As she stepped out of the stall and washed her hands, I didn’t speak the words that popped into my mind before any others. Once I got back to my office, I’d sink into my buttery leather chair and consider how much I wanted this woman and our unborn child playing a starring role in my future.
“I may just head home. The day’s almost over anyway,” Bren said, backing away from me almost as if she thought I’d corner her in the ladies room.
“And you’ll be okay to drive?”
“Yes. I don’t live far from here.”
“Okay.” I rubbed one large hand across her shoulder, and she took another uneasy step back. The physical rejection stung worse than a hornet’s bite. I really didn’t want her driving home in this condition, but I couldn’t think of a rational way to get her to stay or let me put her in an Uber.
Of their own accord, my facial muscles tugged downward, but I dropped my hands to my sides in defeat. I almost felt like grabbing a few paper towels and waving them in the air above us like a white flag. “I’ll call you later. We need to talk about this.”
“All right. My cell number is on the form I filled out.”
My hands clenched into fists at my sides as I felt completely frustrated and incompetent. If I couldn’t protect the mother of my unborn baby, what good was I? But I picked myself up by my bootstraps and followed her to the door.
“Talk to you later, then,” she said and pushed open the door, her feet carrying her like a crazed stalker was on her tail. I watched Bren’s rigid and retreating back until her body became just a speck of nothingness off in the distance. My heart throbbed like someone had cracked my chest open without the benefit of anesthesia.
After Bren’s blood draw earlier, the lab would take twenty-four hours to get the test results back. I’d be on pins and needles until the results were in. Which meant I had a full twenty-four hours to ruminate about Bren.
Leaden feet led me back to my office where I shut the door and inhaled. Focusing on paperwork helped, so I shuffled through a pile and waited a few hours to call her so she could have time to process and calm down.
I knew I’d be useless until things were settled or at least discussed between Bren and me, so I suggested dinner. How emotional could she get in a public place? Once I got her on the line, I could tell by her hesitation she didn’t want to see me. Too damn bad. So I pushed.
“Sure,” she mumbled, giving in.
Glancing at the clock on my desk, I blew out a frustrated breath. I still had an hour before we were supposed to meet. Plenty of time to go to my apartment to shower and change. This was going to be the longest twenty-four hours of my entire life until those test results came in.
In the meantime, I needed a plan. I needed to push everything else out of my mind so I could focus on Bren and getting to know her. Make her want to know me.
I tented my hands and touched my fingers to my lips.
You can run, Bren Matthews, but you can’t hide.
Chapter Six
Bren
I didn’t go back to work. Couldn’t, because then I’d have to tell Mandy what happened, and I figured if I didn’t say anything—out loud, to anyone—I could pretend for a little while longer that this whole sordid afternoon was a grainy figment of my sleep-deprived imagination.
I didn’t want to have a random stranger’s baby growing in my belly, didn’t want to be saddled down with responsibility and tied to a man I didn’t even know. What if he didn’t like romantic walks on the beach and candlelit dinners? What if he was a typical workaholic and every night he came home dead tired, after hitting the gym and then collapsed onto the couch with the remote control in his hand?
What if he tried to rein in my freedom?
When the phone rang a couple of hours later, I about jumped out of my skin. Even though he’d said he’d call, I’d been consumed with my jumbled emotions so hadn’t really been expecting it, or his invitation to join him for dinner. I tried like hell to think of an excuse. But I wasn’t good at lying on the spot, and so I’d mumbled a weak “Sure.”
Glancing at the clock above my kitchen sink, I blew out a frustrated breath. I still had an hour before we were supposed to meet at the restaurant. This was going to be the longest twenty-four hours of my entire life. I wanted to hit my knees and pray for a negative result. If I wasn’t pregnant, I could get rid of him and his unwelcome effect on my equilibrium. Trying to push the pending results out of my mind, I stood in front of my walk-in closet, gazing at the endless options I had hanging inside. Wearing stained khakis and my assigned polos to work every day meant I liked to splurge on girly things like handbags and sandals and dresses from time to time.
But now I was surveying my closet for an entirely different reason—since I only had a one bedroom apartment, this is where the baby would sleep. I’d have to have it remodeled to accommodate a crib and changing table and all the other unknown essentials a tiny human required.
Finally deciding on a skirt and cardigan combo, I headed toward the front door, steeling my nerves for what was sure to be an awkward date.
I couldn’t shake from my mind the memory of the slashes of Mason’s dark eyebrows pulled into a scowl this afternoon. I’d never expected to see him again, especially not with such an irate expression on his face. But his angry expression wasn’t what had shaken me to my core.
No.
It was unexpected, but that wasn’t what had me so shaken.
I couldn’t believe that of all the doctors in the city—Mandy had sent me straight into the stirrup-laden clutches of the one man I’d been trying so hard to forget. And during all the time we’d spent together, Mason had never mentioned what he did for a living. Even worse than the shock and awe was his massive effect on my already shaky body. Every line of his handsome face, every plane of his chiseled body, slayed me right through to my soul.
Those sapphire blue eyes framed in dark lashes had blazed on mine, and I’d been at my most vulnerable, unable to steady myself, wanting more distance between us. As if widening the physical gap would sever the magnetic pull I’d felt from the moment our eyes had locked across a crowded club. Even after I’d dressed and fled to the lobby, he’d given chase. A sturdy, square jaw dusted with stubble, and powerful shoulders that jutted out wide, then tapered down to a trim waist. The man was perfection, and that was without allowing myself to remember what was beneath those baby-blue scrubs. Placing my hand on my belly, I said a silent prayer that I could make it through this evening without succumbing to his charm.
I’d been through too much and couldn’t go down that road again. He may have missed the neon sign on my heart practically flashing Closed, and it would be my job to remind him. I wasn’t looking for anything. We’d had one night of fun, and now look where I was. I’d just have to put on my big-girl panties and deal. Like I always did. Ridiculously hot doctor be damned.
Chapter Seven
Mason