Winning Back His Doctor Bride (9 page)

If he played his cards right, not even the intuitive Freya would realize his and Mila's dance fail was anything other than the real deal.

* * *

She shouldn't dwell on how right James looked carrying a sleeping child. Because if things had been different, Leo could have been theirs. An ache settled in her chest that made it hard to breathe.

Not a smart place to let herself land. Especially not after the meal they'd eaten together on the
Mystic Waters
. Or after learning that they would share the opening dance at a fancy ball.

Just like the dance they might have shared at their wedding.

Leading the way across the dark rustic path that wound around to the back of James's property, she didn't dare close her eyes, even though the dull ache had turned into a jabbing spear that reached the core of her being.

“There's a light switch on the post to your right.” His low voice slid through night air. Leo had fallen fast asleep during the car ride back from the boat, but when Mila had gone to wake the child, James had given a slight shake of his head. “The boy's walked enough today,” he'd said.

As reluctant as James had seemed about getting involved, his words had said something different. He did care. So did Mila. Maybe a little too much.

But what was to stop her from eventually adopting Leo if his uncle was never found or if he didn't want his nephew? Even James had hinted at that possibility.

Too soon to think of that, Mila.

She pressed the glowing button on the wooden fence post and the area came alive with twinkle lights. Beautiful and romantic, the tiny overhead beacons glinted off the water of the L-shaped pool and made the small courtyard between the two buildings seem unbearably intimate. Her brows went up. Before she could voice the question, or even wonder if James had designed this place for seduction, he answered her question.

“Rosa likes to sit out here at night and drink her coffee. I didn't think she should sit in the dark.” A flash of teeth from beside her. “
I
wanted to put in floodlights. She wanted something that wouldn't ‘blind' her, as she so tactfully put it.”

Mila smiled back. “I don't think the word ‘tact' is in Rosa's vocabulary.”

The housekeeper was warm and kind, but opinionated. She'd told Mila in no uncertain terms that she would do the cleaning in the cottage—and had offered her services to babysit without hesitation.

“No. It's not.” He shifted Leo in his arms, and the working of his biceps made her swallow again. His free days had always been spent on his boat, and he must still do that whenever he could. She could remember how heavy those booms were to move, and hoisting the sails made her own muscles scream with fatigue. But she'd learned to love it, even though she hated to think what its price tag must have been. When they were out there, it was like they were in their own private world. A land of promises and make-believe.

Make-believe was all it had been in the end, though.

Kind of like this beautiful night.

They reached the front door of the cottage and she hesitated, not wanting the magic to end just yet but afraid to say anything, afraid she'd come across as needy and pathetic. They'd had such a wonderful afternoon. And those lights looked so peaceful...so inviting.

She forced herself to give him an out, though, as she turned the key in the lock. “Do you want me to take him from here?”

“I'll carry him to his room.”

His room.

And that sounded just as right as the sight of James holding him.

“Would you like some coffee? I have decaf, if you're worried about it keeping you awake.”

He glanced at her as he entered the cottage. “Do you have an early day ahead of you?”

So was that a yes or a no?

“I don't have to be at the clinic until nine.”

“In that case, I would love some. Let me tuck him in and I'll come and help you.”

Relief swamped her veins, although why she should care one way or the other was beyond her. She just had a feeling that tomorrow would bring something different, and she wanted the ease she'd had with him right now to last just a little longer.

“There's a video monitor in his room. If you could switch it on and make sure it's aimed at the bed, that would be great. The receiver is in my room.” She hurried to add, “Sometimes I think I hear him crying and then realize it's just my imagination.”

“I know what you mean.”

He did? Since Leo didn't live in the main part of the house, she had no idea why he'd be thinking he heard him. “If he cried loudly enough for you to hear him all the way to your house, I wouldn't need a baby monitor.”

He turned down the hallway, his next words barely audible. “I wasn't talking about Leo.”

He wasn't? Then who?

Oh, Lord, maybe asking him for coffee hadn't been such a smart idea after all. There was a minefield stretching between them that made navigating safe topics almost impossible. Because sooner or later...
Boom!
Something from the past would explode, sending both of them running for cover.

Or her, anyway. James seemed pretty impenetrable.

Except for that last inscrutable comment.

She'd just switched on the coffeemaker and was stretching up to reach for the extra coffee cups when an arm brushed hers, easily retrieving the mugs. A shiver went over her.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.” He glanced at the counter. “Rosa must have outfitted this after getting the news that you'd be staying here. If I recall, the cottage had furniture but not much else.”

“You don't have people stay here? What about your parents?”

He stiffened for a second, before placing the mugs on the counter. “They're busy. I'm busy. But to answer your question, I think you're the first person who has actually stayed in the place.”

Mila blinked. She'd halfway expected this to be his own private love nest but maybe his women stayed in the main house. In James's bedroom.

Of course they would.

Her stomach clenched. She pushed aside that thought and went back to the previous one. His relationship with his dad had always been rocky, but surely his mom had visited him in the time since James had broken their engagement.

The coffee pot gurgled as it finished churning out the last of the fragrant brew.

“Do you want to take it in here or out in the courtyard?”

He picked up the video monitor, glancing at the image of Leo peacefully sleeping. “How far does this reach?”

“The package lists the range as up to eight hundred feet, so that should give us plenty of room. If we start getting a lot of static, we'll come back into the house.”

“I closed the baby gate you had in front of the door. Hope that was okay.”

She'd installed the gate to keep Leo from wandering off in the middle of the night. She had no idea what his uncle had used to do at his old house, and closing the bedroom door didn't feel right to her. But James had a pool, and the last thing she wanted was for Leo to decide to go for a swim when she wasn't looking. Then again, she didn't want him waking up and feeling trapped. The gate had seemed like a good compromise. “That's perfect.”

They each fixed their coffee, then James loaded their cups and some cookies that Mila had pulled from another cupboard onto a tray and headed to the deck that stretched between the cottage and the pool. A round café table perched on the stone patio and looked out over the water. James set the tray on the table and moved the chairs so they faced the pool. Mila peered at the receiver of the video monitor. There was Leo, as clear as day. When she thumbed the roller button on the side of the device she could raise the sound enough to hear Leo's soft snoring. No static at all. She turned it back down so that they would hear him cry but not every little shift of the sheets.

She dropped into a seat, while James went over to another set of posts, which had a hammock strung between them, and turned a dial. The overhead lights dimmed even more.

Sighing, she closed her eyes for a second, allowing the still-warm autumn air to brush over the skin on her calves, where the skirt on her sundress had slid up. She fiddled with one of the thin straps of her top. “This is nice. I would be out here every night, if I were you.”

“I don't have much time for anything but work and sleep.”

She nodded at the tanned skin of his forearms. “You have time for your boat.”

“I sometimes sleep out there so it serves a dual purpose.”

He slept there? When he had this beautiful home? Then again, she could remember spending some enjoyable nights on that boat.

Picking up her cup, she took a sip of her coffee. The warmth trailed down her throat and hit her belly with a splash of heat. “I think I'd be in the pool, floating my cares away.”

He smiled. “Would you? I seem to remember you being afraid of water.”

“Not any water. Just the ocean. You can't see what's down there. I've seen enough shark movies to know what happens when you venture in. As soon as the music starts, you're a goner.”

“You do realize movie sharks aren't real.”

“Of course I do. But sharks exist. And they do have teeth.”

His grin widened. “You have more of a chance of—”

She put up a hand. “Save it. I already know the statistics. I've also read the stories. Seen the surfboards. It happens and I'd rather not be one of the few unlucky ones. Besides, if I felt anything against my leg, I'd be dead of a heart attack.”

“Not everything that brushes against your leg in the water is dangerous.”

She went still, very aware of that minefield she'd thought about a half hour ago. Did she dare take another step through that grassy field? Or did she retreat?

“No. Not everything.”

“Did you bring a suit with you?”

She ventured forward another step, not sure where all of this was leading. “No. I didn't think about it.”

She should have, though. Leo would want to go in the pool eventually. But she didn't think that's what James was talking about at the moment.

“It's still fairly early. And it's a warm night. Do you want to take a quick dip?”

Hadn't he heard her?

“No. Swim. Suit. Remember?”

Surely he didn't mean to...

“You can leave your dress on.” He gestured at his board shorts. “And these are almost like swim trunks.”

She was tempted. Oh, so tempted. He'd said they would keep their clothes on, so what was the harm?”

“What about Leo?”

He picked up the monitor. “Let me see if this reaches a little farther.” He walked the few yards to the pool and nodded. He set it down on one of the lounge chairs. “Crystal clear,” he said.

Her mind scrambled around for a reason to say no, although somehow she would be crushed if she actually found one. “Won't Rosa think it's odd to see us swimming around in our clothes?”

“Her bedroom is on the other side of the house. And the pool is screened from view, anyway.”

Had he planned that to hide his late-night swims with bimbos?

Stop it, Mila. Just enjoy the night.

“If Leo wakes up—”

“I'll be out of the pool so fast you'll swear I was never there in the first place.” He frowned. “Is he a light sleeper?”

Except for that first night in the hospital, he wasn't. In fact, he'd slept straight through to dawn ever since. “He doesn't seem to be, no.”

“What's the problem, then?”

There was one. She was sure of it. She just couldn't find it at the moment, so she shrugged. “I guess there's not one.”

James downed the rest of his coffee. “Shall we, then?”

Thinking this was probably one of the stupidest decisions she'd ever made, she set her mug down and stood to her feet, kicking off her sandals. Before she could put one foot in front of the other, though, James suddenly scooped her up in his arms and headed straight for the pool. In the daytime she would have shrieked with a mixture of laughter and alarm, but afraid she'd wake someone up she settled for hissing, “What are you doing?”

James didn't stop moving until he reached the very edge of the pool. “What am I doing? Something I haven't done in a very long time.” He gave her a smile full of intent. “You know the drill. Hold your breath.”

And with that he stepped off the side of the pool and sank, feetfirst, into the chilly water.

Taking Mila with him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

W
HY
 
HAD
 
HE
 
done that?

He had no idea. As Mila spluttered to the surface and then gripped the side of the pool, he only knew that walking into the house with that child in his arms had made his chest tighten. A sensation he didn't like. And then watching his ex-fiancée's hips twitch from side to side had made something else tighten. Something a little lower. Presented with a choice of which one to focus on, he'd gone for the easier choice: lust.

Something that jumping into a cold pool should have remedied. Only it hadn't. Because Mila's white sundress now seemed to have become almost invisible, every spot where it was plastered to her skin becoming pink and inviting. And there was a whole lot of plastering going on. In some very strategic places.

“Are you crazy?” She finally looked his way, eyes wide.

It would appear he was. Because instead of the water chilling any uncomfortable urges, it simply reminded him of another time in the distant past when they'd done this very thing.

Only there hadn't been any sundresses involved. Or any other clothing, for that matter.

He slicked his hair back from his forehead. “I was afraid you'd chicken out. And it
is
a warm evening.”

Getting warmer by the second.

“So your solution is dunking me?”

“You were going to get in anyway.”

One of the straps on her dress slid down her arm, carrying a wide swath of fabric with it. She hurriedly yanked it back up. “I was going to get in slowly. One toe at a time. But you didn't give me a chance to do anything but...” She glanced down, her words stopping. “Oh, my God.”

She ducked down until only her head was showing above the water line. “Why didn't you tell me?”

The muscles on one side of his mouth pulled up. “I was going to once you stopped talking.”

“You...you...”

One of her feet connected with his thigh, but the water kept the kick from feeling like anything except a sensual slide of flesh against flesh. He reached down and grabbed the offending limb. “Now, now, Mila. I think we've been down this road before.”

And they had. That kick had probably been pure muscle memory from the past. And every time it had ended the same way, with him gripping her calf and hauling her closer until the lower half of her was snugged to the lower half of him.

And like the crazy leap into the pool, he couldn't resist the impulses that were beginning to pulse through him.

He tugged.

And she didn't pull away. Or screech at him to let her go.

Instead, she hooked her heel around the back of his thigh, just beneath his ass. Like she'd done so many times in the past.

Pure need ricocheted through his system the second she connected with his flesh. He wrapped an arm under her butt, lifting and holding her in place as he pivoted, trapping her between the side of the pool and his body.

“Hell.” He couldn't stop the word from exiting any more than he could force a certain part of his anatomy to soften and recede.

Wasn't happening.

He could just touch the bottom of the pool so he concentrated on more pressing concerns. Like the fact that all he had to do was slide a hand beneath her dress, ease her panties to the side and...

“James...” Soft eyes met his, and he could have sworn he saw the same urgency in them that was thrumming through his body. “What are we doing?”

Leaning forward, he allowed his lips to trail along the moist skin of her cheek until he reached her ear. “What are we doing? Anything you want.”

“But, Leo...”

His eyes skipped to the monitor that was less than five feet away. The boy hadn't moved an inch. “Leo is sound asleep. Parents everywhere are envious.”

Parents? Bad choice of words, James
.

Mila blinked a time or two, seeming to be torn between a couple of options. Then her heel pressed firmly against him, and all the waiting pressure points tightened even further.

He had his answer.

Their lips tangled in a fury of need that had probably been building over the last six years. The contrast between the icy coolness of Mila's skin and the molten desire he sensed in her kiss turned him inside out.

He hitched his fingers beneath her other leg and hauled her up so she could hold on. Which she did, wrapping her legs around his waist and looping her arms around his neck.

Leaning back just a bit, he smiled when her lips followed his, her wordless protest nearly making him forget what he'd been about to do. But the sheer fabric of her dress had been calling to him for the past several minutes and he couldn't ignore the siren song a moment longer.

He palmed her breasts, the heady feel of her nipples against his skin cutting through him like a knife. Whether her body's reaction was from the chill of the water or from need, he had no idea. It didn't matter. Because the whimper that erupted from her throat as his thumbs skimmed over the hard peaks said she wanted every bit of what he was doing. Of what he was going to do.

Her neckline was rounded and stretchy. Elastic. He used it to his advantage, allowing one hand to creep beneath the edge and tug until he'd exposed an expanse of creamy skin. His mouth watered.

Gorgeous.

Everything about this woman.

And what she did to him...

Hell.

She'd also been fairly vocal during their lovemaking in the past. And with that monitor just a few feet away...

“I'm going to need you to be very, very quiet, Mi, for what I'm about to do. Can you do that?”

She licked her lips. “It depends.”

Instead of answering her, he leaned down and covered her nipple with his mouth, letting his tongue scrape over the tip.

She moaned. Quietly.

It ramped the simmering tension into a vortex that drove him to the edge of ecstasy. And despair. He forced it back.

Not yet.

But it had to be soon, or he wasn't going to make it.

Pulling back, he wrapped his hands around her hips and with a single quick movement lifted her up and out of the pool, parking that fine ass of hers on the concrete deck, her legs splayed on either side of his shoulders.

Very nice.

He scooted her bottom closer to the edge, then eased her dress slowly up her thighs, gulping when blue satin winked at him from beneath it. He followed the strings on the sides, expecting to find bikini underwear. Instead it was...a thong. How had he missed that when he'd been manhandling her behind?

He had no idea. But he liked it.

Liked that she'd worn it while out on the boat. Had she put it on with him in mind? She'd used to wear a much more chaste version of panties when they'd been together. Slightly sexy, but not outrageously so. Nothing like what she had on now.

But the thong matched the new air of self-assurance she carried with her. All the more reason why leaving her at the altar had been the right choice.

He frowned at the thought.

Mila had evidently “found” herself while they'd been apart. She'd probably done a lot of soul-searching about what she really wanted out of life and what was important. Maybe he should have done a little more of that himself. Yes, he'd loved the person she'd been back then.

But now?

Not something he was going to let himself dwell on. Especially now.

To distract himself, he concentrated on what was right in front of him. Not that it was all that hard to do. His fingers tightened on the string of her thong. “Lift up.”

There was a second of hesitation when he wondered if she was going to change her mind. But maybe the past beckoned her like it did to him. She put her hands on the pool deck just behind her and pushed up. Just enough for him to tug the panties down.

And off.

He shoved them in the pocket of his board shorts. She wasn't going to be needing those anytime soon.

Mila's head swiveled to the side, glancing toward the monitor.

“Still sleeping. I checked.”

And he had. Despite the raging need that coursed through his veins, he was very aware of their responsibility to that child.

Their...

Now, there was a funny word.

“This feels naughty.” Her words were soft.

“It is naughty. Very, very naughty.” His hands went to her thighs, thumbs tracing slow circles across the pale inner surfaces.

“When you do that, it feels very, very good.”

“And so do you.” He leaned forward and placed a kiss just below one of his thumbs. “Mmm...and you taste just as good.”

A shiver went through her, and her hands went to his head, fingers threading through his hair. “God, I need you, James.”

He cupped her behind as he propped his chin on the very edge of the pool, just inches away from where he wanted to be. “Then come and get me, honey.”

Would she? Or would she chicken out and make him haul her forward? Where he could kiss her until those shivers became moans of desperation?

And hell if she didn't take the initiative and edge closer inch by inch until she was right there in front of him, fingers still deep in his hair. Tightening.

“Perfect. So perfect.” He lifted his chin and ran it along the place where the satiny skin of her leg gave way to a much more erotic zone. A place where everything was smooth and bare.

Another surprise.

In slow passes, he brushed against the silken flesh with his cheek...his chin...his nose. And finally his lips. Right at the heart of her.

When he glanced up her body, he found her head back, eyes closed as he continued to explore.

He couldn't get enough. Wanted to touch her with every single part of his body. He nibbled. Licked. Breathed. Everything he could think of.

Mila squirmed against him, using her grip on his hair to pull him even closer. And he was happy to oblige.

Her breath came in desperate-sounding puffs of air, the whispers curling past his ear and messing with his head. He'd told her to be quiet, but maybe he should have let her scream and yell and moan because this quiet, writhing woman beneath his mouth was doing something to him that demanded he pull her back in the water and finish it.

But not until he finished her.

Bringing one of his hands back around, he entered her with two fingers, pressing deep, while his mouth kept doing exactly what it had been. She was warm and wet and deliciously sexy. And he needed her. Desperately. Loved the pumping of her hips as she tried to find release.

Release he was more than willing to give her.

Suddenly, Mila's grip on his hair became frantic and she pressed herself hard against him.

There!

It came suddenly, in sharp waves that tightened and contracted and rippled against his fingers. He gritted his teeth and held on to his own need with everything that was inside him.

Because he wanted to be inside her.

“Now, James. Please!”

Wrapping his arms around her hips he carried her down into the water, shoving his shorts down in a rush and in one sudden move entered her.

A growled curse came out as he went deep, pressing her hard against the side of the pool as her body continued to convulse around him.

He couldn't hold on. Didn't want to. Needed her.

Letting go, he pumped like a wild man craving everything she could give him.

And give she did, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, her mouth finding his and using her tongue to mimic what he was doing to her.

He gave one final thrust and wrapped a hand around the back of her head as he exploded, trying to absorb every sensation, drawing it deep into his mind...his body, his soul. His kiss slowed...softened until he finally got up the nerve to ease away. Even then, he let his mouth trail along her eyelids, her cheek and then back to her lips. Nibbling. Still tasting. Still connected to her.

“Wow. That was...wow.” The soft words breathed against his neck made him smile.

Yes, it had been. For him too.

Something rattled at the back of his mind as his senses gradually returned. He caught sight of his wallet on the table next to the baby monitor. He glanced at the image of Leo, who was still sleeping peacefully, and then his eyes tracked back to the wallet.

His
wallet.

Crap! The one containing his token “just in case” condom.

He pulled free of her in a rush, swearing in a voice that was the antithesis of quiet.

“What's wrong?” Her hazel eyes blinked in surprise, an uncertain frown contracting his brows.

“I didn't use protection.” His brain sought an explanation and came up empty. “Damn it, I'm sorry, Mila.”

How could he have done that? He'd broken his cardinal rule. But somehow the memories from the past—when Mila had been on the Pill and condoms had been an unnecessary evil—had clouded his thinking.

Maybe...maybe she was still protected.

She must have read the question in his eyes. “No. I'm not. Not anymore. Some of the places I travel...it's hard to get the prescriptions filled. So I just gave it up. B-but I just had my period a few days ago, so surely it'll be okay.”

Surely. The word disasters were made of.

“You might need to make sure.” The sentence came out before he could stop it, and his soul froze inside him. That was something his father would have said. Exactly like it, in fact. He'd said those very words when he'd told James to bribe Cindy.
You might need to make sure. It doesn't pay to take chances.

Mila's reaction wasn't much better than his own had been. Her words were small and cold. “You mean like the morning-after pill? Don't worry, James. I'm not going to saddle you with child support payments.”

Hell, that wasn't what he'd meant at all. In fact the thought of her downing that pill made him sick to his stomach. But he was also worried about his stupidity costing her in a huge way. A life-changer. Wasn't that the phrase that was so popular nowadays to describe a catastrophic illness...or unplanned pregnancy? “I don't care about that.”