The Boss's Pregnancy Proposal

“More’s the pity,” she muttered with a significant look. And then the two of them were out the door.

Grant reached out and took a piece of doughnut in his hand, then popped it into his mouth.

“So you live here with Tina,” he noted, reaching for his coffee next.

“And Molly,” Callie said. “Our little angel.”

He winced and avoided her gaze. At a glance, the little girl had looked just like Lisa. And thinking about Lisa was the one thing that rendered him helpless. He didn’t want to hear about Molly, or anything else that reminded him of his own baby.

“What does Tina do?”

She gave him a suspicious sideways look. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m interested in you and your life.”

She turned to frown at him. “Why?”

He shrugged in exasperation. “Weren’t you the one telling me that you and your fellow workers were real human beings with real lives and not chess pieces? I’m trying to learn to be a better boss. I’m empathizing.”

For a moment, he thought she was going to laugh in his face.

“Right,” she said skeptically. “Okay, Mr. Sensitive, empathize this. Tina is a wonderful person. My best friend. She’s had some bad luck and hard knocks, and right now she’s in and out of remission of her cancer and trying to raise her baby on her own.”

“That’s insane,” he interjected coolly. “A woman with that sort of health danger has no business having a child.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at him as though he were a freak. “Sometimes these things are beyond our control.”

“Nothing’s ever beyond control.”

“Oh brother.” She rose from the couch and picked up her coffee cup. “You’re so wrong. I’ve been on a runaway roller coaster for years and I still haven’t found the brakes on the darn thing.”

“Maybe I can help you with that,” he said softly.

She stared at him and he stared right back. She tried so hard to keep a mask of quiet competence in place, but he was beginning to see through it. She wasn’t as good at hiding as she thought.

She went into the kitchen to refill her cup and he followed her.

She turned, startled. “Did you want more coffee?” she asked.

“No, thanks,” he said. “I’ve got to get going.”

She looked up at him and his gaze went to her mouth, then veered quickly away.

“I’ll be expecting you at two,” he said, picking up his hat.

“Why?” she asked simply.

He turned back and looked at her. “Because I want to talk over some possibilities with you. I told you I wanted to find a way to get you back at work at ACW.”

She frowned, obviously suspicious. “Why do you care whether it’s me or someone else?”

He stopped dead, staring at her. “Callie, why don’t you trust me?”

“I trust you.”

“No, you don’t. You’re suspicious of everything I say and do.”

“That’s not really true.”

“What have I done to make you so wary? Or has someone else hurt you?”

Bingo. He saw it in her eyes. But she wasn’t going to admit it.

“This is ridiculous,” she said, turning away. “I like you better as a boss than a therapist.”

“Then we agree,” he said, turning to follow her.

She passed so close he thought he caught the scent of her hair. She was very real, very flesh and blood. She put up a lot of barricades and hid behind defenses, but there was nothing coy or artificial about her.

He liked her. He liked the way she looked and the way she walked and the way she held her head when she talked to him so seriously. He actually liked that she was wary of him. He wouldn’t have respected her if she’d jumped at the things he said too eagerly. She was pretty and smart and classy.

Yes. He had to have her as the mother of his child.

She was perfect. She was the one.

“Will you come?” he asked, resisting the impulse to grab her and sling her over his shoulder.

She looked at him. “I’ll think about it.”

“Two o’clock sharp.”

“I know. I got that.”

He went to the door. “If you don’t show up…”