Damn, the stupid tears were back in her eyes. What was wrong with her tonight? Had throwing up always made her an emotional wreck? Tell him, just get it over with. Beth opened her mouth to do just that and found no sound coming out at all. No matter how hard she tried, the words would not come. Chickenshit, you have to tell him.
Nick gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead and went to get her a bottle of water. Her eyes were getting heavier by the moment, and when he returned, she was already asleep.
Chapter Four
Despite Nick’s protests, Beth made it into the headquarters of Danvers International only a few minutes late for work. She took a deep breath and then tapped on her sister’s door. Smiling at the grunt she heard in response, she opened the door and walked in. Suzy would never be a morning person and even living with Gray hadn’t changed that. On those mornings when she did come in unusually perky, Beth knew exactly why. Gray brought out the soft side in her and Beth had never seen her happier. With a small sigh, Beth hoped she’d have a love like that someday.
Suzy turned a sharp gaze on her as if expecting some type of war wounds. “So, what did he say? Are you going to make me beg?”
Beth dropped in the chair in front of her desk and braced herself. “I haven’t told him yet.”
“What! Why the hell not? I thought you were going to take care of that last night.”
Shifting in her seat, Beth murmured, “Um, something came up.”
“What do you mean, something came up?” Suzy demanded.
Beth could feel the blush starting to work its way up her neck and into her face. It was too much to hope that Suzy wouldn’t notice.
“Oh, yuck! God, Beth, isn’t that how this happened to start with? Can’t you two keep your clothes on for more than five minutes?”
With a wiggle of her eyebrows, Beth purred, “Trust me, I remember exactly how this happened.”
“All right, just please stop. I already had to take the stairs this morning when I saw Nick getting on the elevator. Do you have any idea how many damn stairs I had to climb because you can’t keep your hands off the guy? You owe me a new pair of shoes and a pedicure.”
Beth tried hard, but she couldn’t contain the laughter that bubbled out when she thought of Suzy climbing all of those flights of stairs just to avoid Nick. The only person who hated exercise more than Beth was her sister. “I almost told him this morning, after I threw my guts up. I think I had my first bout of morning sickness.”
Suzy looked more closely at her with concern evident in her gaze. “Are you okay? Why did you come in today? Get your stuff and go back home, you shouldn’t be here sick.”
Holding up her hand to stop the onslaught, Beth assured her that she felt fine now. “I passed out in the bed before I could tell him. I’m going to talk to him tonight. I’ll have plenty of time to get my nerve up because we’re just planning a quiet evening at home.”
“Yeah, good, but if he says anything even remotely bad to you, call me and I’ll be right over. I don’t care who, um, instigated this, he still had to . . . you know. Ah, hell, he still shot the load without protection, so he is just as much to blame.”
“Shot the load?” Beth groaned. “It’s called sex, Suzy, and you know plenty about it since you live with Mr. Sex-on-a-Stick as you called him once.”
Waving her toward the door, Suzy said, “Just go and don’t come back for a while. Like maybe for the whole day while I try to scrub my mind of this entire conversation.”
Beth chuckled and walked to her office. As she dropped her purse on her desk, her door suddenly shut behind her and warm hands slid around her waist. “Are you feeling better, princess?”
She smiled as she heard the sexy voice whispering in her ear. Allowing herself to snuggle back in his embrace for just a moment, she said, “Yeah, I’m fine now. What are you doing down here so early?”
Nick turned her around in his arms so they were facing each other. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He trailed a finger down the curve of her cheek and placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth. “I was worried about you. You were so sick this morning.”
It was so hard to hold out against his charms, especially when he was in this kind of loving, gentle mood. Keep it casual. He probably has the same routine with every woman he dates. He doesn’t love you or even want to love you. He is just a nice guy. She gave him a quick smile and stepped out of the circle of his arms. “I’m fine, Nick, really. I feel great now.” Walking around her desk to put some distance between them, she asked, “Are we still having dinner at my place tonight?”
Nick frowned, obviously confused about the distance that she tried to keep between them unless they were having sex. “Yeah, sure.”
Beth started thumbing through a stack of papers on her desk, hoping that Nick would get the message and leave before she gave in to the urge to shove him down on her desk and ride that fabulous body.