Leslie LaFoy - The MD's Mistress / The Money Man's Seduction

“Waiting for someone to wheel me down,” Becca said, somehow managing to sound cheery…when all she really wanted to do was weep, and tell him she didn’t want to go.

“It may be a few minutes. I understand the staff is very busy.” He simply stood there, looking at her, so close, yet so far away.

For a minute.

Becca stopped thinking, breathing, when he leaned forward over her. He placed his hands on the armrests of the wheelchair, to lean closer.

“Wha…wha…” she muttered, unable to force the full word from her suddenly parched throat.

“You will let the housekeeper take care of you,” he said, so close now his breath whispered over her lips, causing havoc in every cell she possessed.

Beyond speech, Becca nodded.

“Good.” He smiled; she smelled mint on his breath, and yearned to taste it. “I’ll miss you in the O.R.”

Becca deflated like a pierced balloon. Of course, hadn’t he at one time admitted she was the best O.R. nurse he had ever worked with?

She shut her eyes in private misery, and wasn’t aware of him closing the inches between them. The touch of his lips on hers startled her and set her pulse pounding.

Seth’s kiss was soft, gentle, undemanding and heart-wrenchingly sweet. Within a moment, before she could even think to respond, he moved away.

Becca lowered her head and her lashes.

With the tip of his finger, he tilted her face up to meet his steady gaze. His amber eyes had darkened to a shade of brown she had not seen before.

“Get well,” he said. “Take care of yourself, little girl.”

Girl? Little girl!

A wave of anger crashed over Becca, washing away her misery along with her caution and good sense.

“ Little girl ,” she protested, her voice elevated. “I’m not a little girl, Doctor. I’m a woman.”

“Tell me about it.”

As he finished speaking, a nurse breezed into the room, distracting Becca from wondering about the odd note in his quiet voice, the flash of emotion in his now dark eyes.

“Hi, I’m Jen, sorry to keep you waiting,” the young woman said, bending to flip the locks from the chair’s wheels. “It’s been a busy day.” Smiling, she moved to the back of the chair. “Ready to go? Your chariot awaits outside.”

Seth stepped back as Jen rolled the chair to the doorway. “Doctor,” she said politely, smiling as she moved past him and started down the corridor.

“Come back healthy, Rebecca. I need you…in the O.R.”

Seth’s quiet voice floated down the corridor after her.

Clutching the chair arms, she fought against the sting in her eyes. She had known all along he wasn’t interested in her in any personal way. She was a good O.R. nurse.

No! she thought, lifting her head and angling her jaw. She was a terrific O.R. nurse. And when she was completely back up to speed, she silently vowed, she would not torture herself by returning to work for him.

Maybe.

When Jen rolled the chair outside the electric doors, Becca couldn’t get out of the chair and into the impressive black stretch limo fast enough. She did not look back.

Seth stood rigid behind the large, heavy plate-glass door. A strange sensation invaded his stomach—emptiness? He shrugged the thought aside.

He didn’t have time to worry about a stubborn woman. He didn’t really need her in the O.R.; there were plenty of good—no, excellent—nurses waiting, hoping to take her place.

Yet he didn’t move away from the door. He stood there, watching until after she had disappeared inside the limo. Hell, he was missing her already and the car hadn’t yet pulled away from the building.

Becca . A pang in his chest startled him.

Dammit, she never so much as glanced back.

* * *

In a word, the limousine was plush. There was a small cooler holding snacks, and a bar with an ice-filled bucket chilling a bottle of champagne.

Curious, and hungry, as the lunch carts had just started to be pushed along the hospital corridor as she was being wheeled out, Becca investigated the bounty. Caviar, she marveled, the outrageously expensive stuff.

Expensive but gross, she thought, making a face. Thankfully there were several different kinds of cheeses and crackers and a bunch of plump black grapes. Yum, that was more like it.

Popping the cork on the bottle, she poured the golden, bubbly liquid into a real crystal flute and made a meal of the cheese, crackers, fruit and champagne…three glasses of champagne.

After sealing what was left of the champagne with the foil cap and packing away the remains of the food, Becca made herself comfortable by curling up on the butter-soft seat and promptly fell asleep.

Becca didn’t know where she was; the setting was lush but unfamiliar. She was in a freshwater pool, serenely floating naked in the cool water.

It was a peaceful, quiet place, a secret bower with heavy foliage and masses of bright-hued flowers on the banks surrounding the pool. And there was a waterfall, a gentle flow cascading into the sparkling water.

Lovely. She was alone but unafraid, somehow knowing this was where she belonged.

There came a splash, not loud, but as if a fish had leapt with joy in the pool. Small ripples blurred the water, drawing closer to her.

The next instant he was there, his lean bare body gliding along hers.

“Seth.” Her eyes closing, she breathed his name, as if she had known he would be there.

“Yes.” His lips were close to her ear. “Have you been waiting long?”

“Forever,” she murmured against his jaw.

“I’m here now…for you.” A slight turn of his head and his mouth took hers. A gentle, tender kiss, for a moment.

Becca curled her wet arms around his neck, and arched her body into his, murmuring low in her throat when he deepened the kiss, taking complete command of her mouth with his lips and tongue.

Without thought, she lifted her legs and coiled them around his hips, feeling the strength of his need, and loving the feel of it.

“You want me,” he whispered against her lips.

“Yes…” she sighed, arching higher into him. “Yes, please.”

“Then I’m yours.” He moved into position between her legs. She felt him there, and…

“Ms. Jameson.”

The soft, unfamiliar voice broke the spell. Becca opened her eyes, and nearly cried out in protest.

She was lying on the seat of the unmoving limo. She raised her eyes to see the driver, his expression both concerned and compassionate.

“We’re here, at the cabin.” He smiled. “Sorry to have to wake you. You were sleeping pretty soundly.”

“Yes,” she said, blinking herself fully awake and aware.

“I—” she began, only to have him interrupt.

“You obviously needed the rest,” he said, getting out of the car to open the door for her.

She needed something, Becca thought wryly, and right that minute rest didn’t come close.

“Well, there you are,” a voice called out, startling Becca. “And just in time for supper, too.”

Becca looked up at the woman standing on the wide porch running along the entire front of the…cabin? Ha! This place was the last thing Becca would call a cabin. The word resort jumped into her mind.

“Come on in, honey, and get acquainted. I’m Sue Ann, but folks just call me Sue.”

“Hi, Sue,” Becca said, stepping out of the car and mounting the four steps to the porch. She held out her hand. “I’m Rebecca.” She smiled. “But folks just call me Becca.”

Sue returned the smile, and turned to the driver, who stood patiently waiting at the base of the steps, his hands full of Becca’s luggage.

“I’m Dan,” he offered. “Sorry I can’t shake your hand, ma’am.”