Intrigue Me (12 page)

She arched again, unable to help herself. She knew he believed the words he’d just said, and she wondered if he would feel the same way if he knew the truth about her. “I want you inside me. Please. Now would be good.”

His smile dimmed as his intensity built. Guiding himself, he pushed the head of his cock inside her. “Now would be damn good,” he said, his voice a rumble of heat and desire. Then he thrust with his weight behind it, filling her.

She cried out, put her hands on the wood of his headboard. Good thing she had because he did it again, the thickness of his cock making her gasp. It felt amazing. Then he bent forward, and this time when he filled her, his cock rubbed straight over her clit. It was like the Fourth of July. “God, yes,” she said, moving faster. “Daniel, please. I want...I...”

“What, you gorgeous creature? Anything at all. If you want it, I’ll give it to you.”

“This,” she said, opening her eyes, when she hadn’t even realized they’d been closed. “This. You. Us.”

He brought them both to a shattering climax, her first, him seconds after.

But it couldn’t erase the shock or the regret.

Of course she calmed down more quickly than he did, and then excused herself to visit the en suite. After turning on the water, she leaned on her palms, her eyes closed once more. She didn’t dare look at herself yet. Not when she wanted so desperately to remember the sexy parts, the laughing, sharing a pizza. The innocent parts that didn’t cause her chest to tighten. She wished she could turn back time. She would have stopped him from telling her those private things. About his uncle and his brother. And she sure as hell wouldn’t have called them an
us
.

12

D
ANIEL
LOOKED
AT
the empty side of his bed, wishing Lisa had stayed. He’d asked, she’d declined, and that was that. No apple this time, either. It would have been nice, though. His shower was big enough for two and then they’d have both been late for work.

After pulling on a pair of boxers, he went through his routine: shower, shave, coffee,
New York Times
. Normal, average, except that he kept noticing things. The brownstone
was
odd. While the kitchen was more suited to Gordon Ramsay and the shower was great, the rest of the place looked old and...sad.

He liked airplanes well enough, but jeez. It all fit his uncle to a T. Daniel should do something about it, see what this house would look like if it fit him. Honestly, he had no idea where he’d start. Eve would know a decorator. Right now, though, he needed to get a move on.

With his to-go cup in hand, he locked his front door and found Warren at the bottom of the steps. Fear stopped him in his tracks. His mother had died. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? You can start with the fact that you don’t answer your phone. Or open a text. Is it just me you’ve blocked, or does that go for anyone from the life you’ve abandoned?”

He could breathe again. “I was told you’d be out of town.”

“And now I’m back.” Warren’s lips pressed together until they’d paled while his neck and cheeks reddened.

Overall, he looked as perfectly put together as ever. Taller than Daniel by an inch, dressed like the clotheshorse he was. He could have been on the cover of
Forbes
any day of the week.

When his brother looked up again, he seemed calmer. “I called you four times last night. Dr. Elliot has to go to San Diego for a funeral. He’s leaving tomorrow.”

“I had company and I wasn’t on call, so I turned off my cell.”

Warren sighed. “Come on. I’ll take you to the clinic and we can talk on the way.”

Daniel nodded. Warren opened the door to the illegally double-parked town car and waited for Daniel to get in. He smiled to himself and almost jokingly assured Warren that he wouldn’t make a run for it. But sadly, too much rancor had been festering between them.

When they were both seated, Daniel leaned forward to give the driver the address, but Warren stopped him.

“He already knows. Now sit back and listen. It’s important that you take over Elliot’s patients. If you still insist on pursuing this ridiculous quest to find your personal nirvana, I won’t stop you. But I do demand you follow through with any patients you’ll see in the next two days. You know what our patients expect.”

“I know exactly what’s expected of me, Warren. But it seems you don’t give a damn that Dad had encouraged me to take time off.”

“Three months?
Our
father wanted you to take three months off.”

Daniel regretted his words although he wasn’t going to apologize. His sabbatical wasn’t the problem.

“I don’t want to do this now,” Warren said. “We need to speak privately, and not when we’ll be late for work.”

“You’re right. We do need to talk. Because I’m not going to be the partner you expect.”

“What does that even mean?”

Daniel shook his head. “I think we should hire another doctor after Elliot retires.”

“You’re replacing Elliot. You were always supposed to replace him.” Warren’s eyes narrowed to a glare. “Or have you forgotten?”

“And who’s going to replace Dad?” Daniel asked quietly.

Warren blinked and turned to look out his window.

Neither of them spoke for a few blocks. Then Daniel said, “The point I was trying to make is that even with me, we need to think about hiring additional staff. The hours are brutal, but they don’t have to be.”

Warren leaned forward, but he was staring directly into Daniel’s eyes. “Don’t you dare start trying to change things at the Center. You haven’t been there for months, leaving me to take care of everything. I don’t give a good goddamn what kind of spiritual journey you’re on. The profits from that business paid for you to have the best education in the world and a standard of living that’s beyond most people’s dreams. Was all that so you could work at a free clinic for no pay and not think twice about it? Go ahead, use your trust fund to live. To eat. To be a hero for a bunch of homeless people. It’s all thanks to Dad and me, and you know what? I’m glad he’s dead. That he can’t see what you’ve become. He’d have died of the shame.”

Daniel hadn’t looked away. He should have, because Warren didn’t know a thing about what was going on inside him because Warren had never asked. And when Daniel had tried to explain, right after their father died, his loving brother had told him he didn’t give a shit. That their duty was to take their rightful place. Anything else was self-indulgent bullshit.

How tempting it had been to ask Warren what he knew about their father’s plan to expand well beyond an additional doctor or two. Just to see the look of shock on his face. “I can see you’ve moved into Dad’s footsteps without missing a trick. How many conferences have you gone to in the last four months? Did you miss Alan’s birthday? Your anniversary?”

“Shut up, Daniel. You don’t know anything about anything. So just go, would you?”

Daniel hadn’t noticed the car had stopped. He stepped out, looked back at his brother. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Fine. Shut the door. I have patients to see.”

* * *

L
ISA
HAD
TO
admit that she’d wondered if working at the clinic appealed to her because volunteering was rewarding or because she liked Daniel. As the second day without him at the clinic settled into an eerie re-creation of her three hours there yesterday, the answer was...actually not that clear.

She’d wager if she’d been assigned to intake again, or some other job where she could interact with people, she would’ve been happier. But as it was, digitizing patient files in the corner office was plain old boring.

Her cell buzzed and she started smiling even before she checked the incoming text. On the plus side, working in solitary gave her lots of privacy to read Daniel’s messages. He’d been seeing patients at the Center for two days but he’d found lots of time to squeeze in texts. It was 4:30 and she’d already heard from him four times.

Chinese tonight? Or pizza again?

Lisa read between the lines and laughed out loud. He’d been a terrific sport. Indulging her new cheese-pizza addiction. They’d had it again last night at his place after a grueling day working with his brother. She’d made it up to him with two hours of sex, and that was after she’d given him a back massage.

Tonight she had a surprise for him. Well, two, actually.

Chinese. I’ll pick it up. Let me know what time.

She set the phone aside and thought of the tote she’d stashed in her locker. Her shift ended in an hour, and while she would’ve had enough time to run to her apartment to grab a change of clothes, she didn’t trust herself not to chicken out. The past two nights he’d asked her to stay over. Tonight she wouldn’t disappoint him.

It would be a big step and it felt a little scary even now if she thought too much about it. Though last night had been the true test. While she knew tension existed between Daniel and his brother, after spending eleven hours at the Center, Daniel hadn’t said a word about Warren. Most of his conversation was geared toward the cool technology the Center boasted. She’d listened but admittedly, his enthusiasm was all she cared about.

The divorce case for her real job was an ongoing snooze fest in the mornings. She was going through records, both public and personal. It was almost as exciting as data input here at the clinic. But at least she’d become something of an expert at filling in the medical codes and transcribing notes. That was the biggest challenge of her day. Doctors really did have horrible handwriting.

A quick look at the material she’d just entered made her moan. She’d had her fingers on the wrong keys, so everything was gibberish and she’d have to do it again. It wasn’t totally her fault. Different keyboard than she was used to, basically a different language to learn.

Finally, she got the file entered correctly and was about to move to the next when there was a light knock. The door hadn’t been shut, but she turned around, expecting Hector or one of the doctors. She hadn’t expected Eve. Much less expected to find her smiling as she came in. Also, she was wearing a gorgeous outfit and she’d left her dark, shoulder-length hair down. She must’ve just come from the Center.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine.” Lisa smiled. “And you?”

Eve glanced at the finished stack and then sat on one of the two blue velvet wing chairs. One of them had a patched rip in the back wing, but they were still the best chairs in the place. “Have a minute?”

Lisa wasn’t going to say no. She saved everything on the computer, wondering if they fired volunteers.

“It must be strange not to have Daniel around,” Eve said.

Lisa blinked. “Um, I guess.” She’d been called to the principal’s office a time or two in her day, and it felt exactly like this. Only she refused to squirm.

Eve smiled. “He’s probably told you I’ve known him all his life. We’re cousins, and after college, I went to work at the Center.”

Lisa nodded and waited while Eve studied her for a long uncomfortable moment.

“I believe Daniel’s the happiest he’s been since high school. Academically and professionally speaking, of course he’s been terrifically satisfied, but it’s different now. I think you have something to do with that.”

Lisa opened her mouth, but she hesitated when she met Eve’s eyes. Something was troubling her, and Lisa didn’t want to interrupt.

“As much as Daniel loves working at the clinic, he has another obligation.”

Lisa nodded. “The Center.”

“It’s where he belongs. Not that he doesn’t belong here, but his skills as a neurologist are more than impressive. He was chief resident at Johns Hopkins. That’s the equivalent of being valedictorian at Harvard. Every major hospital and private practice in the field wanted him to work with them. But I suppose everyone knew he’d end up with his father and Warren.”

“He hasn’t really talked about his school years. I didn’t realize— I mean, I can see he’s brilliant, but that’s truly impressive.”

“He has a gift. He’s blossomed as a person here, but he’s too good to be diagnosing yet another cold.”

She was right. But only if being at the Center was something he wanted, which was none of Lisa’s business. “Why are you telling me this?”

“When you first started here, I figured you were just another woman who had heard or read about Daniel. I imagine you’re aware that there are women—smart, attractive women—who specifically search out certain types of medical professionals. The ones who can earn the big bucks. It’s easy to think he’d be the perfect husband and father. He’s great-looking, nice, funny. But he doesn’t want that kind of woman. That’s one of the reasons he hasn’t been with anyone for almost two years.”

Lisa’s back straightened. “I did not come here because of Daniel.” Though technically that wasn’t true, it was accurate in this discussion.

“I believe you. I don’t think you’re that at all. He’s so proud of you he could burst. You know, he called me the night after the incident with the junkie. Actually, we’re all proud and grateful. The point is, he couldn’t say enough good things about you, and he hasn’t done that in...well, since his first girlfriend in high school.”

“I was glad to help.” Lisa felt a little more relaxed, but she wasn’t about to let down her guard. Eve was protective toward Daniel. Lisa had no doubt she would fight to the finish if she thought anyone was out to hurt her boy.

Eve narrowed her eyes. “I’m thinking ex-military?”

Ah. So this was an interrogation. “Something like that.” This time Eve had to have noticed the chill in her tone.

“Never mind. Sometimes I’m too curious for my own good. He told me about how you handled the self-defense class, as well. I think it’s wonderful, and so do all the women who were there.”

“Good. I hope they’ll all follow up with a certified class.”

“I’m actually sorry I missed it.”

Lisa smiled, still not quite understanding what was going on.

Maybe Eve saw the confusion in her expression, or maybe she just decided to spit it all out, but she leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I like how he is with you, Lisa. There’s so much more life to him when he speaks of you. I don’t want to meddle any more than I already have, but I did want to say that I understand what he sees in you. The truth is he needs to take his place alongside Warren. We’ll miss him here at the clinic, but we’ll find someone else to help out. Someone who won’t be healing world leaders. If you can help him see that’s where he belongs, wonderful. But he can’t stay here for you. Nothing personal. I really do like and admire you. I think you’re good for him.”

“But if I steer him away from his destiny, I’m toast?”

“Something like that. Although not nearly as dramatic.”

“Wait, is this your version of giving us your blessing?”

Eve laughed. Nothing shy about it, either. She was awfully personable when she wasn’t scaring the hell out of someone.

“Well, I think you should know Daniel and I are just...friends.” Lisa hated that she had trouble getting out the word and feeling as if she was somehow being a traitor for wanting to downplay their relationship.

“Whatever you’re doing, it looks good on you both.” Eve stood. “Now, I’d better get moving. The clinic is closing in fifteen minutes.”

“For the record, this is right up there as one of the strangest conversations I’ve ever had.”

Eve smiled. “Depending on how long your
friendship
with Daniel lasts, you and I will have at least a few more.”

Great. Now there was another person who was going to hate her, or worse, if they learned that she’d been investigating Daniel for one of those aforementioned women, then topped it off by keeping him for herself.

Damn it, she had no one to blame for this mess but herself. She should have left the day Heather told her to forget about investigating Daniel. Hell, she’d had no reason to show up here in the first place. If she’d done her job properly, she’d have never learned that Daniel was wealthy enough right this minute to satisfy Heather’s wildest dreams. That he would eventually leave the clinic for a highly successful career as a neurologist in a thriving practice.