from the plane.
He would be a fantastic fantasy.
But why was he teaching her class? And smiling and charming the crowd as if he were a natural-born motivational speaker rather than the dark, sexy overlord she’d painted him out to be on the plane? Seriously, the man was discussing heart deformities and yet you’d think he was revealing the secret of longevity by the way the attendees were on the edge of their seats.
Even as passionate as she was about surgical neonatal heart disease treatment modalities, she didn’t think it was the topic that was mesmerizing the crowd.
It was him.
As he spoke, his gaze met with hers and recognition flashed in those unusual ice-blue eyes that somehow didn’t fit with his pleasant expression. Probably because she’d pegged him as shadowy and menacing, not smiling and charming.
He was smiling. And charming. And had a voice that should be reading the books she downloaded to her smartphone from time to time to listen to at night. What a way to fall asleep.
Dark and dangerous or smiling and charming, the man oozed sex. She wasn’t a woman who got hot and bothered from just looking at a guy. Or even hot and bothered from a whole lot of guy effort, but this man made her think S-E-X.
Hot, sweaty, body-slapping, can’t-catch-your-breath sex.
Which was quite disturbing because Jonathan hadn’t affected her this potently. Ever. Sex had been good, pleasurable, but just the thought of it hadn’t set her nerve-endings on fire.
His presentation didn’t pause, but his gaze lingered on hers, flashing with an awareness that made her nerve-endings burn. Hot, out-of-control burn.
He was gorgeous. Perhaps more so than any man she’d ever seen in real life.
Perhaps? Ha. Life had not thrown men like him into her path. Ever. As much as she’d cared for and found him attractive, Jonathan didn’t have a thing on this guy. Not even on this guy’s worst day and Jonathan’s best. Mr. Dark and Dangerous exuded pheromones by the bucketful. His bucket ran over and was flooding the auditorium.
Natalie picked up a mini-sized notepad with the hotel’s logo at the top and fanned her face. Mercy.
He finished his presentation, then did a question-and-answer session, fielding each question with ease, much more smoothly than she’d have done. She’d have been battling nerves at presenting to a room full of peers.
Whoever he was, he didn’t look nervous. Dark, sexy overlords probably didn’t get nervous. When the power of the universe was at your handsome fingertips, why sweat?
As she was doing. Her reaction had surprised her at the airport, on the plane, and even more so now that she’d seen the allure of his smile.
Applause filled the room. Natalie clapped, too. He’d done an excellent job, as if he’d been meant to give the presentation all along. She owed him for filling in when she wasn’t there.
At the applause, the workshop moderator stood. “Thank you, Dr. Coleman, for volunteering to present when the vacancy opened.” The moderator patted him on the back, shook his hand. “You did an excellent job, Matthew.”
“No problem.”
The man should really smile more because his face transformed into a work of art. Okay, so dark and dangerous had been a work of art, too, but smiling he was heart-stopping.
“I was glad to help, since I understand Dr. Sterling had travel delays,” he continued, not glancing her way, but Natalie felt his awareness of her. As if he had some sixth sense that let him know exactly where she was in the room without those amazing eyes having to focus her way. That sense pervaded her entire being and scorched her insides.
Good grief, the way he affected her. Maybe because she was on the cusp of a huge career leap, maybe because she still felt the sting from Jonathan’s betrayal.
Or maybe it was how pheromonally magnetic he was.
Another round of clapping and the group broke for a fifteen-minute break between sessions.
A few attendees moved forward to talk with Dr. Coleman. Natalie should thank him and introduce herself to the workshop moderator, who was also the conference chair, so she could apologize again for her delay.
Dr. Matthew Coleman. She’d never met him. No way would she have forgotten, so why did that name ring a bell?
Suddenly, her jaw dropped. Impossible. That Dr. Matthew Coleman had to be in his fifties at the absolute minimum. Surely. No way could this gorgeous doctor be that Dr. Matthew Coleman. It just wasn’t feasible that he could be the renowned pediatric heart surgeon whose work she so greatly admired.
No way.
Plus, he’d been on a flight out of Memphis. That Dr. Matthew Coleman lived in Boston and headed up a research team making great strides with a robotic laser being developed for surgical use, including in utero. There couldn’t be two pediatric heart surgeons by the same name doing innovative in-utero surgical repairs, surely?
That was when what he was saying caught her attention. He was making a comment about the robot that Dr. Matthew Coleman was one of the country’s leading experts on.
Yeah, she was about to have a fan-girl moment.
Holy smokes. The gorgeous man she’d been fantasizing about on and off ever since the airport was someone she’d idolized for his brain and surgical skills for almost a decade.
* * *
What were the odds of the pretty brunette who’d caught Dr. Matthew Coleman’s eye at the airport being his top competition for the hospital position he’d just interviewed for?
Not that Dr. Luiz had told him that, but he’d said there was another contender the hospital had been planning to offer the position to, prior to Matthew’s interest. Dr. Natalie Sterling was who the man had repeatedly praised for her surgery skills and dedication to pediatric cardiology. She had to be who the department head had meant and, possibly, why they’d not been willing to meet the conditions Matthew had required to relocate.
Those conditions were the deal-maker—or -breaker.
Relocating to Memphis would decrease his stress by leaps and bounds in some ways, but he still wasn’t sure he could give up everything he’d worked to achieve just to make the move in any case. Just because his life had been thrust into total chaos three months ago. Basically, he wanted what he had in Boston, but with less work hours and a new zip code that better fit his personal needs. Anything less and he’d stay where he was.
Which was why he’d contacted Dr. Luiz when a colleague had told him about the upcoming opening at Memphis Children’s Hospital. He’d already been toying with the idea of relocating to Memphis to be closer to family—for Carrie, the little girl he now had to take care of, to be closer to family. Closer to people who actually knew how to take care of kids. But he couldn’t just step away from his research and career. He wouldn’t.
Maybe he should try to convince his mother to move to Boston, again. He wasn’t sure what he’d have done if she hadn’t been able to stay those first few weeks of Matthew’s unexpected push into fatherhood. She’d
