The Heart Surgeon's Secret Son

“I’m teasing, Kimberly.” He reached out and ran his finger over her cheek. “You really need to relax.”

“Tomorrow,” she said, still reeling from her guilt at prying on his computer and from the fact that he’d been totally businesslike since that morning and now he was touching her.

“Tomorrow?”

“I fly home late tomorrow afternoon. I’ll relax then.”

“Hmm.” Surprisingly, he didn’t say more. She’d hoped to spend her time with him, but maybe he wouldn’t have anyway once she told him about Ryan.

“You ready to make rounds? Then we’ll go out to celebrate the end of your training.”

“It’s not really the end.” She was observing three CRT pacemaker placements in the morning.

“Semantics.”

“Thanks again for letting me use the computer.” Sorry, I pried into your pictures. “I got most of my work done.”

“Great. You can’t use that as an excuse not to go with me tonight.”

“You think I’d make excuses not to go out with you after last night, Daniel?”

“Something’s bothering you. Has been all day.” He read her too easily. “I thought you might be having regrets about last night. Or about me pushing you for more this morning,” he added sheepishly. “I know things are moving fast, but it’s not like we were strangers to begin with.”

“I’m not upset at you about this morning.” How could she be when if it hadn’t been for the secrets between them she’d be ecstatic at the prospect of starting over with Daniel?

“I’m glad.” He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go make rounds so we can get out of here.”

CHAPTER TEN

“I’VE been with Cardico for almost five years,” Kimberly said, stuffing a shrimp into her mouth. “I took the position after working for a pharmaceutical company for a couple of years. I pushed a blood-pressure medicine that I believed to be superior to its competitors, but my products changed and so did my love of my job.”

They’d finished at the hospital, and although she wouldn’t have been averse to heading straight back to her hotel room so she could tell him about Ryan, they were at a place called Bubba Joe’s Seafood, an out-of-the-way, rough-looking pub that he’d sworn had the best seafood in all of Boston.

From what she’d sampled, she agreed.

“But you started out as a cardiology nurse?” Daniel asked. He leaned back against the cheap vinyl cushioning of the booth and took a sip of his beer.

Kimberly’s gaze zeroed in on where his lips met the glass bottle. She closed her eyes and for a brief moment imagined those lips next to hers as they’d been last night, this morning.

“I worked on the cardiology unit for five years.”

“Where did you do your nursing training?”

She told him the name of a local community program. “I went for an associate’s degree in a two-year program.” She’d had a baby to take care of. “After I earned my degree, I enrolled in a bachelor’s program and earned my BSN.”

“Why didn’t you go straight for your Bachelor of Science?”

“I worked full-time from the moment I graduated from high school. Earning my associate degree first enabled me to gain experience while providing a better living for Ryan and me.”

His forehead furrowed. “You got pregnant before college?”

Kimberly choked on the shrimp she’d just popped into her mouth and coughed to clear her throat.

Daniel slapped her back, trying to help her catch her breath.

She took a long drink of her beer, more to stall than to wash down any remaining food.

She’d wanted to tell him last night and again this morning, but it hadn’t happened. Last night Daniel had been tired and they’d been distracted by lust. Daniel wasn’t on call tonight and they had the entire night ahead of them, with only a few patients in the morning.