I Do the Boss (Managing the Bosses Series, #5)(41)

He moved toward her, but she held up her hand, not entirely sure she was done throwing up. The last thing she wanted was to get sick in front of him, and certainly not all over him.

The last month of being his wife had been great. It was amazing how taking on his last name changed everything. It was as if she’d been knighted. There was a level of respect she got when she went anywhere now. Though it was a nice perk, it was a little unnerving too.

No wonder he always has so much pressure to be perfect and stick to the straight and narrow. Everyone is watching.

Alex touched the side of her face. "Honey? I asked you a question. You okay? You're scaring me a little."

She patted his hand as he held her cheek. "I'm good. I guess I just have a little bit of food poisoning."

"Jamie. You've been sick off and on for the last two weeks. Something isn't right." He slid his hand over her hip and leaned down, kissing the top of her head. "I want you to go see Dr. Bennett this afternoon, okay?"

"No." She turned away from him and tugged off her robe, wishing their morning would have been filled with playful banter instead of the serious conversation they were headed toward. "I've always had a sensitive stomach. We've been eating out a lot lately. That's just it. I need some quality food from MacBain to set this tummy right."

"Fine, then go see the doctor and make sure that everything is okay." He moved up behind her and slid his hands over her exposed shoulders.

Her light pink panties and matching bra were bought to entice him, and they'd done their jobs multiple times over the last month. Come to think of it, she'd been far more aggressive in trying to entice him.

Why?

"Alex..." she turned and glanced up at him, "If it will make you feel better, I'll—"

"It will. I'll have Justin make the appointment for you today. Just have some bloodwork done and let's make sure you’re okay." He touched her face and smiled. "I'm late. I'll see you at the office in a little bit. Please don't skirt this issue anymore. Between you being sick and wanting to have sex ten times a day, I think you might be pregnant."

"What?" She stepped back as the blood drained from her face, leaving her a little light-headed. She reached out for him, and he wrapped his strong arms around her. "No way. I'm not ready for that."

He laughed. "I'm not sure it matters if you're ready. You hate condoms. What would you expect to happen?"

"I don't know, but I'm not ready for this. Your mom is gone and my mom is the devil. I don't know how to be a mother. I don't have anyone to teach me." Tears filled her eyes as she looked up at him. Scary enough, a stomach illness almost sounded better than a baby. There was no way she could raise a child. She couldn't even get to work on time and Alex didn't need her there until after nine.

"Hey. Calm down." He kissed the tip of her nose. "It could be a sensitivity to milk or gluten. It doesn't have to be a baby. I was just saying. It wouldn't be so bad if it were."

"What?!" She pulled from him and worked to get dressed. "Get out of here and stop talking that nonsense. We just got married. I'm not ready to share you with anyone, nor am I ready to put my failures on display for you and the rest of the world to judge."

"You're being a little harsh." He kissed the back of her shoulder as his strong hands moved over her hips and cupped her softly, petting her mound. "I quite like the idea of creating a little you and me."

"Alright, enough." She glanced over her shoulder, wanting to be tough, but loving the look on his handsome face. They would have kids eventually, but now was too soon. "I love you. Get to work. You might have lots of mouths to feed."

He laughed and popped her butt softly. "There's my girl."

"Stop it, Alex Reid." She glanced over her shoulder as her frown melted into a tight smile. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Nope. Not until you go to the doctor and find out exactly what's going on. Promise me." He lifted his eyebrow.

"I promise." She let out a sigh and turned back to her dresser, getting herself together for a short day thanks to her forced visit to the doctor. It seemed a bit much, but if something had been wrong with Alex, then she'd make him go as well.

*

Jamie couldn't seem to get her knee to stop bouncing as she sat outside the doctor's office in the waiting room. Alex had a blow-up at work and couldn't come with her, so she dragged Mark to sit beside her. He was the next best thing to his older brother.

"Hey." He reached out and clamped his hand down on her knee. "It's going to be fine. I'm sure it's just a bug or something. I wasn't feeling too great this morning either."

"I know. I just hate this waiting crap. They took blood, pee, spit, hair..." she rolled her eyes. "Okay, not hair or spit, but I wanted it to sound dramatic."

He pulled his hand back as he chuckled loudly. "You're too much. I swear you're the best thing that happened to my brother."

She smiled and leaned back in her chair as nervousness raced through her. "Did you throw up this morning?"

"No, but I'm telling you that something is going around. I'm sure the doctor’s going to tell us that we're being a little overly sensitive to nothing."