He looked as if … as if he’d changed his mind.
‘What about us, Alex?’ The words came out as a whisper. ‘Do you really think we’re not worth a shot too?’
For a long, long moment Alex didn’t move a muscle. Didn’t make a sound.
He took a step towards her. The ballpoint pen clattered onto the surface of his desk.
And then he took Layla in his arms and she closed her eyes as her head tilted back under the pressure of his lips on hers.
It seemed like she had her answer.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SOMETHING WAS VERY different this time.
Giving in to the overwhelming attraction between them had always been illicit. Tinged with the knowledge that it was dangerous. That somebody was going to get hurt.
That it was wrong.
Even the other night, when Alex had been blindsided by Layla appearing in the decontamination shower, the encounter had been just as illicit. It was dangerous to have unprotected sex. Wrong to be doing it in their place of employment.
Quite simply, any occasion that had involved physical contact between Alex and Layla had been … wild.
Snatched moments of time when nothing had mattered other than slaking a white-hot lust.
But this time it was different.
They had all the time in the world and that made them both oddly apprehensive about taking that next step. So, when Layla suggested they had dinner at the tapas bar where she’d gone with Chloe a while back, Alex agreed without hesitation. It was a reprieve from more than making a decision about where and when they would next be naked together. It was also a way of keeping this to themselves. If they went out together to O’Malley’s, the grapevine at Angel’s would have been buzzing with the news within hours.
Because this felt so different it seemed right to keep it private. This was their business. The unfinished kind, and whatever they were planning to do to see it through to its conclusion was not something anyone else needed to know about.
Except … wasn’t this supposed to be about throwing fuel onto the smouldering physical attraction that had never died between them? All they needed for that was a room with a bed. A hotel or motel, preferably, so that things didn’t intrude too far into their personal lives.
Why were they here, in a vibrant but softly lit bar, about to share food and drink and conversation instead of some nice, uncomplicated sex?
Alex sighed audibly. He really had no idea. It had seemed such a good idea at the time. A way to put a hard day’s work behind him and catch his breath before facing this new turning point in his life.
‘So …’ He raised his glass of beer in a mock salute as Layla looked up from the menu she’d been studying. ‘Here we are.’
‘Mmm.’ Layla’s gaze slid away from his and she lifted her glass of wine to take a sip. ‘We’ve come quite a long way to get here, haven’t we?’
She wasn’t talking about negotiating rush-hour New York traffic to get to the meatpacking district on the banks of the Hudson River. And it was an accurate statement. They had both taken very different routes through life to get to this point.
Funny that it felt like a huge circle all of a sudden.
‘Head of Paediatrics in one of the country’s most prestigious children’s hospitals.’ Alex tilted his head to show his respect for Layla’s achievements. ‘Well done, you.’
‘Head of Paediatric Neurosurgery in the same hospital,’ Laya responded. ‘I think being sought after as the person most likely to save a child’s life tops my ability to boss people around and keep things running smoothly.’
The sound Alex made was dismissive. ‘I’m just doing my job. The best way I know how.’
‘Dayna wouldn’t say that. Neither would I. I … um … didn’t get the chance to congratulate you earlier. That surgery today was amazing to watch.’
‘Thanks.’
‘You didn’t mind having an audience?’ There was an unspoken question in Layla’s eyes. She wasn’t talking about an audience in general. She was asking him whether it had bothered him to have her in the gallery. Whether it had brought back memories of the last surgery of his that she’d witnessed. The disaster that had been Jamie Kirkpatrick’s case.
The very idea of talking about that was enough to send a chill down his spine. He’d factored in the way his past with Layla was so inextricably linked to Jamie’s case but he hadn’t bargained on having to talk about it.
How stupid was that? Jamie had been part of their story right from the get-go. The reason they had met in the first place. And Layla pulling the plug on that relationship the night before Jamie’s surgery might not have been the end of things if that surgery had gone well. Alex might well have tried to find out what had gone wrong. Tried to fix things between them. But it hadn’t gone well. His world had shattered and the shards had driven him and Layla as far apart as it was possible to get.
But here they were again.
A huge mistake?
Quite possibly. Alex could almost hear Callie’s voice in his ear.
I told you so, mate. You should’ve listened.
At least he could try and avoid the subject. It was easy to pretend he hadn’t picked up on the subtext of Layla’s casual query.
‘I’m used to having an audience,’ he said lightly. ‘Might close the gallery for Tommy’s surgery, though.’
Layla toyed with her glass. ‘Have you set a date?’
‘Not before next week at the earliest. There’s a lot of preparation needed.’ Like there had been before Jamie’s complex surgery. Alex ruthlessly squashed the comparison.
‘Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.’
His nod was offhand as he opened his menu. Alex didn’t intend involving Layla. ‘Food looks good,’ he said a moment later. ‘What are you going to have?’
‘Maybe costillas.’ Layla looked up with a smile. ‘The barbecued mini-ribs. Messy but so tasty. And some pimentos rellenos.’
Alex raised an eyebrow. Her accent was perfect. Odd from someone with blonde hair and blue eyes and the face of a prom queen. She hadn’t aged at all in the last five years. She could still be someone’s high-school sweetheart. The girl next door, if next door happened to be some vast Texan ranch.
‘They’re peppers stuffed with rice,’ Layla told him. ‘Do you like shrimp? Try the gambas a la plancha.’
But Alex wasn’t thinking about food any more.
‘You never used to speak Spanish.’ The statement came out almost as an accusation. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask you about that ever since you stepped in to interpret for Ramona.’
The night that had shown him the depth of the connection he still felt with Layla. The connection that had blazed into that astonishing encounter in the decontamination shower. Hell … even the hint of a memory of that night made Alex wonder afresh why they’d come here at all instead of locating the nearest available bed. He had to suck in a slightly ragged breath and focus on what Layla was saying.
‘I got a job in Miami.’ She sounded offhand. ‘There was a huge immigrant Spanish community and I got frustrated at not being able to communicate properly.’
‘So you did something about it.’ The lopsided smile Alex could feel tugging at his lips was tinged with a mix of admiration and … sadness? This was pure Layla, as much as the way she hurled herself into an emotional involvement with small patients. Show her a challenge and she grabbed it with both hands.
Like the way she’d approached him when she’d been merely a baby doctor, working different rotations to see what she might want to specialise in. He’d already made a name for himself so it must have taken guts for her to approach him. To tell him about Jamie Kirkpatrick and the radical new neurological procedure she’d read about that could possibly cure the toddler.
What had pulled him in so decisively back then?
This cute woman who’d had the courage not only to suggest the procedure but intelligent enough to have done her homework and to be able t
o discuss it at a level well above what he would have expected from her years and experience?
Or had it been something far less conscious? The appeal of someone who could care so much about a patient? A person who had a heart as big as her home state?
The echoes of that first meeting were disturbing. Alex needed to get his head back to the present. Back to at least a semi-professional space.
‘Why Miami?’
He was expecting the conversation to move into the medical merits of a large city hospital and the workload and experience gained. But Layla looked at him in silence for a long moment and then dropped her gaze.
‘It was as far away as I could get.’
‘From L.A.?’
A brief nod. ‘And Texas.’
Had she gone alone, then? She certainly would have had the courage to do that. Suddenly it was important to Alex to know when she’d done it. How soon after their affair her marriage had ended. Whether he needed to shoulder some of the blame.
‘How long did you spend in Miami?’
‘A bit over five years. Until I came to Angel’s.’
The same time frame that Alex had spent in his own self-imposed exile.
And the last person she’d slept with, other than him, had been her husband?
Oh … hell …
A waiter arrived with fresh drinks and a notepad to take their orders. Alex told Layla to order for both of them and then listened to her rattle off the Spanish names of dishes. She had a conversation with the waiter in Spanish that made them both laugh but Alex couldn’t raise as much as a smile. He drank his beer and waited until the waiter had gone and the noise of the bar closed around them again to create an oddly private atmosphere.
‘Was it our affair that ended your marriage?’
Layla’s eyes widened. Then she shook her head. ‘It was already dead in the water, Alex. The affair would never have happened if that hadn’t been the case.’
He nodded slowly. She wasn’t just saying that to absolve him of any guilt. He knew enough about Layla to know how focussed her passion for anything was. If she’d felt that passionate about a man, nobody would have been able to distract her.
How lucky would a man be, to have that kind of passionate commitment from Layla?
‘I did think about trying again to make it work,’ Layla continued quietly. ‘When I talked to my mother about it, she told me to “stop being so ridiculous”. That marriage is for life and if it wasn’t working then that was only because I wasn’t working hard enough at it.’
Alex snorted. ‘So your parents had the perfect marriage, then?’
It was Layla’s turn to snort. ‘That’s the thing. My parents’ marriage was like my whole life growing up. It only had to look perfect. That was all that mattered. Daddy was the mayor of Swallow Creek. Everybody knew he cheated on Momma repeatedly but nothing was ever said. It’s like the whole town was in some kind of movie and they all knew the part they had to play to get to the happy ending.’
Alex was appalled. ‘And you? What was your part?’
‘Oh, I just had to be the perfect daughter. The town’s “golden girl”. To do well at school and be the captain of the cheerleading team and the high school prom queen.’
‘So you were a prom queen?’
‘Yeah … Why’d you ask?’
‘Never mind. Go on.’
‘Well, I married my high-school sweetheart, of course. No prizes for guessing that Luke happened to have been the prom king.’
‘Sure sounds like a movie script.’ Alex’s comment was light but something like anger was building. How could anyone have tried to put Layla into a box and keep her contained?
She was far too unique for that. Too … special.
She laughed at his comment but there was no amusement in the sound.
‘Yeah … but I lost my lines somewhere along the way. I got ambitions past being a stay-at-home mum and parading the mayor’s cute grandbabies at every community event. I got a bee in my bonnet about being a paediatrician instead.’
Alex was watching her face. She’d had to fight for that ambition?
‘Luke wasn’t happy about it but I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me. I even dragged poor Luke to L.A. with me and he was like a fish out of water. I couldn’t blame him for being so angry. He was miserable. He knew his lines and what’s more, he was happy to be a part of that damned movie.’
‘Where is he now?’
Layla smiled. ‘Back in Swallow Creek, of course. Married to another girl from our school. Sally. They’ve got two cute kids already. Another one on the way. Maybe even twins this time.’
The first dishes of their meal arrived. The sticky ribs came with bowls of water that had lemon slices floating in them because the ribs had to eaten with fingers and they lived up to their name in stickiness.
They were delicious and, for some time, they both ate with enormous enjoyment. For Alex, there was more than the taste to savour. Watching the enthusiastic way that Layla could eat. The expression of bliss on her face. The way she sucked the sauce off her fingers before she dipped them in the lemon-scented water.
Man … it was getting hot in here.
The heat wasn’t just being generated from physical attraction. There was a warmth coming from something much deeper. Something else that was very different this time.
It was as if Alex was meeting Layla for the first time. This wasn’t the doctor he’d worked with. Neither was she the lover whose touch had driven anything else from his consciousness.
This was the real Layla. The woman who’d been a little girl growing up in Swallow Creek. Who’d had parents and a boyfriend and a husband. Who’d had a script laid out for her life and who’d chosen to rebel.
Who’d become a woman he’d fallen head over heels in love with once upon a time.
Who’d crushed him unmercifully at the worst possible time.
Alex’s appetite deserted him but Layla didn’t seem to notice. He shook his head when she offered him the last rib and she was happy to pick it up herself.
He waited until she finished it.
‘Can I ask you a question?’
‘Shoot.’ Layla rinsed her fingers and dried them on her napkin. She reached for her wineglass.
‘What was it that made you so sure we were over?’ Alex hadn’t planned the question. The pressure had built so fast he couldn’t seem to prevent the words escaping from his mouth. From his heart. ‘And why did you have to pick the night before Jamie’s surgery?’
Oh … God …
Layla’s hand shook so much she had to put the wineglass back on the table. Just when she really, really needed a rather large swallow of that wine, too.
She hadn’t seen this coming. Not this fast, anyway.
The arrival of more food gave her a brief reprieve but it was obvious by the way they picked at the dishes after the waiter had gone that neither of them were hungry any longer.
Layla’s head was a mess but she only had herself to blame for being put on the spot like this after being so open about her childhood. Telling Alex stuff she’d never told anyone.
It was because this felt so different.
She and Alex knew each other physically as intimately as any two people could know each other but they’d never really got acquainted on any other level, had they?
Five years ago Alex had known that her marriage had been in trouble. How could he not when he’d overheard that horrible row with Luke that night when she’d abandoned her husband yet again to work late on the preparation for Jamie Kirkpatrick’s surgery?
All she’d known about Alex had been that he was a sinfully handsome and incredibly talented young neurosurgeon who had been well on his way to becoming a leader in his field. Nothing had prepared her for the sizzling chemistry between them and, with her emotions at breaking point in the wake of that row, she had done the unthinkable and made the first move on Alex.
She had started that affair.
She had ended it.
It must have been a new and unpleasant experience for Alex Rodriguez on both counts but Layla had been confident that he would be able to dismiss the effects in no time given his established reputation that would have scared any sensible woman off.
She hadn’t been surprised by the information that he’d gone straight into the arms of another woman when he’d stepped off the plane in Australia. Par for the course. That the fling had been over quickly was also no surprise. But there had been nobody since then?
That was … disturbing.
Even more disturbing given the intensity in that dark gaze when he’d voiced a question that had clearly been haunting him.
What was it that made you so sure we were over?
Layla had been open with Alex tonight because this situation felt so different. As though they were meeting each other on a new level. Not a professional one, as they had when they’d embarked on Jamie’s case together.
Not a physical one either, as they’d had from the moment Layla had put her arms around Alex’s neck, stood on tiptoe and touched her lips to his that very first time.
Could she stop now? Be less than honest with him?
No. Of course she couldn’t. Not when the compulsion to stop being dishonest had been the real reason her life had fallen apart back then.
Layla pushed her food aside. It took courage to look up and meet Alex’s brooding gaze.
‘I was living a lie, Alex. I always had been so I should have been good at it but I’d added a new layer of deception into my life. I was a married woman and I was having an affair. I felt guilty and I also felt kind of sick about it because I was doing what my father had done so often and I knew how wrong it was. How hurtful.’
Alex said nothing but he was listening to every word. He didn’t take his eyes off Layla, even when she had to drop her own gaze and focus on the table. Grains of rice had spilled from the spicy peppers and she moved each one back towards the platter with the tip of her finger, aware of the heaviness of being watched so intently. The expectation that she had more to say. And she did.
‘The first time we … we were together,’ Layla continued quietly, ‘I knew there was no going back in my life. I thought I had something to go forward towards but then I wasn’t so sure.’
NYC Angels: An Explosive Reunion Page 9
