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She flicked her tongue over her lips, suggesting new nervousness, though he couldn’t read the expression on her lovely face. But then he told himself that he didn’t want to.
‘Yes, okay.’ She dipped her head once. ‘We have an understanding.’
And then she turned again, closed her fingers around the door handle and began yanking it open as if she couldn’t wait to get out of there.
Which suited him just fine.
Talia was halfway to stalking out of the room and into the corridor before her newfound meekness began to disappear, eroded by the temper that people rarely saw but never forgot.
Liam had never seen that temper. But, then, she’d never seen this side of him either, so she supposed that made them even.
She’d always known he was authoritative. A strong, confident surgeon who ran his operating room precisely how he liked to. But this Liam—the one who seemed just a little less self-restrained, as if something was bubbling terribly close to the surface—was a different entity entirely. As if their unscheduled reunion had unsettled him just as much as it had her.
And Talia found she rather liked it—the idea that she was seeing another side to this fascinating, infuriating man.
What appealed to her far less, however, was the way he had just dismissed her; waving her away like some kind of irritating mosquito.
Swinging around before she could second-guess herself, Talia marched back across the room to stand in front of his desk, her arms outstretched as she leaned on the table.
‘You know, for a man who never wanted to see me again, and whose career trajectory these past few years has pretty much only been matched by that of a space rocket, you seem to be surprisingly bothered by my presence.’
She realised her mistake too late. Her moment of bravado, striding up to his desk, had brought her altogether too close to Liam.
As he jerked up to his feet, the movement brought him forward until there was barely a few inches between them.
Again.
Close enough to touch him.
Her heart kicked hard. She clutched harder at the edge of the table in an effort to keep her hands in check. Lord help her but if she leaned forward, she could kiss him. She might have resisted insane impulses once, but she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do it again.
‘I have to say, Talia, I always knew you had passion—I admired it, in fact—but I don’t recall you being this vehement.’
‘Perhaps I wasn’t quite as much myself with you as I always thought I was.’ The words spilled out of her mouth before she’d even thought them in her head.
Liam frowned, clearly not liking that. She didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad one.
‘Which means what? Precisely?’
Talia didn’t answer. Was this really the conversation she’d wanted to have?
‘Please, don’t stop now.’ He arched an eyebrow. ‘A moment ago you clearly had something you wanted to say.’
He was goading her, and that stab of ire flashed though her again.
‘All right,’ she bit out. ‘I think perhaps these past few years have given me a little more clarity, and I’ve realised a few things.’
‘Indeed?’
‘Yes.’ She pursed her lips. ‘I wonder if I was ever entirely myself around you, Liam.’
‘And by that you mean?’ He clearly didn’t like what she was saying.
His expression told her as much.
‘I mean that, as much as I’ve hated to admit it, I think I was a little in awe of everything back in North Carolina. A new hospital, a new country, a new way of life. And then, on top of all that, you.’
‘Me, on top of all that?’ he drawled. ‘I’m piqued.’
