by Jade White
“Are those your important files?” Thomas asked.
His voice sounded as if he was talking through water. She kept her research locked up, but now she was terrified someone had gotten to it. With that in mind, she ran back toward her office and threw the door open to find a similar scene. Things were everywhere, her safe was bashed in, but they didn’t appear to have gotten into it. She was thankful she splurged and paid for the best safe when she ordered it for her office. It had been battered, but it put up one hell of a fight and seemed to have won.
The police lights bounced off her walls as she looked around, lots of her personal possessions she had collected over the years were destroyed. Pictures of her patients as they found out they were pregnant. Frames holding the babies she had helped come to term were crushed. The whole thing seemed very personal and she was feeling very violated. It was almost as if she had been attacked physically.
The whole situation was unreal to her. She turned around, her arms limp to her side as she took in everything. Melissa rubbed her eyes, willing herself to wake up from the nightmare, but as much as she rubbed, she knew it was reality. Going back into the front, she saw Tilly was talking to the police on one side and Thomas was talking to Bruce on the other.
It took her mind a second to realize Bruce was just as real as the destruction around her.
“Bruce!” Melissa exclaimed. He abruptly stopped talking to Thomas, who was in the middle of what seemed to be a heated conversation, and walked to hug her tightly. “What the hell happened here? Was it Nathaniel?”
Ugh, she was never going to live down her life with Nathaniel. She had a feeling every time something bad happened, he would be the first person they would connect it with. Wasn’t she allowed to have one mistake in her otherwise pristine existence?
“No, it really wasn’t,” she said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
Her office had been violated. Her personal possessions destroyed. Couldn’t they give her some slack? Thomas walked over and both men looked at each other. She watched as they assessed each other, and wondered if they were going to whip out their dicks and perform a measuring contest. Seriously, did they not realize it wasn’t the best time to play “I’m the better alpha”? There was a whole lot of tension, and even the police that were wandering around taking pictures kept throwing the two men looks, waiting to see if they were going to have to jump in to split them apart. Melissa knew the reason Bruce was posturing up. He was her friend and trusted colleague, and he didn’t think she should be hurting her body to have Thomas’ baby, especially when they weren’t even a couple. Bruce had seen firsthand what the treatments did to her body as he pushed the plunger down. She knew it upset him that she continued to take the treatments when it was making her physically ill. She wasn’t sure what Thomas’ issue was, and at the moment, she didn’t even care.
She felt like she was an outsider as she turned away from Bruce and Thomas and watched police poke and prod through her office. The police went around looking at everything and she sank down on the tattered couch out front as she waited to be useful. An officer came to talk to her and she had to concentrate really hard to focus on what he was saying. Her brain was begging her to shut down and process everything at another time. She wanted to listen, but knew she couldn’t.
“Any reason someone would want to harm you or your business?” one of the faceless officers asked her.
“I think from what my walls say they don’t like that I do fertility treatments to help women have babies. Some people think it’s unnatural for doctors to interfere in what they feel is God’s work. I don’t know who would go to this extreme though. I’m not sure who would be capable of this. Most don’t even realize this is a fertility clinic. It is one of the reasons I chose this location because it is hidden away for the most part.”
“Do you have any security cameras?” he asked.
“No.” Melissa said, staring at one of the bigger rips in her couch.
“All right. We’re going to go around and ask people if they saw anything. Maybe check if there’s any footage around that we can use. If we get any leads, we’ll give you a call.”
“Okay, thank you, officer,” she said dejectedly.
Melissa knew they weren’t going to find the person who did it. She had seen her share of crime shows on TV and knew how unlikely finding the suspect or suspects in a case like hers was. It didn’t seem like they really could with no leads and not really knowing what time the vandalism occurred. She really wanted them to find the people that tried to destroy her livelihood, but she knew it wasn’t possible. At the moment, she felt powerless to an unknown assailant and she wasn’t sure how she was going to regain any power to make herself feel normal again.
Thomas walked over to her, standing over her with a concerned look on his face. “I already have a clean-up crew on their way and a contractor coming to fix up this front door.”
Melissa nodded her head, not sure how to use words at the moment.
“Oh Mr. Fix-it,” Tilly cooed from the other side of the room earning a glare from Melissa. Of course Tilly would never forget how to speak in a crisis.
“You didn’t have to do that, Thomas.” She finally found her voice, afraid if she didn't speak up, Tilly would say something else to try and mortify her.
Melissa was grateful, but a little embarrassed he was taking care of everything. It really wasn’t his place to do anything. It wasn’t like they were a couple and he felt responsible for her happiness. It made sense that he would want her to be safe since she was about to become the mother of his child, but to fix things in her life that had nothing to do with the baby seemed wrong to her. She had already got her hopes up the night before when they went out to dinner, and she was embarrassed how crushed she was when he mentioned going out with Hilary. She wasn’t going to allow herself to feel warm and fuzzy for him again just so he could stomp on her feelings with some supermodel blonde on his arm. No, she had learned the hard way the only person she could depend on was herself. She was perfectly capable of calling a fix-it crew and putting her office back into order.
“Nonsense,” he said, dismissing her need to put distance between them.
Melissa wondered if he really was as clueless to her desires as he was acting.
“Really, my insurance company should be taking care of this. It’s the reason I pay them for things like this. I don’t need your crew.” She tried not to let the anger of her office being destroyed and her weird jealousy cloud her voice, but she had a feeling she wasn't as successful as she wanted to be.
“My crew can work with your insurance company. Truly, it is no problem. It will all work out; let me help you with this.” He put a hand on her arm. Melissa opened her mouth to argue some more, but he cut her off. “I don’t want you to stress out about anything, you guys take the day off and let my crew handle it.”
She wanted to tell him no, but the concern in his eyes was her undoing. They both stared at each other, and at least for Melissa, the rest of the world, especially her destroyed office, faded away into the background. He looked so warm and inviting to her. Why did he have to have Hilary for a client? she thought as they were lost in each other’s eyes.
“We can do your shots at my office today instead, okay, Melissa?” Bruce said, breaking her out of her stare down with Thomas.
Thomas blinked and stepped back half a step as if he had just realized they weren’t alone. Melissa silently cursed and thanked Bruce at the same time for ending the spell she had been stuck under. Thomas had Hilary so there was no reason for her to pretend he was going to be something he wasn’t. They made the terms of the agreement, and if she thought about it hard enough, she would remind herself why wanting Thomas to take care of her was a bad thing. She just had to think, really hard.
“Okay,” Melissa nodded to Bruce, ignoring Thomas and Tilly. “Let me go get everything we need. Then I’ll meet you at your office.”
“I can help you,” Bruce s
aid moving as if he was going to follow her back into the exam area where she kept her injections.
“No. You go open up your office and I’ll be there in a little while. I need a moment to get my head straight.”
“Are you sure?” Bruce asked, still not moving to leave.
“She said she needed some time. She’ll meet you at your office when she gets her shots.” Thomas moved so he was standing front of Melissa, blocking her view from Bruce.
After a moment, Melissa heard Bruce move away, his footsteps heading toward the shattered door.
“I’ll see you at my office,” he said as one final jab before he left.
CHAPTER NINE
This was not over. Thomas watched Bruce walk away, his face hard, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t follow him out and find out what his relationship with Melissa was. At the moment, making sure Melissa was okay was his main priority. He knew how her anxiety would overtake her, and he didn’t want her to go into another attack. Bruce would have to wait for another day.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about the relief he felt when he realized that Bruce was a doctor. A doctor that had been assisting Melissa in her injections. The jealousy he felt was unwanted when he heard them on the phone talking about spending the day together. He had thought he heard sarcasm hinted in her voice, but the heat the jealousy caused wouldn’t let him think straight. He still wasn’t happy when they embraced as soon as she noticed he was at her office.
The moment he saw Bruce's arms wrapped around her, a primal urge to pull her away from him and claim her as his swarmed him. He had to stop the bear inside of him from turning loose. It was obvious Bruce cared for her in more than just a friendly way. In that moment, he decided to he was going to start taking care of her the way he should have the second she agreed to have his baby. He wanted to wait and ease her into his help, but that option left the building as soon as her arms accepted Bruce.
When he mentioned that his crew was coming in to fix her office, he expected resistance. He saw it in her eyes when she told him she didn’t need him to help her, but he wasn’t backing down. When she agreed to let him help without much of a fight, Thomas realized how much this break-in had messed with her. The normal self-assured, independent doctor was reduced to a scared, lost little girl. He didn’t like it, and he was going to fix it as fast as he could.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Melissa move around the wreckage and go toward the back of her office. He turned to follow, but not before Tilly shot him a saucy wink. He smiled at her and threw one back at her. At least he knew he had Tilly on his side. As he followed the steady clip of Melissa’s heels, his eyes strayed to the mess around him. When he re-read the message left on the wall, he saw red. Someone was messing with the wrong bear. He had waited too long and wanted this baby too much for someone to threaten what they were doing. Melissa was giving him a child. The one thing nobody else was able to do. And nobody threatened his child.
Melissa stopped in front of an overhead drawer and leaned her forehead against it. Thomas watched her shoulders drop in defeat. Without thought of what he was doing, he walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her body tensed under his hold. After a second, she exhaled loudly and leaned into his chest allowing herself to be held up by his strength.
Thomas’ heart sped up as he held her. The urge to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder until he got her somewhere safe took hold in his head. He wanted to take care of her and the thought terrified him.
“I set up dinner with my parents on Friday. They would really like to meet you.” Thomas’ bear sat up and beat its chest wanting him to say so much more. He needed to get himself in check before he did something stupid.
Melissa’s head nodded on his chest, her hair rubbing against it and as embarrassing as it was his body started to respond to her closeness. He needed to get laid so he could get these thoughts he shouldn't be having out of his head. His date with Hilary needed to hurry up and get here. He tried to convince himself his reaction to Melissa was purely due to the fact he hadn’t been with a woman since they started this whole baby thing.
“I think we should have sex on Wednesday,” Melissa said, shocking him out of his thoughts of Hilary.
His body seized up for a second as her words settled in his head. “I thought we were going to wait a while?” Thomas wanted to smack himself on the forehead. This is what he wanted and he was trying to talk her out of it.
“Thomas, you had two men attack you last night and warn you off our plans. My office has been demolished, and from what they painted on the walls, they are not okay with us doing this. I’m not sure who is doing this, but I have a feeling they aren’t going to stop their threats. I would like to get started as soon as possible. Time is no longer on our side.”
Melissa sounded weary and Thomas’ arms wound around her waist pulling her as close as he could.
“I have a date with Hilary on Thursday.” Why did he say that? He couldn’t believe how bad he was handling this whole situation.
After he spoke, it was Melissa’s turn to stiffen. He silently cursed himself for telling her about Hilary. And he mentally slugged himself in the nuts when he held his breath, hoping she would tell him not to go and stay with her. This girl was getting to him in the worst way, and for the moment he didn’t want to fight it. He was putting the ball in her court, and hoped she would take it.
“That’s fine. It’s not going to take two days of intercourse to get me pregnant. I will take my major injections today and give it a day to take its course. They make me sleepy for over twenty-four hours, so I will be completely recovered by Wednesday. One or two ejaculations should be sufficient and then you can go on your date with Hilary.”
Thomas looked down and scowled at the top of her head. Her answer shouldn’t have disappointed him the way it did. His bear was slamming against his senses to claim her as his, and she was basically telling him to date other women. Her clinical tone set him on edge. She was exasperating.
His arms fell to his sides and Melissa stepped away from his body leaving a cold spot where her body heat no longer resided. She turned around, her eyes shut down of any emotion, blocking him from finding out what he wanted to know.
“I think we should do it in a hotel. I was going to suggest my office so I have all the equipment readily available, but that’s too clinical for me.” She smiled at Thomas, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Thomas crossed his arms over his chest so he wouldn’t grab onto her shoulders and shake some sense into her.
“A hotel?” he asked, his voice gruff.
She nodded her head, her eyes drifting away from his face, no longer making eye contact. “Yes, a hotel. There won’t be any distractions and we can get it done with quickly. It also provides amenities such as a restroom and shower. I know a couple that have vacancies.”
Thomas stopped her before she could keep talking. He was angry with the way she was planning on making their child. He knew they agreed on just what they were doing, but he didn’t like it. His hand reached out and gently grasped her chin, lifting it so she had to look at him.
“I’ll take care of the hotel. I will pick you up at five on Wednesday.”
Her eyes widened as he spoke. She nodded her head and he felt a sense of victory run through him.
“Get what you need and I’ll walk you to your car. My crew should be here any minute.”
“You don’t have to wait for me,” she stared to protest.
“Melissa, get your stuff,” he told her, pinching the bridge of his nose. She had him all over the place and he needed to stop letting her get to him.
She turned around and unlocked the cabinet in front of her. She pulled out seven vials and syringes. Thomas took in everything she was doing for him, and his heart softened. The vials were big and some of the liquid looked thick and had to be painful when inserted. He felt guilty. They talked every day and she explained to him what she was doing w
ith the injections, but seeing it firsthand made his stomach churn at the pain she was subjecting herself to. He also realized she wasn’t being completely honest with him about how brutal the treatments really were.
“Melissa, I’m sorry,” he whispered, the anguish in his voice apparent.
She turned to him, holding the black padded bag her she had placed everything in for transport. “What are you sorry for? I’ve already told you this isn’t your fault.”
“This is my fault,” he said, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “You are doing all of this on your own. All I have to do is get you pregnant. You are the one sacrificing everything.”
Her eyes softened and a small smile appeared on her face. “Thomas, I want this baby just as much as you do. Parents sacrifice for their children. I don’t mind the pain because I know it’s going to be worth it when I get to hold our child.”
Thomas’ heart beat hard in his chest. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it leaped out of his chest and fell into her hands. She was dangerous. Everything she said to him was perfect, and he was afraid he was going to do something to ruin it. He needed to keep his distance.
“You are already an amazing mother to our child. I appreciate you so much.”
The wonder in his voice made her smile notch up, taking his breath away.
“Thomas, your crew is here.” Tilly broke into the bubble they had surrounded themselves with.
Melissa blinked, the smile disappearing from her face. “All right. I’d better go get these shots in. I know Bruce has patients today and I don’t want to disrupt his schedule anymore today. I guess I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
It was Thomas’ turn to smile at the pink in Melissa’s cheeks when she mentioned c-day. As much as she pretended he didn’t get to her, every once in a while and maybe a couple of flushed cheeks and he knew the truth. She had an amazing poker face, but even the best couldn’t hide it all the time.