Heart Murmurs Read Free Page A

too out of her league. She forced her gaze out the window. “There’s everything to lose.”
    For about a quarter mile, he let that pronouncement hang there, left her blissfully alone to war with her self-control. Then, he put his hand on her knee. It wasn’t a sexual touch, it was just meant to get her attention, but it still set her every nerve aflame. “Why all the hostility, Dr. Gupta?” It was a question that was too kind, too gentle by half. Like he was probing her for symptoms of some larger condition. “Did I do something to you to make you hate me?”
    No, but I really wish you would . So I could stop wanting you so much .
    Not until she heard his sharp intake of breath, felt his grip on her knee flex and tighten, that she realized her blunder. Her stomach lurched, and she whipped her head around, meeting his gaze. His smug, sexy, dangerous gaze.
    “Yes,” he chuckled. “You said that out loud.”
    Anu wondered just how much trauma she would sustain if she threw herself out of a moving vehicle. She swallowed hard. Maybe dying of sheer mortification was a better idea. Then there was option three: brazening it out. Every resident worth their salt had to learn the art of backing up their claims even if they were total bullshit. This wasn’t any different. “So?” She feigned a lack of shame, shrugging and pretending to check the display on her phone. “Big deal. Everybody wants you. It’s like wanting George Clooney. You can’t possibly be surprised.”
    “Can’t I? I don’t think I’ve ever been put in the same company as George Clooney before. That’s very flattering.” He was laughing at her, and she deserved every bit of it. “I thought showing someone you cared by putting gum in their hair went out of style in elementary school. What are they teaching you at Penn State these days?”
    “I wouldn’t know. I graduated.” Anu scowled, more mad at herself for the slip of tongue than at the mockery it inspired. Fortunately, she was spared further inquiry when the cab stopped in front of a posh high-rise. The Grand. He’d brought her to his place, she realized, almost tripping in her haste to get out of the car. She didn’t think twice about letting him take care of the fare. Vince made more money in a year than most people saw in a lifetime. When the taxi was speeding away, and they were both standing in front of the uniformed doormen, Anu fixed him with the most baleful look she could manage. “What do you want from me? Another member of the Vincibles?”
    “No.” He took her hand, like he had at the Subtle Knife, but this time he didn’t pull. This time, he stroked his thumb over her knuckles. He caressed the inside of her wrist. He counted the beats of her pulse and probably guessed that, right now, they were all for him. “I want honesty, Dr. Gupta. It seems to be your specialty.”
    He couldn’t be more wrong. Anu wasn’t honest. She was deluded. As she walked with him into the hotel—breathless, dizzy, exhilarated, and delirious—she told herself the world’s biggest lie: that anything that happened between them tonight wouldn’t mean a thing.
    ****
    She hadn’t looked directly at him for what seemed like an eternity, and he felt the loss of it acutely. She admired the art deco lobby, murmured compliments about the old-fashioned mirrors in the elevator, and made a point of focusing those amazing eyes everywhere but on him. She was still a little embarrassed, a little angry, and now that he knew precisely why, he couldn’t fault her the emotions.
    While he wasn’t in the same class as George Clooney, Vince did know what it was like to be wanted, to be considered a catch. It wasn’t a matter of ego but of truth. He was accomplished, intelligent, and good-looking, and he’d never known anyone to work so unbelievably hard at denying it. Anu Gupta had put up a wall, brick by brick, just to mask that she was attracted to him. Now he could see it in the tight line of her mouth,