Maybe she’d send good old Harry a bill for her time. She smiled. Yes, that would make her feel much better, and it would piss Nick off, too. Sam loved a plan that killed two birds with one stone.

After a brisk knock on the door, Harry came in a few minutes later, full of apologies for keeping her waiting. Of course he was totally hot. Wasn’t that just her luck? Why couldn’t he have been homely? Then she wouldn’t have cared about him poking around in her parts. That he was also Nick’s good friend made this even more uncomfortable and embarrassing. Why in the world had she agreed to this? Because Nick asked you to, she reminded herself. Yeah, well, right now I hate him.

“It’s so great to meet you.” Harry shook her hand, his brown eyes sparkling with warmth. “I was sorry I couldn’t make it to your New Year’s party, but Nick’s told me all about you.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep, and of course I’ve read about you two in the paper.”

Sam scowled. “Hasn’t everyone?”

He laughed, and she realized he had dimples. Cute dimples. Great.

Harry sobered, but his eyes continued to dance with delight. “I suppose I should call him ‘Senator’ now.”

“If you do, I’ll shoot you. I’m trying to keep him humble.”

“Nick said I would like you, and he was right.” He washed his hands and pulled up a stool. “So what brings you here today?”

“Just this deal with my stomach,” she said as the organ in question took a nasty dive.

“What kind of deal?”

She took a deep breath to counteract the surge of pain. “It, well, it kind of runs my life. Whenever I get nervous or anxious about something, it acts up.”

“Are we talking reflux or heartburn or pain?”

“Pain.”

“On a scale of one to ten, where’s it at?”

“Um, twenty?”

“Huh. Well, that’s no fun.” Sam laughed. “Not so much. Nick’s all freaked out by it.”

“With good cause, I’d say.”

“Figures you’d side with him. You guys all stick together.”

“We have to. It’s us against you. Let’s go over your history, and then we’ll take a look.”

Despite her best intentions to hate him as much as she hated Nick at the moment, Sam liked him, so she decided to level with him about everything—from the miscarriages to the endometriosis that had stolen her fertility, she laid it all out there.

“Huh,” he said again. “How long ago did you hear that you were unlikely to conceive again?”

“Three years.”

“And have you been seen since then?”

“No.”

His eyes widened. “For anything?”

She shook her head. “I basically swore off doctors after that last episode.”

“I don’t have to tell you that’s kind of dumb, do I?”