Love Chronicles

He didn’t want his insides burning, knew from experience what kind of failure that always brought about, despite his need to socialize with someone of the female persuasion who wasn’t his mother or his sister. He clenched his jaw tighter, ready to cut out.

Jenny noticed him, smiled and spoke up. “Hey, Connor, have you met Sunny?” She turned to Sunny and gestured to Connor. “This is my brother, Connor.”

Sunny looked up and her smile faded. “Oh, we’ve already met.”

He inclined his head. “Yes, we have, haven’t we?”

Jenny frowned and looked at Sunny. “Didn’t you say you just arrived in town?”

“I did.” Sunny took a sip of tea. “I stopped by your brother’s office first thing.” She put her tea down, smiled and drilled him with her amber-shaded gaze. “We had business, didn’t we, Dr. Forbes?”

He nodded, betting she was going to go into how he’d turned down her bid to be his partner to Jenny, whose mission in life was to take over.

Jennifer looked at him, one blond brow raised. “What kind of business, Connor?” She glanced back at Sunny. “You’re not sick, are you?”

Sunny shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

“Then what…?” Jenny asked, looking back and forth between them.

To her credit, Sunny remained silent, her gaze now on her teacup, when she could have busted him to his sister. He forced out a breath. He might as well come clean. Jenny would ferret out the truth eventually, and would definitely hear about it from their dad. Besides, he’d done the right thing. Sunny’s treatment methods had no place in his world. She was a temptation he wanted to avoid. No way was he changing his mind.

Connor sat down next to Jenny. “Dad brought Sunny here to be my partner. I vetoed the idea,” he said, dumping out the whole story in a few words. He braced himself, waiting for Jenny’s outrage.

She gasped and widened her eyes. “You did what?” she said, delivering the expected reaction right on cue. She was so predictable, even to someone like him, who, according to his second-to-last girlfriend, was horribly left-brained and didn’t clue into people’s personalities very well.

“I said no,” he reiterated, wanting this whole thing over. “End of story.”

“But why?” Jenny asked, her voice rife with amazed puzzlement. “Sunny’s just what you need, brother.”

He ignored the need Sunny could help him with and shook his head. “I know what I need, and she’s not it.” He gazed at Sunny. “It’s nothing personal. I just don’t want a partner.”

Sunny stared back, nodding. “Oh, so when you said that everything you do is based on science, and anything else is of no use to you, you didn’t mean for me to take it personally?” She lobbed him a sweet-edged smile. “I would hate to misunderstand you, Dr. Forbes.”

“Connor!” Jenny said, her hazel eyes full of sisterly horror. “Tell me you didn’t say that.”

Both women stared at him; if looks could kill, he’d be keeling over dead. What was the big deal? “Look, I based my decision on concrete, practical reasoning,” he said, explaining his rationale. “I simply meant that my practice is based on science, not massage or yoga, and that Sunny and I wouldn’t be compatible working partners. Dad arranged this without my knowledge and since I’m in charge now, I felt I had the right to make that decision.”

They were silent for a few moments, and then Jenny gave a long-suffering sigh and skewered him with a hard gaze. “You’re so full of it, Connor. The truth is, you’re a stick-in-the-mud from way back. The thought of doing something differently, of straying one millimeter from your moldy science textbooks and boring medical journals scares the pants off of you.”

He mentally rolled his eyes. His family had been trying to loosen him up for years, Jenny especially. She just didn’t understand that he was his own man and was nothing like her or anyone else in his family.

While he sat there wondering why he needed to explain something so simple, Sunny reached over and touched his forearm, sending sparks racing up his arm. She chimed in with, “Don’t worry, Dr. Forbes. I’m sure you look very, very good with no pants.”

Jenny and Sunny laughed and Connor raised his brows at Sunny. Wow. She was something, able to fling the horse manure right back at him. Oddly, he liked that.

So what? He might appreciate her spunk, but he wasn’t about to let her know it, or let it matter. She stared back, a becoming blush spreading across her cheeks. Then her eyes popped wide and she jerked her hand back, knocking Jenny’s orange juice over.

Right onto his lap.

He let out a colorful oath. Sunny jumped up and clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, oh, I’m so sorry.” She picked up a napkin, obviously intending to blot up the mess.

She stopped, her hand holding the napkin hovering over his juice-saturated lap. “Uh, well…” She blushed and waved the napkin. “I…guess you better take care of that.” She shoved the napkin at him. “I’m so sorry. I’m not usually the clumsy sort.”

He took the napkin, her blush conjuring up all kinds of thoughts he shouldn’t be having, and dabbed at his lap. “Yeah, I’ll bet.” He heard a snorting sound and swung his gaze to Jenny, who was holding a hand over her mouth, trying to keep her laugh contained and doing a bad job of it.

Sunny sat down, her cheeks blazing pink, her pretty brown eyes reflecting her obvious embarrassment. Man, her gorgeous face would be tough to forget.

But he would. He didn’t need a partner and he certainly didn’t need to fail at another relationship, although a no-strings-attached date sounded good…

Before the conversation started up again, Julie approached the table, her first pregnancy just beginning to show. “Uh, Connor, could I talk to you for a moment?”

He nodded, hiding his wet lap with his napkin. “Sure, Julie, what’s up? The baby okay?”

“Yeah, he’s just fine,” she said, rubbing a hand over her burgeoning belly. “I was needing to talk to Mr. Commitment.”

Oh, man. Not that. “Uh, well, Julie—”

“The thing is, Bud works all day, sometimes late, and when he comes home, all he wants to do is crash in front of the TV, watching sports. I’m kind of lonely, Doc. What do you suggest?”

He sat and thought for a moment, and incredibly, the answer to her problem was easy to figure out. “That sounds like nothing a good book wouldn’t solve, Julie.”

She stared at him, her chin pulled in. “You think?”

“I’m sure of it,” he said, patting her hand. “Reading will keep you entertained for hours.” Maybe this Mr. Commitment stuff wouldn’t be so hard after all.

She wandered off, shaking her head.

When he looked at Jenny and Sunny, both were sporting dropped jaws and wide eyes. “What?” he asked.

Jenny gave him a long-suffering look and said, “You’re clueless and hopeless.” She then stood and gestured with a crook of her hand for Sunny to follow. “Come on, Sunny. My brother isn’t the only one with some say-so around here.” She gave him a saccharine smile. “Thanks for picking up the tab.”

Connor stood and Sunny slid out of the booth, smiling, though it seemed forced. “Thanks for everything, Dr. Forbes.”

Meaning, thanks for nothing. He had to give her credit. She obviously had a knack for holding her own. One more thing to like. One more reason to forget her.

Jenny called Sunny from the door of the diner. Sunny gave him a sheepish look, her plump bottom lip clamped between her teeth. “I gotta go.” She glanced down at his lap. “Do, uh, you have that taken care of?” She snapped her gaze back up, her face coloring again. “The juice spill, I mean.”

Seeing her so flustered forced a smile. “It’s fine, nothing that won’t dry.”

She nodded, moving away. “Oh, good.” She waved. “Bye.”

He was left standing next to the booth alone, Sunny’s floral scent belatedly washing over him after she’d walked by. Despite the coolness of the spilled juice, heat flared down low.

He was tempted to turn around and watch her walk away so he could enjoy the sight of her slim but curvy hips moving beneath her skirt and her toned calves flexing as she walked.

Instead, he sat and took a swig of strong, hot coffee, an irritating helplessness washing over him. Just his damn luck Sunny seemed like just the woman to put an end to his desire for some casual female companionship.

Just as bad, Sunny had met Jenny. His younger sister was as tenacious as a mule when she felt someone had been treated unfairly.