi when I was growing up. They’re great dogs.”
“Yes, they are. Come in.”
She stepped back to allow him room to pass. As he stepped into the foyer, he could smell the faint scent of her perfume—something floral—which brought him back to that night. As it had before, it tempted him to lean in closer and breathe in the essence of her. His mind flashed back to how she’d looked as he’d made love to her—soft and sweet and incredibly sexy in an understated way that had driven him mad.
He blinked away the thought and held out the bag.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“It’s for you. Although you probably don’t need it now. You look like you’re feeling better.”
He’d been at the hospital from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. And then he’d gone home to get some sleep. When he’d called her this afternoon to confirm she was up for meeting this evening, she’d said she was fine. She’d taken the day off from work to rest. Since they were meeting tonight, it hadn’t made sense to drop it by earlier. Besides, it might’ve given her the wrong idea. That he wanted more than he was prepared to give.
It was all true and valid.
So, why did he feel like a jerk?
“Thanks.” She accepted the grocery bag and peered into it. “Ah, soup and crackers. Thank you. I’m almost completely back to normal, except for being a little tired. But that’s par for the course lately.”
She shrugged and ducked her head as she turned away to shut the door. Her body language made her seem a little vulnerable in the wake of her admission.
Nick had taken a few steps out of the small foyer and into the nicely decorated living room before she caught up with him. The room, which featured shades of greens and blues, had a traditional feel, but it certainly wasn’t old stodgy traditional. It looked as if she’d put a lot of thought into the decor. Still, it wasn’t so decorated that he couldn’t imagine kicking back and watching the Cowboys or the Mavericks on a flat-screen on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
His mind tried to lead him to other things they could do on a lazy afternoon, but he reminded himself why he was here tonight, and the thought was instantly sobering.
“Sit down.” She gestured toward a couple of chairs arranged across from the couch that were upholstered in a blue-and-green geometric pattern. The couch—a big, overstuffed number—looked a hell of a lot more comfortable, but tonight wasn’t about comfort. It was about figuring things out.
He took a seat on the closest chair.
The dog had trotted into the room with a rawhide in her mouth and plopped down next to his feet, ready to do some damage to her chew toy.
“May I get you something to drink?” she asked.
He wondered if she meant wine or beer or something tamer like water or coffee. The only thing they’d had the night they met was coffee. He didn’t even know if she drank.
His gaze drifted over her stomach for a quick moment. Of course she wouldn’t imbibe alcohol now.
“I’m good,” he said. “But thanks.”
She sat on the couch across from him.
“You worked today?” she asked.
So, they were going to make small talk before they got to the heart of the matter. Okay, for a few minutes. His ex-wife had told him he wasn’t good at chitchat. According to her, he wasn’t good at communicating. Period.
It was true; he usually didn’t have the patience for meaningless conversation. What was the point? That’s why he didn’t care for cocktail and dinner parties, and it was a big part of the reason he was divorced now.
That and his tendency to be a workaholic. Delilah had complained a lot about him never being home. He’d told her that was life with an ER doctor. Eventually, she’d left him for his best friend, who also happened to own the lawn service that did their yard.
He wasn’t sure which was sadder...the fact that their breakup had been such a cliché—the only thing that could’ve been worse was if she’d left him for the pool boy—or the overwhelming sense of relief he’d felt after he’d signed the divorce papers.
After that, he’d buried himself in work. Emergency medicine suited him so well. It was fast-paced and involved a revolving door of patients. He could keep it all about work and not get too personal. He’d make sure they were stable and hand them off to their primary care doctor.
It was clean and simple. No need for small talk or building relationships beyond the situation that had brought them into his emergency room.
“I’ve worked twelve-hour shifts for the past five days. Actually, it’s my first night off since I took the job.”
“Are they ganging up on the new guy?” She smiled and her dimples winked at him.
“No, they’ve been so shorthanded that the other doctors haven’t had much time off in a while.”
She was quiet for a moment and he could see the wheels turning in her mind. She glanced at her hands, which were in her lap, before looking back at him.
“Why didn’t you take the job at first?” she asked. “Because they did offer it to you, didn’t they? Please, tell me you didn’t decline because of what happened between us.”
A pretty shade of pink bloomed on her cheeks.
“Wait, don’t answer that,” she said. “It’s a dumb question. Of course you didn’t turn down a job because of me. It’s just that I tried to get in touch with you after I found out I was pregnant, but all the hospital would tell me was that you didn’t work there.”
He nodded. So she’d tried to find him. He wondered if she’d been discreet when she was doing her detective work. No one had told him that a woman claiming to be carrying his child had been there looking for him. Then again, how would an employer break that news to a new hire? And would she really have told a complete stranger why she was looking for him? Not likely.
“I couldn’t justify relocating on the first offer,” he said. “But I could work with their counteroffer. So, just in case you were still wondering, no, my turning it down had nothing to do with you or what happened between us.”
“I didn’t even know your last name,” she said.
Exactly.
