She trembled. “Let’s go then.”

“Really? Can you get away?”

“To spend a whole week in bed with you? I think it can be arranged.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “But that’s months from now.”

“We’ll both be so busy, the time will fly.”

“Once we move into the new place, things will calm down a bit.” He’d bought a townhouse three doors from her dad’s on Ninth Street so she could be close to her father and to work. “The Realtor is putting my place in Arlington on the market right after the New Year, but we can move into Ninth Street next week.”

She shifted out of his embrace and turned back toward the window. “That’s good.”

He rested his hands on her shoulders. “What’s going on inside that head of yours?”

“Nothing.”

“Samantha. I know you better than that. What gives?”

“Everything’s moving so fast. I’m having trouble catching my breath.”

“It’s been crazy, I won’t deny that, but once we get settled in our place in the city, it’ll calm down. And just think, we’ll be able to sleep later when we don’t have to drive in from Arlington.”

“True.”

“So then what’s the problem?”

With a deep sigh, she turned to face him. “I’m not ready to move in with you yet.”

He tried to hide his disappointment from her. “I wanted us to do this together. Set up the house and stuff.”

“It’d probably be better if you set things up your way. You’re the one who’s particular that way.”

“How long are we talking? A week? A month?”

“I’m not sure. I just know I’m not ready yet.”

A jolt of anger took him by surprise. “Because of Peter.” He’d love to get five minutes alone with her asshole ex-husband, but since the guy was in jail for strapping crude bombs to both their cars and nearly killing Sam, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Not entirely. More because of me.” She rubbed her hand over her belly, a sign that the conversation was stirring up her nervous stomach. “After everything that happened, I’m more cautious than I used to be.”

Anxious to stop the stomach thing before it became a full-blown incident, Nick said, “We can talk about it later, babe. Don’t let your stomach get going. And by the way, you promised you’d get that checked after you closed the O’Connor case.”

“I will. Soon.”

He hugged her, loving the way they fit together so perfectly, like two halves of a whole. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Her cell phone rang, and she pulled back from him to retrieve it from the inside pocket of her suit jacket. “Holland.”

Since the phone was on speaker, he heard Freddie Cruz say, “Lieutenant.”

“What’s going on?”

“Four vics.”

Sam winced. “Kids?”