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“Different?” He almost laughed at the stubborn expression on her face. Maybe he would have had it been anyone but Chelsea. “Why?”
“Because…” She paused, the skin around her clenched knuckles whitened. She didn’t finish but not because she didn’t know how to answer.
“Look.” She straightened her fingers and smoothed her slacks. “I don’t want to argue. I just wondered if you thought there was something between Will and Leslie.”
“Hold up.” Jared put his hands in the air to halt her. “You think Will and Leslie…no way. They work together and know better than to do something so stupid.” Sure, he suspected something had happened between his two friends, but they’d obviously seen reason and called whatever it had been to an end.
Was she wanting Will to have an office romance so she could prove some point about an office romance working?
Sure, he’d admit it might for a short time, but an office romance was nothing more than a recipe for disaster. Even if all the other barriers between him and Chelsea didn’t exist, he still wouldn’t touch her. Not with them working in the same office.
“Have you thought about going to work somewhere else?”
Where the hell had that come from? Surely not his mouth.
But the crazy question had.
Chelsea’s eyes widened with surprise, then she narrowed her eyes at him, but he refused to squirm.
“If I didn’t know better,” she said, “I’d think you didn’t like me, Jared.”
“I don’t.”
For a moment her golden eyes darkened and he regretted his quick denial. After all, as much as he wanted to not like her, he couldn’t help but do so. Even with avoiding her as much as possible, he wasn’t blind. The clinic was a brighter place since she’d arrived. Like the idiot he was, he wanted a closer inspection of the light shining within her, even if that closer inspection zapped the life out of him.
“Yes, you’ve made your feelings about me abundantly clear,” she ground out, failing to hide her hurt.
Why had he asked such a stupid question? Because it irked that she’d acted as if she no longer wanted him? Idiot. Wasn’t that what he wanted? Will was a safe topic. One that constantly reminded him he’d been threatened if he so much as looked twice at Chelsea. Admittedly, had his own reasons, his own guilt, not checked his desire, nothing would have kept him from pursuing her.
“Chelsea, I…” He stopped, unsure how to go on. To say anything more would be wrong. The past wasn’t going to go away. He wasn’t going to change his mind and she wasn’t going to change jobs. Even if she did by some miracle go to work elsewhere, he still wouldn’t become involved with her.
Since Laura, he didn’t do involvement. Ever. Short, physically driven relationships, yes. Involvement, never. No matter where Chelsea worked, she was Will’s baby sister and Will was his business partner and best friend. A lethal combination.
Her gaze searched his, hopeful, and despite her earlier words, he knew interest still flared. She hadn’t gotten over him, not by a long shot.
And although a selfish, very male part of him felt joyous that her interest hadn’t waned, another part felt like a heel. Chelsea was a beautiful, intelligent woman who deserved better. He understood why Will wanted him to bring a date.
Will wanted his sister to move on, to find someone who would never treat her the way he’d treated Laura.
Although Chelsea’s interest flattered the hell out of him and made keeping things strictly business all the more difficult, Jared understood his partner’s feelings.
For his and Chelsea’s sakes, he’d do his part to oblige.
CHAPTER SIX
LATER that week, Betty stopped Chelsea just before she saw her next patient. “Will’s been called to the emergency room,” the nurse said.
“He’s asked for his patients to be split between you, Dr Jared, and Leslie so one of you won’t get stuck working late, trying to see them all. Only Leslie isn’t feeling well, and I hate to add to her load.” Betty gave a concerned tongue click. “Is it OK if Kayla and I divvy up his patients between you and Dr Jared instead?”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. At least, not on my part.” She actually looked forward to being busy as the extra patients would help keep her mind off Jared. More and more he haunted her dreams, day and night. “You might ask Jared just to make sure he doesn’t mind, though.”
“Will do.”
She stopped the nurse from leaving. “Is Leslie OK?”
“Just a stomach bug,” Betty assured her. “Goodness knows, we’ve seen enough of them lately it’s a wonder we all aren’t heaving.”
“Leslie’s throwing up?”
