Maureen Child - Wanted by the Boss

Rick worried that they were getting in too deep, but he couldn’t seem to stay away from her. In a rational corner of his mind, a small voice warned him to start distancing himself. To start pulling away, retreating from Eileen and the dangers she represented.

But he couldn’t do it.

Not yet.

He would, though. He had to. Because no matter what, he wouldn’t be drawn into a situation where a woman had the power to crush him again. But there was time. There was still time to enjoy what he’d found before having to give it up.

For now, though, he moved inside her again, rocking his body into hers, driving her and himself to the very edge. Then with one last thrust, Rick felt her body flex around his, watched her eyes widen and heard her whisper his name as the tremors took her—and only then did he allow himself to find the completion he needed so desperately.

Minutes later, he rolled to one side of her, groaned and said, ‘‘Damn it.’’

Eileen gasped, struggling for air as she fought to get her heartbeat back under control. She turned her head to look at him, a satisfied smile on her face. ‘‘Rick, what could possibly be wrong?’’

His expression tightened as his narrowed gaze locked with hers. ‘‘The condom broke.’’

Her eyes went wide and, even in the dim light, he saw her skin blanch. ‘‘ Uh- oh .’’

‘‘That about covers it.’’ Dread pooled in the pit of his stomach, but there was still a chance. ‘‘Tell me you’re on the pill.’’

‘‘You want me to lie at a time like this?’’

‘‘Damn.’’

‘‘Hey,’’ she said, reaching for the quilt to cover herself, ‘‘until you, I hadn’t been with anyone in a couple of years.’’ She drew the quilt up over both of them. ‘‘I wasn’t going to be taking pills when there was no need for them.’’

‘‘Okay, then.’’ Pushing one hand through his hair, he gritted his teeth and asked, ‘‘Let’s figure this out. When was your last period?’’

Eileen shifted her gaze to the ceiling and tried to focus. Hard to actually think when your body was still churning. But she tried. Thinking back, she counted, mentally tripping over her body’s calendar. Then she recounted. And did it one more time. Oh, God .

She hesitated, then realized that there was no easy way to say it. ‘‘It was, uh, due three days ago.’’

‘‘Uh-oh.’’

Eight

‘‘How long does it take, anyway?’’

Eileen shot Rick a dangerous look. ‘‘Three minutes, okay?’’ She’d already told him that several times, but, apparently, it wasn’t getting through. But then, she could sort of understand that. She, too, was feeling a wild mixture of panic and fear and expectation and even, if she was completely honest and why the hell not, since only she would know… excitement .

She was about to find out if she was going to be a mother, for Pete’s sake. A mother. Her. She’d given up on that particular little dream when she’d found Robert doing the horizontal cha-cha with the bimbo of the week. Eileen loved being an aunt to Bridie’s kids, and she’d long told herself that that was enough. That she didn’t need to actually give birth to feel complete. But she obviously hadn’t believed herself because here she stood, hoping she was pregnant and terrified to admit it.

She pulled in a long, deep breath, let it out slowly, then repeated, ‘‘Three minutes.’’

‘‘Longest three minutes of my life,’’ Rick muttered, and paced the confines of the short hallway outside the bathroom.

‘‘Well, contrary to public opinion,’’ she said as she watched him turn and pace in the other direction, ‘‘snapping people’s heads off does not make time fly.’’

He stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. ‘‘Sorry. It’s just…’’

‘‘Yeah, I know.’’ Eileen leaned one shoulder against the doorjamb and somehow resisted peeking in the bathroom door at the pregnancy test wand laying on the counter. She’d know soon enough. And when she knew…that would be the time for panic. And decision making. And maybe, for scraping Rick up off the floor.

No, she thought, as she watched him shoving both hands through his hair with enough force to yank every hair out of his head, that wasn’t totally fair. He could’ve split, told her it was her problem to deal with and just disappeared. But he hadn’t. Instead, right after discovering the broken condom, he’d gotten dressed, driven to the drugstore and bought a pregnancy test kit. Now he was waiting out the results with her.

Of course, she knew darn well what answer he was hoping for. She could all but see him issuing fervent prayers to the gods of fortune.

‘‘Just because one broke doesn’t mean the others were faulty,’’ he said, and she was pretty sure he was talking to himself more than her.

But she answered him anyway. ‘‘Condoms aren’t a hundred percent effective anyway.’’

‘‘Thanks for that.’’

She shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. ‘‘I’m just saying—’’

‘‘That maybe a stop-and-shop gas station wasn’t the best place to buy protection?’’ he finished for her.

Eileen smiled. Her stomach was in knots, her hands were shaking, hence the folded arms thing, after all, why should she advertise her own case of nerves? ‘‘The point is, there’s no use in rehashing now. Or saying what if. The deed is most definitely done.’’

‘‘I know,’’ he said, and turning around, leaned back against the wall, his gaze fixed on the bathroom doorway.

When the timer went off, both of them jumped. He took a step, then stopped, letting her go into the room before him. Eileen hit the stop button on the timer first, since the incessant ringing was drilling a hole through her head. She picked up the wand carefully, as if it might explode if handled roughly. Glancing back at him as he came up behind her, she said, ‘‘We look together?’’

He nodded. ‘‘Together.’’

Staring down at the tiny window where the results were displayed, she saw the tiny pink plus sign. Her stomach fisted. She heard his quick intake of breath. Her fingers tightened on the plastic. ‘‘Since it’s pink, do you suppose that means it’s a girl?’’

If he could have figured out how to do it effectively, Rick would’ve kicked his own ass. Stupid, he thought. Stupid and careless and now…caught.

From his chair at the two-person table, he watched Eileen move around the small homey kitchen. She’d already made a pot of coffee and now she busily brought cups and a plateful of homemade chocolate chip cookies to the table. She hadn’t said a word in fifteen minutes and the silence was beginning to stretch a little thin. Although, Rick thought, he really couldn’t blame her for not speaking. Hell, he couldn’t think of anything to say, either. An apology didn’t seem right, but congratulations was clearly out of the question, too.

When she finally sat down opposite him, she poured a cup of coffee for each of them, picked up a cookie and proceeded to nervously turn it into crumbs.

Rick reached across the table and covered her hands with his. ‘‘We have to talk about this.’’

Her gaze lifted to his and he tried to read the emotions darting across the meadow-green surface of her eyes. But they shifted and changed so quickly it was impossible to nail one down.

‘‘Look Rick,’’ she said after a long minute, ‘‘I know you’re trying to help, but honestly, I don’t want to talk about it right now.’’

‘‘But we have some decisions to make.’’ Hell, they had a ton of decisions to make.

She smiled, shook her head and leaned back in the chair. ‘‘I’m not deciding anything tonight.’’