Baby By Chance. M.J. Rodgers

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СКАЧАТЬ was different, opened my eyes and saw Todd’s face. I realized then that he must have passed out beside me. When I kissed him, he must have awakened and thought…”

      “That you wanted him,” David supplied when her voice faded.

      She gave a long exhale. “Todd kept whispering my name over and over. I closed my eyes and let it happen.”

      “And in the morning?”

      “When I awoke, Todd was gone, much to my relief. I don’t think I could have faced him. Because the truth is, I don’t know why I slept with him.”

      “Hard to know why we do things sometimes.”

      She looked up to see he was watching her, that calm acceptance still on his face. He was telling her that he wasn’t judging her. She appreciated that, more than she could say. But she was judging herself.

      “I’ve always known why I’ve done things,” she said. “I may not always have been thrilled with the reason, but at least I’ve known. Now, not knowing…not knowing is very unsettling. I can’t tell you how unsettling.”

      “You don’t have to even try,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’ve been there. Thank you for dinner and for your honesty.”

      “You’re leaving?” she said, surprised.

      He nodded. “I know what I asked of you tonight wasn’t easy to give. But what you’ve told me has been important, and will help me to find out about Todd. I hope that will be worth the pain you went through. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

      He headed toward the front door. She followed. When he paused to lean down and give Honey one last head pat, she smiled. David was turning out to be quite nice and not nearly as unapproachable as she’d imagined.

      Maybe now was the time to ask the question that had plagued her since she first saw him in the White Knight offices.

      “What bothers you about me?”

      David straightened. “What do you mean?”

      “When we first met,” she said, “I could tell you didn’t like me.”

      He stared down at her. They were barely a foot apart. She was suddenly very aware of him.

      “There is nothing about you that I don’t like,” he said in a soft whisper. “Good night.”

      He pulled open the door, stepped out into the dark night and shut the door behind him.

      The breath whooshed out of Susan’s lungs as she stood facing that closed door, stunned to her toes. She could barely believe what her senses were telling her. David had just said there was nothing about her he didn’t like. She’d seen the truth of his words in his eyes, heard that truth in his voice.

      He was attracted to her.

      She felt a sharp quickening of her pulse and an undeniable response deep inside her—a response she hadn’t felt in a very, very long time.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      DAVID LAY IN BED that night thinking over what Susan had told him. When he’d checked into her background and discovered her husband had died, he’d visited the fire station where Paul Carter had worked. A memorial picture of him hung on the wall. Paul was blond, five-ten, slender, with light eyes. That was exactly how Susan had described Todd.

      She’d gone to the seminar seeking closure to some unresolved issue that had her dreaming of her dead husband. Instead of a resolution, she had found herself under the lethal influences of a terrible sense of failure and a potent dose of alcohol. And there was Todd, a sympathetic, fellow sufferer, looking enough like Paul to pull all the right heartstrings.

      David could understand why Susan had let him make love to her. But what he still wasn’t clear about was Todd’s motives. Was he really grieving? Or was he an opportunist who had seen her pain, plied her with alcohol, and, then, when she was most vulnerable, taken advantage of her?

      A man who took advantage of a vulnerable woman was scum. If he found out that Todd had done that to Susan—

      David punched his pillow and turned onto his other side. No. No matter what he found out, he wasn’t going to get physical with the guy. This was just a case like any other. She was just a client. And David was a civilized, educated man in full control of his impulses. All his impulses.

      When she had asked him what he didn’t like about her, he’d been very tempted to show her how much he liked everything about her. But he’d held back and left without laying so much as a finger on her.

      Even if he had stood too close to her and gazed into her eyes a little too long.

      David punched his pillow again and turned to his other side. That had been a mistake. He wished he just liked the way she looked. The way she sounded. The way she moved. The way she smelled.

      But he also liked the way she spoke her mind and refused to back down when she believed she was right. The way she took such pride in her work. The way she took such loving care of her pet and her home.

      David threw the pillow to the bottom of the bed, let out a frustrated breath, rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. No matter what he liked about her, pursuing Susan was simply not an option.

      Time to take his brother, Jack, up on one of his double-date offers. Jack’s sojourn into show biz had left him rubbing shoulders, as well as more interesting body parts, with some of the most beautiful women on the TV screen. As David’s dad had so accurately pointed out to him a couple of days before, his body was telling him to get back in the game. With one of Jack’s women, a man didn’t have to worry about holding back.

      Tomorrow morning David would concentrate on getting a lead on Todd. Thanks to Susan’s openness and honesty, he had some clues to follow.

      Tomorrow night he’d let Jack introduce him to someone who wasn’t a client, who wasn’t still mourning her dead husband, and who wasn’t going to want to see his face over the breakfast table the next morning.

      He might be ready to get back in the dating game, but the rules were definitely going to be different. This time around, he wasn’t going to look for emotional entanglements of any kind.

      “COME ON, SUSAN,” Paul said, dragging her toward the roller coaster. “It’ll be fun!”

      Susan looked up at the big, bright neon sign in front of them that said Death Ride. Nope, this didn’t sound like a whole lot of fun.

      “Paul, a roller-coaster ride isn’t my idea of a good time. I have this inner-ear problem. I get car sick on a bumpy road.”

      “Suz, you’ve got to come with me,” he coaxed. “This ride is the absolute best. A real adrenaline rush.”

      She planted her feet. “My adrenaline is rushing at the right speed, thank you.”

      “Is it?” he said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her to him. “Maybe I’d better do a quick check.” He bent down to nuzzle her neck. She closed her eyes and leaned into him.

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