by Tina Beckett
“She can stay with me until she finds a place. I have a guest room.”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. That guest bed hadn’t been used in a week.
Brad caught her eye, and one corner of his mouth lifted. Yep. Her face was as red as the business end of a branding iron. And her handsome host had marked her for life.
“Let me just find something to put the flowers in. Thank you for bringing them.”
“You’re welcome.”
Taking the flowers and feeling guilty for abandoning Brad, she hurried away to the kitchen.
Jason’s voice, low as it might be, followed her into the room. “I’m holding you to that promise.”
What promise? He had to be talking to Brad, not her.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“Good. Because she’s already been hurt by one asshole. Don’t make it two.” Her brother gave a quick laugh that was halfway between jest and warning. “Because I’ll be coming for you if you do.”
Jason had underestimated his sister.
Brad was rapidly discovering just how strong Chloe was. She was a great nurse, compassionate, efficient and capable as hell. Even if he hadn’t had an ulterior motive in hiring her, she’d be a great catch for any hospital. Or for any man.
Anyone except for him.
As if summoned, she came out of one of the exam rooms, a file folder in her hand. She gave him a little wave and a smile.
Was it his imagination, or was there a little bounce to her step that hadn’t been there two weeks ago?
Maybe there was. But that sexy little blush was still there, as strong as ever. All she had to do was look at him and her face lit up like a set of red Christmas lights.
He was almost sure that Layla had figured something out. And maybe even Cade.
That, on the other hand, gave him no pleasure at all. He’d made a huge mistake with Katrina and had paid dearly for it. He thought he’d learned his lesson, but maybe not.
But this wasn’t a real affair, right? Emotions weren’t involved. Not that they’d been involved with Katrina either. At least, not on his side. Sex was sex, and nothing more.
There were times he wondered if his parents had messed him up for good. Left him with a hole where his heart should be. Deprive a kid of love for long enough, lock him away where he can’t be seen or get into trouble, and maybe that organ shriveled down to a useless hunk of flesh, good for nothing except pumping blood from one place to the next.
Chloe plunked the file into a holder outside one of the rooms and made her way over to him, bumping her shoulder against his arm. “How’s it going?”
The playful tone seemed to heighten his recent misgivings. His lips tightened. “Let’s keep our personal and professional lives separate, shall we?”
He knew he’d hurt her the second she took a step back, her teeth nibbling on her lower lip. “Sorry. No one’s around, and I just thought …” She squared her shoulders. “It won’t happen again.”
Jason’s words came back to haunt him: “She’ sal-ready been hurt by one asshole. Don’t make it two.”
“Hey.” He reached for her hand, only to have her take another step back.
“I have to get back to my patient, Dr. Davis.” The cool tone and her use of his title drilled home the fact that he couldn’t hold her to one standard while holding himself to another. In other words, hands off while at the hospital. It seemed to have worked a little too well, because her cheeks weren’t pink at the moment, they were as pale as ivory. She wasn’t thinking about the way they’d passed their morning before coming to work.
And he doubted he’d be passing his evening that way either.
Aware of Brad’s eyes following her progress, she headed for the exam room. She knew he wanted to keep things quiet at work, so why had she gone and done something so stupid? Because it was hard for her to compartmentalize things the way Brad evidently could. He could make love to her by night and then coolly go about his day as if nothing had happened.
And really it hadn’t. Not for him anyway.
Just as she touched the door, the phone at the nurses’ station buzzed.
Damn. So much for a quick exit. Ignoring him and moving back to the central desk, she picked up the phone. “Prenatal, this is Chloe.”
“Hey, Chloe. Guess who?”
The blood drained from her face at the sound of the voice on the other end of the line. “Travis?”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Brad’s head swivel her way. She put her head down and stared at an open chart, hoping he’d just go away. Why did the men in her life have to end up being jerks? Although somehow Brad’s words had wounded her much more than Travis’s ever had. Something she didn’t want to dissect at the moment. “Why are you calling me?”
“Why do you think? I made a mistake. I want you to come home.”
This time, rather than the show of tears he’d put on the last time he’d gotten caught, there was an almost sneering quality to his voice that made her skin crawl. As if he knew something she didn’t. “You can talk to my lawyer. We’re through.”
Hopefully Brad had already gone off to see a patient or something.
“Not quite. Did you know your parents pulled their accounts last week?”
What did that have to do with her? “Does that surprise you? It would be kind of a conflict of interest to manage your ex’s parents’ investment funds, don’t you think?”
“No, because we’re going to kiss and make up.”
She couldn’t believe he’d actually said that. “That’s not going to happen.”
“No? I’m sure they … and your lawyer would be interested in knowing that you’re now shacking up with your boss. Along with other more interesting things.”
Was he threatening her? How did he even know about Brad? She glanced up to find the man in question standing in front of the desk, brows lifted in question. She shook her head and motioned for him to go away. He stayed right where he was.
“Good luck with that,” she said. “If you think my parents are going to be railroaded into letting you handle their financial affairs, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“It might be fun to try. How’s that working out, by the way? Is he tired of playing doctor with a terminal patient yet?”
Meaning her. Oh, God. And she’d thought he couldn’t hurt her any more. She should have hung up the second she’d heard his voice. Why hadn’t she? Because she’d wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone else she cared about.
Tears formed in her eyes and she averted her glance, terrified she might break down in front of Brad. He’d already witnessed one freak-out session, she didn’t want to make it two. “He … he isn’t playing doctor—”
Fingers prised hers from the receiver, making her realize just how hard she’d been gripping it. Putting the phone to his ear for a second or two, Brad listened before dropping it back onto the handset.
“I’ll have his calls blocked.”
She twined her hands together, bile rising in her throat. “He threatened to tell my parents about us.”
“Let him.”
She blinked back her surprise. How could he be so calm about it after he’d lectured her earlier for teasing him? It brought to mind what she’d heard her brother say the other morning. “Did you promise Jason you wouldn’t sleep with me?”
“I did.” He didn’t bat an eye.
“Then why did you?”
“I didn’t want you sleeping with someone else to get what you need.”
She nodded. Her voice small, she had to ask the question that had hovered since their first time together. “Did you want me at all?”
He reached over to finger a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. “I think I’ve already answered that question as well. Do you want me to prove it right here?”
Something in her relaxed. Travis knew exactly where to hit her, but Brad knew exactly how to calm her fears. She was almost ready to forgive him for his earlier words. “Wh
at about keeping the private and professional lives separate?”
“I shouldn’t have said that, Chloe. I know you’re not going to broadcast it over the hospital loudspeaker.”
She thought about Travis’s call. “I don’t need to, evidently.”
“You want to know what I think?”
Did she? Maybe he thought they should call a halt to things.
“Yes.”
“He was fishing. He doesn’t know anything.”
He paused, his hands dropping to his sides before he continued. “That man damaged something very precious, and I’ll never forgive him for that.”
Chloe swallowed back a wave of emotion. This coming from Brad—a man who, as a boy, had been dealt a hand just as bad as hers. Worse really, because she’d made a conscious decision to marry Travis, whereas Brad hadn’t had a say in who had raised him. “I feel the same way about your parents. I hate what they did to you.”
He stiffened, his face clearing of all emotion. Before he could respond, though, Ginny came round the corner and sat at the desk. Brad nodded at the other nurse and then asked for updates on a couple of patients, casually thumbing through the files in question.
How could he flip the switch on his emotions like that?
A few seconds later he said he had a meeting to attend and walked away. As he waited for an elevator, Chloe got this weird sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that grew as he stepped into one, the doors sliding shut and hiding him from view.
Someday they would be doing this for the very last time. Either Brad would move on or she would, and this part of their relationship would be over for ever. And as much as she hoped otherwise, she didn’t think they’d ever be able to go back to being just friends.
Because she loved him. And she had for a very long time.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“I JUST GOT word that your twin-to-twin transfusion patient is in labor.” Layla’s concerned voice met her as she came into the lobby.
“What?” Chloe’s heart sank. Two weeks had gone by since the woman’s surgery and things had looked so promising.
“They’re trying to stop it, but it looks like they may be too late. They’re giving her steroids, just in case.”
To help the babies’ lungs develop. At thirty weeks, the twins could survive, but not without some major intervention. And one or both babies could have deficits to overcome, especially the donor twin.
“Where is she?”
Layla put her arm around her shoulders. “She’s up in Labor and Delivery.”
That meant they didn’t really expect to stop labor altogether, just delay the inevitable.
“Is Cade there with her?”
“I’m sure he must have been called in, as he did the surgery.”
“Thanks. I think I’ll go up and see how she’s doing.”
Layla gave her shoulders one more squeeze then let her go. “There’s a team standing by to take over if she delivers.”
“Where’s Brad?”
“I haven’t seen him in a while.”
Neither had she. They’d gone their separate ways that morning after arriving. He said he’d see her back at the apartment, hinting that she’d need to take the subway home.
They’d made love last night, but had there been something a little more reserved about him than usual?
Probably her imagination. Not in her imagination was the horrifying realization that her teenage infatuation hadn’t dried up after all. It had lain dormant in her subconscious—like a seed—waiting for a drop of water to make it spring back to life.
Well, it had gotten not just a drop, not just a trickle, but a whole waterfall over the last couple of weeks and, like the beanstalk from the fairy tale, had grown to terrifying proportions.
Only it wasn’t infatuation. It was love. And although she couldn’t exactly pinpoint when it had started, she remembered the deep fear she’d felt when Brad had walked through the door to her family home after his motorcycle accident. Limping. Bleeding. Hopelessness in his eyes that had shocked and frightened her.
Jason’s words about the locks in Brad’s house had sprung to mind. About how cruel someone would have to be to do that to a young, vulnerable child. And she’d hated his parents with a fury that had never completely died.
And neither had her feelings for him, evidently. She’d felt the warning signs when she’d danced with him at the wedding … and when he’d asked her to go for a ride on his bike after he’d graduated from medical school, but she’d refused.
What if he’d suddenly realized how she felt and was upset about it? She’d been careful to keep her emotions in check last night as he’d brought her to fulfillment, biting her lips to avoid saying or doing anything that might tip him off.
But maybe he’d seen through her act and was trying to figure out a way to let her down easily.
Well, that was impossible. If she’d thought her heart had been broken over Travis, she had no idea how it was going to survive the tidal wave of hurt now bearing down on it.
And Brad didn’t have to do anything to make it happen. This time, it was all her.
Brad had cured her of one problem, only to be the cause of another. Much in the way that radiation could cure one type of cancer while causing another type to develop further down the road.
She sighed. And how was that for an insensitive comparison? Her problems were mild compared to what her twin-to-twin patient was going through right now. Better to focus her energies on praying for those babies’ survival rather than rail at the fates over something inconsequential. Because, ultimately, she would survive this.
The maternity wing was a beehive of activity with groups of doctors and nurses discussing cases, while behind one of those doors lay Clara Serrano, fighting for her children’s lives.
Surprisingly, she spied Brad in one of the clusters—the same one that Cade was in. She didn’t think he’d be here, and the fact that he’d not even tried to find her to tell her about Clara made her insides cramp.
She’d come up to see what was going on, but hesitated, feeling very much like an outsider all of a sudden. Brad glanced up from his discussion and saw her, and motioned her over. Again she hesitated. If he’d wanted her here, he would have called her like he had the day Clara had had her surgery. Instead, her cellphone had remained silent as she’d drunk her coffee alone in the park.
Alone. Maybe that’s what she was meant to be.
When she started to back toward the elevators, Brad broke away from his group and came towards her. “Were you looking for me?”
She shook her head. “I heard Clara had been admitted and came to see how she was doing.” Another flare of hurt erupted. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I didn’t realize you’d want me to.” There was a cool edge to his voice she didn’t like.
“She was one of my patients.”
He glanced away for a second before looking at her again. “There was nothing you could do. I didn’t want to worry you.”
There was more to it than that but, other than call him a liar, what could she do?
The urge to spin away and get back into the elevator was almost overwhelming, but she forced her feet to remain where they were. Her chin went up. “I thought we’d already established that I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”
He studied her face before nodding. “Come back over with me, then. You can get caught up on what’s happening.”
Chloe stood in the group and listened as various updates came from Clara’s room.
“Contractions are still progressing, unfortunately. There’s no going back now.” The latest doctor to exit the room broke the news everyone had been dreading. “Let’s get ready.”
Clusters of people broke apart hurrying in various directions to do their parts in making sure mother and newborns had the best possible shot at a good outcome.
“Did the ablation procedure benefit the smaller twin at all?” she asked Brad.
“It’s
only been a couple of weeks so theoretically it had an effect, but it’s hard to tell just how much of one at this point.”
She nodded. “I have to get back to work. Will you let me know how it goes?”
“Sure.”
He tweaked her ponytail as she turned to go, and when she glanced back over her shoulder, he was smiling. She sucked down a lungful of air, feeling the tension drain from her body. Maybe those weird vibes she’d been feeling had been the result of an overactive imagination. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d driven herself crazy coming up with the worst possible scenario and then worrying it to death. Except in the case of her ex it had been all that and more.
She could only hope that this time she was wrong.
The next few hours passed in a whirlwind of activity for Brad. Word had gotten around the hospital about Clara Serrano’s condition, and he’d been fielding all kinds of questions. He could only imagine what the phones were like in other parts of the hospital. The administrators must be buried under an avalanche. Laws prevented them giving out specifics on the patient, but because the syndrome was relatively rare, other facilities would soon be asking questions to help them deal with their own cases.
Clara still hadn’t given birth, but they were expecting the babies to make an appearance at any time.
He hadn’t seen Chloe again since their encounter on the floor of Labor and Delivery, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to see her either. She’d acted differently last night, and although he couldn’t put his finger on what it was, there’d been a sense of detachment that hadn’t been there on previous nights.
Oh, she’d been just as sensual as always, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d been holding something back. That had bothered him. But what had stunned him even more had been his reaction to it. In his previous relationships, when one or both parties had begun to cool, he’d been fine with it. Had had no qualms about walking away. Anything was better than being locked into something with no way out.
This was different. He’d held onto Chloe just a little bit tighter, almost as if trying to pull her closer, even as he felt her emotional withdrawal. Why did he care so much? This was supposed to be a temporary arrangement. It would be a temporary arrangement.