The Last Doctor She Should Ever Date by Louisa George Read Free Book Online Page B

little room for making good decisions.
    Out of the corner of his eye he saw her telltale finger-wrapped-round-with-hair habit. Any second now it would reach her mouth. He waited.
    Bingo. Her teeth nibbled around her finger...her eyes hooded and cautious. And it hit him then that standing in front of Davide wasn’t just a minor irritation for Dani, it was full-blown stress. Gone was the competent physiotherapist who’d looked Manu in the eye and told him she was boss. And back now was the cautious girl he’d glimpsed last night on the red carpet. The one who tried to show the world she could handle anything. But this? This softening made his heart ache.
    If this was the kind of anxious reaction she had in Davide’s presence, then Zac vowed to put her under no further pressure with flirty games. This wasn’t an easy score, or a quick wrestle between the sheets. This was a woman who clearly craved her father’s approval. And he wouldn’t be the one to snatch that away from her.
    As the last person left the room he took control. ‘Mr Danatello, the story in the papers is pure fabrication. Just a whole load of sensational nonsense.’
    ‘So there’s nothing I should know?’ Davide pierced Zac with an unwavering stare as he threw a newspaper onto the table. His finger jabbed at the grainy photograph. ‘I hate surprises. I hate being lied to. I hate being kept in the dark about anything. And I mean...anything.’
    Although he’d seen scant evidence of it in his own life Zac understood a father’s need to protect. But something about Danatello made him think the entrepreneur had a different agenda’not so much protecting his daughter, more power and control.
    ‘My private life’s not open to scrutiny, Davide. But, for the record, Dani and I met for the first time on the red carpet and we walked into the dinner together. That’s it. The photograph was taken from an odd angle. No further discussion needed. There’s nothing more between us.’ Yeah, right. Like the more he said it, the more it’d be true?
    ‘No, Daddy. There is absolutely nothing going on.’ Again he felt Dani stiffen beside him, her voice wavering. ‘I’m sorry about all this fuss.’
    Zac turned and saw her crestfallen face, her slumped shoulders. Shoot, this was the twenty-first century’no woman should feel under that kind of pressure to make a man happy. Especially when it was Zac’s fault, not hers. His hands fisted at his sides. All his life he’d wished he’d stood up to his own father, now he could at least do it for Dani.
    ‘I took Dani’s arm to steer her through the barrage of intrusive journalists. I’m not sorry at all and I’d do it again in a flash. But I am disappointed a man and woman can’t be seen together in public without gossip and innuendo. And that people actually care about the rubbish they read.’ He glared at Danatello, hoping his message would get across. Back off. With his job on the line he had to pick his words carefully. Ignoring Danatello’s open mouth he fixed his gaze on Dani. ‘We work well together and we’ll make a good team. I only care about helping the Jets win. That’s all. I’ll see you in the morning.’
    * * *
    Dani caught up with Zac in the foyer waiting for the lift. Would every evening end with them zooming skywards with no words and a raging tension between them? Bring on the final and then home, sweet home.
    But instead of dampening her irrational attraction to him the whole scenario had heightened it. The guy had powerful honed to perfection. He turned and fixed her with an intense gaze filled with passion and strength, and the force of it hit her hard in the solar plexus. Gone was the playboy flirt, here was a man of substance. In fact, everything she’d seen of him today’in the treatment room, pitch-side, with her father, had fitted pieces to a jigsaw that made him gloriously whole. Professional, charismatic. Desirable. Sex on legs. Very nice legs, very muscly legs, if the