“I was late for the shower. I’m sorry about that. But let’s not turn it into something it’s not, okay?”

Biting his tongue and holding back the desire to shake her until she leveled with him, Nick nodded.

She brushed past him, and he followed her, relieved to have found her but still riddled with worries. She’d said exactly what she thought he needed to hear. But the wall was still up, and he was beginning to wonder if it would ever come down again.

The gifts had been opened and properly oohed and ahhed over. She’d eaten and laughed with her sisters and coworkers and even razzed his deputy chief of staff, Terry O’Connor, a man she’d tangled with in the past, about his flirtation with Chief Medical Examiner Lindsey McNamara.

Their guests left with an impression of a happy bride eagerly awaiting her big day. The moment the last guest left, though, Sam mentioned a headache and went upstairs to bed. Before the miscarriage, they’d always gone to bed together. Always. Now, it seemed she couldn’t go far enough out of her way to avoid him.

Listening to the soft cadence of her breathing, he remembered something she’d once shared about being lonely with her ex-husband. She’d said that even when Peter was sitting right next to her on the sofa or lying next to her in bed, she was often lonely in the relationship. They’d vowed to never let that happen to them. Yet here in the dark of night with the woman he’d waited so long to find sleeping right next to him, Nick was lonelier than he’d ever been in his life.

Chapter 2

Sam waited impatiently in the exam room. Harry was running late, but she’d forgive him since he snuck her in last-minute on a Monday morning. At least this time he wouldn’t have his hands all over her girl parts.

A knock on the door preceded him into the room. “So sorry to keep you waiting, Sam. I had an emergency earlier that’s put me behind.”

“No problem.” Like she did every time she saw Nick’s close friend, Sam admired his dark hair, handsome face and adorable dimples.

“Nice shower the other night.”

“It really was. My sisters went all out.”

“I gotta say, I’m surprised to see you this week,” he said. “I figured you’d have far more important things to do than to check in with me.”

“I need a favor.”

His smile faded and his brows knitted with concern. “Everything okay with you and Nick?”

“Yeah, sure. Everything’s fine. It’s just that… um…”

“Sam,” he said, smiling. “Spit it out. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

“I want something for birth control,” she said in a burst of words. “Something that works right away.”