One Hot Night with Dr. Cardoza Page 14

  Maybe—but that didn’t answer the question. Why was he here? At the university where she just happened to be studying.

  He pushed away from the post and walked toward her, his cane nowhere to be seen.

  “Is...is your dad okay?”

  “He’s still in rehab. And retiring from the force, which makes my mother very happy.”

  “I’m so glad.” And she was. She knew Andre had survived his surgery, but the last news she’d heard after that was that it was still touch and go.

  She had been in contact with Krysta and Flávia, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one who’d had man trouble while in Brazil. She’d been too busy with her own love life to realize that her two friends were also sliding down the same slippery slope she’d been stuck on.

  She hoped they both got their happy endings, but as for her, she’d been so sure she wouldn’t be one of them...

  Except Roque was here.

  “Let’s try that again, shall we?” The smile was still in place. “Hello, Amy.”

  “Hi.”

  Good going—you couldn’t think of anything more profound than that?

  “You look good. You’ve started on your studies obviously.” He nodded at her bag.

  “I have.” Why wasn’t he telling her why he was here? Was he trying to torture her? Had she left something behind in Brazil?

  Ha! She had. But it wasn’t something you could pack in a bag and carry through customs.

  “Can we walk?” The last word stuck in her throat. She remembered the last time she’d suggested they do that. It had been to say that sleeping together had been a mistake. And it evidently had been. But try as she might, she couldn’t make herself regret the short amount of time they’d spent together. She’d hold it with her for the rest of her life, just like that shrine Roque’s mom had made out of his football artifacts. Because he was wrong. Some things shouldn’t be tossed away as if they never existed.

  He fell into step beside her, that little hitch of his still in evidence. But she loved it. Still loved everything about him.

  “I don’t know where to start. Other than to say I was wrong.”

  “Wrong?”

  “Wrong to not call you. Wrong to not try to work out some kind of alternate solution for a very real problem.”

  She stopped, her heart flipping around in her chest. “What problem is that?”

  “The fact that I live in Brazil, and you live in Florida.” He smiled. “It took my mom to make me realize that it’s not such a big problem at all.”

  Was he kidding? This wasn’t just a matter of physical distance. He’d been like a water spigot. On one second and off the next.

  “But you were hot, then cold, and now... I’m very confused.” Her mind was still stuck somewhere behind her and was pedaling as fast as it could to catch up. “I thought you weren’t a fan of long goodbyes.”

  “I’m not. But I was mistaken in thinking this had to be goodbye at all.”

  And just like that, the spigot was on again. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to survive if he suddenly turned it back off. She needed to be sure. Very sure.

  “Are you saying you don’t want it to be?”

  His fingers bracketed her face, and her eyes shut at the exquisiteness of feeling his skin on hers once again. “No. I don’t want it to be.”

  “But how can you be sure? You were so distant at the hospital.”

  He gave a pained laugh. “Part of it was the shock of the shooting, but part of it was the realization that your future was half a world away from mine. I was trying to do the right thing and let you walk out of my life.”

  “Try? You were very good at it, from what I remember.”

  “I know. And you don’t know how many times I’ve regretted it. Am I too late?”

  No, he wasn’t. And hearing his explanation made all the missing pieces fall into place. She finally understood why he’d seemed so distant. So completely unmoved by her presence. She’d done quite a bit of pretending herself over the course of her time in Brazil. Suddenly she knew what she was going to do. He’d sacrificed something. Maybe it was time for her to do the same.

  “I can drop out of the program. I only just started and—”

  “No. You’re not going to do that. I want you to finish.”

  She reveled in his words, his touch...his very presence. In those talented hands that were bringing hope back to life. “I don’t want you to feel you have to wait for me, though.”

  “My grasp of English is not always good, but I think if we change out one little word, it will make more sense. I’m not going to wait for you, Amy. I’m going to wait with you. Here in Florida.” He stopped for a second. “I love you. I was wrong not to say the words earlier, to let you go the way I did. Once I realized the truth, there was still my visa to get and flights to be arranged. What I had to say couldn’t be said over the phone, which is why I didn’t call you.”

  He kissed her cheek. “I’m hoping maybe you feel a little something for me, too.”

  There were a couple more things she needed to understand, although she was pretty sure she already knew the answers.

  “You called our time together unimportant.”

  “Yes. I knew that I’d chosen the wrong word. Because it wasn’t unimportant. It turned out to be the most important thing I’d ever done in my life. More important than my football days. More important than my medical career. I found love, when I thought I never would again.”

  She shut her eyes, and when she reopened them, he was still there, the imprint of his lips still fresh on her face. “You crazy, gorgeous surgeon, I do love you. You had to realize.”

  “I thought I had. But when my dad was shot, I realized I didn’t want you giving everything up for me. But you don’t have to.”

  She thought for a moment. But that still left... “I don’t want you giving everything up for me, either.”

  “That is a bridge we can cross in three years. When you walk down the aisle of the university and hold your degree in your hands.”

  He was really going to do it. He was moving here. For her. Because of her. With her. There were all kinds of prepositions she could substitute that would each end with her being with the man she loved.

  “Paulista let you leave?”

  “They did not have a choice. I was coming, whether they liked it or not. But the administrator assured me that I would have a job waiting if I ever decided to come back.”

  If he ever. “You mean you might stay here? For good?”

  “It’s a possibility. I actually contacted a nearby hospital and asked what the process would be to have my medical license transferred over. They want me to come in for talks. But I didn’t want to commit unless I know where your heart is.”

  “That’s the easiest question of all, Roque. My heart is wherever you are. I love you.”

  He leaned over and kissed her, this time on the lips, right there in the parking lot of the university. The world around them was still turning, but she felt like this moment was suspended in time. When he finally raised his head, he said, “Before I forget. My mom has a message for you.”

  “She does?”

  “She wants you to know that she has dreams of her own. Of working on another of your dresses. Only this one would be all white and would see me waiting for you at the end of another kind of aisle.”

  He reached in his pocket and fished out a little velvet container. But when he started to go down on one knee, she stopped him. “Your leg.”

  “My leg will survive. Let me do this.” He knelt in front of her and snapped open the lid of the box. Inside was a gorgeous ring, a center diamond flanked by two glowing emeralds. “Amy Woodell, will you marry me? Both here and in Brazil?”

  “Yes. Oh, yes! I’ll marry you wherever you want.”

  “We can have the ring
resized, but I wanted to bring it.” He plucked it from its velvet bed and slid it onto her finger. It fit almost perfectly. “I love it.” She couldn’t stop looking at it, almost too afraid to believe this was happening.

  “Amy?”

  “Yes?” She shifted her attention back where he was still kneeling in front of her.

  “When you’re done admiring that, I may have overestimated the abilities of my leg.”

  She stared at him, then realized what he meant and burst out laughing. Laughter she tried her best to suppress. It was no good. In between chuckles, she managed to get out, “Here. Let me help.”

  She hauled him to his feet, and soon all thoughts of laughter were swept away by the power of Roque’s kiss.

  And by the very strength of his love.

  EPILOGUE

  AMY WAS NOT the bride. Not this time, anyway.

  That had happened six months earlier, and Claudia had indeed made her dress.

  But she was one of the bridesmaids at this particular ceremony, as was Flávia. Her two lecture series friends had also gotten their happy endings, and she was thrilled for them both.

  Krysta and Francisco stood in an intimate circle of their family and closest friends and repeated the vows they’d written to each other, their voices ringing with happiness and conviction.

  Roque gripped her hand tightly, leaning slightly on his cane today. But it was okay. They’d each learned to provide support to the other when it was needed the most.

  Krysta’s wedding was much different from her own, but it was still beautiful, their love for each other permeating the air around them.

  She glanced to her right and caught sight of Flávia holding her baby against her chest, her husband’s arm around her shoulders. No one had realized the venom specialist was pregnant during the last part of their stay in Brazil, not even the man standing next to her.

  Those days spent together at Paulista seemed like an eternity ago. But the hospital’s pull on them was still strong, the bonds forged during their time together proving to be unbreakable. Unlike Roque’s words, she didn’t want to say goodbye to that past, since it had played a role in the future they were carving out together.

  And whether they decided to come back to Brazil after she earned her degree or stay in the States, she knew it wouldn’t matter one way or the other as long as they were together.

  Evidently the other two couples felt the same way, because standing in a simple garden in a small Brazilian town near where Francisco’s family lived, the friends were bearing witness to a love they’d all found.

  The officiating minister lifted his right hand and pronounced Krysta and Francisco husband and wife. And when he invited the bride and groom to kiss, it wasn’t the only kiss that was had in that tiny garden.

  And it wouldn’t be the only kiss in the days to come. For Brazil had woven a tapestry of love and friendship in their lives that would endure long after they said their goodbyes and left for different parts of the world.

  Because that was what love did.

  It endured. For always.

  * * *

  Look out for the previous stories in the A Summer in São Paulo trilogy

  Awakened by Her Brooding Brazilian

  by Ann McIntosh

  Falling for the Single Dad Surgeon

  by Charlotte Hawkes

  And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Tina Beckett

  Miracle Baby for the Midwife

  A Christmas Kiss with Her Ex-Army Doc

  A Family to Heal His Heart

  The Surgeon’s Surprise Baby

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from From Hawaii to Forever by Julie Danvers.

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  From Hawaii to Forever

  by Julie Danvers

  CHAPTER ONE

  AS SHE STEPPED off the plane in Honolulu, Dr. Katherine Murphy shook the last few drops of water from her snow boots. When she’d boarded the plane in Chicago, snow had caked her boots and dusted her winter coat. A few droplets of water were all that had managed to survive the flight, and now she shook them off with relish. Back home, temperatures were below freezing and the snow was several inches deep. But here in Hawaii a steady, gentle breeze rustled through the palm trees.

  Goodbye, ice and cold, Kat thought, stepping into the early-morning sun.

  Although she was still wearing the winter clothes she’d had on when she left, her carry-on luggage contained sixteen bathing suits, a floppy hat and sunglasses, and numerous pairs of flip-flops. At the last minute she’d remembered to throw in her white coat and a stethoscope before zipping the small suitcase shut. The rest of her belongings had already been shipped separately to her new home on the island of Oahu.

  Kat couldn’t believe that just three weeks ago, she had been one of the most respected physicians in Chicago. Three weeks ago she’d expected to be promoted to head of the internal medicine department at Chicago Grace Memorial, the prestigious hospital where she’d completed her residency and spent most of her career. Three weeks ago her future had seemed stable, secure and predictable.

  Three weeks ago she and Christopher had been days away from getting married.

  Kat glanced at the faint line on her finger where her engagement ring used to be. She still felt a hard lump rise in her throat every time she thought about the breakup.

  Tears blurred her eyes, but she fought them back and tried to smile as an airport attendant greeted her warmly and placed a beautiful lei of purple orchids over her head. Kat shook the tears away and raised her chin. Her new job as an internist and infectious disease specialist at Oahu General Hospital was a chance for a fresh start, and there was no point in dwelling on the past.

  Goodbye, old life, she thought. And goodbye, Christopher.

  Leaving her steady, predictable life in Chicago and moving to Hawaii ranked very high on the list of things Kat had thought she would never do. But then, she’d also never thought she would lose her promotion, her job and her fiancé on the same day.

  In her mind, she thought of it as the Day of Doom.

  Three weeks ago she’d huddled under a thick down blanket inside her apartment, the outside world covered with an even thicker layer of February snow, trying to figure out how she could ever face the world again. Everything she’d ever worked for—her medical career, her wedding, her family’s hopes and dreams for her—had disappeared in an instant.

  She’d just begun thinking about how long she could reasonably hide in her apartment before she would need to forage for food when her best friend from medical school had called with an intriguing proposal. Selena was the clinical director at a small hospital in Hawaii, and she’d called to ask if Kat knew anyone who would be interested in working in Honolulu for one year, to assist with research into and treatment of a rare strain of flu.

  Kat had shocked herself by volunteering for th
e position.

  Her mother and her friends in Chicago had been equally shocked. Kat couldn’t blame them. Making spontaneous, impulsive decisions wasn’t exactly her strongest personality trait. From the time she was sixteen and had decided she wanted to be a doctor, every important decision she’d made had been the result of careful planning and research. Everything in her life from her career to her closest relationships had been built on a foundation of logical, practical choices.

  Kat’s friends told her she was “certifiably Type A,” and Kat had to admit that they were right. She was never one to leap without looking first.

  But that had been the old Kat. The Kat who had been blissfully unaware of how much life could change in a single day.

  Kat had always thought that her cautious, well-planned approach to life would protect her from unexpected surprises. She’d believed that if she was prepared for anything then she would be able to handle whatever life threw at her. But now, as she felt the empty space on her ring finger, she realized that what people said about best-laid plans was true: you could plan and plan, but you never really knew what would happen next.

  Kat had spent her life planning, but she still hadn’t been prepared for the breakup. And she definitely hadn’t been prepared to lose her job—a job she’d loved and had spent her entire career working toward.

  Yes, m’dear, you have definitely hit a low point, Kat thought to herself as she stepped out of the airport.

  And caught her breath.

  She had never seen such lush natural beauty in her life. Pink and yellow plumeria flowers lined the sidewalk, their scent wafting toward her and mixing with the perfume arising from the lei of orchids she wore around her neck. In the distance, mountains rose to meet a cloudless blue sky. Each path was framed by tall palm trees with large fronds that waved gently in the cool breeze.

  Kat stopped and took in a slow, deep breath. The air itself smelled of flowers, and she wanted to savor the scent.

  As she inhaled, she suddenly wondered when she had last stopped to breathe so deeply. She couldn’t remember. Her life after medical school had been all about the fast pace of the ER. Someone had always needed her time or her attention, and needed it right away. But now, for the first time in years, there was no emergency to attend to. In this moment no one was expecting anything from her. No life-or-death decisions awaited her attention.