for weeks.’ And since the moment he’d walked back into his bedroom and found her gone, again, he’d had a keen sense of loss. Something missing from his life. Something missing from his bed. Now he finally had her attention he was going to keep it. ‘I liked the way we were before. When we had a laugh.’
‘You’re very busy and important, Max. You went away to a conference for a fortnight—can’t blame me for that—and I couldn’t help getting sick. You’ve seen me most other days.’
‘And every time I hit your radar you disappear behind a curtain with a patient or into a meeting. The toilet. Lunch. Timbuktu. It’s close on six weeks since...’ Okay, so, yes, he’d been counting. No big deal. He just, well, he missed her.
Dating other women had been dropped from his agenda, as had mindless sex. Nothing seemed quite as vibrant and bright without her in it—particularly his apartment, although his deck was all kinds of Technicolor with those darned flowers.
Putting his hand on her arm, he managed to get her to focus on him. Stopped himself from planting a kiss on those chocolate-stained lips. ‘Look, we need to talk.’
Uncertainty flickered behind her eyes. ‘We do? Why?’
‘I have news.’ His chest swelled. He’d been trying to tell her this for days. It was ridiculous to be so damned excited about something so inane.
Her lips tightened. ‘What do you mean? News?’
‘We’re going to be parents.’
‘What? What on earth are you talking about?’ Her cheeks pinkened, her eyes narrowed. For a second she looked spooked—no, abjectly terrified. She shook her head. ‘No...no, we’re not. We can’t—’
‘Yes. One of the plants has a new sprout. I think it’s having a baby.’
‘Really? A plant?’ To his relief her mouth relaxed and she laughed, running her fingers over that silver heart at her throat. ‘I thought you meant... How could you...? Oh, never mind. Wow. You’ve done good.’
He nodded. ‘I know. And thank you, by the way, for the three extra mouths to feed. Now that I have a jungle family to care for, I don’t have time to sleep.’
‘The geranium needed company. And seeing that champagne isn’t classed as an essential food group, I thought you needed some decent nutrition in your fridge, too. It was the least I could do.’ And she truly did look a little shame-faced that she’d sneaked out on him again.
‘Especially after you vanished, leaving me hard and half-naked and wanting you so much I thought I was going to die.’ Ignoring her frown, he steered her to the laundry loading bay. Luckily it was deserted, save for a very large truck. He pulled her behind it, out of sight from the main corridor. ‘Thing is, I had a lot more in mind that day.’
Holding her coffee cup up as a barrier, she tugged away from him. ‘Well, I considered what you had to do—whatever that was—a lot more important than what we had planned.’
Was he missing something here? She was making a point but it was beyond him. ‘I had to go and sort out Jamie’s discharge meds. Then there was that conference. I did come and look for you.’
‘I know. I understand.’ But she wasn’t giving him much hope for any sort of reconciliation.
‘We miss you.’ At her frown he explained. ‘Our family.’
‘You are so ridiculous.’ She started to walk away, chucked her coffee cup into the trash, along with his hope. The conversation ended.
He reached out for her, but she was too quick. ‘Wait, Gabby.’
His phone rang. ‘Wait...’
Her back stiff, she retreated into the main corridor. ‘Busy day, Mr Maitland.’
Now they were back to ‘Mr’ again. ‘Wait.’
In three strides he caught her up, grabbed her hand. His phone blared again.
She tugged.
His phone screeched louder. ‘Oh...crap.’ He lifted the phone to his ear. ‘Maitland.’
She stopped. Waited for him to finish his conversation. The whole time she stared at him, unable to wriggle out of his grip. Her face darkened, reddened, lips tightening into the thinnest line he’d ever seen. Her eyes blazed raw and black. And all he could think of was how she’d looked sprawled on her desk, panting and spent. Vulnerable, but so vibrant. How he wanted to make her wriggle like that again.
He flicked his phone back into his pocket. ‘Your desk is only two floors away. We could make it in five minutes. Two if we run. What do you say?’
‘I say let go of me, Maitland, or I call Security.’ Her voice was loud and unwavering.
Smiling