One Perfect Moment

by A. C. Arthur

  He thought he’d escaped his notorious history—

  Now she could thrust him back in the spotlight...

  TV producer Ava Cannon is stunned to discover that the secret lover who briefly shared her bed is one of America’s most famous sextuplets. But Dr. Gage Taylor now shuns the spotlight. As they rekindle their sizzling affair, will Ava have to choose between a game-changing career move and the man she loves?

  “I don’t do relationships,” he told her, but moved from where he stood, until he stopped only inches away from her.

  “We’ve already had this conversation,” she said and took the last step to close the distance between them. “You don’t do relationships. You like your privacy. I’m focused on my career and will let nothing interfere with achieving my goals. You’re attracted to me, and I’m attracted to you.”

  “For this one time,” he said and used a finger to trace the line of her bottom lip.

  Heat spread quickly throughout her body, her fingers clenching and releasing at her side as she tried to remain still for just a moment longer.

  “Again,” she whispered and gave in.

  Coming up on the tip of her toes, Ava wrapped her arms around Gage’s neck and pulled his head down so that her lips could touch his. That simple connection set off an explosion of heat that soared through her body. The memory of their night in the trailer had never dimmed in her mind; still, this touch sent her reeling with pleasure.

  Dear Reader,

  I’ve been eager to get to Gage Taylor’s story because I knew he had some things to work through before finding his happy-ever-after. Ava Cannon is just what he needs, even if he doesn’t know it yet!

  The fun part about writing these two characters was they were so similar as far as their careers that you would have thought they’d immediately realize they were the perfect couple. But, as it is in life, things get in the way. So we’re back in Temptation with more meddling folk and scandalous revelations.

  Get ready for another visit to Temptation and the journey to another Taylor falling in love.

  Happy reading,

  ac

  One Perfect Moment

  A.C. Arthur

  A.C. Arthur is an award-winning author who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband and three children. An active imagination and a love for reading encouraged her to begin writing in high school and she hasn’t stopped since.

  Books by A.C. Arthur

  Harlequin Kimani Romance

  Winter Kisses

  Desire a Donovan

  Surrender to a Donovan

  Decadent Dreams

  Eve of Passion

  One Mistletoe Wish

  To Marry a Prince

  Loving the Princess

  Prince Ever After

  One Unforgettable Kiss

  One Perfect Moment

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Excerpt from Campaign for His Heart by Joy Avery

  Prologue

  Staten Island, New York

  “Just this one time,” Ava Cannon whispered as his hands cupped her butt.

  “Once is enough,” Gage Taylor murmured while moving them farther into her trailer.

  He kicked the door closed with his foot, pausing a second to reach back and lock it. Then his hands were on her once more, his mouth crashing down over hers. The kiss took her breath away, every stroke of his tongue sending searing bolts of desire through her system until her fingers were gripping his shirt. The feel of his strong biceps through the cotton material, coupled with the hardness of his body, now pressed closely against hers, caused Ava’s knees to tremble.

  This was what she’d been fighting for over the last couple of months. Each day she’d stepped onto the set of Doctor’s Orders, knowing that he would be there. The strong hands that she’d seen holding her script as he’d checked the words she’d written, monitoring them for medical accuracy, now touched her body.

  “It will be enough,” Ava whispered when he tore his mouth away from hers and she could take a breath.

  He tugged the hem of her shirt from her pants. She lifted her arms up over her head, and he pulled the shirt off. His hands immediately went around her to the clasp of her bra, which he quickly unhooked before removing and tossing it somewhere on the trailer floor.

  “Enough,” he mumbled as he dipped his head. “More than enough.”

  His lips were on her breast then, teeth holding a turgid nipple before he sucked her in deep. Ava arched her back, her hands going to his shoulders as she tried to hold on to him. When he moved to the other breast she let her head lull back, her eyes closing to the delicious sensations rippling throughout her body.

  Dr. Gage Taylor was a brilliant obstetrician and researcher. He’d come highly recommended when she’d asked who in the New York area would be a good consultant for her show. And when he arrived in her office that first day, she’d been rewarded with how jaw-dropping handsome the guy was. Ava should have known then that she was in trouble.

  Now, she was pulling at his shirt until the buttons popped off. He grunted and hurried to unsnap his pants while she did the same, toed off her flats and pushed her pants and panties down her legs. His shirt was on the floor, his pants undone, his hands moving quickly to pull a condom packet from his wallet. She pushed his pants and his boxers down as he ripped the condom packet open and then smoothed the latex over his length. He wore leather loafers that he kicked off his feet before stepping out of his pants.

  Ava sat on the couch. She scooted back on the wide pillows and looked up at all of the heavenly goodness that was Gage Taylor. Six feet one inch of golden honey-hued skin, ripped abs, muscled limbs and a thick, long erection. She swallowed as her gaze rested there.

  “Just this once,” he said, his voice deep and husky in the confined space of the trailer.

  Ava licked her lips and nodded. “Yes, just this once.”

  He was over her by then, his lips on hers, his knee spreading her legs apart. She opened her mouth to his persistence, clasped her hands to the back of his head to hold him there. He pushed them both back to a lying position on the couch, arranging himself between her legs. He said something, but Ava couldn’t hear him over the pounding of her heart and the rush of desire.

  Her legs were already trembling by the time the crest of his erection touched her entrance. He pressed harder.

  She moaned deeper, and their “one time” began.

  Chapter 1

  New York City

  Three weeks later

  Gage stepped out onto the sidewalk on a warm September morning, three weeks after they’d wrapped up shooting on Doctor’s Orders. Despite the strange hours he’d been keeping during the seven weeks he served as an on-site consultant for the network medical drama, this morning he was expected at the hospital by nine. That meant he was taking his usual four-block walk to the Nancy Links Medical Center, where he�
�d worked as an obstetrician for the last four years.

  He held his briefcase in one hand, cell phone in the other as he walked away from the thirty-story condo building, his Italian leather dress shoes clicking on the sidewalk. This afternoon he was seeing patients, but this morning was relatively free, he noted as he looked at his mobile calendar.

  Gage had discovered early in life that being organized was a necessity. Growing up in a household with five siblings meant he had to know what was his and where his personal belongings were at all times. He’d learned a lot growing up as one of the infamous Taylor sextuplets, enough to make not repeating past mistakes one of his main priorities in life.

  He looked up in time to see the light changing and then crossed the street just before his phone rang.

  “Dr. Taylor,” he answered because he could see from the caller ID that it was the hospital calling.

  “Good morning,” his assistant, Carrie, replied.

  Carrie had been with him for the last six months. For his first two years at the medical center he’d been in residency, and then his inaugural research paper on infertility and the strides that had been made in the field had been published. That had propelled his career forward, and Gage became a staff obstetrician as well as a grant recipient in the following weeks to continue his research. With those dual titles, he’d been given a corner office on the hospital’s fourth floor, an administrative assistant and, just recently, a lab assistant. His first admin had gone on maternity leave just weeks before his father’s death last September. Since then, he’d gone through three more assistants, who had been sent to him via an employment agency.

  Who would have thought that after all this time out of the spotlight, there would still be someone—actually three someones, all female—who not only knew who he was, but were also ready to claim their place in the spotlight by either working for him, or possibly sleeping with him.

  Gage blamed his father’s death a year ago for the renewed interest in the first African American sextuplets to be born in Temptation, Virginia, thirty years ago. After leaving his wife and seven-year-old children, Theodor Taylor had gone on to become the CEO of Taylor Manufacturing, building an empire that designed engines for a Japanese automotive company. Stock in the company had soared at the time of Theodor’s death, and when it was announced that the estate would be handled by the children, Gage recalled fielding calls from newspaper reporters to investors asking about their plans for the international company. That was until Gray, the oldest Taylor sextuplet, brokered a deal to sell Taylor Manufacturing and divided the proceeds evenly among the siblings.

  “Dr. Gogenheim wants to see you as soon as you get in this morning,” Carrie was saying as Gage shook his head to rid himself of the memories of his father.

  “Really? I didn’t see anything on my calendar,” he replied. “I planned to reach out to that research facility in Paris before their offices close for the day when I get in.”

  “I recall you mentioning that yesterday when we spoke. However, Dr. Gogenheim’s assistant just called to see if you were in yet. I told her you were on your way.”

  “I am,” Gage said just before a driver slammed on the brakes, subsequently causing the cars behind him to do the same.

  Those were the glorious sounds of a morning during rush-hour traffic. When the noise subsided, he continued. “Fine, I’ll go right up to his office, but please have the number and the name of a contact person at the facility in Paris on my desk for when I return.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll get that information now.”

  “Thank you, and, Carrie?”

  “Yes, sir, I hadn’t gone down to get your Caffè Americano yet. I’ll wait about half an hour. It will be on your desk when you finish with Dr. Gogenheim.”

  Gage smiled. “Thanks, Carrie.”

  He’d never been a morning person. To survive undergrad, med school and residency required the strongest coffee possible. Luckily for him, there was a Starbucks on the ground floor of the medical center. Gage showed his appreciation for Carrie going the extra mile to get his coffee by opening a credit account with the barista and paying them monthly for all drinks and any other items that he and Carrie ordered.

  After disconnecting the call, Gage scrolled through some of the emails he’d missed in the last couple of days because he’d spent the weekend at a colleague’s house in the Hamptons. He had been attending, of all things, a baby shower.

  Gage approached the hospital minutes later and walked through the revolving glass doors. His honey-colored burnished leather wingtip lace-up Tom Ford shoes clicked against the polished floors as he made his way through the lobby and down the hall toward the elevators that would lead to the obstetrics and gynecology floors. He slipped his phone into his suit jacket pocket just before stepping into the elevator. When he heard someone yelling, “Hold the elevator!” he extended his arm so that his briefcase kept the door from closing.

  “Thanks,” the woman, dressed in light blue scrubs, said as she made her way into the compartment and pressed the floor she needed.

  “No problem,” Gage said and returned the smile she was so eagerly offering.

  As the elevator began to move, he thought of how pretty she was, with her dark brown hair pulled back from her face and green eyes twinkling each time she looked up at him. He could ask her out, but he’d decided a long time ago that the quick, no-commitment type of interaction he preferred to have with women didn’t bode well in the workplace.

  The elevator stopped on her floor, and before she stepped off, she turned back to look at him. “Have a great day, Dr. Taylor.”

  Her arm extended, and Gage looked down at the business card she held in her hand. He immediately accepted the card and wished her a great day, as well. When the doors closed and he was alone, Gage looked down at the card, a smile ghosting his face.

  “Miranda,” he said and continued to read the words on the card as the elevator moved again.

  She was a radiologist on the third floor. And she was hot. He tucked the card into the side of his briefcase and stepped off the elevator when it opened on his floor. He wasn’t going to call her, Gage told himself. Regardless of how good she looked. He had rules, and he had learned the hard way that it was best to stick to them, always.

  “Good morning, Dr. Taylor. Dr. Gogenheim is waiting for you,” the receptionist said when he stopped in front of her. “Just go on back to his office.”

  “Thank you,” Gage replied with a nod.

  He was known throughout the hospital, a fact that should have bothered him considering he despised his family’s notoriety. But this was different. Gage’s recognition at the hospital came primarily from being a talented doctor who brought huge research grants to the facility and added to their already stellar reputation. The Taylors of Temptation, on the other hand, had commercialized a serious health condition for thousands of couples, and topped that off with a very public betrayal of marriage vows and desertion of a family. It had been the beginning of the worst years of Gage’s life.

  Thankfully, that was then and this was now.

  He gave a quick knock and then entered the office. Mortimer Gogenheim sat behind his desk, his thinning black hair brushed neatly to one side of his head, thick framed glasses perched on his nose.

  “Good morning, Gage. Take a seat,” he said.

  Gage nodded and moved to sit in one of the guest chairs across from the sleek, dark wood desk. “Good morning,” Gage replied. “I was surprised you wanted to see me so early. I thought the board meeting was scheduled for this morning.”

  Which was why he hadn’t scheduled anything on his personal or business calendar. Gage wanted to be available the moment the board of directors decided he would become the youngest chief of obstetrics at the medical center. With all the research work he’d done this year, coupled with the latest grant that would fund the department’s research labs fo
r the next three years, he was a shoo-in for the position. At least that’s what Mortimer had told him a couple of months ago. After that conversation, Gage was elated that his dream was about to become a reality, much sooner than he had ever anticipated.

  “We had the meeting last night over dinner. My son-in-law received a job offer in Europe, so my daughter announced two weeks ago that they were moving over there. My wife was beside herself with worry at not being able to see the grandkids. So I’m stepping down sooner than I’d planned because we’re going to move over there with them,” Mortimer said as he sat forward, letting his arms rest on the desk.

  Gage nodded. “Family first,” he said. “I understand.”

  He did understand that concept, even if he didn’t have a wife and kids of his own. Outside of his job, Gage only had his family. His five siblings—Gray, Garrek, Gemma, Genevieve “Gen” and Gia—who lived in different areas of the United States. They’d grown up in a tight-knit household, and even though distance separated them, they’d tried to remain as close as their mother always wanted.

  “Good,” Mortimer told him with a nod. “So I’ll get right to the point.”

  Gage sat up straighter in the chair and thought about how his sisters were going to react when they heard the news. His oldest brother, Gray, was an overachiever himself, becoming one of the first African American billionaires to own and operate his own electronics company before he turned thirty. And Garrek was an exceptional navy pilot who was steadily moving up in the ranks. They were both tenacious and goal-oriented, just like Gage. His sisters each had stellar careers, as well. Gemma owned an upscale beauty salon in Washington, DC, while Gen ran her own software development company, and Gia worked as an executive chef at one of Chicago’s swankiest restaurants.

  He’d call Gemma first, he decided as he nodded and stared expectantly at Mortimer. She would never let him live it down if he didn’t.

  “The chief position is going to Edgar Rodenstein. He’s been in this field for more than thirty years, and he’s worked with the medical director before. In fact, Bart was the one who recommended Edgar for the job. So we’re confident that the transition will be smooth. You, on the other hand, well, we’re extremely happy with the work you’ve been doing in infertility and multiple birth research. We’d like you to continue in that vein, and we will possibly entertain a chief researcher position for you in the future.”