Falling For The Single Dad Surgeon

And then she hated herself, because her goose-bumping body seemed to find that rather too thrilling.

‘Did you want to speak to me about anything in particular?’ The question came out sharper than she’d intended.

‘Frankly, Flávia Maura, I find myself curious about many things right now,’ he answered, and she couldn’t have said why but she wasn’t sure he’d intended it to have quite the huskiness that it did. ‘But how about we start with your antivenom therapy, and how you think your snakes can change the face of cancer treatment today?’

She could see the inherent danger in responding to Jake’s question—the effect he was having on her just from a few minutes in his company. Yet, like a frog attracted to the sweet-scented nectar in a tropical pitcher plant, Flávia couldn’t resist the open invitation to talk about her work—her true passion.

Even as she knew that, like the pitcher plant, a man like Jake would eat her up in a heartbeat.

Worse, the naughtiness of such an idea was almost deliciously thrilling.

She shook her head. It didn’t completely rid her head of the uninvited images, and that made her feel more combative than she knew she should.

‘You say it as though I’m suggesting the awful hoax remedies they call “snake oil.”’

‘On the contrary,’ Jake answered easily. ‘I’m well aware of the difference between “snake oil” and very real medicine. A recent study listed six groups of venom-based drugs which have gained FDA approval in the last thirty-five to forty years.’

Flávia didn’t know whether to be impressed by his knowledge or irritated that it wasn’t helping her to be any less attracted to him. She gritted her teeth.

‘I’m guessing that you also know that captopril, an ACE inhibitor used to treat high blood pressure, some types of congestive heart failure and kidney problems caused by diabetes, is derived from snake venom?’

‘I do know that, given that it’s used by around forty million people worldwide.’ Jake nodded.

‘Well, did you know that it comes from bothrops jararaca, which is another of the Brazilian pit vipers I deal with?’

‘That part I didn’t know,’ he conceded, and Flávia didn’t like that it gave her such a punch of triumph.

Was she really trying to impress this man that much?

‘Plus, clinical testing for venom-based drugs began in 1968 with an anticoagulant derived from a Malayan pit viper venom.’

‘I didn’t know that, either,’ he acknowledged with a grin that revealed straight, white teeth. As though he knew exactly what she was trying to do.

‘So, jungle woman,’ he asked softly in a way that didn’t make the term sound like an insult whatsoever, ‘what makes pit vipers so special?’

‘Because of disintegrins,’ she declared firmly, unable to help herself. ‘Which is a group of proteins found in bushmaster venom. Furthermore...’

The low reverberation of a gong cut her words short, and Flávia spun around as Isabella stepped forward to announce that the dinner was about to be served.

‘Shall we?’

Dropping her eyes, Flávia took in the sight of Jake’s proffered arm and strove unsuccessfully to quash another bout of shimmering nerves.

She bit back the stuttering words which suddenly cluttered up her throat and swallowed once, twice, until she was sure she could answer with confidence, even if she didn’t feel it.

‘I don’t believe we’re sitting at the same table so you should probably ask one of the women at your table. There’s a seating chart by the entrance.’

‘Actually, I believe we are.’ His voice rumbled around her, skimming over her skin and making it prickle like she’d somehow missed a joke she hadn’t realised someone had told.

‘Oh. Right.’ Her voice sounded odd, but she couldn’t help that.

It was the way he was watching her so curiously. So intently. His eyes holding hers and preventing her from dragging her gaze away, however hard she tried. And she did try. Because the longer he held the contact, the more certain she was that he could see into her, far deeper than her mere soul. Right down to that dark, unwelcome pit inside her, and every embarrassing secret that she’d long since buried within.

‘Very well, then.’

Squaring her shoulders, Flávia raised her arm and linked with Jake, but still she couldn’t steel herself enough against the thrill that rippled through her at the contact.

It was only as they moved to the entrance and past the board that she sneaked a glance at the chart; as she’d suspected, Jake—it still felt odd not thinking of him as Dr Jacob Cooper—wasn’t supposed to be at her table. Yet when he walked her to her seat—through the round tables, with their pale damask cloths and stunning flower-covered topiaries—there was his name, at the place setting right next to hers.

And she was far too pleased about it for her own liking. Not that she had to let him see that. She pulled her face into a disapproving frown.

‘Did you sneak in here and change this around?’

‘Are you accusing me of schoolboy tactics?’

Another grin, and another glimpse of that perfect mouth, which she couldn’t stop imagining against her skin. At the hollow of her neck, or trailing down her body. This time, there was no pushing the images away. So, instead, she focused on the rules. The regulations. The things which couldn’t get her into trouble.

‘You can’t just move things around on a whim. How did you even get in here? You realise these doors were locked for a reason?’ She was rattling off too many questions, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. ‘Months and months of planning went into this. Besides, you’re meant to be on one of the VIP tables, with Silvio Delgado. Experts in your field. How do you think he’s going to react to someone from my table being bumped up to take your place at his table?’

Despite her rambling, Jake looked as composed as ever. He flashed her another even smile, and Flávia told herself she didn’t feel it rushing through her, right down to her very toes. The thing was, no matter how Dr Delgado reacted to Jake’s stunt, she couldn’t imagine it intimidating the man standing in front of her right now.

Honestly, she couldn’t imagine anyone intimidating this man.

‘I imagine Silvio will be rather irked.’ Jake shrugged, proving the point. ‘But then, I imagine if it wasn’t me inconveniencing him, then it would be someone else, so that’s no great issue. Besides, do you not think that you’re as much an expert in your field as he is in his, Flávia?’

‘Yes, well...’ Heat flushed her at the compliment. ‘You still can’t go around moving people quer queira ou não.’

‘I don’t see why not.’ He laughed, a deep, rich sound which...did things to her.

‘Dr—’

‘Fine.’ He cut her off with another dazzling smile. ‘Would it settle you to know that I didn’t change the place settings?’

‘Really?’ Flávia raised her eyebrows sceptically. ‘Then who did?’

‘Isabella Sanchez,’ he answered slowly, flicking his arm out to where Isabella was leading another guest—presumably the guest originally intended to sit at their table—to Silvio Delgado’s table—as if playing his trump card.

Then again, he was playing it.

Isabella was ultimately responsible for organising this entire programme. She wasn’t a surgeon, or even a doctor, but she practically ran Hospital Universitário Paulista single-handedly. There wasn’t a single thing which went on within the brick, glass and metal walls that Isabella didn’t know about, and she controlled the floors with an iron fist clad in the most silken, smooth glove. She truly was a woman so formidable that even Silvio Delgado would be taking his life into his hands going up against her.

‘Why would she do that?’ Flávia shook her head.

‘Because I asked her to.’

‘Why?’

It still didn’t seem to make any sense.

‘Because I wanted to meet you properly.’ He lowered his voice until she had to lean in to hear him, so that she was no longer sure if they were talking medicine, or not, and it suddenly felt entirely too intimate.

‘I wanted a chance to talk to you.’

Flávia didn’t answer.

She couldn’t.

For the longest time she just watched him, his eyes snagging hers and refusing to let her look away. And she had the oddest sense that she was telling him entirely too much even though she wasn’t saying even a word. That he was reading the truths she preferred to keep securely hidden.

Oh, boy, she really was in so much trouble.

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