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MILLS & BOON
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
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
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Copyright
Endpages
Chapter One
Business meetings with the boss had been so much easier before she’d seen him naked.
Julie Carnes sat quietly at the conference table while Ben Carson, the regional vice president of Mercy Medical Center in Las Vegas, was wrapping up his remarks. Ben was hands-down the best-looking man she’d ever seen, including Ryan Reynolds, the actor he resembled so much. Six feet two inches of handsome man with light brown hair and sincere, dark brown eyes. He was also smart and fair. There was no one working in this hospital who wouldn’t go to hell and back if he asked, and she was no exception. She’d already been there because of him, in fact. He hadn’t suggested she go to hell, exactly, but what he’d said after their relationship had gotten complicated was just as effective. They had been over before they’d even really started.
“I want to thank all of you,” he said. “Everyone is doing more with less, and your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.”
He looked around the table at the men and women who managed and directed different departments in the hospital. Julie was in charge of the Intensive Care Unit, and her responsibilities included budget and staffing, as well as monitoring the quality and continuity of care for each patient. The job was demanding, but recently, having to be around Ben made it even harder. Every time she saw him, it reminded her of how stupid she’d been to let him in—she’d really cared for him and he hadn’t cared for her, at least not enough to trust her.
Since he first started working at the hospital six months before, she’d been instantly attracted to Ben. They talked after meetings, had spontaneous lunches in the cafeteria, joked and laughed together. She liked making him laugh, sensing he didn’t do it easily. After so many months idling in that pattern, she thought he would never ask her out, but he finally did.
The perfect date was just dinner—nothing grander than a nice little Italian place in Henderson, not far from the hospital. They had both worn jeans, but his battered brown leather jacket made him look like a rugged, swashbuckling hero. He brought her a single white rose, her favorite flower. He opened the car door, the restaurant door, held her chair, made her feel special. It wasn’t a put on, just natural—a part of who he was.
On a first date she usually dreaded the awkward good-night kiss, the what-does-he-expect-now part. But it was different when Ben took her home that night.
“I had a great time,” he said.
“Me, too.”
His eyes held hers and her heart pounded like crazy when he cupped her cheek in his big palm, then leaned down to kiss her. Before that touch she’d planned to follow the minimum three-dates-before-sex rule. But when his mouth met hers—sweet, soft and sexy—desire that had simmered for six months exploded into a tide of passion that pulled her in and swept her away. It could have been seconds or hours that they stood there kissing. She’d never know.
Finally he came up for air and said, “I have to go before I can’t leave at all.”
“Then…don’t go.”
“I want everything to be perfect. It’s our first date.”
“Doesn’t feel that way. We’ve known each other for six months, but it seems like forever.”
“Julie, I don’t want to ruin the best thing to happen to me in a long time. Are you sure about this?”
“Very.” She was fully aware of what would happen if he came inside, and she wanted it more than her next breath.
When they made love, it was as if their bodies and souls had been together in another lifetime. He seemed to know just where to touch her, just how to hold her. He refused to spend the night because he didn’t want the neighbors to talk. Not yet. But he promised to phone the next day.
But he didn’t. And when he finally called, she wished he hadn’t.
Now she wished that this meeting was over already. Suddenly, the words Mardi Gras ball penetrated the buzzing in her head. It’d been a dream of hers to attend the exclusive fundraising event ever since she started at the hospital. The dresses, the shoes, the glamorous location… Not that she’d get the chance this year—only bigwigs and rich benefactors got tickets.
But Ben must have been wrapping up, because everyone stood. That was her cue to slip out quietly. Being the last one in the room meant she’d have to talk to Ben, something she’d managed to avoid since he’d broken things off so abruptly. Always good to shoot for a perfect record.
She made it out the door and turned right, heading toward the hospital lobby and the elevators beyond it, but she heard footsteps behind her, quickly closing the distance.
“Julie?”
Ben’s voice made her heart pound. This moment was why personal relationships were better outside the workplace. She wanted so badly to pretend she hadn’t heard him and keep going, to be able to enclose herself in the sanctuary of the elevator while it took her to the second floor, where running the unit and taking care of the patients would ensure she was too busy to think about what had gone wrong between them. The problem was, they still had to work together—and he was her boss. If he had something to say she pretty much had to listen.
She stopped and turned. “Was there something else?”
“Yes.” He looked around at the people in the hallway talking in groups, their voices echoing off the tile floor. “Come with me.”
She wanted to say no. Not again. Once was enough. But that was personal. This was business. “Okay.”
He gently took her elbow, as if he thought she might try to escape, and led her back the way they’d come. A door to the administrative offices was on the right and he opened it, letting her precede him, then stopped her just inside. The hall was narrow, and cushy hunter-green carpet covered the floor. No echoing here. Their voices wouldn’t carry, so no one would overhear what he had to say. That got her warning signals flashing in a big way.
“Is this about work?”
Intensity made his dark eyes almost black. “No. It’s about us.”
“There is no us.”
“And that’s my fault. I realize that I handled things badly…but I just got some good news.”
“If it’s not related to work, I don’t need to know. And I have to get back to the unit.”
“Can I call you later?”
To her nerves, those words were like a high-pitched squeal from a public address system. She’d been raised by a single mom desperate to find “the one.” Her mother had wasted her life waiting by the phone for calls that never came. Julie wanted nothing to do with a call-waiting relationship.
“There’s no point, Ben. There isn’t a thing you can say that I want to hear.”
“What if I say give me another chance?”
Chapter Two
“If you asked for a second chance, I’d have to say no.”
Ben Carson wasn’t used to hearing no from anyone. He was the regional vice president of Mercy Medical Center and his word on most things was final. Personally, though…not so much. Otherwise he wouldn’t have found his ex-girlfriend, Penny, in bed with another guy. He’d sworn off women after that. Until he met Julie. When he was with her, he felt like he was basking in the light of a summer day.
But the timing of their first date couldn’t have been worse. He’d had to break things off the next day to protect her from a bad situation. Julie was sunshine and happiness—he couldn’t let her be hurt or upset by anything. Not because of him.
Now that situation had been resolved and he had a green light to move forward with her. He was a man of action. This limbo with Julie had driven him nuts because he’d never stopped wanting to be with this woman.
But by trying to protect her he might just have blown his one shot. He looked down at the petite, blue-eyed blonde with the husky, contagious laugh. She wasn’t laughing now. “Why would you have to tell me no?”
“There’s no reason for you and I to go down that road again. We tried… Things didn’t work out.”
They hadn’t tried, not really. When he’d first started working at the hospital, he’d fought his attraction to her. But they kept running into each other and talking after meetings longer than necessary. Then he’d found excuses to go to the ICU just to see her. Conversations turned from flirty to intimate. He’d weighed the personal risks, and they were heavy, but finally he couldn’t fight the attraction anymore.
He’d asked her out and it was the best night of his life—one perfect night. Just dinner. They’d talked for hours and he’d left a generous tip for tying up the table so long. Then he took her home. He hadn’t planned to sleep with her, but when he kissed her good-night he’d gone up in flames, in the best possible way. He was sure she’d felt the same. He just had to get her to remember….
“I think things worked out pretty well that night.”
Her cheeks flushed a charming pink, telling him he’d been right, she’d gone up in flames, too.
One of the things he liked best about her was the way she didn’t hide her feelings or play games. Completely different from the last woman he’d been involved with, the one who might have cost him Julie.
“You’re right. That night was…memorable. But then the next day you said we couldn’t see each other for a while.” There was hurt in her eyes when she looked up at him now. “You fed me some line about your ex-girlfriend being pregnant. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to say there was no chemistry between us?”
“That would have been a lie.”
There was chemistry all right. A wanting that had only grown more intense after their night together. But the worst part was missing her so much it hurt.
“Oh, please,” she scoffed. “It was easy for you to walk away.”
“You’re wrong. Waiting to find out if I was that baby’s father, being apart from you, was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
“That’s not how it felt. You simply didn’t trust me to deal with the hard stuff. Without trust, there’s not much to go on.” She took a step back. “I have to go, my ICU nurses need to take their lunch break.”
“Wait—” He dragged his hand through his hair because of how badly he wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she believed him. “Give me a minute. Let me explain why—”
“No. I really have to get back to the unit.”
“I’m going to call you later.”
She shrugged and turned to leave. “That doesn’t mean I’ll pick up.”
Before he could stop her again, she was gone.
She was right about a phone call, she could ignore it. The only way to make her hear him out was to show up in person.
And that was exactly what he’d do.
Chapter Three
Julie heard a knock on her door and tensed.
Somehow she was sure it was Ben. After peeking out the peephole, her guess was confirmed.
She’d been thinking about him all day, her emotions swinging between flattery and anger that he was trying to get closer to her again. Well not physically closer, at least not yet. But if she opened the door…
There was another knock. She knew he wasn’t going away so it would be best to get this over with. If only she wasn’t wearing baggy sweatpants, an oversize sweatshirt and scruffy old slippers.
Not that it mattered. Even though he clearly hadn’t been discouraged when she’d turned him down earlier, it would be a big mistake to allow his determined pursuit to make her glow inside.
She finally answered and stood in the doorway. “Ben.”
“Please don’t shut the door in my face.” Obviously he’d noticed the lack of warmth in her greeting.
“I wouldn’t do that. It would have been easier not to answer at all.”
“I’m glad you did.” He looked at her expectantly for several moments, then asked, “May I come in?”
“Not a good idea.”
“I disagree.”
The last time he’d had something to tell her, he’d broken her heart. But it didn’t appear he was going to leave without saying his piece. Hopefully she wouldn’t regret listening. “Okay. Just for a few minutes.”
“Thanks.”
She remembered their perfect evening from what felt like a lifetime ago. Then, as now, this big and masculine man had made her small, girly house seem even more girly, but it hadn’t diminished his masculinity. He was in the same dark suit she’d seen earlier at work, but the top button of his white dress shirt was undone and his red tie was loosened. There were lines of stress and fatigue on his face and he’d passed a five o’clock shadow several hours ago. There was something so manly and endearing about him, and the look tugged at her heart. Already she was beginning to regret letting him in.
“So—” He slid his hands into his pockets. “Are you going to close the door?”
“You don’t want the neighbors to hear what you have to say?”
“Only if it would help.”
“That depends on what your goal is,” she said.
“Like I said today at the hospital, I want another chance with you.”
Julie had never had the same instant connection to a guy as she had with Ben, but he had hurt her. Giving him an opportunity to do it again wasn’t especially smart. But oh, how she missed him.
How could it hurt for him to say whatever it was before she asked him to leave? It was unlikely he could tell her anything that would make a difference.
“Tell me why I should—in twenty-five words or less.”
He nodded and took a deep breath. “The baby isn’t mine.”
Those were the only four words in the dictionary that could have made Julie shut the door and listen to what he had to say.
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