Page 43 of Attached At Heart
He stilled, considering my words. But then he shook his head.
“A risk that meant nothing. I should have been able to save her.”
CHAPTER TEN
delaney
BLAKE PUT HIS HAND on the small of my back as we walked out of his sister’s brownstone, and I felt it hovering there until we reached the car, making my pulse feel like it was on a roller coaster.
It was good we were leaving. Not because I didn’t have a good time, but because it was starting to be too good. Too comfortable. Too real. I was married to Blake, but I wasn’tmarriedto Blake, and I nevereverimagined I’d need to give myself so many reminders of that.
Blake opened the door for me before I could reach for it, and when I turned to comment about his uptick in impeccable manners, he put a warning finger up.
“Don’t.”
“What?” I laughed as I slid into the passenger seat.
He tried to glare down at me, but his lips kept curving without his permission, and it ruined the effect he was going for. “Stop saying shit about how I’m suddenly a gentleman because it’s making me feel like I’ve been an asshole to you for years.”
He leaned over me, resting one elbow on the car and the other on the car door. I had to tip my head back to look up at him. “You’ve never been an asshole to me,” I said because it was true. Blake’s expression smoothed at my words, but then I added, “Just everyone else.” At that, his lips pulled taut, gaze flicking up the sky as if he couldn’t bear to look at me any longer. Then he strode around to the driver’s seat.
“I’mkidding,” I assured as he slid into the car beside me.
He raised a brow at me. “Somehow, I don’t think you are.”
“Everyoneelse is definitely an exaggeration.”
“Sometimes people deserve to be put in their place,” he muttered as he started the car, and the air blew through the vents. I angled them so they hit me square in the face. I’d been overheating since Blake pulled me onto his lap a few hours ago.
“I would agree,” I said with a nod.
“Like when Dr. Arnold tried to tell me the best course of action for that endocarditis patient was to?—”
“I know, Blakey,” I interrupted before he started down a long rabbit hole of doctors he’d clashed with during residency. It was a conversation I was more than familiar with, and we didn’t need to rehash it right now.
His eyes cut over me, glittering. “I’m never letting you hang out with Sully again.”
“Aw, but I really like Sully.”
Blake narrowed his gaze in a silent accusation. He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear stick, but we hadn’t moved from our parking spot. Blake was too busy glaring at me.
“Stop,” I laughed, patting him on the arm. “I like my London men all broody and contemplative. Don’t worry.”
But that didn’t seem to appease him. “Does that mean I have competition with Theo?” he asked, his sharpness still targeting me. “You saidmen.”
“No. I think he still smiles too much for me.”
“I smile,” he argued. “I smiled all damn evening.”
“I know,” I said with a grin. “But you’re different around your family.”
“Than I am at work?” He cocked his head to the side. “Well, yeah. I think a lot of people are, Lane. I think the problem is that you think work me is default me. But I think most would consider it to be the opposite.”
I frowned at his words. My work was so intertwined with everything I did and who I considered myself to be that I never really considered that someone might have a split personality like that. Dr. Delacroix was who I was. I didn’t just…turn that off when I left work.
Then again, I’d never really had a reason to turn that off.
Blake watched me patiently, but I could tell he wasn’t waiting for a response. He knew I was working through a reality that wasn’t mine. Eventually, he cleared his throat and said plainly, “It was a nice night. Thank you for doing that with me.”
