Sydney Harbour Hospital: Lexi's Secret by Melanie Milburne Page A

He’s ruined everything.’
    ‘I know it’s hard for you to finally realise Dad isn’t perfect,’ Evie said. ‘You’ve had him on a pedestal for such a long time. And while I don’t agree with his methods, I think his motives probably came from the right place. He was worried about you wrecking your life. Sam was so much older and he was battle-scarred. Dad could probably see that and just did what he could to protect you.’
    ‘I wish he’d left me to sort my own life out,’ Lexi said bitterly. ‘Why did he have to play God?’
    ‘Tread carefully, Lexi,’ Evie cautioned. ‘You’ve got enough on your plate with organising the ball as well as your wedding without looking for more drama from home. You know what Dad’s like. He can be an absolute bastard if you get on the wrong side of him. I should know. I’ve done it enough times.’
    ‘I don’t care,’ Lexi said with a steely look of determination. ‘I’m going to have it out with him. I don’t care if he gets upset and rants and raves. I want him to face what he’s done. He’s coming back tonight from his weekend away. I can’t just ignore this. I can’t let him get away with it. It’s my life, my happiness we’re talking about here.’
    Evie let out a sigh. ‘You won’t get him to apologise, Lexi. You do know that, don’t you?’
    Lexi set her mouth into an intractable line. ‘I want him to realise you can’t use people like chess pieces on a board. You just can’t do that.’
    ‘Good luck with it, hon,’ Evie said. She paused before she added, ‘Oh, and maybe you should try a little concealer on that rash before you go home.’
    Sam walked back to his office with the taste of Lexi still fresh on his tongue and the skin of his cheek still stinging from her slap. He knew he had probably deserved it. He had goaded her. He couldn’t seem to stop himself from needling her. He had wanted a rise out of her. He had wanted her all stirred up and fiery. It made his blood thrum when she looked at him with those flashing sparks in her big blue eyes and her beautiful breasts heaving in anger.
    He had wanted to kiss her. No point denying it. Hehad wanted to from the first day he’d run into her in the car park. She kept waving that flashy engagement ring under his nose but the way she’d kissed him back just now made him wonder if she was as in tune physically with her fiancé as she was with him.
    And that was another thing there was no point denying, even though she seemed stubbornly determined to do so. Their physical chemistry was as strong and overpowering as ever.
    He was going to have to watch his step. Having an illicit affair with Lexi now wouldn’t be a great career move, not with her engaged to one of the hospital’s biggest supporters. But, oh, how he wanted her! It was a constant ache in his flesh. He had only to think of her and he was swelling with need.
    He was still having trouble processing the news of her virginity. How had he not noticed that? It made him feel uneasy that he had rushed her into bed without considering the implications. They had mostly practised safe sex. Mostly. He had only once … OK, maybe it had been twice … failed to use a condom in his haste to have her in the shower. His stomach clenched when he thought of how much he had demanded of her back then. She had met those demands with unbridled enthusiasm but it still made him feel he had exploited her. There was so much about Lexi he hadn’t known back then. But now he suspected her sassy, smart-mouthed comebacks were a shield she hid behind when she was feeling threatened. She played the nose-in-the-air socialite role so well. The way she looked down her cute little nose at him, calling him country boy as if he still had hay between his teeth. Hell, it only made him want her more!
    Maybe he was being overly cautious about the careerrisk. Maybe a short get-it-out-of-his-system affair would clear the air between them. After it was over—and he knew it