done well career-wise, from all accounts,’ Lewis said, pushing his hands into his trouser pockets as he crossed one ankle over the other. ‘No one works longer hours, or so I’m told. That can’t keep much time free for a private life.’
Mikki shifted her gaze out of the range of his. ‘I love my job.’
‘You say that as if you’re trying to convince yourself rather than me.’
She threw him a cutting look. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve cut back to working nine to five these days?’
His ice-blue eyes glittered like shards of ice. ‘I’ve been working on the work-life balance.’
Her expression showed her cynicism. ‘I’m sure you have.’
‘Are you seeing anyone?’
Mikki frowned at him. ‘What sort of question is that?’
He gave a light shrug. ‘I’m interested in what my successor is like. Or has there been more than one?’
‘It’s been seven years,’ Mikki said with a lift of her chin. ‘What do you think?’
Something moved in his eyes, a camera-shutter flick. ‘You’re not married.’
She arched her brow. ‘So?’
‘And you’re not living with anyone,’ he said.
Mikki folded her arms, the height of her chin challenging. ‘You seem to have done your homework. The question that begs to be asked is: why? Why are you so interested in my private life after all this time?’
Another beat of silence ticked past.
‘Was it worth it, Mikki?’ he asked. ‘Have you finally got what you want?’
Mikki dropped her arms from around her chest and moved to the other side of the office, her eyes averted from his. ‘Of course I’ve got what I want,’ she said.
‘And yet you don’t seem happy.’
She swung back to face him angrily. ‘You’re overstepping the mark, Lewis.’
‘Am I?’
She tightened her mouth. ‘You know you are. My happiness or lack thereof should be of no concern to you.’
‘Is that the way you want to play this?’ he asked. ‘Just pretend we don’t have a history together? How long do you think it will be before someone finds out? Sooner or later someone’s going to make the connection, Mikki. We worked in the same hospital in London. You know how the system works. Everyone knows everyone in this profession.’
Mikki swallowed a knot of tension in her throat. ‘No one needs to find out if we maintain a professional distance.’
He gave a snort of mock amusement and drawled, ‘You’re fooling yourself, sweetheart.’
Mikki cast a nervous gaze around to see if anyone had overheard his casual endearment. ‘Don’t call me that.’
He stepped closer, his tall frame shrinking the space like an adult stepping into a child’s cubby house. ‘It’s still there, isn’t it?’ he said in velvet-smooth tone.
Mikki didn’t need to ask him to clarify what he meant. She could feel it in the air between them— the tension, the crackling, the energy, the temptation. ‘You’re deluding yourself, Lewis,’ she said. ‘I’ve moved on. We’ve both moved on with our lives.’
One of his hands picked up a strand of her hair that had worked its way out of the tight ponytail she had fashioned earlier that day. He coiled it around his finger in an action he had done so many times in the past. Mikki couldn’t have moved away if she had tried. She stood mesmerised by the tether of his touch, by the intense blue of his gaze as it held hers. It was as if the busy, bustling world of the hospital had faded into the background, leaving them isolated in a bubble that contained memories of private moments—intimate moments only they knew about. Her heart kicked against her breastbone as his finger drew closer to her scalp. She could smell his aftershave. It wasn’t one she recognised but it was underpinned with his all-too-familiar smell: musk and soap and healthy potent male.
‘Do you want to know why I came back after so long out of the country?’ he asked.
She drew in a breath that felt like it had thorns attached. ‘To further your career,’ she said. ‘That’s always been your priority. Nothing comes before that.’
He uncoiled the strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear. ‘A career is not everything, Mikki,’ he said as his hand dropped back down by his side. ‘It can’t keep you warm at night.’
Mikki stepped out of his force field. ‘I’m sure you have plenty of nubile companions to do that for you,’ she said.
He gave that almost-smile again. ‘You sound jealous.’
She sent him a gelid look. ‘I can assure you I’m not.’
‘All the same, it would be good if we can be friends as well as colleagues,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to add to the stress of the workplace by us being at war with one another.’
‘Friends, Lewis?’ Her expression was incredulous. ‘Isn’t that asking a little too much given the circumstances?’
His jaw grew tense as if he was trying to contain the anger that was there just under the surface of his civility. ‘You walked out on me, Mikki,’ he said. ‘You didn’t give our relationship a chance.’
Mikki glared at him. ‘Our relationship should never have occurred in the first place. It was a mistake from start to finish.’
‘I know it had a rough start but we could have worked at it,’ he said. ‘We could have tried to sort out the career commitments so that both of us could have had what we wanted.’
‘We didn’t want the same things,’ Mikki said. ‘You never wanted the ties of a family so early in your career. You told me that when we first met. But then, when I told you I was pregnant, you turned into someone else. You were obsessed with the baby, what school it would go to, what football team it would support, which of us it would look like. How could I know if you were truly enthusiastic or just making the best of a bad situation?’
‘What was I supposed to do?’ he said. ‘Abandon my own flesh and blood? I couldn’t do that. There was no other choice but to get married. I got you pregnant. It was my fault. I accepted that then and I still accept responsibility for it now. I didn’t want any child of mine growing up without its father.’
Mikki felt perilously close to tears, tears she hadn’t shed in years. ‘You were glad when I lost the baby. I know you were. It left you free to get on with your life without the responsibility of parenthood to deal with.’
‘Why would I be glad that you had to go through that?’ he asked, frowning darkly. ‘What sort of jerk do you take me for? I was gutted when you lost the baby.’
‘You never said a word to me,’ Mikki said. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’
