Free Unnatural Relations (Lust and Lies Series, Book 1) by Marilyn Campbell Page A

seem worth it for just a few nights.
    She expected to have trouble falling asleep with him so close. The moment her head touched the pillow, however, she was out and remained in a deep, dreamless sleep until her stomach performed its new wake-up ritual.
    The worst of it was over, and she was splashing her face with cool water when Russ knocked on the bathroom door.
    "Babe? Are you okay?"
    "I'm fine," she lied. "I'll be out in a few minutes." Fighting her quivering muscles, she quickly brushed the foul taste out of her mouth and took a hot shower to wash away the cold sweat. By the time she opened the bathroom door, she was more or less back to normal, but Russ stepped in front of her so unexpectedly, she nearly dropped to her knees again.
    His hands caught and supported her as she headed back to the bed. "You're not fine," he scolded. "What's the matter?"
    "You just frightened me, that's all." Her words were contradicted by the way her body gave in to the need to lie down.
    "Uh-uh. You can't lie to Uncle Russ. In case you've forgotten, I'm very familiar with the sound of you heaving up your guts in the toilet. But that wasn't from drinking too much Chianti, was it?"
    She closed her eyes. If she could just rest for a few minutes, she might make it through another day.
    "Barbara. Answer me."
    "It's probably the flu," she murmured. "There's a lot of it going around."
    "Do you want me to call the restaurant for you and tell them you won't be in?"
    The need to return to sleep was rapidly seducing her. "No, I'll be fine in an hour."
    When she awoke again, her stomach was only slightly queasy... until she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and saw Russ sitting in a chair right next to her. He was staring at her so intently she wondered if she'd grown horns while she was asleep. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked as she got up and wrapped the robe more tightly around her.
    "How do you feel?"
    She felt his eyes following her to the kitchenette. "Fine."
    "No kidding. I never heard of a one-hour flu bug," he said, coming up behind her. His hands closed over her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"
    She stepped away from him and opened the cupboard door. "What I'd like is a cup of tea and some toast without conversation. We'll get along much better when you realize I'm not very sociable when I first wake up."
    He shrugged and went back to the chair he'd vacated, but his gaze remained glued to her while she prepared and ate her light breakfast.
    "All right!" she finally said. "What do you want me to tell you?"
    "Did Howard knock you up?"
    Her objection to the way he phrased it made her want to defend Howard despite the fact that he didn't deserve her support. "I don't know." She sighed, realizing that the lie wasn't fooling either one of them. "Probably. I'm two weeks late and have every other symptom in the book, but I haven't been to a doctor."
    "Not seeing a doctor won't make the baby disappear."
    "Don't you think I know that?" she shot back at him in an exasperated voice. "I'm sorry. This isn't your problem."
    He walked over and sat down at the kitchen table with her. "How can you think that?" He grasped her hand and squeezed it. "Howard is the best friend I ever had and you're already more of a friend than he was. Did you turn me away yesterday when I came to you for help? Of course not. And I'm not going to turn away from you now. In fact this could work out great. We could help each other."
    She tried to retrieve her hand but he held fast. "That's very sweet of you, Russ, but I'd rather not rely on anyone else to get through this."
    He frowned, but didn't argue the point. He gave her hand another squeeze then let it go. "Sure, babe. I understand. Just know that I'm here if you do need someone."
    Now that her fear had been spoken aloud, she had no choice but to do something about it. On the recommendation of one of the waitresses she worked with, she called a woman