Chapter 10
10
He’d be there in an instant, no matter what this woman needed. Guthrie was so damned attracted to this woman he couldn’t breathe straight.
It scared him a little, the depth of that sudden attraction. He had spent the last two years or so avoiding this woman, even on the clock, unless absolutely necessary. This week had changed all of that.
She was a damned fine doctor, cool in a crisis, and one of the smartest he’d ever worked with. She was great with patients, especially the children and the elderly, but with the rest of the hospital staff—she stayed back.
Reserved. More than that. It had taken him far too long to realize she was shy.
Incredibly shy.
He could see where that had been mistaken by many to be snobbish. Genesis had once gone on a rant about how beautiful women who were reserved were called cold bitches, but less beautiful reserved women got to be called shy ? And how unfair it was.
Now he understood what that meant. Who she had meant, too.
Guthrie hadn’t paid much attention—Genesis often had passionate rants. But now he saw the truth. And he wondered at it. What had made this beautiful, brilliant, kind woman so afraid of letting anyone get close to her?
Aubrey kept a wall between herself and everyone else in the hospital, except for Caine Alvaro, who could occasionally get her to smile freely. And Guthrie’s sister, Genesis. He suspected that was more because Genesis had taken Aubrey under her own wing or something. Genesis had the ability to see right into a person’s soul sometimes. To see whether they were good or bad.
And to see when they needed a friend.
He adored his sister for that, for the heart she wore on her sleeve constantly.
And he feared some man was going to come along someday and break that heart into a thousand pieces. “I should probably call Chad. See how she’s doing now, and if she needs me to drive to his place and pick her up. Take her home.”
Aubrey hesitated. And looked at him like… he was missing something. Guthrie was sure of it. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. Not tonight.”
“Why? You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”
She bit her lip and just stared at him. Like she had a secret—those blue eyes… she was definitely hiding something. For one moment, he wondered if his best course of action was to just kiss that secret out of her.
“You… really aren’t that clueless, are you?”
“What do you mean?” he asked as she unlocked the door and led him into her house. It was painted in pastels, and there were flowers and plants everywhere. Aubrey liked plants, apparently.
“Dr. Fields… Chad… took Genny home with him, Guthrie. Instead of driving her home. Why would a man do that?”
“I don’t know… to give her a ride home?” Okay. He knew what she was implying. And… no way. “Besides, Chad doesn’t look at my sister like that. He’s known her since she was a kid, and he’s nine years older than she is. She’s annoyed him more often than not. And she definitely doesn’t think of him as an actual man, or anything. Just another one of her brothers. Or… a walking redheaded butthead. She’s called him that so many times before.”
Aubrey just stood there in her kitchen and stared at him. For the longest time. “Um… Chad has told her he’s going to get her. Repeatedly. He’s already told her he’s planning to have her naked—in those exact words. As soon as he possibly can. And as often as he can. He’s seriously been on the hunt with her. Are you telling me you didn’t see that? He was doing it right under your nose and your brothers’—the night we all slept out there. We all knew that.”
No. Guthrie most certainly hadn’t noticed. He was going to go find Chad Fields and beat the man’s ass. This was Guthrie’s baby sister they were talking about here. Chad had no business putting his grubby paws on Guthrie’s baby sister. That was a serious violation of the best friend code. Chad should know that—he had a sister of his own.
Of course… Guthrie’s brother Gene was putting his hands all over Chad’s baby sister lately. Maybe that had given Chad the idea that it was now okay? “That asshole.”
“What? Are you serious? You’re just as bad as he is. The two of you have a reputation, you know. This… this is nothing new for Dr. Chad Fields. Genny’s just next on his list. Well, he thinks so. Genny is determined he’s not going to get her. She doesn’t want to be another number. I can completely understand that.”
How in the hell had he missed this ?
And… “I’m not like that at all.”
“No? You don’t do whatever you can to get a woman to notice you?”
Well, he had—but it had been several years since it had been casual for him. If it ever really had been. “I’m not a dog where women are concerned. Neither is Chad. It’s the one thing keeping me from going over there and clobbering him. That, and I don’t want to leave you here alone tonight. So… why don’t we both go over there and clobber him together? I think it’s my duty as her brother, right? You can hold my coat.”