Re-Awakening His Shy Nurse. Annie Claydon

folded the notes, putting them into her bag. ‘Consider it done. What size …?’ In the darkness, Luke couldn’t see whether she was blushing or not, but from the way she suddenly looked away from him she probably was. Something inside him crowed with triumph at the thought. ‘They only come in small, medium and large, so I’ll get large.’

      ‘That’ll be fine.’ A thought struck him. ‘Is Olenka ever going to speak to me again?’

      She laughed. Luke could almost feel her breath on his cheek. It was time to step back, but somehow he couldn’t. ‘Olenka will be fine. She’ll probably give you free coffee for a week for taking me off her hands.’

      ‘I doubt it.’ How could she think so little of herself? Luke wondered whether the answer to that was in the manila envelope tucked in his notecase. He’d have to lock it away safely somewhere and consider swallowing the key.

      She didn’t reply. As she turned to unlock her car, the temptation to take her by the shoulders and shake this nonsense out of her gripped Luke and he stumbled backwards. He wasn’t her lover, her social worker or even really a friend. He was just a guy who’d offered her a three-month contract, and it didn’t matter what either of them thought of each other as long as she did the job.

      ‘I’ll see you next week, then.’ Maybe he should start as he meant to go on. No popping into the coffee shop just to see her in the meantime.

      ‘Yes. I’m looking forward to it.’ She grinned at him. ‘Don’t forget your coffee run in the morning.’

      ‘Um … no, of course not.’ So much for good intentions. When she came to work with him Luke was going to have to do a little better than that.

      That wasn’t going to be a problem. He only needed to think about his marriage, and how a woman’s secrets had almost destroyed him, to know that Katya’s personal life would stay locked away in that envelope and that he would stay away from her. Anything else could shatter everything he’d built here, and he wasn’t about to do that.