Page 31 of Accidental Doctor Daddy

I knew what it was like to be alone. After my wife had died, I was alone for a long time. I had my kids to worry about, but that was very different from having a partner. The loneliness didn’t hit me until three years after Jodie’s death.

Someone stole a kiss under the mistletoe at a company Christmas party, and the moment she did, I leaned back in shock. It didn’t mean anything to her, but that wasn’t why I had pulled away. The last person who had kissed me was Jodie, so feeling a pair of lips on me felt foreign. Wrong.

I didn’t know how to handle it, so I made an excuse and rushed out of the party. Somehow, the kiss had made me feel all the loneliness I’d bottled away for years. The weight of that threatened to crush me.

After the stolen kiss, though, I knew I had to start dating, or I’d be alone forever. While the idea of being alone was fine, the pain of loneliness was too much to bear. There was a big difference between being alone and being lonely, and I was the latter. If my kids had been young when I went through that emotional turmoil, I would have been a rotten parent.

Ella had no business being alone.

I hesitated, feeling the shape of my next question before I asked it. “The father—he’s not involved?”

A flicker of something crossed her face, something unreadable. Her left hand tightened, but she took a practiced breath before she said, “No. And he won’t be.” She didn’t elaborate.

And I didn’t push. It was clear she didn’t want to talk about him. Maybe it was messy. Maybe he was a mistake. Maybe he had bailed. I didn’t know. All I knew was that she looked relieved I hadn’t pried.

Before I could speak, my pager went off. I glanced at it. Bowan. I snorted derisively and tucked it back into my pocket. That bastard wasn’t going to tear me out of here for anything. “So, no trips back to the island?”

She exhaled a soft chuckle. “No. I’ve been working my ass off to save for this. Kids are expensive.”

“Yeah. Pity, though,” I mused, stretching slightly in my seat. “I was thinking of going back soon.” I let my eyes lock onto hers. “But it won’t be as much fun without you.”

Her lips parted slightly in surprise, her fingers fidgeting with the hospital blanket. She let out a nervous, breathy laugh, and Irealized once again,too late,that I was hitting on a woman who had just gone through hell.

Shit.

I cleared my throat, shaking my head. “Sorry. That was…inappropriate.”

She snorted softly. “A little.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair. “You just had twins, and here I am, acting like?—”

“Dom,” she interrupted, a small smirk playing on her lips. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”

That shut me up.

I let out a low breath, meeting her gaze. “Idoappreciate you. And I have since that night. You left me some incredible memories.”

She didn’t say anything at first. Just watched me, her expression unreadable. Then, finally, she spoke. “Why are you still thinking about that night?”

I held her gaze. “I never stopped thinking about it. I don’t think I could if I tried.”

Something flickered in her eyes—something wary. If she was happy to hear that, I couldn’t tell. Not from her lip biting, not from the spike in her blood pressure on the machine. Her voice was little more than a ghost. “Oh.”

That wasn’t the encouragement I needed to hear, but I wasn’t about to stop myself from saying what had been on my mind since I realized it was her on the stretcher. The words fell out of me, and I wasn’t able to stop them.

“I’ve never connected with someone the way I did with you that night on the island…” I couldn’t turn back now. I had to finish the thought, no matter the consequences. “It wasn’t just… good, Ella. It wasn’t just a one-night thing to me. Itmeantsomething.”

Her fingers clenched around the blanket again.

“And you vanished the next day without a word. I don’t mean to harp on this?—”

“And yet?”

I sighed. “And yet, it has confused me for the better part of a year. Tell me what I did wrong that night. Did I hurt you, did I say something?—”

She shook her head, interrupting me. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You were wonderful.”

“I didn’t push you too far with the thing on the balcony?”

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