With a Little Help Read Free Page B

obviously didn’t have a kitchen the size of a bathroom.”

CHAPTER TWO
    N ATE WAS ONLY A CLIENT. She hadn’t been herself when they met at her parents’ party. Emma repeated the phrases like a mantra as she drove to his place on Friday morning. She was a professional, she could do this. All he had to do was cooperate. Amnesia would also help, she thought.
    Nevertheless her fingers twitched at the memory of a dark crew cut crowning a classically shaped head. She’d spent half the party resisting the urge to run her palm over it, until finally she gave in to temptation after finding him tucked in a shadowy corner near the conference room. He’d looked as surprised as she felt, but didn’t resist, pressing a kiss to her fingers. When he hadn’t shown any inclination to move on to her mouth, she’d taken the initiative, kissing him with increasing enthusiasm as she felt him respond.
    â€œYou taste of truffles,” he’d murmured when he ended the kiss with what she’d swear had been reluctance.
    â€œNot bad,” she’d said, her mind spinning. She’d handled truffle oil hours before, yet he’d still detected the traces on her skin. Had he also noticed thethrobbing of her pulse or the racing of her heart in response to his closeness? “What else do you sense?”
    He’d looked serious, considering the question before nuzzling her ear with his mouth. “The faintest aura of Paloma perfume. You could drive a man wild with those two scents.”
    Tingles like faint electrical impulses had swept through her and she’d pressed closer to him. She found his long, lean body attractive. He had wide shoulders, narrow hips, a long neck and strong jawline faintly shaded by stubble. Urbane and sexily volatile.
    â€œAm I driving you wild?” she asked. He was definitely having an impact on her.
    â€œMmm-hmm. Imagine what you could do if you were sober.”
    She’d recoiled as if stung. “I’m not drunk. All I’ve had to drink is one glass of wine and one orange juice.”
    â€œWith a generous slug of vodka added by your brother.”
    â€œOh, no, he wouldn’t.” The muzziness in her brain started to make sense. “I’ll kill him.”
    â€œYou didn’t ask him to make you a mixer?”
    She shook her head. After starting work at 4:00 a.m. and not stopping to eat lunch, she’d been too tired to have more than one alcoholic drink, knowing the effect it was likely to have on her. “Must be hisidea of a joke. You’d think with all his degrees and experience, he’d know better.”
    â€œThey don’t give degrees in common sense.”
    Using Nate for leverage she’d straightened, aware of her head spinning. She was clinging to him like a demented sex kitten. What must he think of her?
    But all he’d said was, “I’m on call so often that I don’t drink a lot. I’ll take a rain check on driving you wild and drive you home instead.”
    She still wasn’t sure why she let him, because she’d had to listen to a lecture about keeping an eye on drinks even at a private party. In a low-slung Branxton sports car that she’d struggled to get into with some degree of grace, he drove fast but in control.
    Her head pounded. “I’m sorry for trying to jump your bones. This is the first time I’ve had a spiked drink.”
    â€œHopefully also the last. Another man could easily have taken advantage of your…enthusiasm.”
    â€œBut saintly medicos like you wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing.”
    He’d looked at her curiously. “What does my work have to do with this?”
    â€œAccording to my parents, doctors have to set a good example for the rest of us.”
    He made a point of slowing down, even though he was well within the limit, and smiled over at her. “Better not be stopped for speeding.”
    â€œDon’t