A SOFT HAND against her cheek pulled Kate from her erotic dream. Jake lay next to her, fully dressed, with a beaming smile. “No more sleeping. Time to get up.”
For a moment, she smiled back, but with the sunrise came reality. Something Jake apparently hadn’t caught onto yet.
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Get dressed. I’ll make a quickbreakfast, and then we can carpool to work. Don’t know why we didn’t think of that before—Kate, are you okay?”
She forced a breath into her lungs. “I wish we could go in late, just so we could enjoy this a little while longer.”
For a second, hurt flickered in his eyes. “You make it sound like we’ll never be together again.”
Kate slid from the bed and donned her robe, pulling the belt tight. A huge lump lodged itself in her already raw throat, but she forged on. “What we shared was wonderful, but we can’t do this again.”
He jumped up and marched around the bed to her, grabbing her shoulders. “Why?”
“You want an itemized list?”
He crossed his arms and arched a brow.
“That was a rhetorical question,” she said.
“One I want an answer for.”
“Fine. You’re my boss. I have emotional baggage a mile high. I have kids to consider, my family. And I know you’ve been through so much already, but you’re still so young and—”
“Good God, here we go with the age thing again.” He turned away, pacing the room. “Exactly how young do you think I am?”
“I assume early twenties.”
The expression of horror on his face as his jaw dropped would have been comical at any other time. “Are you serious? Jeez, Kate, do you think I skipped medical school entirely?”
“Gladys said you graduated early.”
“I did. three years early, not ten! I’ll be thirty in four months.”
That shocked her. “You’re thirty?”
“In four months. Let’s not push it.”
She stared at him, searching for some physical evidence he was telling the truth. As his words sank in, she couldn’t help but grin—and feel incredibly stupid. Had she really fought the attraction so hard that she convinced herself he was so young?
Apparently. And in the end, it hadn’t made a damn bit of difference.
“Would you like to see my driver’s license?” His mouth twisted in annoyance.
“Hey, cut me some slack. I’ve seen the way you are with women. Until you told me you were married, I thought you were still a virgin.”
“Oh, now you’re just being mean. Did it ever occur to you to just ask?”
“Honestly, you don’t look anywhere close to thirty, so no, it didn’t.”
He let out a sigh. “Okay, I can understand how appearances can be deceiving. No one would ever guess you’re forty-six and—”
Kate held up her hand. “Whoa! Whoa! Who told you that?”
Jake’s lip lifted into that damn sexy grin of his. “Gladys.”
“And you believed her?” She stomped over and swatted his arm. “For the record, I just turned forty.”
From the way he contorted his mouth, she could tell he was attempting to hide a knowing smile.
“What else did she say?”
He raised his hands in submission. “I don’t want to start a cat fight between my nurses.”
“You tell me, or I swear I’ll call Jane Ricks and tell her you miss her.”
His face lost all humor. “That’s not funny.”
“It will be for me.”
“Okay, okay. She said you’re not a natural blonde.”
Kate’s teeth ground against her cheek. That bitch!
“Hey, calm down.” He winked. “I’ve seen proof she was mistaken.”
Heat attacked every inch of her body. Yes, he would know. And the thought made her lustful all over again.
God, she’d missed this. Their friendly arguing. His teasing. The way he made her smile so easily one minute, then want to jump him the next.
“You can’t deny we have a great relationship, Kate.”
“Yes, we do, but do you really see this going anywhere?”
The determination on his face slipped. “It’s kind of soon to worry about that.”
Kate raised her hand to brush his cheek, if for no other reason than to brush away the sudden sadness on his face, but thought better of it. She dropped it to her side again. “You’re forgetting your list, Jake. You want to start a family. I already have mine.”
He sank to the edge of her bed, and she knew reality had finally set in.
“I guess you’re right,” he said softly.
Kate clutched the lapels of her robe, feeling suddenly awkward to have him in her bedroom. “I really should get dressed. I know how you are with people who are late.”
That got a grin, but a sad one. “We can still carpool if you want.”
She nodded. What could it hurt? Even if she declined, she’d still have to face him every day.
Jake stood and headed out. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
The urge to reassure him, even on some level, had her calling his name. “Jake.”
He paused at the door and turned to face her.
“Last night really was amazing.”
“Yeah, it really was.”
Her eyes never left him as he closed the door.
***
Jake drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, attempting to find an inner calm as Kate slid into his car. Kind of hard when his insides were in massive turmoil.
“All buckled in?”
Kate clicked her seatbelt into place. “Yup.”
Couldn’t she at least pretend to be upset?
God, how could he be so stupid, thinking he could convince her to have a real relationship with him?
Her and that damn list.
But how could he argue? If they gave it a shot and then their relationship went south, she’d have to face the possibility of having to find another job. She had kids to think about, a home, a family.
Then he had his list. A wife. A child of his own. He knew what that meant. The likelihood of numerous procedures with a slim chance of success. Something Kate wasn’t willing or maybe even unable to tolerate.
How was he going to deal with this? He couldn’t fire her. He sure as hell wasn’t going to move. So he’d just have to suck it up and carry on with his life.
Just like he’d decided when he moved out here.
Eventually he’d find someone who’d make him happy. They’d settle down and try to start a family. His time with Kate would fade to a happy memory.
Yeah, bullshit. Maybe in a few years, but right now, the way he’d made her writhe was fresh in his mind. He’d never had a partner respond so passionately.
“What are you looking so smug about?” Kate asked.
Jake sat forward and gripped the wheel. So much for appearing unscathed. “Nothing.”
“Yeah, right. Spill it.”
He tugged at the collar of his Harry Potter T-shirt. “I’d really rather not.”
Kate placed a hand on his knee. Damn woman. Didn’t she have a clue what that did to him?
“Jake, I’d really like us to try to make sure what happened doesn’t affect our friendship.”
“Okay, fine. I was thinking about the way I made you scream last night.”
She snatched her hand away and hugged her purse, fiddling with the strap. “You weren’t so quiet yourself, Doctor.”
Of course not. Not only hadn’t he had sex since his ex-wife, he’d longed for this woman since she called him ‘young man’ in the emergency room. “No, I wasn’t.”
She hugged her pocketbook tighter. “This is going to be weird.”
Yeah, it would be, but they had to deal with it. What choice did they have? “Once we get through today, we’ll be fine.”
“You really believe that?”
No.
He offered her a smile he hoped was both reassuring and confident. “Yeah. Piece of cake.”
***
Piece of cake.
Sure, no problem. Just pretend like the amazing night of sex with her only other lover had never happened.
Simple.
Yeah, maybe for Jake. Not so much for her. Even though she knew this was the smart thing to do, the most realistic, she couldn’t help but wish they had a little more time together.
Kate shook her thoughts aside as she followed Jake through the rear entrance of the Victorian. This was silly. She knew why she felt this way. Any time her boys were away, loneliness took over. Jake saved her from that last night.
That’s all it was.
“Good morning.” Gladys poked her head out of the exam room closest to the back door.
“Good morning, Gladys. I’ll be in my office.” Jake made a beeline down the hall.
Kate forced herself not to watch him go. Instead, she offered a smile to her friend. “Hey.”
Gladys’s brown eyes widened. “Oh my God, you slept with Jake.”