Heart Surgeon to Single Dad

by Janice Lynn

  “Is she okay?” one of the waiters asked, stooping beside them at the commotion of Dr. Yang losing consciousness. “Do I need to call 911?”

  Natalie started to say yes, but Dr. Yang’s eyelids fluttered and she grabbed hold of Natalie’s arm.

  “No ambulance,” she muttered, so low Natalie strained to know what she’d said.

  Further concern filled Natalie. “You’re sure? You passed out. At the minimal, you need labs.”

  The woman shook her head. “Not sick.” Her hand lowered to her belly and she weakly smiled. “Just pregnant.”

  Natalie’s eyes widened and she stared at the woman in surprise. “Oh.”

  “Congratulations,” Matthew said from where he knelt next to them, but Natalie couldn’t tell if he meant the word or not.

  “I’ll call for an ambulance if you think I need to.” The waiter looked to Natalie for instruction.

  She eyed the pale woman, whose color was slowly returning. “You sure you’re okay?”

  Kim scooted onto her elbows and paused. “I will be when this nine-month deal is up. I’ve heard of morning sickness, but this light-headedness is ridiculous.”

  “Is your obstetrician aware you’re having light-headedness?” Matthew looked ready to catch the woman if she so much as wobbled.

  Kim nodded and gave a heartfelt sigh. “He thinks I need to suck it up. Don’t I know that other women work right up until birth, plop that baby out, then go right back to working?”

  Horrified, Natalie stared at the woman, who had now maneuvered herself into a sitting position with her legs down off the chair.

  “Let me guess,” Matthew ventured, understanding dawning. “Your obstetrician is your husband?”

  Kim smiled. “Bingo. He’s a wonderful man, a wonderful obstetrician, but is struggling with empathy for his wife.”

  “Sounds like you need a new obstetrician,” Natalie recommended, struggling with empathy for the man.

  Kim shook her head. “Lee is going to deliver our baby at home. It’s what we both want. I can’t imagine anyone other than him delivering our child.”

  Kim braced her palms against the floor and pushed herself, slowly standing. She stood still a moment, testing the waters, then smiled. “I shouldn’t have made him sound such a tyrant. Pregnancy hormones and these waves of dizziness have made me cranky.”

  Both Matthew and the waiter moved alongside Kim as she sat back at the table.

  “I’m fine. I’ve kept you two from the conference long enough.” She glanced at the waiter’s name tag and smiled at him. “Jack’s going to get me a glass of orange juice, and when I’ve finished it I’ll catch the next presentation.”

  Natalie felt guilty leaving Dr. Yang, and advised the waiter to call for help if needed, but they did go slip into the presentation. They were twenty minutes late, and a few heads turned when they slid into their seats. Natalie didn’t care. There were worse things in life than being associated with a man you had admired from afar for years, and had fallen into immediate lust with upon meeting.

  Natalie and Matthew stayed through all the morning sessions and logged in their continuing education hours. Lunch was sponsored by a pharmaceutical company that manufactured immunizations.

  “I’d like to attend the presentation given by Dr. Fielding on in-utero cleft palate repair this afternoon, but perhaps you’d like us to get lunch on our own?” Matthew offered as they reviewed the conference itinerary.

  Natalie’s gaze lifted and fires danced in the honeyed depths of her eyes. “You mean, on our own as in Room Service?”

  He laughed. “I actually meant us meeting in the lobby and renting bikes to ride up the boardwalk to a place I know that has some killer seafood.”

  Her face was so expressive it was easy to watch her surprise that he didn’t immediately take up her offer. Part of him wanted to do just as she’d suggested, but he also wanted to take her for some sunshine, rest and relaxation. He had the feeling she worked too hard.

  Had the feeling?

  Dr. Luiz had gone on and on about her. Natalie deserved the promotion she’d soon be getting. In that regard, Matthew was glad the hospital hadn’t met his terms. Natalie would probably have been devastated if had he gotten the job.

  “Obviously, you learned nothing from last night.” She gave an exaggerated sigh. “But, since I have to eat, I’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes,” she promised. “But if I have to get on a bicycle for the first time in a zillion years, the food better be as good as you say, and I’m adding this to the list of things you need to make up to me later.”

  He chuckled. “Noted—and I’ll make the wait worth your while.”

  Natalie had always heard the expression that doing something one had once been proficient at was like riding a bike. Once you knew how, you could just jump right back on.

  She’d jumped right back on, but would be lying if she claimed proficiency. She had ridden a bicycle as a child, again when in undergrad and traveling to and from her apartment to campus. That had been several years ago, and her confidence that her bicycle wasn’t going to topple over was now lacking.

  Or maybe it was that she got the impression Matthew was holding back to stay close to her, that he was trying to keep up a conversation between them, and she needed to focus on what she was doing so her bicycle didn’t go careening into his.

  Plus, her bottom hurt on the narrow seat.

  “Smile, Natalie.”

  As she parked her bicycle and secured a cord around the frame and locked it in place, she gritted her teeth in a semblance of a smile.

  Matthew laughed. “You can do better than that.”

  “Ask me again when my belly is full.”

  “Deal.” Having secured his own bicycle, he took her hand and they made their way up the wooden deck leading into the restaurant. Although it was busy, the hostess guided them to a table on one of the patios that overlooked the beach.

  “Sitting outdoors okay?”

  “This is fabulous.” She loved the ocean, loved the feel of the breeze on her face, and the patio was covered, had an overhead fan going and offered just the right amount of shade from the hot sun. “Perfect,” she added as she sat in a chair and grabbed a menu.

  A waitress came by, took their drink order, and Matthew ordered an appetizer to share.

  “I could have been allergic to shrimp, you know,” she teased when the waitress had left.

  “Are you? I can catch her and change the order.”

  She tried, but couldn’t keep a straight face. “No.”

  “I didn’t think so.”

  Curious, she asked, “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “I get the impression you’re a woman who has no trouble letting a man know what she wants, doesn’t want,” his eyes bored into hers, “or what she’s allergic to.”

  She supposed she had given him that impression. With him, telling him, showing him what she wanted had been easy. Maybe because she knew their time was limited and there was a freedom in the knowledge that she’d never see him again afterwards.

  Only, his mother was practically her neighbor, so it was possible. Why did that make her heart race?

  “Right now,” she began, “this woman is going to wash her hands and check to see if I sweated my mascara down my cheeks during that bicycle ride.”

  “No worries. You are beautiful.”

  He made her feel beautiful, and not just because he’d told her several times that day. Smiling, she winked at him. “If you get lonely before I get back, you can always sneak into the ladies’ room and we could...”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “You have a one-track mind.”

  She did. Pediatric cardiology.

  Although for the past twenty-four hours she’d only thought of Matthew.

  Probably because he was a renowned heart
surgeon.

  Or because he was gorgeously fascinating.

  One or the other, but either way she was on vacation—sort of—so focusing on something besides work wasn’t a crime.

  * * *

  A weekend with Natalie Sterling was like being at a sexual boot camp. One that tested Matthew’s stamina and shocked him at how far she pushed him physically. Possibly because he knew this would be his last “free” weekend for a long, long time as he forced himself to settle into his role as Carrie’s parent.

  Which implied that any woman would do.

  Matthew didn’t buy it.

  The woman lying next to him in her hotel room bed trying to catch her breath drove his body crazy, had his libido, his endurance pushed to unreal heights.

  Despite his own heaving chest, he rolled onto his side, planted a kiss on her damp cheek. “That was amazing.”

  Smiling with that sexy, full mouth of hers, she lowered her lashes in a saucy flutter. “I thought you could do better.”

  He burst out laughing. “You think?”

  “Life goals, Matthew,” she said, and tsked, rolling to face him. “Life goals.”

  “Guess I better get started.” He traced his finger over the curve of her bare hip.

  Still a little breathless, her eyes widened. “We just...now?”

  His finger made figure eights, moving closer and closer to the apex of her legs with each completion. “No time like the present. Besides, I still have to make it up to you for making you ride that bicycle instead of...”

  “There is that,” Natalie agreed, moving into his touch. “Guess you’re right. Might take a lot to make that up to me, considering how I toppled over on the ride home.”

  Recalling how his insides had felt watching Natalie’s front bike wheel running off the edge of the sidewalk, her losing balance and toppling over right into traffic, Matthew stilled the tracing of his hands and rolled over onto her instead. “You okay?”

  “I could be better,” she said, staring up at him with a challenge in her eyes and the need to be kissed on her lips.

  “I’m beginning to think you’re just using me for sex, Dr. Sterling,” he teased.

  Only, if he was just teasing, why did the truth in his words sting? Why did he want to hear Natalie deny that that was what she was doing?

  “That’s exactly what we’re both doing, Dr. Coleman,” she reminded, her expression guarded. “Now, didn’t you mention something about making that bicycle ride up to me?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  WITHOUT ANY DIFFICULTY, Matthew swapped his first-class seat for the seat next to Natalie’s coach one.

  Natalie had been surprised, but like her, she supposed, he was reluctant for their “three days” to end a moment before it had to.

  When the plane landed, they’d go their separate ways.

  “Don’t.”

  At his single word, she opened her eyes, glanced at him in question.

  “You’re thinking about when the plane lands again.”

  “You’re right. Sorry.” She squeezed the hand holding hers. “It was a great conference, wasn’t it?”

  “Best ever.”

  Her gaze cut to his, knowing her eyes were full of questions, then scolded herself for caring so much at what he’d implied.

  Yet, she did care.

  She bit the inside of her cheek. “I agree.”

  “Same time next year?”

  Natalie laughed a little nervously. “I wish.”

  “Me, too,” he said.

  Natalie’s chest tightened. Part of her longed to ask if he was serious. Why couldn’t they meet up again for a weekend of fun? But logic answered her question even before it could really take hold. To make plans to meet up again implied they had a relationship that would continue. They didn’t.

  The past three days had been perfect. To continue would be only waiting for him to leave, waiting for him to decide he didn’t want any more three-day weekends together. She’d been left several times too many already in her life to set herself up that way.

  Sticking to their original plan was the way it had to be.

  “Thank you for this past weekend, Matthew. How does this work from here?”

  His gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “If we accidentally run into each other. What if at some point we are both at the same place at the same time?” After all, his mother lived in Memphis. Yes, the city was large, but stranger things had happened. “Do we pretend we don’t know each other or...?” She let her words trail off.

  He considered her question. “Who knows what’s going to have changed between now and that time if our paths cross again?” His expression tightened. “You might have met someone and—”

  “I won’t have,” she cut in, wanting to set the record straight. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

  His expression darkened. “You mean me? Natalie, I—”

  She shook her head and hastened to assure, “No. This weekend was wonderful, and exactly what we agreed upon.” She took a deep breath. “It’s odd. I feel like we shared so much, that you know everything about me, but in reality you know very little.”

  “I know how to make you...” he continued in a whisper into her ear, winking at her when he straightened back in his seat.

  Natalie blushed. “Yes, you know that.” He knew her body well. She wouldn’t argue with that. “But what you don’t know is that two months ago I found out the man I’d been in a relationship with for the past three years was cheating.”

  “Idiot.”

  Matthew’s absolute confidence in his assessment of Jonathan made Natalie smile.

  “Yes, he was. Is,” she corrected. “But the truth of the matter is that he did us both a favor, because we didn’t want the same things.”

  “You lived with him?”

  Staring at the travel magazine poking out from the seat pocket in front of her, Natalie nodded. “He moved into my condo apartment just over two years ago.”

  “Is he still there?”

  “Good heavens, no.” She closed her eyes, then, realizing how he might take her having done so, she opened them. “He’s gone and I’m glad.”

  Matthew stared at her in ways that made her want to close her eyes again.

  “You deserve a life, Natalie.”

  Did he think she didn’t know that? But deserving a life and actually getting that life didn’t always mesh up. She wanted someone who wouldn’t leave her, who could love her completely, but in reality her career seemed the only aspect of her life she had control over.

  Fortunately she loved medicine, and her career had never let her down.

  * * *

  Suzie gave Natalie an “are you crazy?” look. “You didn’t get his cell number or social-media account information or anything?”

  After Natalie had arrived at her apartment—her practically empty apartment, thanks to Jonathan clearing out his things and quite a few of Natalie’s as well—the television hadn’t been able to abate the quietness. She’d called and asked her friends to meet her for a late dinner at their favorite downtown restaurant. Tonight, the partially empty rooms had made her feel claustrophobic, alone, and she’d had to get out of the apartment.

  “There was no need to exchange numbers.” There hadn’t been. “We agreed to only three days and said our goodbyes just outside baggage claims.”

  They’d kept things simple. Three perfect days and nights.

  She had no regrets. Other than that she wondered if she’d made a mistake in telling her best friends about Matthew. They’d obviously seen more than there was, and she needed to set the record straight.

  “We’re much better to have ended things today than to ruin such a perfect memory.”

  Both her friends shook their heads.

  “At least tell me h
e kissed you goodbye at the airport,” Monica insisted, taking a sip of her drink. “One of those long, sappy goodbye kisses that makes a girl kick her leg up and everyone else stare in envy.”

  “Come on,” Suzie urged. “You can’t not tell us if he kissed you goodbye. He didn’t shake your hand or something else just as lame, did he? Tell all. Best friends want to know.”

  Recalling how Matthew had kissed her, Natalie smiled. “He kissed me goodbye better than any heroine has ever been kissed goodbye in any romantic movie. Way better.”

  He had. A kiss that had been full of so much more than just passion. There had been emotion. Gratitude, she assured herself. They’d both been thankful for a fun weekend. A very fun weekend. Without meaning to, Natalie added with a sigh, “A goodbye kiss for the ages.”

  Monica and Suzie exchanged looks, then Monica leaned across the table, wide-eyed, and gasped, “I can’t believe it. You fell for this guy.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Natalie immediately denied. “He was just...” How could she describe Matthew and how he’d made her feel? “Good, that’s all.”

  “Right. I never saw you all flush-cheeked and starry-eyed when talking about he whose name we don’t say.”

  Which was how her friends referred to her ex.

  “There’s a reason for that. Jonathan,” she stressed his name, “never did the things to my body that Matthew did. Not even close.”

  Her friends exchanged looks again, making Natalie feel defensive.

  “I had a great weekend, something the two of you encouraged me to do,” she reminded. “Why are you acting as if it’s a big deal?”

  “Why are you?” Suzie pointed out at the same time as Monica said,

  “Because it is a big deal. You shouldn’t have let him go.”

  Natalie rolled her eyes. When she’d called her friends, this wasn’t what she’d had in mind.

  “You both told me to have a holiday fling and I did. An amazing one with a man whose brain is pure genius and whose body should be on a pin-up calendar.” She could fan her face just at the memory of his hotness. “I thought you would be proud that I’d done something so out of character.”

  Her friends just stared.