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He was calm, cool, and collected. Like seeing her was no big deal.
Life could be so unfair.
“The wise thing to do would be to have Cardico replace me with someone else,” she reasoned, trying to keep her head above water but knowing she was drowning in the seductive depths of Daniel’s eyes.
“The wise thing? Since when have you opted to do the wise thing?” His forehead wrinkled, and he leaned closer, so close she could smell him, all musky man with a spicy aftershave that revved her senses into hyperdrive like it had when he’d leaned toward her in the cardiac lab. He smelled divine. “You’re a total daredevil.”
Not anymore. Not since…him.
“Besides, why should you be replaced?” he continued. “Because we were once lovers? That’s a ridiculous reason for Cardico to replace you, and you know it.”
“I should have known better than to come here.” A person had to know when to retreat. The time was now. Before she gave in to the desire to refresh her memory of how he felt, tasted. She craved a taste of those lips. His lips. Her gaze focused on the amused tilt of his mouth, the tilt that said he knew what she was thinking. “I did know better,” she admitted.
“Why did you?” He trapped her in the intensity of his stare. “You knew you were coming to me, that we’d see each other, and be forced to spend time together. Time doesn’t change some things, like physical attraction. You had to know what might happen. Yet you chose to come. Is that why you’re here, Kimberly? Did you come alone, without your husband? To see what would happen between us after all this time?”
Her husband?
She jerked away, paced across the room, focused on the photo of him and his mother on his desk, because the picture provided a dose of cold reality. “Nothing is going to happen, Daniel. Not between us. Not ever again. This is crazy.”
“So what’s new?” He didn’t sound heartbroken at her revelation. “I’ve always been crazy when it comes to you. Why should now be any different?”
“Because any physical attraction between us ran its course a long time ago.” A lie if she’d ever told one—she felt his pull as strongly as if he were a powerful magnet and she a cheap scrap of metal. “We’re working together. You’re supposed to train me on the CRT, not seduce me.”
“Seduce you? Is that what I’m doing?” His voice held a teasing edge, and she hated it that he could find humor in the whole situation when she felt like a helpless mouse, with him playing the tomcat. Sure, she’d seen shock in his eyes in the cardiac lab when he’d first realized who she was, but then he’d relaxed like she was just another memory.
She probably was just another memory.
“I’m going home.”
He laughed, a hearty sound that made her knees weaken and angered her to strengthen her resolve.
“Running away, Kimberly?”
“Yes,” she admitted, before thinking better of it. Turning, she found he’d followed her across the room. Inches separated their bodies and she longed for the safety of being hundreds of miles apart.
“I’ve never known you to run from anything.” He cupped her chin, lifting her face toward him, staring into her eyes. Confusion darkened his gaze. “You’re scared of me?”
To death.
He could take away what she held most dear.
If she didn’t get her act together right now, he’d see she was hiding something, and he wouldn’t let up until he knew the whole sordid truth.
“Don’t say things like you know me. You don’t,”
she pointed out, much as he had earlier. Only she kept her voice calm, steady, despite his fingers burning into her flesh. “Why wouldn’t I be afraid of you? You’re making my working life hell.”
His lips thinned to a tight line. “You’ve changed. The girl I knew never ran. She faced her fears, conquered them.”
“Of course I’ve changed,” she scoffed, wanting to pull free from his hold but knowing that would only reveal how strongly he affected her. “I was little more than a child when you knew me.” Only a couple years older than Ryan was now. “I’m a grown woman and have grown-up responsibilities.”
“Like to your job?”
“Yes, to Cardico and to…” She sealed her lips to stop Ryan’s name from leaving her treacherous mouth. Unable to meet Daniel’s gaze any longer, she twisted to free herself from his hold.
“Go on. To who? Your husband?”
“I’m divorced.” She could have bitten her tongue for revealing that tidbit. The less Daniel knew about her personal life the better, and she didn’t want to discuss her brief marriage with him. “I was referring to my mother.”
