The Fertility Factor. Jennifer Mikels

call you back.”

      As he swung a look at Lara, she gave him a faint smile. She was stuck in an elevator with him. They could be there for hours. Overnight. What should she talk about? Maybe she shouldn’t say anything. Lord, she didn’t want to act like a ninny.

      “Are you claustrophobic?”

      No, that wasn’t her problem. “No.”

      He grinned at her. “Fearless, aren’t you?”

      Lara wasn’t sure what he meant.

      “You like storms, don’t panic being stuck in an elevator. Fearless.”

      “I don’t think about where we are. Being stuck in an elevator between floors could be unnerving, but it won’t be if you don’t think about it.” How simple she made that sound, how calm she appeared. Far from it. She drew a deep breath. It was insane to be so uneasy. She talked to him every day. So what if they were in a closet-size space? So what if there was no one around to act as a buffer?

      “You did a good job with Mrs. Benson. She was stressing until you reassured her. I’m glad you were here for her this evening. You seem to know the right thing to say,” Derek said.

      Business. Okay, that would be best. They’d discuss business. “Thank you.”

      He gave her a look of compassion. “Lara, could you use a sympathetic shoulder?”

      “Why would you think that?” She hadn’t thought anyone had noticed her blue mood, especially him.

      He stared long and hard at her as if trying to see inside her. “You didn’t bubble today.”

      “Bubble?” He thought she bubbled? Her laugh slipped out.

      “You usually bubble. You’re the sunniest, most smiley person I’ve ever met. But you looked as if you were working at those smiles today.”

      Deliberately she feigned a bright one.

      “It’s not working.”

      Lara heard the teasing lilt in his voice and found herself smiling. “It’s not?”

      “No. You said that you’re not worried about the center closing. Do you have a different work problem?”

      “No, I don’t.” She hesitated then realized she could have talked to co-workers about this at lunch. Why hadn’t she? Why did she feel like sharing her heartache for a friend with him? “I received a call from a high-school friend this morning and—” Her words remained unfinished as the elevator moved a few inches, then jerked to a stop again.

      “Hello,” a male voice yelled down to them. “Anyone there?”

      “Yeah, Frank,” Derek called back.

      Lara was touched that he knew the name of the building’s security man, a retired police detective.

      “It’s Derek Cross and Lara Mancini.”

      Lara mentally groaned. The gossips would have fun tomorrow with that news. She could imagine the whispered words. Guess who was stuck in the elevator? Alone. For hours.

      “Dr. Cross, I’ll get maintenance right on it,” Frank yelled. “You two will be out in a jiffy.”

      “Thanks, Frank,” Derek called back. Swinging a look at her, he shrugged. “We’re stuck. He’ll get maintenance—”

      “Right on it,” she finished for him. Now what? “Looks as if we’ll have plenty of time.”

      “Finish telling me about your friend.”

      As long as she didn’t think too much about them, about the excitement that tingled her skin whenever he was near, she’d make sense. “She’s the same age as me.” When Gena had called, panic had rushed through Lara. Gena’s problem could easily be her own. “She has endometrioses.”

      “She’s been to a specialist?”

      “Yes. The doctor told Gena she might need a hysterectomy.”

      “No kids?” Derek asked, leaning against the back wall of the elevator.

      “No, she doesn’t have any. Learning about Gena has made me aware that time is getting away from me.”

      “You have time.”

      “Not really.” If he’d kiss her, just once, maybe she’d stop thinking about it. “I’m thirty-eight.”

      “I assume you mean the biological clock is ticking.”

      Lara nodded. “Having children matters to me. A lot. I can’t wait any longer.”

      “I didn’t know there was someone special in your life.”

      This wasn’t something she wanted to admit to him. “There isn’t.”

      “Are you talking about artificial—”

      Oh, this was too much. Embarrassing. She sounded as if she was a charity case, couldn’t attract a man. “No, no,” Lara cut in. “I won’t do that. But I’ve made a decision.” She might as well level with him, tell him what he’d probably learn via the center’s gossip grapevine. “Within the next six months, I’ll make every effort to find Mr. Right, to get married. So within the year, I’ll get pregnant.”

      “You make that sound easy.”

      She nearly laughed. “It isn’t or I wouldn’t be in this predicament.”

      “You’ll forget about love and orange blossoms and whatever else?” He smiled again. She realized she loved the way his lips curved in a slow-forming smile. “Are you thinking about a sperm bank?”

      Lara rolled her eyes at him. “I can’t go to a sperm bank or do in-vitro fertilization.”

      “Can’t or won’t?”

      “Won’t. I come from an Italian-American family that believes motherhood is sacred. They’d never understand if I had a baby any way but by the traditional way.”

      “So you’re looking for—”

      Why had she revealed so much to him? “Mr. Right,” she finished for him. “You sound skeptical. Don’t you believe there is a Mr. Right?”

      “Could be fantasy.”

      “You’re a skeptic about love?”

      “For me.” He frowned as if he was surprised he’d told her that. “No man is perfect, Lara.”

      “No, but someone could be perfect for me.”

      He arched a brow. “I guess that’s realistic. What will you do? Look for someone you have a lot in common with?”

      “That would probably be best. I have a few annoying traits.”

      The tease was in his eyes again. “You do?”

      “My family claims I talk too much.” He probably thought so, too. But she rambled when nervous or excited.

      “But you’re interesting.”

      Interesting. Her pulse thudded. “And I laugh a lot.”

      “Cheerful.”

      To say she wasn’t pleased by his take on her would have been a blatant lie. “I drive some people crazy because it takes me a while to finish jobs. I have good intentions, but no one ever said you couldn’t enjoy yourself while doing chores. Right?”

      He shrugged. “I’m from the do-it-and-get-it-done school.”

      He wouldn’t understand. Someone like him would think she was silly.

      “What do you mean when you say it takes you a while? Why does it?”

      She had no choice now except to be honest with him. “I like to sing and dance. What my family