LITMIR.BIZ

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ruin that for her.

      Ben peered closer at the X-ray. There were clear fractures of the distal end of the ulna and radius. Thankfully they weren’t displaced. The motorcyclist had put his arms out to break his fall when he’d come off his bike. He’d need to get an orthopaedic consult to make sure what treatment was needed. Most probably an open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws.

      He was just about to pick up the phone to call Orthopaedics when Leah came to sit beside him.

      ‘Hi.’

      He turned to look at her with a smile. It had been a pleasant surprise to learn that she was his new locum, and if he was honest about it he was quite pleased. He’d wanted to hear from her again and get to know her a bit more, and now that she was here for the next few months he’d get that chance.

       Which is a first for me...

      He gazed at her more intently, trying to work out why this woman intrigued him. Apart from the obvious gorgeousness that she didn’t seem to know she had. Perhaps it was that smiley persona? Perhaps it was the way she could blush so innocently and yet also be a siren in bed? That clash and juxtaposition of opposites was completely messing with his head.

      Maybe it was her eyes? They twinkled and shone with a brightness he’d never noticed before in a woman. Maybe it was the way she couldn’t hide what she was feeling—everything was written there for him to see on her face.

      And, looking at her now, he could sense she had something to tell him. She was biting her lower lip. Out of anxiety, clearly, but all it did was pull his focus to her mouth, her full lips, and he felt a physical yearning to reach out and brush his thumb over her lower lip, to free it, and then pull her face towards his and...

      ‘I need to talk to you.’

       Oh. Conversations like this never end well.

      And the reason he knew that was because it was usually him saying stuff like that. Trying to tell some woman he’d dated for one night to stop calling him. That he wasn’t interested. That she really ought to start looking elsewhere because he wouldn’t be going out with her again. He always tried to be nice about it, though. Polite. Kind.

      Was she really going to do that to him? When they’d had something so good?

      ‘I think I know what you’re going to say.’

      She looked at him, her brows furrowed. Confused. ‘You do?’

      He nodded. ‘I do. You’re going to say something along the lines of, Look, we’re colleagues...we really shouldn’t be going out with each other...can we just be friends? Am I right?’

      She bit her lip again.

      He really wished she wouldn’t do that. It was downright distracting. Wonderfully so.

      ‘Well, yes...kind of.’

      He turned to face her, making sure there was no one else in earshot. ‘I think you’re wrong.’

      She blushed, and he felt his insides go funny again.

      ‘I’m not wrong. You wouldn’t be interested in me. Not at all. Not if you knew the truth...’ She trailed off, clearly trying to find the right words to explain whatever predicament she thought she was in.

      ‘Are you married?’ He didn’t think she was. There’d been no sign of someone living with her in that flat of hers.

      ‘No.’

      ‘Do you have a steady boyfriend?’

      She looked about, also checking there was no one else listening in to their conversation. ‘No.’

      ‘Then what’s the problem? You’ve got to see this from my point of view. Boy meets girl...boy goes back to girl’s apartment and they have a great time. Boy knows this. Girl knows this. It makes sense that they do it again to see how great they can really make it.’

      He grinned, feeling all sorts of things firing inside his belly at the thought of another night with this woman. And not just his belly. Being this close to her, almost touching her, inhaling that gentle perfume of hers...it was intoxicating! Surely she wasn’t going to throw this opportunity away? They could have fun for a bit...

      She was staring deeply into his eyes, almost as if she were looking into his soul, and then suddenly she blinked and sat back, moving away from him. She glanced nervously around them, before scooching closer again on her chair.

      ‘I had a great time with you, yes. Of course it was...’ She blushed. ‘Hot. But I’m not the kind of woman you would want to get involved with right now.’

      ‘You’re wrong—’

      ‘I’m going to have a baby.’

      He sat up straight and looked at her, the smile gone from his face.

      A baby? What? He looked down at her abdomen, trying to think back to how she’d looked, naked in the moonlight streaming in through her open curtains. The soft swell of her abdomen...her wondrous curves...

      ‘No, not me. Not me in person. I have a surrogate. My best friend Sally—she’s carrying my baby for me and she’s got seven more months before she gives birth.’

      He stared. Shocked beyond words. He’d found the perfect woman. At least he thought he had.

       This changes everything!

      She was going to have a baby. She was going to become a mother. Which was great for her, but not for him. He didn’t need that kind of complication in his life. Parenthood? Responsibilities? Resentment? Exhaustion?

       No, thanks. No way, José.

       CHAPTER THREE

      ‘YOU’RE SHOCKED. I know you’re shocked. I would be, too, if I were in your shoes.’

      She smiled a little, to show him she understood. That she wasn’t going to blame him if he walked away now. In fact she needed him to walk away. Because he was a complication that she didn’t need in her life right now. A stunningly attractive complication, yes, but not the kind she would be able to rely on with a baby around. He’d hardly signed up for this, after all. It was only right he knew from the start, so he could make decisions with all the facts at his fingertips.

       He could cause wonders with those fingertips... Don’t think about those. Focus!

      ‘A baby? You’re going to be a mum?’

      ‘Yes. I am.’

      ‘But...isn’t surrogacy like a last chance kind of thing?’

      She could see what he wanted to ask. Why can’t you have the child yourself? Perhaps she needed to explain? But this felt awkward. She barely knew him, after all. Carnal knowledge of a person didn’t count in this situation. She wasn’t used to sharing personal information with someone she hardly knew. But it had to be done.

      ‘It is a last chance kind of thing.’

      ‘But why? You’re only in your thirties, I’m guessing. You still might meet someone.’

      ‘I appreciate your optimism—I do. But it’s not that simple.’

      ‘I don’t understand. What aren’t you telling me?’

       Boy, those eyes of his are intense!

      She sucked in a deep breath. Here goes.

      ‘I’ve been told that I probably can’t carry a baby to term due to an anomaly in my uterus, but I want to start a family and this seemed the safest way to do that.’

      Ben frowned, a small divot forming between his brows.

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