Page 53 of Getting Down to Business

Chapter 11

Alyssa sat next to Gray in the shabby waiting room. She didn’t want to be here, but Gray was right. It was the responsible thing to do.

Every few seconds, he put his hand on her knee in an effort to keep it still. As soon as he removed his hand, she went back to jiggling it again. It was something she did when she was nervous. She remembered how sore the muscles in her legs were in the evenings during Donald’s trial. That had been a lot of jiggling.

“Relax. It’s one prick. You love pricks,” he joked with a big grin. She smiled at his silly humor. It was one of the things she liked about him.

“Alyssa and Grayson?” the nurse called. Hearing their names said together threw her for a second. It sounded almost normal. She shook it off and followed Gray into the room.

The efficient lab tech gestured toward the chair and Gray made the same gesture to Alyssa.

“Ladies first,” he said as he came to stand next to her. The tech affixed the rubber cord on her bicep. Gray took her other hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “You won’t feel a thing,” he promised.

“I can feel the alcohol swab is very cold,” she challenged, knowing she was also going to feel the tiny pinch of the needle, followed by her body’s life fluid being sucked out of her for a futile examination. Or at least she hoped it was futile.

Gray leaned down and kissed her hard on the mouth at the exact same time the needle pierced her skin. She didn’t feel the needle, but she could tell it had happened. To her surprise, he kept kissing her until she felt the tech adhere a bandage and cotton ball to the inside of her elbow.

“All done,” he said, giving her a wink as they traded seats. “It wasn’t so bad was it?”

She shrugged. The kissing had been quite good.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to cook tonight,” she played it up with a wince, letting her arm fall limp at her side.

“I’ll take care of you,” he promised. She flinched at the promise. Years ago, someone else had made that promise.

“You two are so cute. How long have you been married?” the tech asked as she put a bandage on Gray’s arm.

“We’re not married. We aren’t even dating,” Alyssa told her. “I have better taste than this,” she joked, though only Gray laughed. The tech looked him up and down, probably not finding anything out of place.

Not that there was. He was perfect. At least for someone who was looking.

“You’ll hear back with the results by Friday. It says here we can call Mr. Hollinger with the results of both tests?”

“Sure, that’s fine,” Alyssa agreed. She was doing it for his benefit, though it was a good practice to have screening done periodically. And it hadn’t been that bad.

They held hands as they left the office.

It was no wonder the tech was confused. To anyone on the outside they looked like a happy couple.

“Thanks for forcing me to do that,” she said as they walked to work.

“I take offense to the word forcing. I didn’t force you. I asked and you reluctantly agreed.”

“Whichever. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss when they were only a block away from work. Then they both let go of each other’s hands simultaneously.

So far he was respecting her wishes. He hadn’t asked her for anything she wasn’t willing to give. Except maybe the blood.

He was perfect.

He knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t want anyone to know about them. He knew what she liked in bed. He knew her favorite foods.

But there were plenty of things she didn’t know about him. How he was raised, what he did when he was alone, or the search history on his computer. She didn’t know this man. No one ever really knew another person. Not really.

Nothing ever stayed perfect for long.

Alyssa knew that.