Page 10 of Cocky M.D.
I stepped back so that no one could hear me, and I let out a sigh and said, “More like the cocky doctor.”
I hung up and turned around to lips curved into a smile and bright-brown eyes. “Talking about me?”
Heat coursed through my face as I put my phone in my pocket. “You heard that?”
He nodded and pointed at the open door behind him. “I was waiting for you.”
He waved for me to come in, but seeing him in his white T-shirt, which clung to him, I paused. He was too handsome. My pulse zipped. Part of me wanted to race back to my car, but I ignored the impulse. When I neared him, my skin had goose bumps. “Where is Bradley?”
Vaulted ceilings, a crystal chandelier, and blue Persian rugs made the foyer bright, and when I looked behind him, I saw crisp white couches with splashes of yellow to offset the blue carpets over mahogany floors.
Johnny didn’t notice my reaction at all, though he took the coffee and donuts to carry for me and said, “Still in the shower. I let him sleep in, as school is over, then he was mad at me, since he wanted to be here to greet you.”
Good.It was better if we were professional. More kisses might make me wish for more than I should. He waved for me to follow, and we headed into an open-floor-plan white-marble kitchen with pops of gray and blue tile. Cooking there would be amazing. “I’ll happily spend the day with him, but I’m glad we’re alone.”
He stopped, put the coffee and bag down on a counter, and came closer. My heart did a little pitter-patter as he asked, “You are?”
My lips went up like I wanted to beg for a kiss, but I played with my cross, which my father had given me for my first Communion and I often wore to remember family. “Yes. It’s hard to imagine you’re a responsible father.”
He traced my side, and my chest heaved as he asked, “What do I seem to you?”
The opposite of how I grew up.I didn’t blink as I said, “Naughty.”
He curled his arms around my waist. “It’s hard to imagine you as a stuffy teacher who spends all her days and nights in a classroom.”
Tingles rushed through me as I held on to his muscular waist and said, “I don’t sleep there. I like to roll in my soft bed.”
“Roll?” He lowered his head and whispered, “Then you, too, have a naughty side.”
Then his lips met mine, and the rest of the world fell away. My fantasies about Johnny roared, and my fingertips held him tighter.
Wow.As he let me go, I shut my eyes until my impulse to throw caution to the wind slowed. I wasn’t capable of speaking right then. I rocked on my feet and tried to think of why our being together was a bad idea, other than that he was my complete opposite, but I was losing that internal battle. “Johnny, I’m not sure about anything, but I’m here for now.”
His hand left a trail of goose bumps down my body as he reached for my hand, but he picked up the coffee and donuts. “Why? My son already loves you.”
Bradley was a great child, and maybe being a nanny would be fine if I lived with a couple and watched a few children. Johnny, though, made me forget myself.
And I wasn’t good at pretending. I knew Johnny wasn’t interested in me for more than a night or so. I wasn’t stupid, and I needed to focus on my own problems, like finding a career, but I said, “He’s a good kid.”
We left the kitchen and went to the dining room, where a buffet was set up.
I glanced at the offerings and the sparkling-clean room.Did he order in?
He handed me a plate and said, “You’re the first woman who’s ever thought that about him.”
I took some fruit and saw some silver carafes. When I read the labels, I realized he didn’t need my coffee, though he put it on the table.
“You’ve had horrible nannies.”
He grabbed a bagel and put one on my plate as he said, “I picked the same types my parents picked for me. Maybe it was a mistake for him, but I wasn’t sure how to raise a child.”
Carbs had never been my friends, but the bagel smelled fresh, so I grabbed some cream cheese and picked a seat. “What about your own parents?”
He pointed at one of the coffees I’d brought, and I nodded. He then took it and sat beside me. “They were always too busy for me, and they’re not interested in either Bradley or me as anything more than possessions.”
Wow.I patted his arm. As the baby in my family, I’d been coddled, but I also knew I’d been loved. I missed my parents, so I swallowed and said, “That’s hard.”
He sipped his coffee then set it down and pivoted toward me. “How do you know about picnics?”
