Christmas and Forever Read Free

Alice.
    “Dr. Keegan. I’m —”
    Aidan’s eyes glared as he cut off her apology. “Don’t ever do that again.”
    Her stomach knotted with embarrassment. Not even the warmth of the anorak could melt the coldness overtaking her. For the first time in twenty-three years, she had lost her mind and kissed a man who would sooner spend time with a rock than her. Liya had never done anything so brazen before, much less with someone in a position of authority and so much older than herself.
    She nodded and forced herself to look him in the eyes. Cowering and feeling ashamed wasn’t the answer. Steadfast. Liya had to remain steadfast to her plans. Aidan meant too much to her. If she was going to bring any sort of joy to this man, she had to proceed in baby steps with him, because heaven knew the man was going to fight her every step of the way.
    “It won’t happen again.” Even if she tried to explain that the kiss has been innocent, borne out of a desire to give comfort, Aidan wouldn’t understand. He was much too stubborn.
    “Am I fired?” Liya asked, hiding the actual flicker of fear that this might be it for her. As much as she cared about Aidan, she still needed the job to take care of the bills her financial aid didn’t cover. Come summer, it was a different story and she would have a degree in hand, ready to begin work as an elementary school teacher.
    He stepped into the office and looked back. “I’ll see you on Monday. Perhaps it’s best if we put this incident behind us. You’re a good worker. Let’s leave it at that. We’ll both forget this incident, yes?”
    She exhaled with relief. That was one victory for the day. Sighing, Liya plodded outside into the night. Maybe she was looking at her situation with Aidan from the wrong angle. Maybe what she was starting to feel for him wasn’t romantic in the least. What if he was right and it was pity? She lowered her head dramatically so that her chin brushed against the top button of her coat. And maybe Santa Claus was real . She was doomed, for the holiday and possibly forever. For the first time in her life she was on the crest of experiencing love, and naturally it was with the wrong man. Or perhaps it was just the other way around. She would always be the wrong woman for him. Aidan wanted his old life back, and the woman he loved. The one Christmas gift Liya would never be able to give him.
    ****
    “Did you and Liya get into it?”
    Aidan propped his leg on the maplewood desk. He’d just arrived at the hospital minutes earlier and within mere seconds of settling into his office in the cardiology unit on one of the upper floors, the first words out of James Northrop’s mouth were about that insufferable girl. Or, woman , as she’d been keen to remind him, hours before. He despised the way his colleague worded the phrase. You and Liya . It made it seem as if they were an entity.
    “Ms. Emerson is an efficient worker.”
    James chuckled and adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses. “I know that. The girl is the only one who can get more than two words out of you these days. Did you notice that?”
    He had. Not that he wanted to discuss any of it with James or anyone. He hated even thinking about it. And that was strange, since it was hard not to think of or notice everything about Liya. It was almost as if she purposely went out of her way to make herself noticeable. The tightly wound corkscrew curls with streaks of auburn highlights that made her dark smoky eyes radiate, when they should have appeared lackluster to someone with a fondness for grassy green eyes like Sarah’s.
    From the beginning, Aidan had tried hard not to spend too much of his time analyzing and dissecting why he hadn’t fired Liya after numerous opportunities. Or for that matter, why he had even given her the damn job. When she opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong with his leg, he knew she wasn’t going to dodge or skirt around him like everyone else. Was that the reason for his