Midwife's Mistletoe Temptation - Chapter 5
'Why is getting a patient on her hands and knees such a bad thing?’ Holly asked.
He looked surprised. ‘It’s not. But, if I’m remembering right, the patient in question was almost fully dilated, and I was about to check her.’
Oh. But he hadn’t said that at the time, had just given her a straight no, without any explanation. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that, then?’
‘You’re right. I should have. I think I sometimes assumed you knew things when maybe you didn’t. I’m sorry.’
Holly swallowed, trying to cover her dismay with a drink of her coffee, the warm spices going down in a way that soothed her like nothing else ever quite could. ‘I’m sorry for making you feel like I was sidestepping you. And in some cases you’re probably right. I’ll try to explain my position a little bit better.’
He gave her a sideways smile. ‘And I’ll try to explain my reasons for turning you down a little bit better.’
The mischievous way he said it made her laugh. Maybe he’d been right. Meeting like this was helping her to see him as a person rather than just another bureaucrat who was standing in the way of a patient’s needs. She’d been through that so many times in the years after Ivy was born. But he wasn’t a bureaucrat. And they both wanted what was best for their patients.
‘Shake on it?’
He held out his hand. ‘It’s a deal.’
Trying not to let the warmth and strength of his grip hit her in the solar plexus, she forced a smile. ‘Do you think this will really solve anything?’
‘Do you think that it won’t?’
She laughed yet again. ‘We’re both pretty predictable, aren’t we?’
‘I don’t know about that. I was just getting ready to say that you’re the least predictable person I’ve ever met.’
‘Wow. That stings.’
His fingers tightened around hers. ‘I didn’t mean it to. It was actually a compliment.’
Maybe it was. But right now, she couldn’t think of anything but his warm fingers holding hers in a grip that was paralysing. And exhilarating.
Easy, Holly. This guy isn’t playing around. And she had a feeling he didn’t like to be played around with either. Although she had no intention of doing that.
‘Can we walk for a few minutes? It’s chilly in here.’ She used that as an excuse to pull her hand free and stood to her feet.
‘Sure. I still have a few minutes before I have to get back.’
She’d assumed he was off today, but it made sense that he’d want to deal with work issues on a workday.
That was something else that was different between them. Because while he might see this as a work-related issue, she saw it as a personal one: two personalities that seemed destined to either clash like hell with each other or to fall into be—
Oh, lord. Had her brain just inserted a word that had no business being there?
She was afraid to analyse it for fear that she actually had just thought about Matt and bed in the same sentence. Because that was one thing she was never going to let happen.