Page 11 of The Chance

“Sometimes I worry about her working the ED.”

“She’s good at what she does.” And though Genny complained about her overprotective pediatrician brother knowing everything she did at the hospital, Aubrey envied her that. To have that kind of family, those kinds of connections, thepure knowledge that her brothers would be there if Genny ever needed them—yes, envy was one way to describe it.

“I know. But she’s my little sister…And I know the kind of things that come in through an ED. Even as small as ours.”

“I completely understand. To be honest, I wouldn’t want Ayla working the ED on second shift, either.”

“You raised Ayla, didn’t you?”

“In a way. Not really legally, until she was sixteen and I was twenty-two though.” And it had taken some doing to keep a part of Ayla’s life when her little sister had been at the whim of social services. “We muddled through.”

“I think you did more than that. You’ve triumphed. And your sister is pretty awesome. And incredibly sweet.”

“She is. She always has been.” Aubrey pulled in a breath, then pushed open her front door. And made her decision. “Please, come in. I can make coffee. To say…thank you…for being there tonight.”

And…she wasn’t quite ready to be alone.

10

He’d be therein an instant, no matter what this woman needed. Guthrie was so damned attracted to this woman he couldn’t breathe straight.

It scared him a little, the depth of that sudden attraction. He had spent the last two years or so avoiding this woman, even on the clock, unless absolutely necessary. This week had changed all of that.

She was a damned fine doctor, cool in a crisis, and one of the smartest he’d ever worked with. She was great with patients, especially the children and the elderly, but with the rest of the hospital staff—she stayed back.

Reserved. More than that. It had taken him far too long to realize she was shy.

Incrediblyshy.

He could see where that had been mistaken by many to be snobbish. Genesis had once gone on a rant about how beautiful women who were reserved were called cold bitches, but less beautiful reserved women got to be calledshy? And how unfair it was.

Now he understood what that meant.Whoshe had meant, too.

Guthrie hadn’t paid much attention—Genesis often had passionate rants. But now he saw the truth. And he wondered at it. What had made this beautiful, brilliant, kind woman so afraid of letting anyone get close to her?

Aubrey kept a wall between herself and everyone else in the hospital, except for Caine Alvaro, who could occasionally get her to smile freely. And Guthrie’s sister, Genesis. He suspected that was more because Genesis had taken Aubrey under her own wing or something. Genesis had the ability to see right into a person’s soul sometimes. To see whether they were good or bad.

And to see when they needed a friend.

He adored his sister for that, for the heart she wore on her sleeve constantly.

And he feared some man was going to come along someday and break that heart into a thousand pieces. “I should probably call Chad. See how she’s doing now, and if she needs me to drive to his place and pick her up. Take her home.”

Aubrey hesitated. And looked at him like… he was missing something. Guthrie was sure of it. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. Not tonight.”

“Why? You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”

She bit her lip and just stared at him. Like she had a secret—those blue eyes… she was definitely hiding something. For one moment, he wondered if his best course of action was to just kiss that secret out of her.

“You… really aren’t that clueless, are you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked as she unlocked the door and led him into her house. It was painted in pastels, and there were flowers and plants everywhere. Aubrey liked plants, apparently.

“Dr. Fields… Chad… took Genny homewithhim, Guthrie. Instead of driving her home. Why would a man do that?”

“I don’t know… to give her a ride home?” Okay. He knew what she was implying. And… no way. “Besides, Chad doesn’t look at my sister like that. He’s known her since she was a kid, and he’s nine years older than she is. She’s annoyed him more often than not. And she definitely doesn’t think of him as an actual man, or anything. Just another one of her brothers. Or… a walking redheaded butthead. She’s called him that so many times before.”

Aubrey just stood there in her kitchen and stared at him. For the longest time. “Um… Chad has told her he’s going to get her. Repeatedly. He’s already told her he’s planning to have her naked—in those exact words. As soon as he possibly can. And as often as he can. He’s seriously been on the hunt with her. Are you telling me you didn’t see that? He was doing it right under your nose and your brothers’—the night we all slept out there. We all knew that.”

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