Читать книгу A Passionate Proposal - Emilie Rose - Страница 10

Cort eased into the house as quietly as possible, pausing to listen for Josh’s wail. Silence, blessed, rare silence greeted him.

He leaned against the door and wiped a hand over his mouth. He’d kissed Tracy—twice—and wanted to again. Was he nuts?

Stepping into the den, he flipped the light on—oh, hell—and flipped it back off when Leanna squealed, “Eeek!”

His brother was bare-assed and busy with his sister-in-law.

“Sorry.” Embarrassed, he backed out of the room and hustled to the kitchen. A few minutes later his brother followed him in. Cort said, “I’m sorry, man.”

Patrick fixed himself a glass of water. “She’ll get over it…eventually. You’re home early. I didn’t hear your truck.”

“Tracy Sullivan gave me a ride. She was afraid I’d fall asleep at the wheel, probably with good reason. And I was worried about Josh.”

“He went down about an hour ago. Fussy little critter, isn’t he? He kept you up again most of last night?”

“Yeah. I guess that means he kept you up, too.”

He shrugged. “Babies do that.”

“Yours doesn’t.”

“Matt’s two years old, and he didn’t lose his mother and move halfway across the country in the last week.”

“You think that’s all it is? I know nothing about babies.”

“Consider this a crash course. Besides, you have three brothers and six nieces and nephews who’re willing to teach you everything they know. You’ll get it…eventually.”

“For Josh’s sake, I hope you’re right.”

“Even though you didn’t stay long, I hope the break tonight did you some good. You looked like you were about to lose it.”

Cort shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m just not used to…”

“Struggling?” When Cort looked at him in surprise, Patrick continued. “You were the smart one who never had to work hard for anything. Struggling isn’t something you’ve experienced.”

His brother had no clue how hard he’d worked to get accepted into Duke and to get a partial scholarship. Cort owed Tracy for keeping his nose to the grindstone.

Patrick crossed to the bulletin board and pulled down a business card. “Do you remember Dr. Finney?”

“I ought to. He patched us up often enough, and I worried the tarnation out of him by following him around and asking him questions about his practice. My first paying job was mopping his clinic floors.”

“I forgot about that. I know Josh is your first concern right now, but Doc Finney needs some help at the clinic. Here’s his number.”

In other words, big brother thought he needed to contribute to his bed and board. “I’m only here for the summer. Think he’d be interested?”

“Can’t hurt to ask, and it’ll further your training.”

“I’ll stop by the clinic tomorrow.” He turned to leave the kitchen and stopped. “Patrick, if our being here is a problem…”

Patrick clapped a hand on his shoulder and steered him toward the stairs. “This is your home. It’s not a problem, but make a little noise next time you come in.”

She’d already had her three bad things this week. So why was Cort Lander standing on her front porch with a baby in his arms? And why, since she didn’t really want to see him again, did her heart dance a jitterbug when his dark gaze swept over her?

Embarrassed to be caught in her ratty workout clothes, Tracy blotted the moisture from her forehead. She’d been exercising her behind off—literally. Her cheeks still burned when she thought about Cort grabbing a handful of her abundant derriere.

“Still have that apartment for rent?”

She took in the broad shoulders filling her doorway and the way his black suit accentuated his dark good looks and how his coffee-colored tie perfectly matched his eyes. Her mouth dried. In a word he looked scrumptious. It took her a second to process his question and form a coherent answer. “Yes, I still have a vacant apartment.”

The baby’s round face reddened as if he was winding up for a scream. His dark eyes filled with tears and his bottom lip quivered. Whose adorable baby was this and why had they left Cort in charge? He clearly had no idea what he was doing.

“Can we rent it?”

“We?” Her stomach dropped. He’d said he wasn’t married, but did he have a significant other? If so, then why had he kissed her? She glanced over his shoulder, but no one waited in the cab of his truck.

“Josh and I. And I’d like to hire you to be his nanny for the summer.”

Surprised, she looked at the baby again, this time noticing the similarities between the males on her porch. They shared the same dark hair, deep-brown eyes and straight nose, and although she’d never seen Cort pout, she’d bet his full bottom lip would look exactly the same if he poked it out that way. “Josh is yours?”

“Yes. Is the apartment furnished?” Cort jiggled the baby, but it seemed to agitate him more.

She couldn’t explain the envy curdling in her stomach. Given that she’d practically raised her six siblings, she didn’t plan to have children of her own—not that she had to worry about that since she couldn’t get a date, let alone a husband. She certainly wasn’t going to get upset just because some other woman had borne Cort’s baby.

“Yes. Oh, give him to me. When did he eat last and oh…” The situation became clear as soon as her hand cupped his soggy bottom. “He needs a diaper change. Do you have a diaper bag?”

“It’s in the truck.” He looked reluctant to leave.

“Get it.” On the way to the den she detoured by the linen closet to get a towel to lay Josh on. After spreading it on the rug, she put him down. “Poor fella. You’re a mess, aren’t you? And you’re absolutely gorgeous.”

Those big dark eyes studied her while she stripped off his terry cloth sleeper. “You look just like your daddy.”

“Are you complimenting me or insulting him?” He set the diaper bag down beside her.

Her pulse raced. “You figure it out.”

Josh reached for her, and Tracy couldn’t help herself. She blew a raspberry on his bare chubby tummy. He cackled and windmilled his arms.

“How did you do that?” Cort looked stunned.

“What? Blow the raspberry?”

“No. You made him laugh. He only cries for me.”

He wasn’t kidding. The earnestness in his eyes tore at her heart. Did Cort have an ex-wife? A custody issue? For some reason that bothered her, and it shouldn’t, because Cort’s personal relationships were none of her business.

“Does his mother take care of him most of the time?”

“Kate’s dead. I didn’t even know Josh existed until last week. She didn’t tell me she was pregnant.”

She kept one hand on the squirming baby and pressed the other to the ache in her chest. Her eyes stung. “That’s horrible. You weren’t married?”

He hunkered down and dug a diaper and the wipes out of the bag. Their fingers brushed when she took them from him, and her heart skipped a beat. “No. We split up when she graduated from law school and took a job in Chicago.”

“Why wouldn’t she tell you about this beautiful little boy?” Tracy whipped off the soiled diaper, slipped on a fresh one and then tugged on a clean romper.

Cort crowded her, watching her as intently as if she were performing a delicate surgical procedure. Growing up in a small home with six siblings meant she didn’t require much personal space, but she was very aware that Cort had invaded hers. It made her self-conscious to have him so close and watching her every move.

Besides, he looked and smelled divine, and after thirty minutes of aerobics she didn’t.

“According to her neighbor, Kate didn’t tell me because she didn’t want me to give up my plan to become a surgeon. She knew that I’d been raised by my brothers while dad worked eighteen-hour days, and that there was no way in hell I would have repeated the absentee father scenario.”

“But to keep your son a secret…” She reached out to offer comfort, but drew her hand back before making contact. Touching him last night had wreaked havoc on her senses.

“Don’t feel sorry for me. Save your pity for him. He’s stuck with a lame-ass father unless I—” He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Unless you what?”

His jaw muscles clenched and he turned his head away. “Nothing.”

“Cort?” Slowly she rose to stand beside him. His gaze met hers, and she caught her breath at his tortured expression. “You’re not thinking about giving him up, are you?”

He shoved a hand through his hair and then massaged the back of his neck. “I can’t help wondering if he’d be better off with two parents or even one who won’t be working the insane schedule of a surgical resident. He’s miserable with me. I don’t even know when it’s time to change his diaper.”

This time she didn’t resist her impulse. She grabbed his biceps, tipped her head back and faced him eye to eye. “I’ve never known you to fail at anything you really wanted to do. You’ll learn how to be a daddy.”

“So I’m told.” He didn’t sound as though he believed it. “If you agree to be his nanny for the summer, maybe you can teach me.”

His nanny. Seeing Cort every day. Having him live upstairs with his bed directly above hers. Oh, Lord. She laid a hand over the knot in her stomach. Could she do that without falling in love with him all over again? Could she survive him leaving her a second time and knowing this time he wouldn’t be coming back?

She wet her lips and rubbed her temple. For sanity’s sake she ought to refuse, but the doubts in his eyes made her want to pull him close. A remnant of common sense intervened. “What about your family? Can’t they help out?”

“My brothers think it’s hilarious to watch me fumble around, because they claim they did the same thing. You’d never know it now. They’re pros. My sisters-in-law are better, but all three of them are pregnant and battling morning sickness in addition to juggling their own kids and careers.”

“All three are pregnant?”

He shrugged. “It’s a planned thing. They’re trying to have the babies close together.”

Josh smiled and blew spit bubbles, thoroughly enjoying his freedom on the floor. Cort knelt and gently, tentatively, smoothed his big hand over the baby’s soft, dark hair. “It’s just me and the little guy. Poor kid. If anybody can teach me, Trace, it’s you.”

Her heart melted.

Josh stiffened and whimpered.

Cort muttered under his breath and straightened. He reached in his coat pocket and extracted a slip of paper. “I had an interview at the clinic this morning. This is what Doc Finney is offering to pay me. I’ve made a list of my other expenses, but I don’t know what you charge to nanny or for rent. Can we afford you?”

Tension squeezed her rib cage and her heart pounded in the confined space. Sharing her home with Cort would be opening herself to heartache all over again.

But how could she refuse? She gazed at his son. The child had just lost his mother. Could she contribute to him losing his father, as well? Her conscience would haunt her forever.

With his clean diaper firmly in place, Josh rolled over onto his belly and crawled across the floor. Tracy let him go. Her nieces and nephews visited often enough that she kept the house childproofed, and baby drool wouldn’t show on her floral-patterned sofa.

Her hand trembled when she took the paper from Cort. Even after a decade his handwriting still looked familiar, and a lump formed in her throat. She studied the numbers and came to the conclusion that she’d have to manage on less money this summer, because she couldn’t turn Cort and Josh away. Somebody had to teach Cort how to be a father before he made a mistake that she was sure he’d live to regret.

“Yes, you can afford me.”

“Good. When can we move in?”

“Put away your money. I can pay my own deposit and first month’s rent,” Cort growled at his brother Sunday afternoon in Tracy’s upstairs apartment. His ears burned with humiliation.

“You have a kid to take care of, and now you’re paying rent on two apartments. Let me help.” Patrick had lowered his voice, but Cort was certain that Tracy, standing only a couple of yards away with Josh on her hip, could hear.

He peeled his gaze off the length of leg exposed by her shorts and glared at Patrick. “Dammit, I’m not one of your charities. I have three roommates sharing my other apartment, so you don’t have to worry about my check bouncing and me moving back home.”

“You didn’t have to leave in the first place.”

“Like hell, I—”

“Gentlemen,” Tracy scolded in her teacher voice, and Cort jerked to attention. “Josh is getting sleepy. Could we save the bickering until after the crib is assembled?”

His pride took a kick in the kneecaps.

Patrick shrugged. “Sorry, Tracy, you know how it is to be the older sibling.”

“Yes, I do, but perhaps you should remember that Cort is now twenty-eight, not eight. If he needs something from you I’m sure he’s mature enough to ask for it.” The understanding in her gaze washed over him before she glanced toward the numerous boxes stacked in the den and kitchenette.

She stepped closer and touched his shoulder. His skin ignited, and her cinnamon scent filled his senses when he inhaled. “Cort, could you find clean pajamas for Josh? I’ll give him his bath while you two finish up.”

“Sure.” He searched a box until he found a pale-green one-piece thing. Tracy took it, and their fingers brushed. Damn, he needed sleep more than he thought if one touch could stimulate his heart into arrhythmia.

“Thanks,” she said as she passed. He thought she sounded a little winded. Probably from bouncing Josh on her hip. For such a little guy, the kid was heavy.

His gaze slid from her white T-shirt over her departing rear and then down her legs. He didn’t remember Tracy’s legs—or any part of her for that matter—looking that good. He glanced up and caught his brother smirking at him.

Patrick turned for the door leading to the outside stairs and called over his shoulder, “I need to get the toolbox from the truck.”

Cooing and splashing pulled Cort away from unpacking and led him to the bathroom. Tracy had Josh in the tub. The little tyke obviously liked Tracy bathing him. He didn’t enjoy it half as much when Cort washed him. Smart kid. Tracy wasn’t likely to let his slippery body squirm right out of her grip. He, on the other hand, thought the kid ought to come with handles and instructions.

“He loves the water,” Tracy said without turning away from her charge. Josh splashed her and she squealed. After one startled moment, Josh chortled and slapped both hands into the water sending droplets everywhere.

The ache in Cort’s heart intensified. He hadn’t been able to coax a smile from his son, let alone make him laugh out loud.

Josh deserved better.

He grabbed a hand towel from the rack and stepped into the room to blot the moisture from Tracy’s face. “I’d like it, too, if I had a pretty lady scrubbing my back.”

A flush stained her pale neck and cheeks. “Aren’t you supposed to be assembling the crib?”

“Patrick’s getting the tools from the truck. I thought I might learn something in Bath 101.” He lowered the toilet lid. It wasn’t until after he sat down that he realized the room wasn’t big enough for two—three if you counted the squirt. His knees bracketed Tracy, and his mind took an X-rated detour. Unless he wanted to embarrass himself, now was not the time to fantasize about Tracy on her knees in front of him.

He blew out a slow breath and focused on her hair. She’d tortured it into that tight twist again, and it looked like only one pin held it in place. The urge to pull the pin and see the strands tumble over her shoulders nearly overwhelmed him. He twisted the towel in his hands.

He’d liked her hair long, and so did Josh. His son’s tiny fingers had played with the length of Tracy’s braid yesterday while she changed his diaper. He wouldn’t mind burying his own hands in the shiny strands to see if they were as soft as they looked.

He plucked at the collar of his knit shirt. The heat and humidity of the bathroom were getting to him. “You’re good with kids, and it’s clear you like them. Why don’t you have a houseful of your own by now?”

“I spent my childhood mothering my brothers and sisters. It’s time to put myself first. Kids aren’t a part of my plan.”

He wondered if his brothers had ever resented having to baby-sit him. Brand, Patrick and Caleb had been more like parents to him than his own father. He didn’t remember his mother. She’d left when he was two.

Josh wouldn’t remember his mother, either.

He shoved aside the sobering thought. “Do you put yourself first? From what Libby said, it sounds like you’re still combining the roles of platoon commander and Mother Teresa.”

“Libby talks too much. Grab that towel and take this wiggly fella.” She lifted Josh out of the water and turned.

The wet fabric of Tracy’s shirt clung to the lacy bra and the peachy skin underneath, distracting him from the chore she’d assigned him. His abdomen tightened. He sucked a deep breath to clear his head. Tracy’s sweet scent mingled with the baby bath soap to short-circuit a few of his brain cells.

“Cort?” She sounded breathless.

He snatched up the towel and snapped it open. Tracy pushed Josh into his arms, and her fingertips grazed his chest. He flinched. The woman packed the electric charge of a defibrillator, and every time she touched him his heart took a jolt. He bundled Josh in the towel, terrified he’d drop him.

“Cort, relax. Your tension transfers to him.” She kneaded his tense biceps, and other parts of his body tensed.

Sure enough, Josh’s smile vanished and his lip quivered. Cort couldn’t have been happier to hear Patrick’s boots on the outside stairs. He passed Josh back to Tracy, and his knuckles inadvertently brushed her breast.

She gasped, and their gazes locked.

He hated the wariness in her caramel-colored eyes. He swallowed hard and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Excuse me.”

Seducing Tracy was not part of his plan. He’d be in Texas less than three months, and Tracy deserved more than a quick roll in the hay. That was all he had to give. Even if he were staying longer, he wasn’t fool enough to offer another woman the opportunity to wipe her feet on his heart. “I’ll call when his crib’s ready.”

He hustled out of the tiny bathroom. What was the matter with him? It had to be the sheer terror over being responsible for Josh, causing the tension in his gut and making his brow sweat.

He feared he would bungle being a single father as badly as his dad had—only Josh didn’t have older brothers to pick up the slack.

Josh’s crying woke Tracy at two in the morning.

She lay in the darkness waiting for the baby to settle, but he seemed to grow more agitated as time passed. Before going to bed tonight she and Cort had agreed on a tentative schedule. This was Cort’s shift, but Josh had been crying for almost thirty minutes.

Throwing back the covers, she shrugged on her robe, climbed the inside stairs and knocked on the door. Cort didn’t answer. He couldn’t possibly sleep through the baby’s crying, could he? She turned the knob and, finding the door unlocked, stepped into the apartment.

Cort, wearing nothing but scrub pants riding low on his narrow hips, paced the den with Josh crying on his shoulder. Muscles rippled in Cort’s shoulders as he awkwardly patted and rubbed the baby’s stiff back.

She could have lived without the knowledge that he had dimples flanking the base of his spine. Adrenaline coursed through her blood, erasing the remnants of sleep from her brain and turning her insides to mush.

“It’s all right, kid. We’ll get the hang of this soon. Everybody says so. Just put up with me until then, okay?”

Josh’s piercing wail jerked her out of her hormonal stupor. No wonder Cort hadn’t heard her knocking. Before she could speak he reached the end of the room, turned and stopped in his tracks when he spotted her across his living room. “Damn. I’m sorry we woke you.”

“You shouldn’t swear in front of the baby,” she corrected automatically.

Even in the dimly lit room she couldn’t miss the well-defined muscles of his broad chest and shoulders. A small gold medallion glinted in the dark hair dusting his chest. Finer hair marked a path between his washboard abdominal muscles. She didn’t want to consider what he was—or wasn’t—wearing beneath the thin fabric of his scrubs. Cort had always been athletic, but ten years ago he’d been an eighteen-year-old boy. As a twenty-eight-year-old man, he’d matured beyond expectations.

Strange feelings stirred in her belly. She dampened her dry lips. “Did you change him and give him a bottle?”

“Yes to the diaper. No to the formula. The baby book says not to feed a nine-month-old more often than every six hours.” He grimaced. “It also says to let him cry himself back to sleep, but I tried that, and I can’t handle it.”

His dark curls went every which way, reminding her that he’d also been in bed. She looked through the open door beyond his shoulder to the rumpled sheets on his bed, and her stomach clenched. “Sometimes it’s best to ignore the books and go with your instincts. Would you like for me to fix his bottle?”

He shook his head. “Thanks, Trace, but if you think that’s what he needs I’ll take care of it. Leanna warned me to keep bottles already made in the fridge. You go back to bed.”

If she had half a functioning brain she’d do as he suggested, but Cort and Josh obviously needed her. “Let me help.”

She walked into the tiny kitchenette, opened the refrigerator and extracted a bottle. The cool air washed her hot cheeks. Lordy, the man exceeded every secret fantasy she’d ever dreamed up. Suddenly hot, she plucked at her robe.

While the formula heated in the bottle warmer she stepped closer to Cort and Josh and stroked a finger along the baby’s damp cheek. “Hi, fella.”

Josh whimpered and reached for her. After a second’s hesitation, Cort passed him to her. Her forearm brushed his bare chest as she took the baby, and the skin on her arm burned as if she’d pressed it against the radiator in her classroom. The fine hairs on her body stood on end, and her toes curled in her slippers.

Josh immediately buried his face in her neck and clutched handfuls of her hair.

Cort gently extricated the tiny fingers and as he did so, his fingertips brushed the skin of her shoulders and neck. She hoped he didn’t notice her goose bumps or the shiver she couldn’t suppress. “He likes you better. Can’t say I blame him.”

Her heart clenched at the pain lacing his voice, and her pulse raced at his half-naked proximity. “He’s probably accustomed to women taking care of him.”

He parked his hands on his hips, and his muscles flexed in a most distracting way. The urge to smooth his rumpled hair, to test the suppleness of his skin or to trace the line of dark curls bisecting his navel was difficult to ignore. But ignore it she would.

When Cort turned away to get the bottle, she laid a hand over her misbehaving heart and took a moment to gather herself and her wayward thoughts. Calm. In control. Professional. You are his nanny now. Act like one.

A fragment of common sense asserted itself. “Shake the bottle well to avoid hot spots and test it on the inside of your wrist to make sure it won’t burn his mouth.”

He did and then offered her the bottle, but she shook her head. He had to learn. “Sit down. You give it to him.”

Cort sat in the overstuffed chair, and Tracy placed Josh in his arms, being extra careful not to touch Cort’s bare skin during the transfer. Cort nudged the nipple against Josh’s lips, but the baby refused. “Come on, buddy. Fill your tank.”

Josh wailed. Both males were as tense as a newly strung clothesline. She touched a hand to her temples and looked skyward. Why me? Is this some kind of test? She blew out a long, slow breath.

“Relax, Cort, or he won’t either.” Knowing she’d probably regret it, she stepped behind the chair and kneaded Cort’s knotted shoulder muscles. The heat from his supple skin traveled from her fingertips to her breasts and thighs. Cort’s tension ebbed from him to her, swirling in the pit of her stomach and coiling around her chest. She almost groaned aloud when she identified the cause. Desire.

Obviously, she’d never gotten over her crush on Cort Lander, except now she had the adult, X-rated version dancing through her mind and shortening her breath.

As Cort’s muscles unwound, so did Josh’s. After one last whimper, the baby hungrily latched on to the bottle.

Cort exhaled. “Can’t say I blame you, kid. After the last hour I could use a drink myself.”

Tracy dropped her hands to her sides, wiping them on her gown as if she could erase the feel of him from her memory. She had no need for inhibition-relaxing alcohol. Her senses were already spinning out of control.

She wanted the impossible. She wanted Cort Lander. “Don’t forget to burp him.”

She let herself out of the apartment before she did something foolish.

Who’d have expected practical, down-to-earth Tracy to have magical fingers or hair as soft as satin sheets?

Cort smothered a yawn and blinked his tired, gritty eyes. He’d kept an erection for hours after she’d left last night, and consequently, he’d hit the snooze button on his alarm clock one time too many this morning.

“Okay, kid, let’s try this again.” He tucked a spoonful of baby mush between Josh’s lips. Josh promptly sprayed it all over him. Aw, hell. He’d have to change shirts, which meant he’d probably be late for his first day on the job.

“Can’t say I blame you. This stuff looks and smells like casting plaster.”

A tap on the inside door meant the cavalry had arrived. Remnants of last night’s dreams jolted his libido and heart into overdrive. “Come in.”

Tracy stepped over the threshold looking good enough to eat in jeans that hugged her hips and a peachy-colored top that reflected the blush on her freshly scrubbed cheeks. The thick braid of her cinnamon hair fell over her shoulder to loop around the tip of her breast like a lover’s tongue. Oh, man. He clenched his teeth on a groan.

Tracy took one look at the situation and shook her head. “I have Cheerios downstairs.”

Before he could say another word she vanished and his heart sank, but she reappeared seconds later and deposited an armload of stuff on the table. He could have kissed her for coming back. He was definitely out of his element here, but he wasn’t sure about the yellow box of cereal and the banana. “The book didn’t say anything about regular food.”

“Would you trust me on this one?” Her white teeth dug into her lush bottom lip, and he figured he’d probably agree to just about anything if she kept that up. Scraping a hand across his chin, he nodded. She had to know more about babies than he did, and he’d always been able to count on Tracy steering him in the right direction.

She set a bottle of stain remover on his side of the table and then scattered a few cereal rings on the high chair tray. Josh snatched them up, shoving them into his mouth as fast as a linebacker at a buffet. He greeted the banana with the same enthusiasm.

Tracy’s gaze traveled over him. “You’d better change and get out of here.”

“You’re right. Thanks for helping.” He stood and peeled off his shirt. Tracy inhaled swiftly. He hesitated. Did she feel the same fierce attraction that twisted his hormones into a pretzel? Or had he offended her? He started to shrug the shirt back on.

Her eyes were big and round and her cheeks bore a fresh wash of color. “It’s okay. I’ve seen a man without his shirt before. I’ve seen you without your shirt before.”

She’d seen him without more than his shirt that time she’d surprised him at the river. Did she remember? “So you have.”

Her gaze drizzled over him like melting caramel. Did she have any idea what a look like that did to a man? If he stood here long enough there’d be no doubt. He moved away from the table.

“Wait.” Tracy moved forward and reached for him. Every muscle in his body locked. She picked bits of cereal from his hair, his ear, his eyebrow, and her featherlight touches nearly drove him out of his mind.

He clamped his lips closed and tried to breathe normally. Her scent filled his senses. She stood so close that all he had to do was lift his hands a few inches to span her waist. But he wouldn’t. Casual friend-to-friend kisses and touches were one thing, but that wasn’t what he wanted right now. Need charged through his body like a pack of hungry dogs. Need that would go unfulfilled. He clenched his fists.

Her gaze met his and her smile slowly faded. She lowered her hands, wet her lips and glanced back toward Josh. Her throat worked as she swallowed once, twice, and a dark flush swept her cheekbones. There was no mistaking the sexual tension clogging the air.

She cleared her throat and busied herself with cleaning up his breakfast dishes. “Tomorrow, I’ll handle breakfast.”

The last thing he wanted was to ruin their friendship.

“Thanks.” His voice sounded as though he’d swallowed a handful of gravel. He beat a hasty retreat, eager, he was ashamed to admit, to get out of the house before he did something stupid like kiss her until they ended up naked and horizontal.

What he needed was a good dose of something that didn’t make him feel like a failure. Work. He had an exemplary bedside manner, and his diagnostic skills were superb, or so his instructors back at Duke had told him.

Obviously, Josh didn’t see the same qualities.

Cort shrugged on a clean shirt and tie. He’d never shirked hard work, but usually his diligence produced visible results. No such luck with Josh. The harder he tried, the worse the situation seemed to get with his son. The baby books were a prime example. He’d practically memorized the parenting books he’d found on Kate’s shelves only to have Tracy tell him to ignore them and follow his gut instinct.

Not a chance. He trusted his gut when it came to patients, but not with his personal life, because with Josh and Tracy his gut was one big knot of apprehension.