“Sav, are you okay?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Lang, can we pull over?” I asked.
“Not yet,” he said. “I don’t want to give anyone the chance to catch up to us.”
I reached into my pocket for something to catch the vomit that I was sure was coming, because Rangers are always prepared. But apparently, so are spec operations airmen because Wheeler was already handing Savannah a plastic bag from his backpack. I held her hair as she puked up her guts. Wheeler looked at me, his eyebrows raised. I tossed back a glare that cautioned him to drop it. But the question written so clearly on his face was the same one I couldn’t get out of my mind. Wheeler could fuck right off, but I needed an answer.
I didn’t care what the pee stick said. When we returned to HQ, Savannah was getting a blood test.
29
SAVANNAH
Afew hours after my embarrassing upchuck, I poured bath beads into the garden tub in my bathroom and drew the water as high as possible. I peeled off my clothes and threw them into the hamper, then slowly stepped into the tub. I sank into the embrace of the warm water softened by the bath-bead oils. I sighed as my body relaxed. This was what I needed after the day I’d had. I lay back and pressed my hands over my flat abdomen. It was official. It would stay that way for the foreseeable future.
I was not pregnant.
Since my blood sample had already been sent to the HEAT lab, Bond had made some calls, pulled some strings to get a test fast-tracked, and provided us with the definitive answer. She’d diagnosed me with “anxiety stomach” and ordered a prescription that I could take as needed when I was under duress.
From the next room, I heard Ben, who was on the phone with Mai, telling her, “Bond said she’s definitely not.”
Great. Word of my post-mission projectile vomiting had reached HEAT agents beyond this building. Now half the world thought I was preggers. Weren’t these people supposed to be good at keeping secrets?
A minute later, Ben said goodbye to Mai, then appeared in the bathroom doorway, looking happy and intense and muscular and yummy.
I closed my eyes to avoid drooling. “Sounds like that was a good call. Have you two officially made up?”
“I don’t know that we ever officially fell out, but yeah, we’re good. And she imparted some sisterly advice.”
I opened my eyes and glared at him. “If it’s about birth control…”
“No. About my dad. She’s pushing me to have it out with him.”
“And?”
“And I texted him and asked him to meet Monday, between classes he’s teaching at the Academy. That way, it’ll just be us there. Not Mai. Not my mom.”
“Good.” I was glad he was going to try to make amends with his dad now instead of waiting until they only had six months left to spend together, like I’d done with my mom.
He quirked up one side of his mouth. “But I want to go back to that look you gave me when I stepped into the bathroom. What’s going on in that dirty mind of yours?”
“Thinking about how to recover from this day, attract potential investors, rebuild my business.” I swept my gaze up and down his body. “Convince a hot Ranger to have his way with me in this tub.”
“You’ll find that last part to be surprisingly easy, but I would like to hear about those other thoughts first.” He stepped closer. “How’s recovery going?”
I shrugged. “The warm water is helping.”
He pulled off his T-shirt and sat down on the area rug beside the tub. “And how do you feel about the pregnancy tests being negative?”
“I’m having trouble coming up with the right word. Not sad, exactly. Wistful, maybe. You?”
He skimmed a finger across the surface of the water. “Wistful fits. And the business?”
“I was thinking about having to start over.” I held out my hand, and he took it. “I should probably be scared to death, but I’m actually excited about the possibilities.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I do like it when you’re excited.” He let go of my hand and pushed a strand of hair back from my face. “Tell me more about the plans you’re making.”
