The Last Doctor She Should Ever Date Read Free

her past behind her. Shame others hadn’t.
    She took a glass of water from a passing waiter and gulped it down knowing she should be walking away from this conversation, from this man, but somehow unable to do so. Pretty Boy was irritating and beguiling in equal measure, but there was also something more about him that intrigued her. For once she wanted to put the record straight; if she was going to be taken seriously everyone needed to know she’d grown. She would not let her past define who she had become. ‘I’ve worked damned hard to be who I am today. Which is a whole lot different to the stupid celebrity brat back then. It’s easy for you to say they’ll forget. But really, have the media documented every single mistake you’ve ever made? Made an example out of you? Every time I try to stand up they knock me down. You’d know a lot about that, wouldn’t you?’
    ‘I know enough about failing in someone else’s eyes. I know what it’s like to let people down.’ He stilled, his hand wrapped round the thick stub of a tumbler. Something behind his eyes shuttered down, the heat waned. She got the feeling again that he understood some part of what she’d endured. Then he came back to her. ‘But no one’s seen you for years.’
    ‘And that’s exactly how I want it. Where I live and what I do keeps me away from all this...’ She flicked a swirl of her designer silk dress, let it drop. Thank God her sister had lent it to her, because it would have cost more than she could have afforded on her wages. Not that it bothered her. Money didn’t mean a thing. ‘This pretense.’
    ‘It might appear like that to you, but many would give their right leg to be here rubbing shoulders with elite athletes, movie stars, New Zealand celebrities. Besides, isn’t this how the world works’money, position, power?’ The way his chest puffed and his jaw lifted told her he clearly loved it.
    And she’d had enough to last her a lifetime. Knew how it skewered people, took them away from the things that mattered, like family, love, truth. ‘Not my world.’
    ‘Which is?’
    When she didn’t answer he followed up. ‘So why come back now?’
    ‘It’s complicated.’ Across the room her father beckoned her with the crook of his finger. Dani put her glass on the nearby table. ‘I’ve got to speak to my dad.’
    ‘Wait. I’d like to take you to dinner, Dani, after all this madness has finished. In a few weeks. If you’re free.’ He studied her reaction and she wondered whether he meant free as in nothing in her diary, or free as in available. Either way it didn’t matter, she wouldn’t be going.
    He drew out his wallet, handed her a business card with one hand and with the other curled that same lock of her hair around his finger in a well-practised move. She’d bet any money he’d done that a thousand times to a thousand different women. He oozed charm and sex appeal and...experience. His voice smoothed over her; his gaze sent jolts of heat skittering through her abdomen testing her resolve. ‘We have a no-sex rule for the tournament duration. The team and the management. It sucks, I know, but this job is important to me and I wouldn’t want to be tempted...not until we’ve won.’
    ‘Whoa. Rewind. I’m sorry...?’ She held up her palm and raised her voice over the crescendo strains of Moonlight Sonata ’it came to an abrupt end just as she spat her words out. ‘You want to have sex with me?’
    Oh, God. Silence shivered around the room. Her heart thumped in her too-tight bone bodice. For the second time in twenty minutes all eyes focused directly on her. For a woman shying away from the limelight things had taken a nasty turn. Unfortunately, the nearest rock happened to be the centrepiece of a large ornate fountain. And she had no inclination to crawl under it and recreate yet another fantasy for the spotty male teenagers of New Zealand.
    She found a wobbly smile for the mayor and lady mayoress. Waved coyly