Page 24 of Baby Bombshell for the Boss

Elliot watched her go, perplexed and upset. It couldn’t have been the mere touch of his hand that had upset her so much.

A moment later, he heard the faint sounds of retching coming from the bathroom. He got to his feet, filled with concern for her, the idea of getting close with her again completely forgotten.

She came out of the bathroom looking pale and upset. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what that was.”

“It’s all right.” He could see she was embarrassed. “Let’s get you some water.”

“I don’t know what to say. It’s not like we’ve had anything to drink.”

“You’ve been working hard.”

“I don’t normally get sick because I work hard.”

“Well, you’re probably tired,” he said. “I think it might be best if you go home and get some rest. Take a few days off.”

“You think so?” She looked up at him.

“Definitely,” he said. “We’ve got a couple weeks until the window treatments come in anyway, right? Spend some time at home. Get better.”

“I’m so sorry about this.”

“No, please don’t worry. It’s all right. I’ll see you back here when you’re feeling better.”

It had been a close call, he thought as he watched her leave. They had almost tumbled over the edge there. And maybe this was a sign — an indication that they shouldn’t do what they’d been about to do. The universe had signaled, at the very last possible moment, that they were making a mistake they wouldn’t be able to take back.

Elliot knew he would have to guard himself carefully from now on to make sure nothing like that happened again.

But even now, he couldn’t help regretting that he’d missed an opportunity.

CHAPTER 11

IVY

Ivy had been home from work for three days now.

Every day, she woke up hoping that today would be the day she’d finally feel better. Every day, she was disappointed, as the nausea and fatigue continued. And today was no different. She’d opened her eyes and stayed very still in bed for several minutes, hoping that the discomfort wouldn’t strike her, but it had, and it had sent her running for the bathroom yet again.

Now she was on her phone setting up an appointment with a clinic nearby that had same-day availability. She hadn’t wanted to see a doctor about this. She’d hoped it would go away on its own. But that didn’t seem to be happening, and she need to do something. She was going to have to get back on her feet sooner or later so that she could return to working for Elliot.

That was, if she ever managed to bring herself to look him in the eyes again. It was painful to think about what had happened the last time they had been together. She had been about to lean in and kiss him, and then that sickening feeling had struck her. He knew what had happened, of course — she’d known as soon as she’d walked out of the bathroom that he had heard her. And he had been nothing but kind and understanding to her, of course, but he must be disgusted. At the very least, there was no way he would ever be able to contemplate kissing her now. Not with that memory in his head.

She finished scheduling her doctor’s appointment. She’d been able to get something right away, thankfully, so she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge — she was afraid to travel without water these days, since it was the only thing that seemed to keep the nausea at bay — and went out to hail a cab.

Twenty minutes later, she sat in the waiting room of an unfamiliar doctor’s office filling out paperwork that described her symptoms. It was difficult to keep her mind on what she was doing — thoughts of Elliot kept creeping in. What was he doing today? Was he thinking about her? And if he was, what kinds of things must he be thinking? Did he regret what had almost happened between them? Did he think it had been a terrible mistake? Or was there a chance he was wishing they’d been able to go through with it?

Ivy didn’t know what she wished herself. It hadn’t been well thought out at the time.

A nurse entered the waiting area and called her name. Ivy rose to her feet and followed the woman back to the exam room.

“So you mentioned you’ve been having some nausea?” the nurse asked. She had a kind smile, and Ivy immediately felt slightly more at ease. She was glad she had come in.

“That’s right,” she said. “I had been hoping that it would go away on its own, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.”

“Well, there are a few quick tests that we can run right here in the office,” the nurse said. “If they don’t turn anything up, the doctor will probably want to see about getting you more extensive testing. But we do have a blood lab right here, so if you don’t have anywhere to be, I can do a draw and rule out a few basic things.”

Ivy nodded. “I’m free all day.”

“This shouldn’t take more than an hour. Let’s get a blood sample, and we’ll get it down to the lab. And then you can make yourself comfortable right here until the results come back. Will that be all right with you?”

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