Page 6 of The Doctor's Irreplaceable Love

“It’s notyouI’m worried about,” she told him honestly.

His eyebrows shot up.“I think you need to explain yourself,” he said with a small smile.

“I think you know exactly what I mean.But… sorry.I shouldn’t have said it.”

He gave her a rueful smile.“Maybe not, but I’m glad you did.”

She stared at him for a long moment.“We shouldn’t even joke about it, should we?”

He sat back in his chair and took a sip of his wine, seeming to give his answer careful consideration before he spoke again.

“Maybe not,” he agreed eventually.

She was surprised by the heavy weight of disappointment that settled in her stomach.

“You’re right,” he added more forcefully.“We shouldn’t.So back to the matter at hand—you reallycanstay the night if you want to.No strings.No awkwardness.How about I put it this way?”He met her gaze.“If Trav or one of the other guys were here, they wouldn’t think twice about staying the night after having a few drinks.”

He chuckled.“And theycertainlywouldn’t think twice about having a few drinks.We’ve established that we’re friends, haven’t we?So why should this be any different?”

She looked down into her glass before looking back up at him.

“It shouldn’t be any different, should it?”

She wanted to add that even though it shouldn’t, it stillfeltdifferent.She wasn’t one of the guys.Yes, she enjoyed his friendship but… but nothing.He was right.She needed to stop allowing herself to get carried away.

She pushed her glass toward him.“Go on, then.I’ll have another.”She gave him a wry smile.“And you’re right.You have proven that I can trust you.And just so we’re clear—despite what I said—you can trust me, too.”

He topped up her glass before looking up with a smile.“Damn.And here I was hoping you might not be able to help yourself.”

She laughed.“I don’t think there’s any point in dancing around it all the time, is there?There’s just no point in acting on it.”

He blew out an exaggerated sigh.“No, I guess not.You’re right.As usual.”

She nodded.Part of her wanted to talk about it—to discuss whether therewasactually anything wrong with acting on their attraction to each other.But the moment had passed.

He pushed his chair back from the table.“Want to go sit in the den?”

She looked around, thinking she should at least clear the table first.

He shrugged.“I’ll get it later.”

“Are you sure?”she asked.

She hated to think she might be creating more work for his housekeeper, Anita.

He nodded vigorously.“Don’t worry.Just because I have help doesn’t mean I take advantage of them.”

“I didn’t think…”

He raised an eyebrow, and she had to laugh.

“Okay, so that’s exactly what I was thinking.I didn’t want to leave all this mess for Anita.”

“And we won’t.I told you—I’ll clean up later.I just thought we could sit for a while and be comfortable.”He patted his stomach.“I’m feeling too full and lazy to do anything right now.In fact, do you want to watch a movie?”

“Okay, sure.Why not?”

She picked up her glass and followed him through to the den.It was a lovely room.The whole house was beautiful.It was furnished luxuriously, but that didn’t stop it from feeling cozy.Homey.And the den was the coziest room of all, at least of the rooms she’d seen.

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