Flirting with the Society Doctor / When One Night Isn't Enough (14 page)

Back to reality.

His pupils dilated, and he watched her as he straightened his clothes. “If that’s what you want.”

She nodded, but felt a sharp jab when he turned without another word, without meeting her eyes. In that moment she knew that to Vale she was merely another woman he’d spent an enjoyable weekend with.

They’d had a weekend together. No strings attached. And that was all she wanted. Really.

V
ALE
stared at the heavy traffic impeding him from putting his pedal to the metal the way he longed to do. Anything to abate this sense of unease weaving its way through him.

Faith was shutting him out.

The drive back to the city had grown more and more tense as blue skies had transformed into Northern New Jersey gray smog. Silently, they’d crossed over the Hudson and back to reality.

She’d not said a word to him. If he asked a question, she gave a short, almost snippy response. Had he hurt her at the lighthouse?

No, he knew he hadn’t. Not physically.

Emotionally? God, he hoped not. He’d made her no promises, had only been acting on the intense attraction between them. He never made promises to women. Hadn’t he learned better than that years ago?

Plus, there was the added complication of he and Faith working together. An affair between them would jeopardize the easygoing relationship they’d always shared.

But the reality was he’d be willing to continue his relationship with Faith. Willing? More like he didn’t know how he was going to be near her without touching her. Without wanting to hear his name on her lips.

Had she seen that in his eyes? Was that why she’d pulled away from him? Why she’d begun to shut him out?

Because she was afraid that if they continued it would have an impact on her career?

He pulled up outside her building.

“Just let me out so you don’t have to park.”

“Parking isn’t a problem,” he assured her as he turned into the parking garage. “Besides, I’ll get your suitcase.”

Turning to stare out the passenger window as if she was looking at the most amazing sights rather than the boring concrete of the parking garage, she went back to ignoring him.

Vale had had enough. “Talk to me, Faith.” She didn’t look at him. Only the stiffening of her spine gave a hint that she’d even heard him.

“Faith?”

She sighed. “What do you want me to say?”

“Tell me what you’re thinking. What you’re feeling.”

“That going with you this weekend was a big mistake.”

“We don’t have to end with the weekend, Faith.” Had he really just offered to have a relationship with Faith? A real relationship where emotions were on the line? Where they would exclusively see each other? Where they would share much more than their bodies? Hell, they already did share much more than their bodies.

She spun in her seat to face him. “That would be an even bigger mistake.”

He parked the car, turned off the ignition. “Why?” Not that he couldn’t name a hundred different reasons. Not that he could believe he was trying to convince a woman to have a relationship with him. Women chased him, not the other way around.

“Why?” she scoffed. “Because I’m not the kind of woman you date.”

She had a point. He’d never dated anyone like Faith. Had never even met anyone like her.

“Maybe you should be.”

“I’m not changing into one of those arm-candy girls.” Her retort bordered on snide.

“That’s not what I meant, Faith.” He raked his fingers through his hair, searched for the right words, words that wouldn’t leave his lips easily as they lowered the shields he’d painstakingly erected so long ago. “I meant maybe I should be dating women like you. Specifically, I should be dating
you.”

“Why?”

Why? Was she kidding? He frowned. “After this weekend you have to ask why I want to date you?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “That was just sex.”

“Really? Just sex?” He’d had sex before. Whatever had happened between Faith and himself had never happened before, though. He’d never felt that protectiveness, never lost reason. Just the memory of being inside her was enough to make his brain cloudy. “I thought it was more.”

Her green eyes narrowed, her jaw dropped a bit, and she regarded him quizzically, before laughing a bit hysterically. “Oh, I get it. You’re worried that because I was a virgin I’m going to have all these great expectations of you. Don’t worry, Vale. The only expectation I have is for us to continue our working relationship as if this weekend never happened.”

A strange pain shot across his chest. “You don’t want to see where whatever this is between us could go?”

“I know where it would go. Nowhere. And I’m not willing to mess up my career to go nowhere.”

Her words stung, yet he recognized the validity of what she said. Still, he played devil’s advocate. “How can you be sure we wouldn’t end up making my family very happy by making an announcement of our own?”

She snorted. “Because that’s one announcement I’ll never be making. Never.”

He wrapped both hands around his steering-wheel, squeezed the leather. “You wouldn’t marry me?”

“I wouldn’t marry any man.”

“Because of your mother?”

“Because I don’t want to be married.”

“Fine, I have no intention of marrying anyway, so we’re on the same wavelength.” So why did her blatant rejection bite so deeply? Why did it make him want to wrap her in his arms and love away the pain she associated with weddings because of her father’s abandonment? “Invite me to stay the night.”

Her answer was immediate and confident. “No.”

“You want me as much as I want you.” Was he saying the words for her benefit or his ego’s? “I know you do.”

She shook her head. “That’s just my autonomic neurophysical response to you. I imagine now that I’ve had sex I’ll respond that way to any attractive male.”

What a load of garbage. “Because of your hang-up about your father leaving you, you won’t have sex with me again?”

Her face paled and he regretted his sharp question, wondered why he didn’t just get her bag out and drive away, never looking back.

“What would be the point?” she finally asked.

“Other than a whole lot of pleasure?”

“There are other women who can give you pleasure. Lots of them. This weekend shouldn’t have happened. Let’s
forget it did and go back to just being work colleagues.” Her lips compressed into a fine, stubborn line.

He stared straight into her big green eyes, held her gaze, and fought all the warring emotions within him. “That’s what you want, Faith? What you really want? For us to forget about what happened and go back to just working together?”

She hesitated only the briefest of seconds, then nodded.

“Fine.” His pride kicked in, reminding him that he was Vale Wakefield and had never begged any woman for her attention, for her affections. He sure as hell wouldn’t start now. “You’re right. There would be no point to pursuing a relationship between us. No point at all.”

Monday morning arrived bright and early, just as it always had. Faith had slept little the night before, despite how tired she’d felt when she’d crawled into her bed. Alone.

No, not alone. Yoda had snuggled next to her, grateful his mistress was home.

But Faith had felt more alone than she had in a long time. Perhaps since her father had walked out on her and her mother.

She knew why.

She’d missed Vale. Two nights in bed with a man should not leave her feeling so lonely. Yet she’d curled into a fetal position and cried. Cried. She’d been the one to tell him to leave, so why had she cried?

Because somewhere during the weekend, when she’d been telling herself over and over that she was no different from any of the other women who’d fallen for him, she’d started to believe that maybe he could someday love her.

And when he’d looked at her at the lighthouse, she’d seen such sweet emotion in his eyes. And that had scared her.

Vale wanted a relationship for however long those sweet emotions lasted, but how could she do that? Because ultimately he would leave her and then where would she be? Just look at how two nights in bed with the man had messed with her head.

She’d had to face facts that she and Vale had to end things before she forgot to protect her heart, before she got so tangled up in the magic that was him that she lost herself, before she ended up like her mother, chasing an elusive dream of happily-ever-after that simply didn’t exist.

Now she had to go and face Vale.

How would he act? Would he acknowledge the hot sex they’d shared or would he go about business as usual?

After her shower, she donned a gray suit that felt shapeless after her Friday shopping spree, scraped back her hair. Unfortunately, with her recent trim, strands kept working loose and she couldn’t capture her usual no-nonsense look. Finally, she gave up and twisted her hair in a looser style, securing it with the comb she’d used over the weekend.

Staring at her clean face, she considered slathering on a protective coating of make-up. But if she did, Vale might read too much into it. Much better to go as usual than to have him think she regretted not continuing their weekend. She even made a point to wear her glasses instead of her contact lenses.

Although she need not have worried.

Vale wasn’t at the office when she arrived.

“He called to say he had a meeting at the hospital and would see you in the operating room,” Kay informed her,
handing Faith a stack of papers. “He also asked for you to handle any of these phone calls that you can, to save him time this afternoon. He’s got a full day ahead.”

Didn’t they always? Faith sighed. “Of course.”

Kay gestured to Faith’s hair. “I like your hair like that. Did you have it highlighted at your appointment on Friday?”

So much had happened between this morning and last Friday Faith had forgotten her co-workers hadn’t seen the changes she’d made. “Cut and highlighted. I couldn’t get it pulled back right this morning.”

“If right is how you usually wear your hair, then good. I like you better this way,” Kay said in her usual blunt manner. “How was the grandiose Steve Woodard and Sharon Wakefield wedding?”

“Grandiose,” Faith said, not wanting to be reminded of how she’d spent her weekend. In bed, naked, with her boss.

And he’d wanted to continue … If she’d said yes, would she have woken in his arms? Shared breakfast with him? Walked to work with him hand in hand?

No, she’d been right to end things now. Why wait for the inevitable? Why give Vale the chance to break her heart? A relationship between them would never have worked.

“I saw photos in
The Post.
There’s a really nice one of you and Vale. You looked gorgeous, by the way, and happy.”

There had been photos of her and Vale in
The Post?
What had the caption read?
Wakefield heir goes slumming? Wakefield heir dumps top model for smart chick, what was he thinking? Wakefield heir …
Faith winced, hoping Kay didn’t read too much into the reaction.

Of course there had been photos of the wedding. No
doubt gossip rags and papers alike would have a whole section on the famous heiress’s wedding to a sporting legend.

“Did you get to meet many stars?”

“A few,” she answered honestly. Almost every guest in attendance had had a recognizable face. “Vale kept me pretty busy.”

And how. Faith fought to keep heat from her face.

“The man is a workaholic!” Kay accused, but with admiration in her voice. “Well, I hope you got a chance to sightsee. Cape May is a gorgeous historic town. I love all those old Victorian houses. Was the Wakefield home close enough to the park for you to see the lighthouse? I visited there once when I was a kid.”

Faith didn’t wince again, barely. She even managed a half-smile. “I did get to visit the lighthouse. Thanks for asking.” She held up the stack of papers Kay had handed her. “Guess I’d better get started clearing these before meeting His Highness in the O.R. to implant Mr. Anderson’s two-lead DBS device. Keep your fingers crossed we cure his dyskinesia and tremors today without any negative side effects.”

When Faith arrived, Vale was already scrubbed and preparing to enter the surgical suite. She hadn’t intentionally dawdled, but time had slipped away from her while fielding his phone calls and catching up on her own workload.

“Did Kay give you my message?” he asked, glancing briefly at her when she’d finished scrubbing.

“She gave me all of your messages. I was able to take care of most of them.” Did she sound bitter? Ridiculous. She’d been helping Vale from the moment she’d started at the clinic. Why would doing so bother her now? But, then, screening his messages wasn’t what caused the bitterness in her throat.

“Good.” He stepped into the sterile gown, allowed the nurse to do up the back, then gloved up. Except for the rare comment regarding their patient, he ignored Faith throughout the remainder of the surgery.

Never had he ignored her. Never. Today, he was making a statement. One she was getting loud and clear.

There was no going back to the way things had been before their weekend together.

Unlike her, he looked as if he’d slept well. His appearance was impeccable, as always. No dark circles beneath his brilliant blue eyes, ever. No glances of longing at the woman he’d made passionate love to all weekend.

How dared he make her want him so badly!

Only, really, what had he done? Had sex with her and told her he wanted to continue their relationship beyond the weekend? How could she hold that against him?

But naive as it might be, she hadn’t expected such a drastic change in their professional relationship.

He turned, caught her watching him, met her gaze for the briefest of seconds. He never missed a beat in how he guided the DBS lead under the neuro-physicist’s guidance, never looked the slightest moved by the questions she knew she hadn’t kept from her face.

Then again, the man was performing brain surgery. One wrong move and their patient could have lasting effects. She should be grateful his concentration was on the patient because for once her mind kept veering off track. Not good. Her career was everything to her.