Page 3 of The Chance

Genny was beyond flustered.

Aubrey watched the two for a moment. There was something in the way the man was touching Genny… the way Dr. Fields was letting his hands almost linger…

Like he couldn’t stop touching her. Genny’s cheeks were flushed, but there was a look in her eyes, too.

A warm hand wrapped around Aubrey’s wrist, pulling her attention back to the man in front of her. He had stood.

Ayla had walked away, following her friends to the living room. They were helping Ayla down the two steps into the sunken living room safely. The two were so protective over Ayla. Greer Hiller and Hala Hanan had taken Ayla under their wing about six months ago, after Greer and Ayla had had a class atFCU together. Aubrey would always be grateful for that. She and her sister hadn’t really stayed in one place long enough as children to make friends. At least not long-term. When they did, they’d get ripped away by social services.

But life was different now. They were going to build a life in Value. Together, a family. And friends. Connections. That was all Aubrey wanted. That was why she’d chosen this small town, had chosen BCGH to apply to after she’d finished med school two years early. She’d had multiple offers, but this one… had stood out as where she’d wanted to be, and the campus at FCU had had what Ayla needed, too. It had been the perfect fit for the two of them, and they’d both fallen in love with it.

But Mandy Kirby didn’t want Aubrey at the hospital, and the woman had devised an evil campaign to get rid of her. To destroy everything Aubrey had built for herself and the little sister she had basically raised on her own. Aubrey was sure of it.

Dr. Justin Michaels was a close friend of Mandy’s. And the things he had been saying Aubrey had said… he’d been drunk; he hadn’t been making much sense. But Mandy’s name had been mentioned. Multiple times. She just didn’t know if anyone else had noticed that.

She was going to have to stop Mandy somehow. Aubrey just didn’t know how to make that happen. Aubrey wasn’t going to let Ayla’s life be disrupted again. Her sister had been throughenoughover the last twelve years. More than anyone ever should.

Especially someone as good-hearted as Ayla.

“Thank you, Guthrie.” He leaned right into her space. She could smell him; the warm, spicy male scent of him surrounded her. “Say it. I know you can.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hiller. I’ll repay the favor someday.” Better believe she would. Aubrey had learned a long time ago—don’t owe anyoneanything.Life was just safer that way.

The only person on the planet besides Ayla she had ever trusted enough as an adult to owe anything to at all was his sister. And Genny’s first loyalty would always be to one of her five brothers or her two sisters. Aubrey wasn’t going to forget that.

Genny was the best friend she’d ever had. She wasn’t going to do anything to lose that.

Fighting with Guthrie Hiller just because he didn’t like the way shelookedwasn’t going to happen. He was her best friend’s brother. He didn’t like her. She didn’t like him. They would find a way to deal with that just fine.

Aubrey deliberately turned away.

3

Guthrie hadthe feeling he’d just gotten snubbed here. He fought the instinctive, immediate hostility the woman always brought whenever they were too close and forced himself to be objective. He studied her again, taking in the thin T-shirt and the faded sweatpants.

She wasn’t in pajamas like some of the other women already were. Just sweatpants and a T-shirt.

He really wanted to see her in silk pajamas… small, skimpy, maybe lacy, silk pajamas…

With her hair down everywhere from his fingers, her arms reaching for him. Then he would take off those pajamas and bury his hands in that blonde hair, hold her still and?—

Guthrie reined his thoughts in fast. He wasn’t a caveman pervert like his sisters had accused before. He really wasn’t. He would just really like to see Aubrey like that someday.

The thought of that nearly knocked him sideways.

This Aubrey, anyway. The one in front of him right now.

She didn’t look all cool perfection like she did at the hospital each day. Not at all. He had never seen her hair pulled up into a simple ponytail like it was tonight. At the hospital, it was alwaysin a sophisticated braid or pinned up somehow, like a fancy queen. She didn’t have on any makeup now. Not that he thought she wore much at the hospital, but he saw a few freckles there tonight.

He liked what he saw. She looked real. Instead of the untouchable witch she was at the hospital.

Cool, cold sophistication, and out for what she could get. That had been how he had perceived this woman.

He’d thought she was just like his ex.

His ex had been as cold as ice, on the outside… and the inside. It had taken him too long to see that. He had been one hundred percent convinced Aubrey was a carbon copy. Right down to the same style of business suit she wore every day.

He’d thought he’d had Dr. Aubrey Fisher figured out. Apparently not.

---