Elijah juggled the bag containing the soup and crackers he had bought at the sandwich shop into one arm and used the other hand to ring Stephanie’s doorbell.
He hated that she was sick, but also, he felt a shiver of excitement—this was new. He had never had someone so close to him that he’d felt the urge to care for her when she wasn’t feeling well. If any other woman he’d been involved with had sent him the texts Stephanie had sent this morning, he would have sent back a frowning face and then gone about finding some other way to occupy his time for the day.
He couldn’t do that with her, though. She mattered too much. He wanted to make sure she was all right. And honestly, if she was open to it, he wanted the chance to spend the day with her. He wasn’t put off by the fact that she was sick. He wanted to give her this soup, and to curl up in bed and watch TV with her, and to hand her tissues and get up and refill her glasses of water or juice or make her cups of tea…
What in the world is happening to me?He shook his head in amusement. This wasn’t the kind of man he had ever been, andyet something about Stephanie had brought about a change in his character. Honestly, it excited him. And the truth was that he just wanted to spend the day with her, no matter what they were doing.
She didn’t answer the door, though. Elijah frowned and rang the bell again. Was she so sick that she couldn’t make it to the door? That was worrying. He wondered what he would do if she went on not answering. Could he search for an unlocked window? Was that crazy behavior?
Then he heard the sound of feet shuffling. A moment later, the door was unlocked and cracked open. Stephanie appeared, Bruno at her heel.
The first thing Elijah saw was that her eyes were red. Clearly, she’d been crying, and it nearly turned his heart inside out to see it. “Stephanie,” he murmured.
“I thought you were going to be my food delivery.” Her voice was hoarse.
He held up the bag containing the soup. “I am,” he said. “Just maybe not the one you were expecting. Can I come in?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Come on. I don’t care if whatever you have is contagious,” he told her. “I have a great immune system. I’m sure I’ll be able to fight it off. Let me in. I have soup for you, and you deserve to be taken care of a little while you’re not feeling well.”
She closed her eyes. “Elijah… you should come back tomorrow.”
“If you don’t let me in, me and this soup are just going to sit here on your porch,” he informed her.
She let out a soft groan. “You’re impossible. I am so in over my head with you.” But she pulled the door back to let him inside.
She was wrapped in a bathrobe, and he could see at once that she hadn’t bothered to comb out her curls today. She wore no makeup. She turned away from him and made her way back to the kitchen table, and he saw that she had been drinking a mug of tea. It was still steaming.
Elijah took the soup out of the bag and held it up. “Chicken and rice,” he said. “Are you hungry? Can I heat this up for you? Or do you not have an appetite?”
“Actually, I’m very hungry,” she confessed. “That’s why I’d ordered food. But I guess I knew you couldn’t be it. I just placed that order five minutes ago.”
“Perfect,” he said. “The soup can be an appetizer.” He turned to the microwave and popped it in. “I promise, my cooking skills are good enough for this,” he assured her, punching in a time. “I even asked the guy at the restaurant how long I should microwave it for, to make sure I wasn’t going to mess it up.”
The ghost of a smile crossed her face. “That’s great.”
He took the soup out of the microwave and set it down in front of her, along with a spoon. “So… what’s going on?”
She looked up. “What do you mean?”
“Is it the flu? Just a bad cold?” He leaned on his elbows, surveying her. “I can’t pretend I’m not a little worried about you here.”
“There isn’t anything to worry about.” But she bit her lip and looked down.
Elijah had mostly meant his comments in a lighthearted way—he was worried for her comfort, but not actually for her health. He had been confident she would recover in a few days. But the way she was behaving, as if she was keeping some secret from him, unsettled him. “Stephanie, what is it?” he asked, reaching across the table to take her hand.
She looked up, tears in her eyes. “I need to tell you something,” she whispered.
“Tell me. Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay.” He kept his face calm, but his heart was beating madly. He had never seen her like this.
She closed her eyes. “Elijah… I’m pregnant.”
The word stopped him in his tracks, froze his mind. It was the last thing in the world he could have anticipated she would say. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I…” she trailed off.
His mind raced to catch up with what she had said.
