Sizzling Nights with Dr. Off-Limits (11 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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consciousness at some point during the night.

Apparently, Cassie's nurse had called Lucas, because he was there and in Cassie's room when Emily arrived at the hospital and took report from the night nurse.

“He's in with her right now. Has been for a while. He's such a great doctor. He's going to be a great father someday.”

Emily's heart squeezed so tight in her chest that she thought she might pass out. She didn't respond to the nurse's comment. There was no need. Amy was still going on and on about Dr. Cain's many fabulous features.

“I bet you were ecstatic when he bought your TBI basket.”

“Ecstatic,” she agreed to keep Amy from digging deeper if she told the truth about how she'd felt about Lucas buying her basket. She liked Amy but wasn't close enough to the woman to be sharing intimate details of her life. She still felt a little nervous that she'd told Meghan about who Lucas was. She didn't want her friend's pity should things go wrong.

“How a good-looking guy like him hasn't been snapped up by some smart woman is beyond me.”

“Looks aren't everything,” she mumbled under her breath, not really meaning for Amy to catch her words.

“Yeah, but that man is the total package. Looks, intelligence, sense of humor, compassion and money. A girl could do a lot worse.”

Ugh. How did she end up in this conversation?

“I suppose.”

“Hey, all I'm saying is that if it were me he'd paid that much money to go to dinner with, I'd make sure he got his money's worth.” Amy waggled her brows suggestively. “You should at least think about it. I heard you and the pharmacist broke up.”

Gossip sure spread fast.

“We've already gone on our dinner date.”

“And I definitely got my money's worth.”

She hated how Lucas did that, walked up behind her and joined into conversations she was having. But she supposed if she was going to talk about him, he had a right to join in. Not that she'd wanted to talk about him, but it seemed she couldn't escape doing so.

Amy blushed at being caught. “Hi, Dr. Cain. We were just talking about you.”

“I heard.” His smile reached his eyes. “All good things, I hope?”

“Absolutely.” Amy laughed a little flirtatiously. “Is there anything else to be said?”

His gaze met Emily's, as if challenging her to speak up. She kept her mouth closed.

She might have lots of negative things to say, but since she'd been having mind-blowing sex with the man, she really didn't think she had the right to point out any flaws.

“Did Amy tell you the good news?” His gaze searched Emily's. “Cassie woke up during the night.”

“She mentioned that. She also mentioned you came to the hospital after she woke up and that you've been with her since.”

As in, she knew he'd come here when he'd left her place, and when had he slept? Because, as handsome as he was, Emily noted the fatigue around his eyes and it pulled at her heart.

“She's going to be fine from the bleed.” He sounded genuinely happy about the news. “No lasting damage that I can tell from the increased intracranial pressure.”

“That's wonderful.”

“I'll be taking her back to the operating room soon to remove the tumor. Just as soon as she's strong enough to withstand another surgery.”

Emily nodded.

“She's going to feel like a new person when I'm finished.”

“No doubt.” She met his gaze. “Did you need for one of us to do something for you, Dr. Cain? Because Amy needs to finish giving me report so I can go check on my patients this morning.”

* * *

It didn't surprise Emily when Lucas showed up again later that day. She was in Cassie's room and had just finished helping her mother sponge bathe the little girl. They'd just settled her back into her clean hospital bed.

“Hi, Dr. Cain,” Cassie said, smiling at him despite the bandages around her head. “Are you...going...to take my blood?”

He shook his head. “You're safe from me sticking you.”

“Good, because...I feel...a lot better.” She truly was doing better, but one only had to listen to her speech, watch her hand and arm movements, to know that there were still serious health issues.

“I see that.” He smiled back at the child. “Your color is a lot better than when I was here this morning.”

“Momma says...I can...go to the playroom...soon...if I keep...getting stronger.”

“Hopefully, you'll be strong enough very soon.”

He ran through a check on Cassie's cranial nerves, making her smile as he asked her to make the different facial expressions at him. He puffed his cheeks out, waggled his eyebrows, smiled, frowned, furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth back at her with each check, eliciting a giggle from his patient and a smile from Cassie's mom.

He really was great with Cassie. Amy had been right. Lucas would be a great father. If only... No. Emily absolutely positively was not going to let her mind go there.

Even if her mind had been going there on and off since he'd first shown up at Children's. How could it not have?

Still, some memories were best never resurrected.

Some parts of the past she just couldn't deal with.

Not ever again.

Having lived through them the first time had almost killed her.

* * *

“Will you please go to dinner with me tonight?”

Emily bit the inside of her lip. She didn't want to date Lucas. She wanted... She wasn't sure what she wanted. Just that she was scared of going to dinner with him. She'd had fun with him at the club, dancing, but overall that experience had just left her feeling raw. Everything about being near him left her feeling vulnerable.

“I promise I won't bite.”

Her gaze cut to his. “Yeah, I've heard that before.”

His lips twitched. “Promises not to bite when I'm in bed don't count.”

“Says who?”

“Me?”

Despite her misgivings, she laughed. “You're the final authority on biting?”

“I probably don't have near enough experience to be the final authority, but if you want to volunteer for me to practice nibbling on, I'm all for upping my game.”

“I'm sure you are.”

“But I'd like to take you to dinner first.”

“Why?”

“I enjoy being with you and want to spend time with you.”

She enjoyed being with him, too. Naked, no problem. That was easy to categorize into just sex. But spending time with Lucas with her clothes on? That wasn't so easy to justify away from work.

“I'd like to take you to this little French bistro off Broadway. They have this fresh-baked bread that just melts in your mouth.”

“And straight onto my hips.”

“Your hips are perfect, Emily.”

His compliment came out as sincere and not one meant to puff her up. She liked that. Liked that he sounded as if he truly believed what he said.

“But they won't be if I indulge in fresh-baked bread,” she pointed out, trying not to get too elated that he'd said her hips were perfect. He made her feel perfect. When he looked at her, touched her, with such awe, how could she not?

He'd always done that in the beginning, made her feel good about herself, made her feel as if she was the only woman in the world and the center of his existence.

“I promise to make you burn every single carbohydrate before the sun comes up.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know what will be coming up before the sun.”

He grinned. “You know me so well.”

Yes, she did. And yet she didn't. Not anymore. He'd changed in the years they'd been apart. He was more mature, more stable these days, more caring and aware of others around him. Then again, he was five years older, a man in his thirties. Of course he'd matured.

“Does that mean you'll give me the privilege of taking you to a late dinner for two?”

She sighed, then nodded. It wasn't as if she could say no. Even if she could, all she'd do was think about him and hope he showed at her apartment. What would be the point of saying no? “But only if you promise to make me enjoy every second of carb-burning.”

His grin was lethal. “Was there ever any doubt?”

No, that, Emily never doubted.

* * *

Emily's menu hadn't had prices, but she didn't need dollar signs to know she was in a restaurant way out of her price ballpark. Part of her wanted to question Lucas about wasting so much money on taking her to eat at such a place when she'd have enjoyed grabbing a pretzel dog and walking around Times Square to people watch just as much.

Well, almost as much.

She had to admit the cozy candlelit booth with just the two of them was nice. Perhaps a bit too over-the-top romantic for a divorced couple. Then again, most divorced couples weren't having hot sex every night, either.

Or maybe they were. What did she know about such things other than that Lucas got to her physically as much as he ever did? The absence of the golden band he'd slipped onto her finger so long ago hadn't changed that one bit.

Not really.

“You got quiet. Should I be worried?”

“I was thinking about when you put my wedding band on my finger.” Automatically, her thumb brushed across the empty spot. She'd never been much of a jewelry person, and these days she chose not to wear any rings unless it was a fun, chunky costume piece that complemented whatever she was wearing.

His expression tightened. “What about it?”

She shrugged. “Not really anything specific. I was just thinking about you doing so.”

“Do you still have your rings, Emily?”

Wondering if she should admit such craziness, she nodded. “I thought about selling them, but there just seemed something weird about doing so. I guess keeping them is just as weird.”

“I've still got mine, too.”

“You do?” Why did that surprise her? Why did some deep part of her rejoice that he'd held on to his wedding band? It didn't mean anything that he'd kept the ring. The only thing that meant anything was the legal divorce document that had torn away any meaning the ring had once held.

He nodded. “Like you, I've thought about getting rid of it but never have.”

“We were too young,” she mused.

“That's what everyone said.” His gaze met hers. “But the truth of the matter is that I was older than you are now.”

Her eyes widened a little. “You were, weren't you?”

Not that she hadn't known, just that she hadn't thought about it. He'd seemed much younger at the time than she currently felt. Maybe because he'd still been working on his education and had still lived in his parents' home.

“I'd led a pretty sheltered life up until I got to medical school,” he admitted, echoing her thoughts. “It was harder work than I'd anticipated.”

“You always made excellent grades.” She knew he had. She'd seen the academic awards he'd won throughout his college and pre-college years.

“That was easy. Medical school not so much so. I struggled a lot more than I let people see.”

Odd, she'd never thought of him as struggling. Then again, by the time she'd met him, he'd been doing his surgical fellowship. Maybe she'd missed a lot of the struggling times.

“A lot more than I let you see,” he added, squashing her theory.

“I remember you studying and looking up stuff on patients, but you seemed to blow through it with ease.”

“Because I'd rather be playing with you than studying.”

What he was saying sank in. “If I made your education more difficult, I apologize. I never wanted to interfere with any of your dreams.”

He started to speak but didn't as their waiter showed up with some of the bread Lucas had bragged about.

“Mmm, this is worth every thigh jiggle,” she admitted after the first buttered bite.

Lucas didn't say anything, and when she looked up and met his blue gaze, his eyes were dark. “You're beautiful, Emily. If I failed to tell you that back then, let me constantly remind you now. You. Are. Beautiful.”

Where had that come from? She'd been blabbering on about food and jiggling thighs and he was proclaiming her beautiful? What was up with that?

“So are you.” Because what else could she say? That once upon a time he'd made her feel like the most beautiful woman on the planet? That once upon a time when he'd looked at her she'd known he thought her the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and she'd thought she'd be his forever?

That once upon a time she hadn't been able to look at him without bursting into tears because she'd been pregnant with his baby and he'd no longer wanted her or their child?

* * *

Lucas loved to watch Emily eat. Always had, but he'd forgotten. When she'd stuck the piece of bread in her mouth and licked her fingers, he'd sincerely thought about asking for a lick himself. Her eyes had filled with heaven, her face had relaxed in pleasure, and her sounds of enjoyment had only added to his longings.

But it was more than the physical.

With Emily, it always had been more.

He enjoyed her. Watching her. Listening to her. Talking to her. Touching her, and not just in a sexual way, although there was always that. Life just seemed better with Emily.

A lot better with Emily.

Then again, the problem had been her unhappiness, not his.

“You're making me nervous,” she said, drawing his gaze back to hers.

He took her hand into his and brought her fingers to his lips. He pressed a kiss there. “You have no reason to ever be nervous around me, Emily.”

“Right.” She pulled her hand away and tucked it under her leg. “Because you're as harmless as a hungry lion.”