“Here’s the deal—I can do a series of invasive tests to rule out anything sinister, or you can give up the soda for a couple of weeks and see if that solves the problem.”

“Define invasive,” she said, swallowing a gulp.

“Down the gullet, up the kazoo—we’d come at you from both ends.”

Sam narrowed her eyes, using her best cop stare to intimidate him.

He never even blinked, the bastard.

“I can see why you and Nick are such good friends.”

Laughing, he said, “I take that as a compliment. So what do you say?”

“Fine! I’ll give it up! But when Nick calls begging you to assist in his suicide, you’ll have only yourself to blame. I’m a total gorilla without my caffeine.”

“You’ll just have to replace it with something equally stimulating, such as exercise or more sex.”

“Not possible,” she grumbled.

Harry flashed her a dirty grin as he typed something into the computer. “No wonder why my buddy is looking so…What’s the word? Satisfied lately.”

Sam glared at him. “I hate you. Almost as much as I hate him—and that’s a lot.”

“You’ll thank us both when you stop having crippling stomach pain.” Before he left the room, he handed her his card. “If you want some more information on the endometriosis treatment, call me. Otherwise, come back in a month so we can see how the soda famine works out. If you have any problems in the meantime, or if the stomach pain continues to be bad, call me. You’ll get the Pap results in the mail.”

“Thank you. I think.”

He left her with one last charming smile. “I can see why Nick loves you.”

Now that wasn’t fair! Just when she was starting to seriously hate him he went and said that! She got dressed while pondering life without soda.

This was not going to be pretty. Not one bit.

Chapter 28

Gasping for air, Freddie used his good arm to reach up to see if the top of his head had blown off. Everything was still where it belonged, but nothing would ever be the same. He’d had no idea it was possible to come that hard and live through it.

“So,” Elin said, peppering his chest and neck with kisses, “did you like it?”

He tried to form the words, but there were none.

She laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Her hand traveled from his chest to his waist, heading south.

Freddie stopped her.

“What’s wrong?”