The Best Of The Year - Medical Romance. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ And his bottle of sleeping pills sat on the bedside table untouched. The “mess” he’d been worried about her seeing.

      He swung his legs out of bed and sat on the edge of the mattress for several long seconds, trying to stamp out the images still flickering in his mind. To distract himself, he opened the drawer on the table and knocked the medicine inside it. No need to let Mira see them. She’d just ask questions.

      Questions he couldn’t answer.

      Like why he’d put her in Paula’s place. The dream was the same as always, but the face had changed.

      It had to be the aftereffects of the avalanche. Of those people suffocating, and one of them dying. Mira had been there, so maybe that’s why she’d been in the nightmare this time. His wife’s coffin had been closed. In reality, there hadn’t been a body to go in it as Paula had been incinerated along with most of the other passengers.

      Or maybe Mira had been in his dream because his subconscious was telling him to slam the lid down on this particular relationship and to seal it tight. But they didn’t have a relationship.

      They had a fling.

      Just the word had a calming effect on him.

      He’d had fun. There was no crime in that.

      So why did he feel like the lowest form of low?

      Guilt, probably. A false sense of loyalty to a woman he’d loved and lost.

      She’d want you to go on.

      Yes, she would. But that’s not what he wanted. He remembered all too well facing that polished coffin and wondering how he was going to pick himself up and go on living.

      Never again.

      Standing, he made his way to the bathroom, suddenly wishing they’d gone to her room instead. Then he could just quietly get dressed and let himself out. No awkward goodbyes. No wondering if you should say thank you or I’m sorry.

      He took his time, brushing his teeth and showering, then toweling off, all the time rehearsing exactly what he was going to say when he opened that door. But all he could see was the way Mira’s back had arched like a cat as she’d moaned.

       Please, don’t stop.

      Yes, he’d made her say it again. And where male pride should be, there was a slight sense of something else. Shame?

      No.

      He wasn’t sure what the emotion was, but he didn’t like it. It felt like something was poised to break loose, like that snow on the mountain that had gotten heavier and heavier until it had finally thundered down that slope, wiping away anyone in its path.

      And from what Jack could see, he was standing right in front of it. Only it wasn’t snow. But something just as devastating.

      Staring at himself in the mirror, he wrapped a towel around his waist, wishing he’d thought to bring in a fresh set of clothes. Getting dressed would send an obvious hint that the night was over and that it was time to make their way back to reality and their own separate beds.

      Except that tiny images of the pleasure he’d given and received last night circled in his head, bringing with them a whole new set of ideas. Ones that whispered that this was only a fling, no need to fear. Just get back in there and do a little more flinging.

      The more he thought about it the more he relaxed. Why not? He wanted her. Wanted to slide his hands over that lithe body and roll her beneath him again. She’d seemed to like it as much as he had. In fact, there was a sore spot on his shoulder he was pretty sure had been made by Mira’s nails as they’d reached yet another pinnacle.

      Yes. He wanted that. Wanted more of those scratches. More of those kisses.

      It was okay. The dream had been nothing more than the stupid workings of his mind and that avalanche.

      He undid the towel and let it drop to the floor, his body already anticipating what he wanted to do to her next.

       Sweetheart, I hope you’re ready.

      He turned out the bathroom light so it wouldn’t disturb her, then carefully opened the door. He was halfway across the room when he realized the bed seemed a little flatter than it had been. He frowned, moving closer. It looked different because it was different.

      Mira was no longer there under the covers. His eyes skated around the room, going through the door to the living area and seeing just a silent hotel room.

      No sound. No flash of movement.

      He glanced at the floor next to the bed. No clothes. Although his were now folded and placed neatly on the seat of a chair on the other side of the room.

      She was gone.

      She’d done exactly what he would have done had he woken up in her room that morning. She’d crept out of bed and thrown on her clothes while he’d been in the bathroom. And then she’d turned tail and raced as fast as she could out of the door and out of his life.

      * * *

      Sleep with him, she’d said. It’ll do you both good, she’d said.

      Mira slammed her hairbrush down on the small vanity in her room and berated herself for running away like a coward. It would have been better to just lie there and pretend to be asleep, and then when Jack came back into the room give a big stretch as if she’d just woken up. She could have nonchalantly said she had to get dressed for work and say, “Thanks for everything.”

      Yeah, like propping her up on the bar and making her see stars.

      In reality, she hadn’t slept a wink once they’d made love a second time—in his bed this time. She’d lain awake for hours, totally blown away by what had happened between them. Rather than kick the attraction in the teeth and send it skidding down the road, it was now crouched in the left-hand corner of her mirror, grinning at her with that all-knowing smile. No matter how many times she blinked, it was still there.

      Maybe because the smile belonged to the stuffed Cheshire cat Ellory had sent her for her birthday last year.

      “Yeah. Keep grinning and it’s under the bed for you.”

      When the smile remained where it was, she found the corners of her own mouth lifting. “Oh, Ellory. What have I done?”

      But, of course, her friend wasn’t there to tell her what she should do the morning after.

      She wanted to see him again. Something she hadn’t expected.

      Gulping, she scrubbed her hand over her stomach. She was going to go and get all attached to him, she just knew it.

      “Idiot.”

      She laid her head down on the dressing table and thought through all the options.

      Option one: she could remain in her room for the next two weeks...or however long he was scheduled to be here.

      Option two: she could wear a Gaga-ish mask and pretend СКАЧАТЬ