Shoving the box and the tell tale test stick into the trash, she struggled for calm. Bubbles of excitement kept bobbing to the surface, making her want to alternately laugh and cry. Don’t lose it, she warned. Keep it together. She had patients to see this afternoon. She could completely freak out when she got home tonight.
After washing her hands she made her way back to the front of the drug store, thanked the pharmacist who studied her suspiciously, then hurried to her car.
She didn’t drive straight back to the clinic. She was ravenous. Two drive-thrus later and she had what her heart—stomach actually—desired. Two quarter-pounder cheese burgers, mega fries and an Asian salad with an extra pack of dressing.
The girls in reception gawked at her as she passed through on the way to her office with her arm load of bags. She just smiled and kept going. When she’d gotten into her office and closed the door she dumped her load on her desk and relaxed into her chair. After she ate all this she would surely need a nap. She glanced at her schedule. Not going to happen. Oh well, she’d make up for it tonight.
Still a stickler for neatness, she arranged her lunch on the burger wrapper, with the salad bowl anchoring one corner. The first bite made her groan with pleasure. What was it about being pregnant that made food taste so good?
She would have to get a handle on her diet…just not today.
A tap on her door distracted her from her salad. She frowned. If Dr. New man asked her to go out with him again she was just going to have to tell him that it would be unethical. Their working relationship prevented her from pursing a personal one with him. That should do the trick with out hurting his feelings. “Yes.”
The door opened and the next bite never made it to her mouth.
Joe Hennessey, in all his splendor, from that sexy jaw line to that perfect nose, waltzed in.
“They told me that you were having lunch.” He glanced at the smorgasbord laid out in front of her. “Looks like there might be enough for me to join you.”
Elizabeth snatched up the ever present bottle of water on her desk and washed a wad of fries down.
“What do you want, Hennessey?”
He hadn’t contacted her in four weeks. The director of the CIA had refused to give her an up date on his condition. How dare he show up here now!
The positive results of the pregnancy test flashed in front of her eyes and another wave of giddiness swept over her. She clamped her mouth shut. Couldn’t say a word about that until she knew why he was here. And maybe not even then.
He walked up to her desk but didn’t sit down. “I should have called you.”
That was a start. “Yes, you should have.” She nibbled on a fry. She would die before she’d tell him how lonely she’d been. How badly she’d yearned to have him in her bed.
He bracketed his waist with his hands and took a deep breath. “The truth is I didn’t want to see you or even talk to you until I was me again.”
Stunned, she dropped the fork back into her salad bowl. “I’m not sure I’m following,” she said cautiously but she knew what he meant. He wanted her to see him when they talked…his face.
He leaned forward, braced his hands on her desk. She in haled the clean, slightly citrusy scent that was uniquely Joe Hennessey. Her gaze roved his face. Every detail was just as it was before.
Damn she was good.
Elizabeth blinked. Chastised her self for staring. Since he hadn’t answered her question he’d obviously paused to take notice of her staring.
She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. “You’re going to have to explain what you mean, Agent Hennessey.”
“Don’t play games with me, Elizabeth,” he warned, those blue eyes glinting with what some might consider intimidation. But she knew him better now. That was his predatory gleam. And she was his prey…he wanted her.
“Really, Hennessey, you should be more specific.”
“I love you, Elizabeth. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I miss you. I need to be with you.”
I…I…I, was this all about him? Let him sweat for a bit.
She shrugged in differently. “I’ve been sleeping fine.” She glanced at the food in front of her. “Eating fine as well.”
He straightened, threw up his hands. “What do you want me to do? Beg?”
That could work, she mused wickedly.
“No,” she told him to his obvious relief.
He eased one hip onto the edge of her desk and popped a French fry into his mouth. “Then tell me what you want, Elizabeth. I’m desperate here.”
His work was her first concern. But she would never ask him to give up his career.
“I don’t think we could ever work, Joe,” she confessed. She looked directly into those gorgeous blue eyes. “You know the reasons.”
He downed a swig of her water and grimaced. “What if I told you I’d gone off field duty?”
She froze, her heart almost stopped stone still. “What did you say?” She prayed she hadn’t heard wrong.