He kissed her. Over and over.
When his name next left her lips he didn’t have to ask for more feeling, for more of anything.
She gave him everything she had within her to give.
CHAPTER TEN
THE NEXT MORNING Ty woke with a jerk as Ellie shot out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. Startled out of a deep peaceful sleep, his bare feet had barely hit the cold hardwood floor when the sound of her retching met his ears.
Was she okay? Too much barbecue and sex the night before? Or had her travel sickness not ever completely cleared?
Without a word he entered the bathroom, got a cold, wet washcloth and placed it to her clammy forehead.
Looking miserable, she knelt next to the toilet, her shoulders slumped, her body quivering, her eyes closed.
“I’d ask if you’re okay, but obviously you’re not.” He hated the thought of her not feeling well. He was a doctor, should be able to do something to ease her symptoms. “You want a drink of water?”
She nodded ever so slightly as if she was afraid that any movement might trigger another round of losing any remaining contents of her stomach.
He took a disposable paper cup from a dispenser on the sink and filled it with cool water. She took the cup, swished the water around her mouth and spat in the toilet several times.
“I’m so embarrassed,” she said in a weak voice, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. “I hate that you saw me like this.”
“Now I know why you don’t stick around for mornings-after,” he teased in reference to the morning she’d tried to leave before he’d awakened.
To the morning several weeks ago.
The morning after … Oh, hell.
The floor shifted beneath Ty’s feet and his toes gripped the cold tile in the hope of maintaining his balance.
“That’s not why I was leaving that morning,” Ellie moaned, sounding miserable, oblivious to the crazy thoughts rushing through his head. “I just didn’t know what we’d say to each other or how you’d feel. Or—”
“Ellie,” he interrupted, his hand against the wall to balance himself. Sweat popped up on his brow, on the back of his neck. “Are you sure you just have a nervous stomach?”
Please say yes.
Misery on her pale face, she shrugged. “I’ve had a nervous stomach on and off most of my life. It just hadn’t bothered me in years until …”
His heart slammed against his rib cage in thunderous bursts. His mind raced ahead, drawing what he hoped were inaccurate conclusions. “Not until the past couple of weeks?”
Face pink, she nodded again. “Yes. I was anxious about coming here with you, Ty. I’m really sorry I woke you up to this. I kept lying there thinking my nausea would pass, but it just kept getting worse. I couldn’t hold it back any longer.”
His heart beating faster and faster, his insides shaking, his knees threatening to buckle, he sank down to the floor next to her, placed his hand on her thigh. “Ellie, have you had a menstrual cycle since the night we first made love?”
Her lips didn’t move, but they didn’t have to. The widening of her eyes and blanching of her skin answered for her.
She hadn’t.
Dear Lord, Ellie might be pregnant with his baby.
Eleanor shook. Her entire body shook.
Pregnant.
Was that even a possibility?
Well, of course it was a possibility. She and Ty had had sex. About a month ago.