trying to forget all week.
Katy on the other hand seemed oblivious to the looks she was getting, as though she didn’t have even the slightest idea how pretty she was. Or more likely, didn’t care either way. He’d never met a woman so casual about her self-image. As evidenced, he realized with a tug of humor, by the fact that under the skirt she was wearing cowboy boots.
He could take the woman out of the country, but not the country out of the woman.
“You’re early,” he said as she approached him.
“I know, I didn’t want to risk being late,” she told him, then added, as if she thought he wouldn’t notice on his own, “I wore my girl clothes.”
“So you did.”
“I’m really nervous.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine.” He looked at his watch and said, “We should probably get upstairs.”
Though he had resigned himself to the idea of her being the surrogate and had for the most part convinced himself it was for the best, deep down he half hoped the doctor would find some reason to deem her an inappropriate candidate for the procedure. But after a thorough examination, Katy was given a clean bill of health. And like her own physician, Dr. Meyer even went so far as to comment that her body was ideal for childbearing. So there was definitely no turning back now.
It was a done deal.
After a consultation with the doctor in his office, where he explained the procedure in great detail, they made an appointment for the following week to have two embryos implanted.
“Are you nervous?” Katy asked him as they walked back down to the lobby together.
He shrugged.
“Oh, come on, you have to be at least a little nervous.”
“I guess.” After waiting so long for this, the process did seem to be moving very quickly. “How about you? Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not at all. I’m just really excited. I can hardly believe it’s next week. I thought it would take months.”
“It won’t be a problem, you leaving the ranch for a couple of days?”
“They can get by without me. But I was thinking, because I’ll be on bed rest for twenty-four hours after the transfer, maybe you could recommend a hotel.”
Did she honestly think he would let her stay alone in a hotel? Not only would that be rude and insensitive of him, he wanted her close by, so he could keep an eye on her and make sure she followed the doctor’s orders to the letter. They had three shots at this. He didn’t want anything going wrong.
“Nonsense,” he told her. “You’ll stay with me.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”
They pushed out the door into the blazing afternoon heat where his car sat at the curb already waiting for him. “Of course I’m sure.”
“In that case, thanks. It’s been years since I’ve been to your house.”
Three years to be exact. The day of Becca’s funeral.
They stopped on the sidewalk near the limo. He really should get back to work, but she’d driven all this way and the least he could do was feed her.
“Why don’t I buy you lunch?”
“I really need to get going,” she said apologetically. “I’ll probably just swing into the drive-through on my way home.”
She would decline his invitation for something as unpalatable as fast food? Not to mention unhealthy. “Are you sure? There’s a café just around the corner.”
“I promised my folks I would make a few stops for them on the way home, and I don’t want to get back too late. Can I take a rain check?”
“Of course,” he said, though her casual refusal puzzled him. When it came to women, he was usually the one declining offers. And lately there had been plenty of them, no thanks to one of his coworkers who thought Adam had done enough grieving and needed to get back into circulation.
Not that Adam considered Katy a woman. In the relationship sense, that is. In his eyes she was a business associate. One who was looking at him curiously.
“What?”
“If it means that much to you, we can go,” she said.
“Go?”
“To lunch. You looked…I don’t know…disappointed.”
Had he? “No, of course not.”
“You’re sure? Because I can make the time.”
“Of course I’m sure.”
She didn’t look as though she believed him. “I know this has to be tough for you. I mean, as much as you want a child, they’re Becca’s eggs. It must stir up a lot of feelings.” She took a step toward him, reached out and put a hand on his arm. Why did she have to do that? Be so…physical? “If you need someone to talk to—”
“I don’t,” he assured her, his gaze straying to her cleavage. Probably because there was so much of it, and she was standing so close that it was right there, inches from his face. Okay, more than inches, but still.
“Hello!” she said, snapping her fingers in front of his eyes, until he lifted them to hers. “I’m trying to be nice, and all you can do is stare at my boobs? And people wonder why I dress the way I do.”
She was right. That was totally inappropriate. He was acting like he’d never seen breasts before. When not only had he seen breasts, he’d seen hers.
“I apologize,” he said, keeping his eyes on her face. “And no, I don’t need to talk.”
“I just figured you asked me to lunch for a reason.”
“I did. I thought you might be hungry.”
She sighed heavily. “Okay. But I’m here if you change your mind. Just call me.”
“I won’t.”
“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to lighten up a little. You’re so serious all the time. That can’t be healthy.”
“You’ve never seen me at work. I’m a party animal.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you are.”
“So I’ll see you next week?” he asked, anxious to end this nightmare of a conversation. She seemed to have an annoying way of getting under his skin.
“See you next week.”
She turned and sashayed to her truck, hips swaying, curls bouncing. Anyone looking at her would know, just from the way she walked, that she had attitude.
And suddenly he was picturing her naked again. Wondering what she would have done if he’d stepped into her room, if he had reached for her…
“Sir?” Reece said, and Adam realized he was standing there holding the door open, and he’d heard their entire exchange. “She’s something, huh?”
She was something all right. He just hadn’t quite figured out what.
“She’s really quite beautiful, isn’t she?”
“I guess.”
Reece didn’t say a word, but his expression said he knew his boss was full of it. That any red-blooded heterosexual male would have to be blind not to think she was totally hot. But the last thing Adam needed was for his driver to think he had a thing for his surrogate. Not that he didn’t trust Reece implicitly, but there were certain lines a man did not cross, even hypothetically.
This was definitely one of them.
* * *
Katy