Changed by His Son's Smile Read Free Page B

can see Drew when you have time off.”
    “I will not have my son living with the kinds of dangers Africa and other places expose him to.”
    “You grew up living all over the world and you turned out just fine.” More than fine. From the moment she’d met him she’d known he was different. Compassionate and giving. Funny and irreverent. Book smart and street smart.
    The most fascinating man she’d ever known.
    The unyielding intensity in his eyes clouded for a moment before he flicked her a look filled with cool determination. “I repeat—my son needs to grow up safe in the States until he’s older. Getting married is the most logical course of action. We figure out how to make our medical careers work with you anchored in the U.S. and me working there part of the year. Then we bring him on missions when he’s an older teen.”
    “Well, now you’ve touched on my heart’s desire. A marriage founded on a logical course of action.” She laughed in sheer disbelief and to hide the tiny bruising of hurt she should no longer feel. “You’ve got it all figured out, and you haven’t even spent one minute with him. Or with me. So, I repeat—I’m not marrying you.”
    Frustration and anger narrowed his gaze before he turned and strode a short distance away to stare at the dark outline of the horizon, fisting his hands at his hips, his broad shoulders stiff. In spite of the tension simmering between them, she found herself riveted by the sight of his tall, strong body silhouetted in the twilight. The body she’d always thought looked like it should belong to a star athlete, not a doctor.
    She tried to shake off the vivid memories that bombarded her, including how much she’d loved touching all those hard muscles covered in smooth skin. All the memories of how crazy she’d been about him, period. Three light-hearted years ago the differences they now faced hadn’t existed. Serious differences in how Andrew should be raised, and she still had no proof that Chase wouldn’t be as resentful in his reluctant role as father as her own parent had been.
    Now that Chase would be involved in Andrew’s life, she had to make sure her son never felt the barbed sting of being unwanted.
    Tearing her gaze from his stiff and motionless form, she turned to find Andrew and get him settled in. Chase must have heard her movement as he suddenly spun and strode purposefully towards her.
    The fierce intensity in his dark eyes sent an alarm clanging in her brain. What was coming next she didn’t know, but her instincts warned her to get ready for it. He closed the inches between them and grasped her waist in his strong hands, tugging her tightly against his hard body.
    A squeak of surprise popped from her lips as the breath squeezed from her lungs.
    This she was definitely not ready for.
    His thick, dark lashes were half-lowered over his brown eyes, and her heart pounded at the way he looked at her. With determined purpose and simmering passion.
    “I remember a little about your heart and your desire.” His warm breath feathered across her mouth. “I remember how good it was between us. How good it can be again.”
    She pressed her hands against his firm chest but didn’t manage to put an inch between them. Her heart thumped with both alarm and ridiculous excitement. “It’s been three years. Too long to just take up where we left off.”
    “Not so long that I don’t remember where you like to be kissed.”
    Surprise turned to shock when he lowered his head to touch his lips to the sensitive spot beneath her earlobe, slowly sliding them to the hollow of her throat, his voice vibrating against her skin. “How you like to be kissed.”
    “Chase, stop.” A delicious shiver snaked its way down her body before he lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “We—”
    His mouth dropped to hers and, despite the part of her brain protesting that a kiss between them just complicated things, her eyes slid closed. The soft warmth of his