The Heart Surgeon's Secret Son

She blinked startled green eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, why did we just have sex on my office sofa?”

Her cheeks pink, she sat up and straightened her clothing. “What kind of question is that, Daniel?”

“One I’d like an answer to.”

She sighed, then looked at him. Sadness touched her eyes as she reached out to caress his face. “Please, don’t tear apart what we just shared or ask me to explain what I don’t understand myself.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

KIMBERLY knew the consequences of having unprotected sex.

Yet she’d welcomed Daniel into her arms without any thought of protection.

She was a nurse, for goodness’ sake. She knew the risks, knew all the reasons to use a barrier, yet she’d just lost herself in giving herself to Daniel, in easing his heartache. And pleasure—she’d lost herself in that, too.

She’d been totally irresponsible.

“What we just shared?” Daniel snorted, doing up his pants. “We had sex on my office sofa like a couple of teenagers.”

Blood rushed to her face and she tired of holding in her feelings for him. She steeled herself to exposing her heart.

“I made love to you, Daniel, because I love you.”

He snorted again. Louder than before.

“I’ve never stopped loving you,” she continued.

He rolled his eyes, clearly not believing her.

“I always will love you.”

“A man could do without your kind of love.”

“I was scared, Daniel, little more than a child myself. If you can’t understand my fear, that’s your problem.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t call me to tell me, Kimberly.” He grimaced. “Did you think I’d turn my back on you to punish you for breaking up with me?”

She averted her eyes, felt his gaze burning into her.

“You knew?” The two words came out in a horrified accusation. “You knew you were pregnant when you broke things off with me?” He paused. “You would have been around four or five months pregnant when I came home that Christmas. You knew?”

“I knew,” she admitted unnecessarily.

“And you didn’t tell me? You pushed me out of your life for some other man, knowing that my baby grew inside you?”

“There was no other man and you have no idea what it was like to be seventeen, pregnant and a thousand miles away from the person you most needed at your side.”

“All you had to do was tell me and I’d have been on a plane home.”

“Which was exactly why I couldn’t tell you. Why I had to break things off between us.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“That you needed to finish school.”

“I could have done that with you by my side.”