Page 41 of Seduction
He went silent again, and I closed my eyes and shook my head. He’d put me in an awful position.
“I don’t think I want to be involved with a man who has secrets.” I sounded unsure about my claim, but I kept my eyes shut, not wanting to be swayed by his convincing baby blues.
“I don’t want you to be involved with any man. I want you to be involved with me.” His finger slid gently down the side of my face, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking at him. “I can promise you that whatever I’m keeping to myself can’t and won’t hurt you.”
At least I knew that the instincts of Angela, Kris, and probably everyone at the hospital were on the money about him. He had just admitted that he had secrets.
“I didn’t expect to meet you, Penina,” he added.
I shook my head emphatically. “What does that mean? People are curious creatures. You do know that, right?”
“Yes.”
“And just about everyone at the hospital is suspicious of you. Did you know that too?”
“Yes, but I do my job expertly. My patients don’t ask where I’m from. They just want me to save their lives or improve the quality of their lives.”
I studied the contours of his beautiful face as he gazed into my eyes.How could a man who looks like that trust that he could drop off the face of the earth in peace?
“Listen,” I said with a sigh. “I’m not one of those women who has to shove you into a box where their hero is spotless and unhuman in order to feel safe. I grew up in chaos. Chaos is where I thrive. But it’s tiring. I just want to know how it feels to be in a blissful relationship for once.”
“So do I,” he said. “Let’s try it together.”
My grimace made my forehead ache.Did he hear a thing I said?“I would think trying it together would begin with you telling me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
“I agree,” he said, sounding diplomatic about it.
I narrowed my eyes shrewdly. “Then answer this… do you own this penthouse?”
“I bought it, but it doesn’t belong to me.”
The fact that he’d purchased it didn’t surprise me. But I’d been correct about him—he was Mr. Moneybags.
“Then who does it belong to?” I asked.
He groaned as he gripped his skull and massaged his scalp. After a moment, he examined me. I guessed he was looking for trust in my eyes. I didn’t have to make my expression trustworthy. If anyone could keep a secret, I could. Though I would’ve liked to have known why I was keeping the secret.
“I bought this place for a friend who’s like family,” he blurted then deepened his frown. “We grew up together.”
“But this place is not cheap,” I said.
He nodded, agreeing with me. “Right, but that’s relative. New Orleans isn’t Manhattan.”
I smirked, thinking about how he always had an answer. I wasn’t going to ask him how much it cost, because that would’ve been a classless thing to do. But I put it all together. Dr. Sparrow was rich, but he was a successful and single neurosurgeon. That meant he didn’t have much to spend his cash on. As I recalled, he definitely had a place at the boarding hold, which wasn’t the name of the building, but it was what everyone called it. It was the place we lived until we finished our residency or fellowship. Attendings usually moved in until they were fully settled at the hospital then abandoned the boarding hold when they found a more permanent residence.
Also, I’d shared about my family, and he hadn’t done the same. I suspected his secret had to do with them, and I could understand not being ready to divulge all the shitty family secrets. So I decided to give him a grace period, though I didn’t know when the time would end.
“Okay, well, thanks for answering as much as you could. Now, I think I should take a shower while I can still stand.”
He reached over to run his finger around my areola. “Call in for tomorrow. I want to spend some extra time with you.”
My jaw dropped. I’d never called in since day one of my program. I had no need to.
“Call in and say what?” I asked.
“Figure it out. But I like this talking we’re doing. I want to do more of it,” he said.
I stared at him, perhaps looking as baffled as I felt.What planet did this beautiful alien fall from?Never had a man been so emotionally honest with me. On top of that, his finger was a thing of magic. The titillating sensation from his stimulation was working its way down between my legs.
