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Just as she needed to put some distance between them because last night had her all mixed up.
“Have you made a decision about the Harris case?”
His question jolted her back to reality. Focusing on the baby rather than looking up at him, Natalie nodded. “I’m going to operate.”
“I’d like to be in surgery with you.”
She’d thought he might. Perhaps that had been part of her hesitation in making the decision, but her window of opportunity was quickly passing. If the Harris baby was going to have her vessels repaired in utero and have time to heal prior to entering this world, the operation had to take place soon.
“You planning to take over again?”
His gaze narrowed. “Is that how you saw what happened?”
No, it wasn’t. Her comment had been unfair and unwarranted. Matthew had been nothing but kind since his arrival in Memphis. So why had she snapped at him?
She knew why. The same reason her insides were twisted into knots. Last night—seeing him vulnerable when she’d thought him invincible, seeing him giving up so much to try to take care of his best friend’s daughter.
And then there was Miami.
She couldn’t look at him and not remember how his lips had felt against her body, how his body had felt against hers, how they’d laughed together, played together, how she’d let loose and relaxed with him because she’d thought she’d never see him again.
That was the reason she’d been so relaxed with him, wasn’t it?
Yet here he was in Memphis.
Driving her crazy. Mentally, emotionally, physically.
“You can do as you please,” she assured, trying not to let too much of her unease come through. “It’s not as if I have the authority to say no.”
She made the mistake of looking up, catching his light blue gaze darkening as he studied her.
“Is there someone you’d rather have in this particular surgery with you than the surgeon on staff who has the most in-utero surgical experience?”
She took a deep breath, then glanced beyond him to make sure no one was near enough to overhear their conversation.
“Of course I don’t want you in surgery with me.” Only, she did. Which annoyed her all the more. Then again, she’d admired his skills long before she knew just how far they extended.
“Explain.”
“We had sex,” she whispered.
“So what?” He kept his voice low. “That has nothing to do with this.?
??
“It has everything to do with this,” she assured. “If I’d known there was even the slightest possibility that I’d someday work with you, we never would have.”
With one last look at the baby, she walked away, ducked into a dictation room for a moment’s privacy to calm her racing heart. She should have known Matthew would follow her.
“Our having sex is in the past,” he said matter-of-factly, filling the doorway to the small closet-like room. “We can’t change the past. But how we proceed in the future is something we do have control over. I let you dictate the animosity between us from the moment I arrived on the Memphis scene because I agreed that keeping our distance was for the best. But I was wrong. The reality is, we can’t keep enough distance to avoid the truth.”
“What truth?”
He raked his fingers through his dark hair. “You want me.”
Three simple words spoken softly but they echoed around the tiny room.
“You’re mistaken,” she denied.
