Read Online Falling for Fitz by Katy Regnery - Free Book Online Page B

But what?” demanded Daisy
without thinking.
    Emily looked at Daisy thoughtfully and
shrugged. “He never seems to stay with anyone for more than a
couple of months, but maybe things would be different for you… Once
you get over Dr. M. you could always cast your eyes his
way.”
    “ Fitz’s way?”
    “ Yep. And I know he might
seem sort of boring—”
    “ Boring?” exclaimed Daisy
defensively. “He’s not boring.”
    “ I just mean he’s very
reserved.”
    “ Oh, yes. Punching
strangers in the face is very reserved, Emmy.”
    “ I don’t know what happened
last night,” said Emily. “I couldn’t have been more shocked!
Barrett tells me all the time… Fitz is the most ethical person he
knows. They’ll never owe a dime to the IRS or the FCC because Fitz
follows every rule, every law to the letter. I can’t imagine what
happened to make him behave like that.”
    “ Dr. M. made an off-color
joke,” Daisy covered quickly. “I pretended to be insulted and Fitz
took it the wrong way.”
    “ Like I said. There was
always something very intense between you two.”
    “ It was a million years
ago. Besides, I’m still ‘engaged,’ right?”
    Emily sighed. “I guess.
Though it would be fun to be cousins and sisters-in-law, wouldn’t
it?”
    “ Emily!” exclaimed Daisy,
breaking into giggles. “You haven’t even said yes yet!”
    Daisy was so distracted by her cousin,
she missed the sight of Fitz and Stratton coming around the house
from the garage, so she was surprised when she heard Fitz call her
name just as his mother opened the massive front door to welcome
them.
    “ Daisy!”
    Her heart immediately started
galloping, and Daisy dropped Emily’s arm, turning to face Fitz as
the rest of her family was ushered inside by Mrs.
English.
    He approached her across the gravel,
stopping a few feet away, as Stratton covered his head with his
hands and hurried ahead of Fitz into the house.
    “ Can I talk to
you?”
    He was wearing ironed khaki pants and
a light blue gingham shirt rolled up to the elbows. The hair on the
back of his neck brushed his collar. His blond hair was darker now
than it had been nine years ago, almost more like a light brown
streaked with gold, but still wavy and tousled. Her fingers
twitched, remembering how it felt.
    “ Sure,” she said, turning
to look at Mrs. English apologetically.
    “ Mom, Daisy and I are going
to take a walk before dinner.”
    “ Don’t be long,” said his
mother, giving Daisy a thin smile before returning to her
guests.
    They fell into an easy rhythm, turning
toward the gardens that led down a hill to the tennis courts, Fitz
walking beside her with his hands shoved into his pants
pockets.
    “ I’m sorry,” he finally
said after they’d been walking in silence for a few minutes, “about
last night. I was hoping that Dr. M. would join us this evening so
I could apologize to him as well.”
    “ He had to go back to
Portland.”
    “ What?” asked Fitz, putting
a hand on her arm and stopping their walk. Was that a flicker of
hope in his eyes?
    “ An emergency
surgery.”
    “ But he’ll be back
soon?”
    Daisy shook her head and started
walking again. When Fitz caught up with her, he walked closer to
her than he had before and his arm brushed with hers.
    “ No. I’m…” She cleared her
throat nervously. “I’m afraid he won’t be back immediately. He has
several more appointments over the next few weeks that he feels
obligated to take care of.”
    “ What are you saying? He’s
staying in Portland without you?”
    “ Temporarily,” she said,
hoping lightning wouldn’t strike her dead for lying.
    “ That doesn’t bother
you?”
    His arm brushed into hers with every
step, and it felt so good she didn’t move away. She let it brush
into hers over and over again, pretending she didn’t notice. Did he
notice too? Did it affect him as much as it did her? Did he savor
the contact as she did?
    “ Did you want to talk to me
about