Billionaire Doctor (House of Kolovsky) - Carol Marinelli Page 0,38

it really just sex that he wanted from her?

‘Sorry I took so long... ’ He sat on the edge of the bed and took her reluctant hand, playing with her fingers as she still stared at the ceiling. ‘I don’t know whether to tell him to come now for my father, or if it’s too soon... ’

‘Does it matter?’ Finally she looked at him. ‘If he comes now, maybe he can have a bit of quality time with your dad before... ’ She gave a tiny little swallow, forced herself to go on and willed him not to push her out. ‘I mean, your dad can meet his grandson and get to hold him.’ She might just as well have been speaking in Urdu or Japanese because he closed his eyes at her efforts, making it very clear that either she didn’t get it, or he simply didn’t understand, and as he lay on the bed beside her, buried his head in her neck, for the first time she wanted to reject him—didn’t want to sleep with someone who on every other level was pulling away from her.

But again she’d misread him.

‘I wish this was over...’ He groaned out the words, pulled her in tightly as he gave her a shocking glimpse of what was going on in his head. ‘Don’t give up on me yet, Annie.’

He was asleep before he’d even finished talking, a deep sleep where he held her fiercely all night, an exhausted sleep where there was no energy to even undress, and if it was the least sexual they’d ever been, somehow it was the most intimate.

But that was scary for Annie, too.

Scary, because she didn’t want to give up on them either, didn’t want to ask the questions that would inevitably end it, didn’t want to face the truth.

But on a deeper level she knew she had to.

‘What are you going to do with your day off?’

His body, naked now, was pressed behind her, warm hands holding her, sleepy voices enjoying that delicious time after the alarm clock had gone off.

‘I’ll think of something.’ Annie yawned, hoping she sounded mysterious, choosing not to tell him that she was getting yet another spray tan, a pedicure and her hair blow-dried straight again—because if the tan faded, then so too might they.

She knew it was shallow—loathed the effort she put in to keep him—but the first night they’d made love she’d been as groomed as she’d ever been. Rolling over, she stared at him, didn’t say a word, just stared at the most beautiful man who had just made spectacular, lazy morning love to her, and told herself it was worth it.

‘What are you thinking?’

‘That you’re beautiful...’ It was the most honest she’d ever been with him.

‘Same.’

As he climbed out of bed she already missed him. That hint of an accent, the sheer joy of being with him just spun her out. Lying in his arms, she felt she belonged, but the second he left she knew she didn’t. He was so much more than some diamond in the rough she’d discovered—it was like finding a Faberge egg in the cupboard under the sink, each stroke of her finger revealing something too precious to keep—something that she knew didn’t really belong to her. Devotion was dangerous, blurred the rules and botched all boundaries...

Made excuses when there should be none.

‘Here.’ He brought her coffee and the paper as she lay there fitfully thinking, and it was easier to sit up and take a sip of her drink and read the paper than deal with all that was on her mind. ‘I don’t think I can come over tonight, but tomorrow…’

‘I want to see that.’ Flicking from her horoscope to the movie guide, Annie tapped at an advertisement. ‘It sounds really good.’

‘Why don’t you?’ Iosef asked, giving the completely wrong reaction. ‘I’m not coming tonight and I can remember Melanie saying something about wanting to see it.’

She didn’t want to go to the movies with Melanie— well, she did, but not this movie. Growing more unsettled by the second, she flicked through the paper as he dressed, gazing unseeingly at the words until her eye was caught not by a headline but by a photo, Iosef and his family walking out of a plush restaurant, her stomach knotting as she saw his hand firmly linked in Candy’s.

House of Turmoil.

The headline gave a teasing taste of what was to come. Her mind worked ten to the dozen as Iosef chatted