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At least, he’d like to think he wouldn’t have.
There was something about her that messed with his head, so who knew if in sunny Miami, away from all the stresses of his life, he’d have been able to resist the temptation she’d presented with her quick smile and desire-filled eyes?
He missed that Natalie. The one who had looked at him with delight, touched him with longing, carried on long, flirty conversations with him and shared nights that had passed much too quickly.
Maybe that was part of him missing his old life, the life where he’d been free to have as many affairs as he wanted, where he’d been free to focus on his work. Where he hadn’t had to second-guess every decision he made and how it would impact a child.
Or maybe it was just Natalie.
Searching the crowded ballroom, he had no difficulty spotting her. She stood out in any room, but looked particularly lovely tonight. She wore a figure-hugging black dress that accentuated her rocking body. Her hair was down—something he hadn’t seen since Florida, as she always kept it pulled up at the hospital. Memories of running his fingers through those locks haunted him, making him long to cross the room and touch the silky strands.
To think his fascination was anything other than unique to her was foolish. No woman from his past had monopolized his thoughts, his desires, the way Natalie did.
“Ah, Dr. Sterling is here.”
Apparently the couple had moved on without Matthew noticing and the guest of honor’s gaze had followed his.
He didn’t turn to meet Dr. Luiz’s eyes. No need. The man wasn’t stupid and had made several comments over the past few weeks that let Matthew know he might not know details, but he knew something was up.
“She is,” Matthew agreed. In her scrubs, hair pulled up and no make-up, Natalie was gorgeous. Tonight, dressed to shine, she should have been featured in one of the fashion magazines Carrie loved to look at.
“I have to admit,” the older man said from beside Matthew, “I thought she’d have warmed to you by now.”
“She may never warm to me. I took what she saw as hers.”
“That’s not it and we both know it.”
His confident tone had Matthew’s gaze dragging off Natalie and glancing toward the astute older man.
“I’ve known her for a decade and have never seen Natalie react to anyone the way she does to you. You agitate her.”
“Agitation’s not a good thing.”
“Matter of opinion, but I’d say it’s not a bad thing.”
Matthew’s gaze narrowed on the man he greatly respected. “Our opinions differ on that. She resents me, and you, too, for what she sees as a direct betrayal and slap in her face career-wise in that she didn’t get to take over the department.”
“I’d put money on the fact that her agitation with you has nothing to do with anything that’s happened in Memphis.”
Which implied the man suspected something had happened before his arrival in Memphis.
“I didn’t do anything in Miami to make Natalie dislike me, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“I didn’t say she disliked you.” The man’s brow furrowed. “Unlike the idiot who is falling all over himself in front of her in hopes she’ll beg him back.”
Matthew’s gaze returned to Natalie to see a tall, slim, suited man fawning over her. Natalie’s expression wasn’t pleasant, but it also held enough emotion to give away that the man wasn’t a casual acquaintance. Even without Dr. Luiz’s comment, Matthew would have known the guy had to be her ex.
The one whom she’d lived with for a couple of years.
A man who’d shared her life, her bed, her body.
A man who was reaching for her hand even as Matthew watched.
Green acid gurgled within him, and it had nothing to do with anything he’d eaten and everything to do with the man touching Natalie.
The man—what had his name been?—lifted her hand and pressed a kiss there. The acid in Matthew’s belly erupted into full-blown volcanic burn.
His vision blurred.
