Kitabı oku: «A Valentine to Remember», sayfa 2

Her lacy white blouse dipped low over her breasts, and pure, feminine pleasure swept through her at the way his eyes darkened as he stared down at them. At the way a deep whoosh of breath left his lungs. His fingertips slipped down her collarbone and inside her bra to cup her breast at the same time that his mouth covered hers.

Oh. My. The man was certainly one amazing kisser. World class, really, and her bones nearly melted at the sensations swirling around her. His cool hand on her breast, her nipples tightening into his palm. His hot mouth tracking along her skin, her bra now slipping completely off her to the floor. Her pants somehow magically loose enough to allow his other wide palm to slide inside to grasp her rear before it moved to the front and touched her moist folds, making her gasp.

The loud patter of rain again on the window had him pausing his intimate exploration, and he lifted his head, his dark eyes gleaming. “Guess it’s a good thing we came in here out of the rain.”

“Good thing,” she managed before he resumed kissing and touching her until she was trembling with the intense pleasure of it all.

“Avery.” The way he said her name in a rough whisper, the way he expertly moved his fingers while kissing her mouth and face and throat, had her nearly moaning. It all felt so wonderful, every bit of nervousness evaporated, replaced by want and need.

How she ended up on the bed she couldn’t say, but when his mouth left hers she looked at him, foggily realizing that she was somehow flat on her back completely naked, while he stood there, staring at her.

“You are every bit as beautiful as I’d fantasized you’d be,” he said. “Looking at you takes my breath away.”

If that was true, then neither of them had much of an ability to breathe at the moment.

“My turn to look at you. Strip, please.”

Those bold words coming out of her mouth shocked her, but he just laughed. “Your wish is my command.” His gaze stayed on her as he quickly yanked off his shirt, and her breath caught at his lean but muscular torso. As he shoved off his pants, his erection became fully, impressively but all too briefly visible before his body covered hers, hot and deliciously heavy.

“You didn’t give me much time to look at you,” she managed to say.

“Sorry. Couldn’t wait to feel all your gorgeous, soft skin against all of mine.”

Well, if he put it that way. She had to admit it did feel amazingly, wonderfully, delectably good.

Was she really doing this? Lying naked with a man she barely knew? The feel of his body on hers, his mouth pressing sweet kisses to everything within reach of it, his smooth, warm skin beneath her hands told her the answer was yes, but to her surprise she didn’t feel tense or strange or regretful. All she felt was toe-curlingly excited and turned on.

His hands and mouth roamed everywhere until she found herself making little sounds and moving against him in a way that would have been embarrassing if she hadn’t been so totally absorbed in the sensations and how he made her feel. Nearing orgasm more times than she could count before he backed off and slowed things down, she was close to begging him when he finally rolled on a condom, grasped her hips with his hands and pulled her to him.

Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist, inviting him in, and the way they moved together made her think, in the tiny recess of her brain that could still function, that it seemed impossible they’d met only that morning. That this dance they danced hadn’t been etched in both their bodies and minds many a time before.

And when she cried out, it was his name on her lips and hers on his as they fell together.

CHAPTER TWO

“JUST SO YOU KNOW… it’s really true that I don’t usually do this.” Her pulse and breathing finally slowing to near normal, Avery managed to drag the sheet up to cover her breasts. She glanced over at Jack, whose head lay on the pillow next to hers, eyes closed, looking as sated and satisfied as she felt. She wasn’t sure why the words had tumbled out, but once they had, she wasn’t sorry. She didn’t want Jack to think she routinely picked up men, showed them around, then dove into bed with them.

“Do what?”

The expression on his face was one of bland innocence, completely at odds with the amused glint in the eyes that slowly opened to look at her. She couldn’t help but make an impatient sound. “You know very well what. Sleep with men I’ve just met. Heck, I’ve never even kissed a man I just met.”

He rolled to his side, his warm body pressing against hers. “I believe it was I who kissed you. Figured it was a Parisian tradition. The city of romance and everything. And what’s more romantic than a rainstorm in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower?”

“Well. There is that.” Though she was pretty confident that if it had been any other man she’d invited to breakfast that morning, there wouldn’t have been any kissing on their trek around town or any rolling around in the sheets, complete with a lovely afterglow. And, to her surprise, no feelings of regret at all. Maybe because she knew it would happen just this once.

The moment she’d stepped off the hotel elevator that morning, her attention had gone straight to him like a magnet. Tall, lean and obviously American, with an adorably befuddled expression on his handsome face as he’d spoken to the maître d’, she’d moved toward him without thinking, inviting a stranger for coffee and breakfast as though she did it every day. Which he doubtless assumed she did.

“I hope you’re not regretting it. Our kiss, and now this.” He propped himself up on his elbow and slowly stroked his finger down her cheek. “I know I don’t. Being so close to you under that umbrella, there was no way I could stop myself. And once I’d kissed you, all I could think of was kissing you more.”

No way she could have resisted his kiss, either. Or the bliss that had come afterward. Not that she’d tried at all. “Well,” she said again, as though the word might somehow finalize the whole crazy afternoon, “we’ve shared le petit déjeuner, walked a bit of the city and gone up the tower. Kissed under an umbrella and made love while it rained outside. I guess it’s a good time to find out a little about each other. I hope you’re not married?”

She said it jokingly, but a small part of her suddenly wondered if he possibly could be. If he was the type of man who philandered when working out of town. Her stomach clenched at the thought. After all, she knew that type way more intimately than she wished she did. Would Jack admit it if he was?

“Not married. Never have been. Remember, I told you, all I do is work. Which probably makes me pretty boring.”

Whew. She looked at him carefully and managed to relax. Surely no one could lie about a wife so convincingly. “Don’t worry, you’re not completely boring.” His twinkling dark eyes and devilish smile proved he knew he was darned exciting to be around. “Tell me something else about you. What’s your favorite food? Besides espresso, that is.”

“Sorry, coffee definitely is number one on my list of life’s sustenance. Though I’m sure anything licked from your lips would qualify, too.”

She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t have to ask you about talents, because I already know a few of them. Blarney being one.”

“And my other talents?” His eyes gleamed as his wide hand splayed on her back, pressing her close against him, and the heat of his skin on hers made her short of breath all over again.

“I’m not stroking your ego any bigger than it already is.”

“How about stroking something else, then?”

“Already did that. And I see I’ll have to watch what I say around you.”

He chuckled as he kissed her shoulder, and she found herself thinking about his mouth and those talents of his and wasn’t sure if it was that or his body heat making her feel so overly warm. Again. “So what are your hobbies?” he asked.

“I don’t know if I’d call it a hobby, but I like to run. Helps clear my mind when it gets too busy. And I like marshmallows. A lot.”

“Marshmallows?” He laughed out loud at that. “You’re kidding.”

“Unfortunately, no. I pop the little ones when I’m working on the computer. Which is why I have to run. Don’t want to become a marshmallow.”

“You’re about as far from a marshmallow as anyone could be.” His hand stroked feather-light up her arm and across her chest to slide down the other, making her quiver. “I’d like to run more than just on a treadmill, but my work just doesn’t leave me that kind of time.”

“So what is this work you spend all your time doing?”

“I’m a cardiologist.”

Every muscle froze, and her breath stopped as she stared at him. A cardiologist? Cardiologist? Could this really be happening?

He was probably used to women swooning when he announced that, but not her. She’d worked with more cardiologists than she cared to think about, and being arrogant and egotistical seemed to be a requirement for becoming that kind of specialist. Something she’d allowed herself to forget for too long with her last two boyfriends.

Along with her shock came another, even more chilling thought, which now seemed all too likely since they were staying at the same hotel. Her heart thumped hard in her chest, her body now icy cold as she tugged the sheet up tighter around it. “What’s your last name, Jack?”

“Dunbar.” He smiled, obviously not sensing the neon “oh, crap” vibes she had to be sending off. “I’m working for the next month at the Saint Malo Hospital, testing a new heart-valve replacement device. I’ve worked damned hard to get the design finished and to get the arrangements for the trial finalized. Can’t believe it’s finally about to happen.”

Oh. My. Lord. She couldn’t quite believe it, either. Not the trial starting. This unbelievable coincidence.

How was it possible that the man she’d just slept with was Dr. Jack Dunbar? The Jack Dunbar she’d be working with and observing at the hospital? The Jack Dunbar who was testing the procedure many, including her, hoped would someday always be used, instead of open-heart surgery, to replace faulty heart valves? The Jack Dunbar who had helped develop the next generation of valve replacement catheter based on her original design?

A next generation she feared wasn’t any better, or safer, than her own had been.

And if it became necessary to voice her opinion that the trial should be halted, he wouldn’t feel like kissing her or making love with her again, that was for sure. Not that she planned on more kisses and lovemaking, anyway.

A cardiologist was the absolute last kind of man she wanted in her life. Again.

“How about you?” He lay back, reaching to grasp her hand, his thumb brushing against her skin. Just as it had earlier when they’d been walking in such a lovely, companionable way. This time the feeling it gave her wasn’t electrifying and sweet. The sensation felt more like discomfort and dismay. “So, what kind of last name goes with Avery? And what kind of work brings you to Paris?”

She swallowed hard. “Funny you should ask. My work has a lot to do with your own, Dr. Dunbar.”

“Your work is similar to mine?” Jack asked, obvious surprise etched on his face. “In what way? Are you a doctor?”

“No. I have a doctorate in biomedical engineering.” She left it at that, which was absurd, since it was all going to come out sooner or later, and it might as well be now. Lying naked in bed with him.

That realization had her shaking off her stunned paralysis to leap out of bed and grab up her clothes.

“That’s… impressive.” He propped himself up on his elbow, obviously enjoying the view as she scrambled to get dressed. His dark eyebrows were raised even higher, an expression she was used to seeing when she told people what she did for a living. She was young to be where she was careerwise and being petite made her seem younger still.

“Not really. I just worked hard, like you. Then again, in my experience cardiologists are pretty impressed… with themselves.” And was that an understatement, or what?

“I should be insulted, except it might be true.” He grinned at her. “So what brings you to Paris?”

“Well, as I said, my work has to do with yours.” And could there be a much worse situation? The very first time she had a one-time thing with a man, he turned out to be someone she’d be working with closely.

She still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around this mess. With a nervous laugh threatening, she pulled on her shirt, relieved to be finally clothed. After all, being naked when they made their formal introductions would be all kinds of ridiculous, wouldn’t it?

She smoothed down her clothes and took a deep breath as she turned to him.

“As you know, your company hired the designer of the first valve replacement catheter to come study and observe the trial of your new one. That designer would be me.”

His mouth actually fell open as he stared at her. It seemed he shook his head slightly, and that jittery laugh finally burst out of her throat. Clearly, he was as shocked by this crazy coincidence as she was. Though maybe it wasn’t so crazy or much of a coincidence—after all, the Crilex Corporation was putting them both up at the same hotel where they’d met.

“You can’t be… Dr. Girard,” he said, still wearing an expression of disbelief.

“I am. And I’m equally shocked that you’re Dr. Dunbar.” Awkwardly, she stuck out her hand. “Avery Marie Girard. Nice to meet you.”

That slow, sexy smile she’d found all too attractive throughout the day slipped onto his face again before he laughed. He reached to shake her hand, holding onto it. “It’s an honor, Dr. Girard. Obviously, I’ve read about all you’ve accomplished. Your designs for various medical devices. Studied them for more hours than I care to think about as I worked with engineers to design the one we’ll be testing. I… can’t believe that you’re… her.”

“Because I’m young?” Or more likely because he’d already seen her naked, but maybe she could pretend it hadn’t happened. As though that was possible.

“Because you’re beautiful. And fun. And spontaneous. With silky hair you don’t wear in a bun and crazy, colorful clothes instead of drab gray. Rain boots with ducks instead of orthopedic shoes.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’m obviously guilty of thinking of a very stereotypical brainiac scientist, and those stereotypes don’t include any of the things you are.”

“Jack Dunbar!” She shook her head mockingly, having heard it all before. “You shouldn’t admit any of that. The Society of Women Scientists will publicly flay you if you say that aloud. Maybe mount your head on an energy stick and parade the streets with it, denouncing stereotypes of all kinds.”

“And I’d deserve it.” The eyes that met hers were warm and admiring. That admiration would doubtless change into something else if he knew about her true role in his project. A slightly sick feeling seeped through her. Why, oh, why, hadn’t she learned who he was before she’d slept with him?

“Glad you admit it. Scientists come in all ages, sizes, genders and personalities.”

“You’re right, and I’m sorry.” He got out of the bed as well, and she averted her gaze from his glorious nakedness. “Sounds like you buy into some stereotyping, too, though. That cardiologists are all egotistical and impressed with themselves.”

Guilty. But she had good reason to believe that, and it wasn’t based on a stereotype. It was based on personal experience. And then, today, she’d dived into bed with another one. How stupid could she be? “Let’s agree to set those preconceived ideas aside, shall we?”

“Agreed.” He shook his head as he pulled on his own clothes. “Wow. I’m just blown away by this. I’d been interested in meeting the famous Dr. Girard and pleased to have her participate in the trial with me. Little did I know she’d be an incredible tour guide, have the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen and…” he paused to look at her, speaking in the low, deep rumble that did funny things to her insides “… the sweetest lips on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Oh, my. And his were beyond sweet, as well. “Except you realize this was a bad idea. Now that we know we’ll be working together.”

In fact, he didn’t have any idea exactly how bad an idea it had been.

Robert Timkin, the Crilex CEO, had spun to Jack and everyone else involved that Avery would be there just to observe the trial for her own education. But the company knew she had concerns about the new device and had really hired her to evaluate the data, giving her the power to stop the rollout of the next trials if she thought it necessary.

Jack had worked on designing the new device and organizing the trial for over a year, and he’d doubtless flip out if the data forced her to shut it down.

“Working together.” His warm smile faded and his brows lowered in a frown. “I guess you’re right. That is a problem.”

“It is.” She drew a calming breath. “Listen. This afternoon was wonderful. A lovely day in a wonderful city between two strangers. But now we’re not strangers. And I have to be an objective observer as I gather data on the trial. From now on, we’re just working colleagues, nothing more.”

He stared at her silently for a moment, his expression serious, before he nodded. “You’re right. Business and pleasure never mix well.”

“No. They don’t.” Not to mention that she’d sworn off cardiologists for good.

He stepped forward and pulled her close, pressing his lips to hers in a soft, sweet kiss. Despite her words and thoughts and conviction, she found herself melting into him.

“That was from Jack to Avery. Thank you for an unforgettable day,” he whispered against her lips before he stepped back. “Dr. Dunbar will be meeting Dr. Girard tomorrow in the cath lab as we both concentrate on why we came to Paris. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He dropped one more lingering kiss on her mouth before he picked up her coat and draped it over her arm. She stepped out to the hall and the door clicked quietly behind her. She lifted her fingers to her lips, knowing with certainty this had been the only one-time fling she’d ever have. That she’d savor the memory, and pray that over the next thirty days it didn’t come back to sting her in more ways than one.

CHAPTER THREE

AVERY STOOD BEHIND a wall of glass to one side of the operating table in the hospital’s cath lab, watching the procedure on the X-ray fluoroscopy viewing monitor. She’d gowned and masked like everyone else in the room, but unlike anyone else, she held a tablet in her hand to record the notes she’d be taking.

“The prosthetic valve is made from cow tissue,” Jack said to the nurses and doctors assisting or observing the procedure, as he and Jessica Bowman, the nurse he’d brought with him from the States, readied the patient. “This version doesn’t require a balloon to open it as the previous one did.”

He continued to explain, as he had last night during his presentation, how a transcatheter aortic valve implantation, TAVI, worked. The details of how the catheter was designed, and why the stent and valve were in an umbrella shape, designed to push the diseased valve aside before the umbrella opened, seating the new valve in its place. With the procedure not yet started, Avery had a moment to watch him instead.

Today, he was all business, his dark eyes serious above his mask, his voice professional and to the point. In stark contrast to yesterday’s amusing and witty companion. As they’d laughed and walked through Paris, his eyes had been perpetually filled with interest and humor, his mouth curved in a smile, his attention on her as much as it had been on the landmarks she’d shown him.

A very dangerous combination, this Dr. Jack Dunbar. So dangerous she’d thrown caution off the top of the Eiffel Tower. Thank heavens they’d agreed that no more hot, knee-melting kisses or spontaneous sex could be allowed.

Though just thinking about those kisses and their all-too-delicious lovemaking made her mouth water for more.

She gave herself a little mental smack. Date a cardiologist? Been there, done that. Twice. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on me again. Fool me three times? Well, her genius status would clearly be in question.

Then there was the other sticky issue. Obviously, the best-case scenario would be for the device to work fabulously, for the trial to be a success and for it to be further rolled out to other countries and hospitals. After all, in the U.S. alone over one hundred thousand people each year were diagnosed with aortic stenosis, and a solid third of them were high risk who might not do well with traditional open-heart surgery or weren’t candidates at all.

But, from studying this stent and catheter, she worried that it didn’t fully address the significant problem of postoperative valve leakage and subsequent pulmonary edema, which her own design had not solved and was something she was trying to fix in her new prototypes.

“I’m going to establish a central venous line through the right internal jugular,” Jack said as he made an incision in the patient’s neck. “Then insert a temporary balloon-tip pacemaker. Both groin areas of the patient have been prepped, and I’ll next insert an introducer sheath into the femoral artery.”

Avery watched as his steady hands worked. After completing the first steps, he made another incision in the patient’s groin, moving the guide wire inside the artery. “Contrast dye, please, and monitor the heparin drip,” he said as he watched his maneuvering of the wires on the overhead screen. “You’ll see that it’s important to puncture the artery with a high degree of angulation to minimize the distance from the artery to the skin.”

The man was an incredibly skilled interventional cardiologist, that was obvious. She quickly focused on the careful notes she was taking to squash thoughts of the man’s many skills he’d thoroughly demonstrated to her yesterday. Why, oh, why, would she have to be around him every day when the whole reason she’d given in to temptation had been because she’d thought she’d never see him again?

Finally, he finished stitching the access sites and the patient had been moved to Recovery. Jack shook hands with all those in the room congratulating him.

“Thank you, but I’m just one cog in this wheel that will hopefully change valve transplantation forever,” Jack said. “One important cog is right here with us. The designer of the first catheter-inserted replacement valve, Dr. Avery Girard.”

Taken off guard, she felt herself blush as Jack turned, gesturing to her with his hand, then actually began to clap, a big smile on his face, as the others in the room joined him. She’d been keeping a low profile, and most of the hospital had just assumed she was a Crilex representative. Most cardiologists she knew—most definitely both of her old boyfriends—loved to play the big shot and preen at any and all accolades. Neither one of them would have shared the glory unless they had to.

“I appreciate your nice words, Dr. Dunbar,” she said, feeling a silly little glow in her chest, despite herself. “I have every hope that the new design you’ve helped develop will be the one that works. Congratulations on your first procedure going smoothly.”

“Thank you.” His warm eyes met hers, reminding her of the way he’d looked at her yesterday, until the doctors observing converged on him to ask questions and he turned his attention to them.

Avery took off her gown, mask and hat, and caught herself watching Jack speak to everyone. Listening to his deep voice and the earnest enthusiasm there. She wanted to stay, to listen longer, but forced herself to move quietly from the room to go through her notes. Limiting her interactions with him to the bare minimum had to be the goal, and since there was just one surgery scheduled today, there was no reason to hang around.

Satisfied that her notes were all readable, in order and entered correctly into her database, Avery walked toward the hotel, feeling oddly restless. She’d planned to work in her room, but a peculiar sense of aloneness came over her. Since when had that ever happened?

Still, the feeling nagged at her, and she stopped to work for a bit at a little café, which seemed like a more appealing choice. After a few hours she headed to her room and settled into a comfy chair with her laptop. Projects on her computer included ideas on how to fix her previous TAVI design if the one Jack had in trial had significant issues.

That unsettled feeling grew, sinking deep into the pit of her stomach, and she realized why.

If she had to recommend the trial be discontinued, would Jack think it was because she wanted Crilex to develop one of her designs instead? That her concerns would be from self-interest instead of concern for the patients?

She’d been doing freelance work ever since abruptly leaving the company that had funded her first TAVI design. They’d insisted on continuing the trials long after the data had been clear that the leakage problems had to be fixed first, which was why she’d been glad to observe this trial before that happened again.

If only she could talk to Jack about it, so he’d never think any of this was underhanded on her part. But her contract with Crilex stated she was to keep that information completely confidential.

She pressed her lips together and tried to concentrate on work. Worrying about the odd situation didn’t solve anything and, after all, Jack knew she’d designed the original. Wouldn’t he assume she was likely working on improvements to it and observing his with that in mind?

She couldn’t tell Jack the power she had over the trial. But maybe she should tell him she had concerns with the design. To give him that heads-up, at least, and maybe nudge him to look for the same issues she would be as the trial continued.

Avery caught herself staring across the room for long minutes. With a sigh she shut the lid of her laptop and gave up. Clearly, she needed something to clear her head. Fresh air and maybe a visit to somewhere she hadn’t been for a while. A place popped into her head, and she decided it was a sign that it might be just what she needed to get back on track.

A half hour later, jostling with others passengers as she stepped off the metro, she saw the sun was perilously low in the sky. She hadn’t torn out the door in record time to miss seeing the Sacré Coeur at sunset and headed in that direction in a near jog, only to bump into the back of some guy who stepped right in front of her.

“Oh, sorry!” she said, steadying herself.

“No, my fault. I’m trying to figure out how to get to the Sacré Coeur to see it at sunset, and I…”

She froze and looked up as the man turned, knowing that, incredible and ridiculous as it was, the man speaking was none other than Jack Dunbar. Saw his eyes widen with the same surprise and disbelief until he laughed and shook his head. “Why is it that whenever I need a tour guide, the best one in Paris shows up to help me?”

Fate. It was clearly fate, and why did it keep throwing her and Jack together? Should she even admit that was exactly where she’d been going? “I wish I had the answers to the universe. But somehow I don’t think you’ll be surprised to learn that’s where I’m headed, too.”

He looked at her a long, serious moment before he gave her a slow smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and the warmth in them put a little flutter in her chest. “You know, somehow I’m not surprised. And who am I to argue with the universe? Guess this means we’re going together.”

A buoyant feeling replaced the odd, unsettled feeling she’d had for hours. Bad idea? Yes. Something she could walk away from? Apparently not.

“Then we’ve got to hurry.” She grabbed his hand, knowing she was throwing caution away again. But how could she say no to the happy excitement bubbling up inside her? And after all, it was just a visit to the Sacré Coeur, right? “The sun’s setting soon, and we don’t want to miss it.”

“Lead on, Ms. Tour Guide. For tonight I’m all yours.”