Rick chuckled and turned right when the light changed. “Awesome. It’ll take us a few minutes.”
I leaned back in the seat, pressing a hand to my stomach. It didn’t feel like I was going to puke, more like a steady, unrelenting queasiness. That was almost worse than full-blown sickness. It would be a relief if I could vomit up whatever was making my stomach go crazy. Maybe Ihadcaught a bug of some sort.
I rolled the window down a few inches, but the moment the wind rushed in, my hair fluttered off my neck.Shit. I quickly rolled it back up. Rick didn’t know the guy had bitten or cut me there. Unlike my other injuries, the wound wasn’t fully healed, and my hair was the only thing concealing it.
Rick gave me a quizzical smile. “What are you doing?”
“Just needed a little blast of fresh air,” I said, trying to conceal my embarrassment.
Sitting up straighter, I tried to compose myself. If Rick and I were going to end up engaged and married at some point, I needed to act the part. I couldn’t drag him down with all my issues. Better to keep some things quiet rather than rock the boat and make things awkward. Rick had enough to worry about without me adding to it.
Rick drove toward a more commercial area downtown, eventually pulling up in front of a fenced-off construction sight. A huge banner hanging from the chain link fence read “Keeble and Jax Construction.” The area was mostly dirt except for the massive foundation. The gray of the concrete stood out against the brown soil.
“Uh, it’s a building,” I said dumbly. “Or, I guess itwillbe a building?”
Rick laughed. “Well, yeah, it’s gonna be a building. This is being financed by The Masters Foundation. Keeble and Jax work for the foundation on construction projects like this. This high-rise will have a combination of retail space and apartments. One-bedrooms starting at ten thousand a month, all the way up to three-bedroom penthouse-style apartments that will go up for full purchase starting at a million dollars minimum.”
The Masters Foundation? So, Rick’s parents were financing all this? The sheer amount of money boggled my mind. Paying ten grand a month for an apartment was unfathomable, much less paying over a million dollars for one. The fact that there were enough people who could afford it to justify the construction of such a massive building showed me again just how low my family was on the financial ladder of the world.
“The bottom floor will have some high-end shops and restaurants. A boutique smoothie place has already expressed interest,” Rick went on.
“Are you getting into real estate?” I couldn’t see how this had anything to do with being a lawyer.
“Sort of,” Rick said. “It’s part of what that trip to Montreal was for. Like I said, my dad’s firm wants to branch out. We’re the financiers of this build, plus he’s letting me take the lead on the legal aspects. We’ve hired an expert real-estate paralegal to join my team since I’m not fully versed in that yet, but I’ve been studying. I’ll be in charge of this project. This is a huge get for our firm, and me in particular.”
“Oh, wow.” I forced excitement into my voice. “That’s amazing, babe.”
“I know.” His hands twisted around the steering wheel with barely suppressed energy
Rick leaned across the center console to kiss me. The scent of his cologne sent another wave of nausea over me. I choked back a retch. Rick, seeing the look on my face, jerked away from me.
“Not in the car!” The look of terror on his face would have been hilarious if I wasn’t fighting for my life to keep myself from puking in his new Jag.
Swallowing hard twice, I took a steadying breath and patted his knee. “I’m all right. I’ll be fine,” I said, even as the nausea continued to roil in my stomach.
“Here, have a drink,” he said, grabbing a bottle of water from his cup holder.
As he handed it to me, I caught the overpowering scent of his cologne again. This time, it was worse.
“Oh, fuck,” I grunted, shoving his hand away and fumbling for the door.
Lurching from the car, I stumbled toward a ditch beside the construction parking lot and vomited. What little I’d eaten at brunch came up in a gush. I panted, tears leaking from my eyes, and retched again, though this time it was only dry-heaving.
“Jesus, Cam,” Rick said as he hurried toward me from the car.
He offered the water bottle again, and this time I took it. Spinning the lid off, I sucked in a mouthful of the tepid liquid. Instead of swallowing, I swished it around with my tongue to rinse the sour taste out of my mouth. I spat, then repeated it again. Rick rubbed my back reassuringly.
“I’m sorry.” I stayed bent over, worried I might throw up again.
“Do you have a stomach virus or something?” Then, in a horrified voice, Rick added, “Oh shit, it’s not food poisoning, is it? I swear to God, I’ll have that place shut down.”
“No. It was just your cologne. For some reason, it set me off.”
Rick’s eyes narrowed, and a faint smile spread across his lips. The look on his face was one I’dneverseen before: a combination of surprise and shock. He wrapped his hand protectively around my shoulders, kneeling down to be close to me. I choked back another retch as his smell hit me again.
“You’re nauseous and tired. Food and smells make it worse,” he said, almost under his breath. “Cameron, is there a chance you could be pregnant?”
My shock drove back my nausea. “Excuse me?” I gaped at him.
