Read Online Tempted by Dr. Daisy by Catherine Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

her. ‘I need to deal with this,’ he said, and headed for the bathroom, leaving her lying there feeling a little foolish and vulnerable in the aftermath of so much raw emotion. She scooted under the quilt and sat up, hugging her knees, waiting for him to come back from the bathroom and tell her it had all been a mistake.
    As if she didn’t know that!
    Or she could get up, put on her dressing gown and go downstairs and clear the dining table.
    â€˜Daisy.’
    Damn. Too slow.
    She looked up, her eyes lingering on his body, making an inventory, storing up the memories. This wouldn’t happen again. She knew that. He was about to tell her that, just as soon as he’d pulled on his clothes and that beautiful, perfectly honed body was hidden from her eyes.
    Or partly. Dressed only in the jeans, he sat on the edge ofthe bed and took her hand, pulling it away from its death-grip on the quilt and folding it inside his own.
    Here we go, she thought. The gentle put-down.
    â€˜That was incredible,’ he said softly. ‘And I want to stay, to make love to you all night, but it isn’t going to happen. It can’t happen. I’m going home to get a decent night’s sleep, and in the morning we’ll go to work and act as if nothing’s changed, and then afterwards we’ll talk about it, OK?’
    She swallowed. ‘It’s OK, Ben, I know it was a mistake.’
    His thumb stroked her wrist. ‘It was, but we’ve done it now, and it’s changed things, and I don’t think we can really just put them back the way they were. We have to find a way to move forwards from this.’
    She nodded. They did, but she couldn’t imagine how. She didn’t know what she wanted, she just knew nothing so special had ever happened to her and she was in no way finished with it, but of course nothing had really changed. It was just different, but it still had no future, and a feeling of impending loss settled over her.
    â€˜We’ll talk tomorrow,’ she agreed. ‘I’ll cook for you.’
    â€˜No. It’s Friday tomorrow, isn’t it? Damn. I’m at Jane’s with Florence, and Jane might have plans to go out. It’ll have to be Sunday night, after I’ve put Florence to bed and come home. We can get a takeaway or something.’
    â€˜I can cook, you know,’ she said, finding a smile from somewhere.
    He smiled back, his eyes troubled and yet tender. ‘I’m sure you can. Don’t go to a lot of trouble, I don’t know how late I’ll be. Jane’s away for the weekend and I can’t leave till she’s back.’ He sighed softly. ‘I have to go now, it’s getting really late and if I don’t leave I’ll end up staying and I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I’ll see you in the morning. Maybe we can grab a coffee.’
    He leant over and kissed her, his lips tender and lingering, and then he straightened up, gave her a tiny, slightly sad little smile and then went out, and she lay and listened as he closed her front door behind himself, opened his own, went up the stairs and into his bedroom.
    She heard him moving around, then he went still, and she could swear she could hear him breathing on the other side of the wall.
    â€˜Goodnight, Daisy,’ he said, his voice soft but clear in the quiet.
    She didn’t answer. She was too busy wondering what the future held. She didn’t have a clue, but she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like it…
    They didn’t have time for a coffee on Friday morning, and they didn’t have time for lunch, either.
    He disappeared off her radar that afternoon to see Florence and reappeared on Sunday night at seven, by which time she’d had plenty of opportunities to think about their relationship and where it was going. And she’d come to exactly no conclusions.
    â€˜You look bushed,’ she said, letting him in, and he gave a tired