Page 90 of The Cajun Doctor

“I never thought that my initial offer to help Angus would spiral out of control like this.” She was circling the rim of her cup with a forefinger, nervous for some reason. Maybe because of the way Daniel was staring at her so intently.

“Would you have refused to help him if you knew?”

She barely hesitated before answering, “No. I couldn’t have turned him, or Lily Beth, away.”

“So, you deal with it.”

“‘If life gives you lemons, make lemonade’?”

“Something like that. Or ‘if life gives you lemons, add some salt and tequila’?”

They both smiled at each other then.

“Oh, I forgot,” he said suddenly. “I talked to Luc on the way back. He’ll be coming here tomorrow, about nine. He’s bringing a couple FBI agents with him. John will come, too, with the local sheriff. They might want to post some officers around the property, or at the least have officers pass here often on rounds. The other alternative is a safe house.”

She groaned. “It’s going to be chaos here. Even more so than it is now.”

He couldn’t argue with that. He was staring at her again in that strange way.

“We should probably go to bed . . . I mean, you look totally beat. Did you sleep at all last night? Sleep is what you need. Me, too, though I don’t know if I can sleep with all this stuff running around in my head.”

“I have a solution,” he said, taking her hand in his, the one whose forefinger had been nervously stroking the Solo cup.

A zing of apprehension raised all the fine hairs on her body. Or was it pleasure at that mere tactile feel of skin on skin?

Still holding her gaze, with her one hand in his, joined in the middle of the table, the thumb caressing her wrist, he suggested, “Let’s go to bed together.”

“What . . . what do you mean?” She tried to yank her hand away, but he held it tighter. In fact, he tugged her forward so that they both leaned into the table.

“You know exactly what I mean.”

The heat that filled her cheeks betrayed her. “You mean, you want sex.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Daniel, you’re clearly exhausted. You are not up for this. Not tonight.”

“Oh, I’m up all right. I’ve been up all day,” he said, deliberately misreading her.

I stepped into that one. “So, any woman will do.”

“No. I want you.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

“You don’t even like me. You’ve made that more than obvious ever since I met you.”

“I like you now.”

A thrum of something began to beat in her breasts and low in her belly. An erotic pulse. “What is it, exactly, that you’re suggesting?”

“Anything. And everything.” He used his free hand to wipe across his face. “Listen, don’t make a big thing about this. I want you. I’m pretty sure you want me. We’re not talking about forever. You want a big family, I don’t want even one child. But we can still enjoy each other.”

No children reminded her of Nick. “Have you had a vasectomy?”

“Hell, no! But that doesn’t mean I ever want to bring a child into this world. Ever.”