Suddenly Last Summer

She leaned forward, waiting for the world to stop spinning. “Is that the truth? You’re not lying to me?”

“I never lie. Some women would say it’s my biggest failing.” He crouched down next to her and closed a hand over hers. “Better?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t say that his honesty was one of the things she liked best about him.

Lifting her head, she met his gaze. Her stomach tightened.

It didn’t matter how much they tried to ignore it, the connection was always there.

Merde. And now she was leaning on him like a pathetic creature. And she didn’t do that. She never did that.

“You scared me. I thought—” She couldn’t even say what she’d thought. It was a relief to feel her heart thudding against her chest. For a moment she’d thought it had stopped. “Kayla didn’t answer my texts. I was worried.”

“Probably too busy kissing my brother to check her phone.” He gave her hand another squeeze and stood up. “Do those two ever stop?”

She flexed her fingers, thinking that she should have been the one to pull her hand away.

“They’re apart for a lot of the week so I suppose they want to make the most of the time they’re together. Tell me about your grandfather. How was he when you left?”

“Awake and talking. Scolding Grams for having stayed with him the whole time when she should have gone home to bed.”

“Scolding? That sounds so much like him.” The relief was so great it was almost physical. “I will kill Kayla for not texting me.” She knew she should stand up but she didn’t trust her legs so she stayed sitting on the pretty blue wooden chair she’d bought for her kitchen. “I’m shaking! I am a mess.”

“From what I’ve heard you’ve had a hell of a day, so shaking is allowed. Here. Have a drink.” Pulling a bottle of cognac from her shelf, he sloshed a generous measure into a glass and sniffed it with appreciation. “This is good stuff. If I’d known you were hiding this I would have been around sooner.”

He handed her the glass and she took it, horrified to feel a hot ball of tears wedged in her throat.

“Sorry—”

“Are you apologizing for not sharing your cognac or for caring about my grandfather?”

“I’m apologizing for overreacting.” And she was furious with herself for allowing her thoughts to wander into worst-case land. She sipped and felt the liquid burn her throat.

Sean watched her. “I’m the one who should be apologizing for showing up at your door without warning. It didn’t occur to me that you might think I was the bearer of bad news. Women are usually pleased to see me.” He obviously intended it as a joke, but she knew it was probably the truth.

“You have never come to my lodge before and I’ve been worrying and when I couldn’t reach Kayla I thought maybe—” her heart was still pounding “—I saw you there and I was so afraid—”

“If you were that afraid why didn’t you call me?”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“For God’s sake Élise, we’re not strangers. You ripped my clothes off. We had sex. If we can roll naked together, you can pick up the damn phone.”

She felt the betraying color streak across her cheeks. “You ripped my clothes off, too, in case your memory is faulty.”

But she’d started it.

She’d made the first move on that hot summer night with the scent of the forest around them and her blood on fire for him.

“Yeah, that’s right. I did. There was plenty of mutual ripping that night. And my memory is working just fine, thanks.” His smile was slow and sexy, his eyes a vivid intense blue. “How is yours?”

“I can barely remember it now.”

The corners of his mouth flickered. “Because it wasn’t a very memorable night, was it? Look,” he said, as he took the glass from her, “I’m bad at relationships, I admit it. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to pretend that night didn’t happen. Next time you’re worried about something, pick up the phone.”

“I don’t have your number and I don’t want it.” Their relationship had never been about numbers and phone calls. It had been about hot sex, and it was hot sex she was thinking of now and she knew he was, too.

“I’m not suggesting you call me while I’m operating to tell me you love me, but if you’d had my number you could have called me tonight instead of worrying.”

“Do people do that? Call you while you’re operating?”

“Sometimes.” He leaned against her kitchen counter. “Women usually want more than I can give.”

“I don’t.”

She knew she never would have called him. Calling was the first step on the path to a relationship and she’d never tread that path again, not even a little way. She’d done it before and it had been like walking over broken glass with bare feet. She still bore the scars and it was because of those scars her heart no longer had a say in any of the decisions in her life.

When it came to men, her head was in charge.

Sean held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

“There’s no need.”

“Give it to me or I’ll wrestle it away from you and then things could get ugly.” He kept his hand outstretched and, reluctantly, she dug it out of her pocket.

“This is ridiculous.”

He leaned forward and prised it from her fingers with the determination of a man who knew what he wanted and went for it. “I love the way you roll your r’s. It’s very sexy.” Cool and collected, he accessed her contacts and keyed in his number. “Next time you’re worried about something, call me.”

“Fine. I’ll call you twenty times a day when you’re operating to tell you I love you, and if you don’t answer I’ll leave a message.”

He laughed. “My team will enjoy each and every one of those calls.”

“Maybe I will sell your number on eBay and make some money for Snow Crystal.”

“What’s the going rate for overworked surgeons? I’m probably not worth much.” Handing the phone back, he turned his attention back to the pastries. “Are those for eating?”

“No.”

“You’re cruel and heartless. I knew it the moment I met you. You used me for a night of scorching sex and then discarded me.”

Flirting with him was like dancing with fire.

One wrong move and that heat would burn and leave permanent damage.

Not once had she ever questioned her decision to spend the night with him, but there was no way she would do it again.