by Tina Beckett
He doesn’t believe in second chances...
Until one knocks on his door!
Paramedic dream team Maggie and Joe aren’t just When neurologist Luca Venezio’s romance with surgeon Elyse Tenner ended as passionately as it began, he returned to Italy little knowing he’d left part of himself behind... Until Elyse arrives from America with their baby daughter and upends his world! Luca’s rocked by the bond with his little girl and how much he’s missed Elyse. Can they overcome the distance between them that’s more than merely miles?
Luca’s arms cradled the baby’s form in an effort to keep from reaching out to Elyse.
He’d dreamed of bringing Elyse to his home country one day, but this wasn’t quite the way he’d pictured it. Because in his fantasies, they’d had a huge Italian wedding with all of his family in attendance. And all of hers.
Only, life had had different ideas.
“Scusami. Una foto?”
He jerked back to reality, realizing someone was trying to take a picture and they were in the way. Staring at each other like star-crossed lovers.
“Mi dispiace.”
They moved out of the line of fire and headed toward the cathedral. He could try to say he’d been looking at something in the distance and not at her, but it would have been a lie. And he couldn’t bring himself to force out the words.
The baby chose that moment to wake up, blinking eyes coming up to meet his. Her head swung around obviously looking for something else.
Elyse took the baby’s hand and peered in at her. “I’m here, sweetheart.”
His chest contracted. He was a stranger to his own daughter.
Dear Reader,
Have you ever kept a little secret from someone? I have. Things like hiding Christmas presents or a surprise party come to mind. But some secrets are much bigger than those fun, everyday ones. They are painful and raw, and you feel the need to heal in private. That’s what Elyse Tenner is trying to do in the aftermath of a traumatic breakup and the birth of her daughter. She just can’t bring herself to trust in the power of love. But love has a way of nudging its way in...
Thank you for joining Elyse and Luca as they navigate the waters of heartbreak, secrets and forgiveness while in the beautiful city of Florence, Italy. Elyse has a hard time letting people in, but with Luca beside her, she is sorely tempted to let down all her defenses and give love one more chance.
I hope you enjoy reading this special couple’s journey as much as I loved writing it!
Love,
Tina Beckett
The Surgeon’s Surprise Baby
Tina Beckett
Books by Tina Beckett
Harlequin Medical Romance
Hope Children’s Hospital
The Billionaire’s Christmas Wish
Hot Greek Docs
Tempted by Dr. Patera
Hot Latin Docs
Rafael’s One Night Bombshell
Christmas Miracles in Maternity
The Nurse’s Christmas Gift
The Hollywood Hills Clinic
Winning Back His Doctor Bride
Hot Brazilian Docs!
To Play with Fire
The Dangers of Dating Dr. Carvalho
The Doctor’s Forbidden Temptation
From Passion to Pregnancy
Playboy Doc’s Mistletoe Kiss
A Daddy for Her Daughter
The Doctors’ Baby Miracle
One Night to Change Their Lives
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To my husband: thank you for my chickens!
Praise for Tina Beckett
“This is a truly passionate and moving story that brings two beautiful people together.... Ms. Beckett has brought out the love and emotion that will surely have you smiling and sighing.”
—Goodreads on Rafael’s One Night Bombshell
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM FALLING FOR HER ITALIAN BILLIONAIRE BY ANNIE CLAYDON
PROLOGUE
“WELL, I’M NO longer your boss.”
Luca Venezio stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. No longer his boss? Was that all she had to say to him? The obvious relief in her voice told him that she’d been anxious to wield that particular ax. Only she’d just done it in a room full of his colleagues, who had suffered a similar fate. He’d stayed behind after the others had all filed out dejectedly.
She was perched on her desk, looking just as gorgeous as she had a year ago, when he’d first stepped into her neurology department. It had taken him a while, but he’d finally convinced her to look past her reservations about engaging in a workplace relationship and see what they could be like together.
And it had been good. So very good.
He took a step closer. “Is that all you have to say to me, Elyse?”
Her head tilted as if she truly couldn’t understand what the problem was. Was this an American thing that he hadn’t yet grasped? Just when he thought he was understanding this culture, the woman in front of him threw something into the mix that had him reeling.
Italy was suddenly beckoning him home. But he wasn’t leaving without a fight.
She slid from her desk and stood in front of him. “Don’t you see? This could be a good thing.”
No. He didn’t see it. No matter how he looked at it.
She drove him insane. With want. With need. And now was no different.
“Do you want me gone, is that it?”
She took his hands in hers, before her hands slid up his forearms. “Are we talking about from the hospital? Or from my life?”
It was one and the same to Luca. It felt like they’d been trapped in a game of tug-of-war ever since their first date. The harder he pulled her toward him, the more she seemed to resist letting him get close to her, and he didn’t understand why. They were in a relationship, only nothing was easy. Except the sex.
And that had been mind-blowing. Maybe part of that was the uncertainty of it all. Maybe it had lent an air of desperation to their lovemaking.
Her green eyes stared into his, and the crazy thing was, he could swear he saw a hint of lust in there, even though she’d just fired him. Had she gotten off on delivering that death blow to all those people?
No. That wasn’t the Elyse he’d known these past few months.
“What is it you want from me, Elyse?”
“Don’t you know?”
He didn’t. Not at all, but he was tired of playing guessing games with her. He cupped her face, trying to make sense of it all, but the swirling in his head gave him no time to think. No time to ask any questions. Instead, the refuge they’d sought after each fight opened its door and whispered in his ear, promising it would all be okay.
He no longer believed it. But his blood was stirring in his veins, sending waves of heat through him.
Even as her lips tilted up, telling him what she wanted, he was already there, the kiss scorching hot, just as it always was. His tongue met hers, his hands going under her ass and sitting her back on her desk. The sound of her shoes hitting the floor one at a time and her hands going to his waist and tugging him forward between her legs answered his earlier question about what she wanted.
Hell. There was no question as to that. Grazie a Dio he’d locked the door behind him, thinking that what he’d had to say to her he wanted said in private. Right now, though, the last thing he wanted to do was talk.
And he was so hot. So ready. Just as he always was for her.
The desk was wide, the middle bare of anything.
Made for sex.
He grabbed hold of her wrists and tugged her hands away so that he could take a step back to unzip.
The sight of Elyse licking her lips was his undoing.
He came back to her, reaching under her skirt to yank her boy shorts down, tossing them away. Then he eased her down until her back was flat against her desk, her breasts jutting upward, the outline of her nipples plainly visible beneath the thin white blouse.
“Do you want me?” His hands palmed the smooth skin of her hips and tugged her to the very edge of the desk.
She bit her lip, her legs twining around his until he was pressed tight against her, his hard flesh finding a wet heat that destroyed any hopes of prolonging this. He drove home, her sharp cry ending on a moan, her hips moving as if to seat him even deeper.
“Dio, Elyse...” His eyes closed, trying to grasp at any shred of control and finding nothing there.
His thumb moved from her hip to her center, hoping to help things along, but the second he touched her, she exploded around him, her gasped “Yes,” sending him over the edge. Bracing his hands on the desk, he plunged home again and again, his body spasming so hard his vision went white for a brief instant. Still he thrust, unwilling for the moment to end.
Because that’s exactly what it would do. What it needed to do.
His movements slowed, reality slowly filtering back in.
Hell. As good as this was, it had solved nothing.
Nothing.
The job had been the thing that had held him there, made him keep trying, even as she burned hot and then cold.
But now she’d killed the job. And in doing that, the relationship. What they said about goodbye sex was evidently true.
He didn’t try to kiss her, just moved away, zipping himself back in, even as she sat up on the desk.
“What’s wrong?”
Was she really asking him that? Everything was wrong. But he was about to make it right.
“Did you put my name on that list of people to be fired?”
She frowned, coming off the desk, retrieving her undergarment, turning away from him as she slid them over her legs. She didn’t answer as, with her back still turned, she pushed her feet into her shoes, black high-heeled pumps that he had always found so sexy.
By the time she finally turned around, his last shred of patience had disappeared and he no longer needed a response. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. You’ve been pushing me away ever since I got here, so I’m finally giving you your wish. I’m leaving. Going back to Italy. You actually did me a favor in firing me, so thank you.”
He put a hand on the doorknob, half thinking she would call his name and tell him it was all a big mistake. Tell him that she didn’t want him to go. He tensed, knowing that even if she did he was no longer willing to go on as they had been. Maybe he’d revisit that decision in a week...in a month. But right now, he needed time to think things through.
Except there was no sound from behind him as he opened the door. As he stepped through it. As he closed it.
Maybe that was all the thinking he needed to do.
So he started walking. And kept on walking until he was away from the hospital and on his way out of her life.
CHAPTER ONE
“I’M FINALLY GIVING you your wish.”
Elyse Tenner hesitated, those words ringing in her ears just as fresh and sharp today as they’d done a little over a year ago.
Luca leaving hadn’t been what she’d wanted. But it had evidently been what he’d wanted.
The entry door to the upscale clinic—complete with ornate scrollwork carved into the stone around it—was right in front of her. But she couldn’t make herself open it.
Not yet.
It had been easier to find him than she’d thought. And yet it was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. Well, almost. A part of her whispered she should get back on that plane...he would never be any the wiser. And yet she couldn’t, not now. The weight of the baby on her hip reminded her exactly why she’d come here.
She needed him to know. Needed to see his face. Get this whole thing off her conscience. And then she’d be done.
“Scusi.”
The unfamiliar word reminded her that she was far from home.
“Sorry,” she murmured, stepping aside to let the man pass. Unfortunately, he then held the door for her, forcing her to make a quick decision. Leave? Or stay?
Then she was through the door, the black marble floor as cold and hard as the words she’d said to a group of people at work thirteen months ago.
The man didn’t rush off like she expected him to do, but said something else to her in Italian. She shook her head to indicate she didn’t understand, shifting Annalisa a bit higher on her hip.
“English?” he asked.
“Yes, do you speak it?”
“Yes, can I help you find something?” He glanced at the baby and then back at her. “Are you a patient?”
“No, I’m looking for...”
Her eyes skated to the wall across from her, where pictures of staff members were displayed along with their accreditation. And there he was: Hair as black as night. His eyes that were just as dark. But unlike the chilly floors beneath her feet, his had always been warm, flashing with humor. The eyes in the picture, however, were somber, the laugh lines that had once surrounded them barely noticeable.
Elyse swallowed. Had she done that to him?
Of course she had. But her back had been up against a wall. She’d had a choice to make. It had obviously been the wrong one.
She’d chosen the coward’s way out. Just as she’d done nine months earlier. But she was here to make amends, if she could. Not in their relationship. That was certainly gone. Destroyed by her pride, her stupidity, and her fear of history repeating itself. But she could at least set one thing right. What he did with that information was up to him.
“You’re looking for...?”
The man in front of her reminded her of her reason for coming.
What if he wasn’t here yet? It was still early.
Oh, he was here. He worked notoriously long hours. “I’m actually looking for an...old friend. He used to work at the same hospital that I did in the States.”
“Luca?”
Relief swamped her. “Yes. Do you know where I can find him?”
He glanced at her, a slight frown marring his handsome face. “Refresh my memoria. Which hospital?”
“Atlanta Central Medical Center.”
“Ah, I see.” Something about the way he said it made her wonder exactly what Luca had said about his exit from the hospital. It didn’t matter. Nothing he could have said would be worse than the truth. Although she hadn’t orchestrated the layoffs, perhaps she also hadn’t fought them as hard as she could have. At the time, a tiny part of her had wondered whether, if she and Luca weren’t working together, it might be a way to repair some of the rifts that had been growing between them. Rifts she knew she had caused. But scars from a previous relationship had made her extremely wary of workplace romances.
And Luca hadn’t been able to see how their dating could co
mplicate their jobs, even after they’d erupted in a fierce argument during a meeting, disagreeing over the diagnosis of a patient and causing the whole room to stare at them. Kind of like this man was doing now.
“I’m sorry,” he said, as if realizing his gaffe. “Come. I’ll take you to Luca.”
“Thank you. I’m Elyse Tenner, by the way.” She shifted Anna yet again. She’d gotten her directions wrong, leaving the bus a few stops too early, and the heat was taking its toll on her. So much for going in looking cool and unruffled.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lorenzo Giorgino. I work with Luca here at the clinic. I’m one of the neurosurgeons.” He held out his arms. “Why don’t you let me take her? You look tired.”
Yet another blow to her confidence. But he was right. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Between jet lag and the long walk, she could use a place to sit down.
She hesitated for a moment, then he said, “I promise not to break her. I have two...nipoti. What’s your word for it? Nieces?”
Smiling, she held Anna out to him. She should have brought her baby sling, but she hadn’t been able to think straight since the plane had touched down. Nerves. Fear.
Hadn’t Luca told her he was in no hurry to have children? He had. More than once, in fact. She swallowed hard, even as this doctor’s hands cradled the baby like an old pro, speaking to her in Italian.
He glanced at Elyse, just a hint of speculation in his eyes. “Ready?”
Not at all, but she wasn’t going to make her confessions to anyone other than Luca himself. So she lied.
“I am. Lead the way.” In handing Anna over, the die had been cast and her decision made. She was going to walk into Luca’s office with her head held high and tell him that Anna was his daughter, and then hope that, in doing so, she’d made the right decision.
* * *
Luca stared at the EEG readings in front of him. Taken from a six-year-old boy, they showed the typical running waves of a Rolandic seizure. Benign. Filippo would more than likely outgrow them. Great news for his parents, who were worried out of their minds. It was always a relief to have a case where there was no threat to life. Just a temporary bump in the road.