Free The M.D.'s Surprise Family by Marie Ferrarella

grounded when all the forces of the known world conspired to make her let go and just be, just feel.
    A sigh escaped her.
    It had been a very, very long time since she’d allowed herself this kind of a connection. In her own way, she was as removed as the doctor she was trying to bring around. She hadn’t lost a soul mate, but she had lost pieces of her soul. Her parents had been very precious to her and the irony that they had died while on their way to see her moment of triumph was not lost on her. It brought with it a vast amount of guilt.
    She tried to assuage her guilt by being both mother and father to Blue. And by running the company that her parents had started. It was their legacy, as was Blue, and neither was going to be allowed to be anything less than perfect in every way.
    It kept her from making any deeply personal connections. Not the kind that would ultimately result in her having a home and family of her own. She had the memory of receiving her diploma, then being taken aside by a teacher and told that two-thirds of her family had died and that the little brother she adored was fighting for his life. This memory kept her from making any more commitments.
    But this wasn’t a commitment. This was some thing different.
    For a moment longer she allowed the kiss to deepen, allowed the sensation to quicken every pulse in her body. And then, because she knew that if it went on even a breath longer, she might not be able to regain her footing, might not be able to stand, much less think clearly, Raven pulled back.
    Her heart was hammering so hard, she was ninety-eight percent certain it would lodge itself inher throat, preventing her from talking. She cleared her throat for just that reason, to make sure she still could.
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    She’d kissed him.
    The thought throbbed through his brain as more and more functioning parts returned. He struggled to keep them from floating away again.
    â€œWhy did you do that?” he asked, looking at her. “Why did you kiss me?”
    â€œBecause you needed me to,” she replied without blinking an eye. Inside, there were banked questions of her own. Questions such as, Had he been as affected by the kiss as she had? Had the world trembled for him the way it had for her? Or had the strain of worrying about Blue, about what could happen to her brother if things went wrong, finally made her crack?
    â€œI need you to?” He stared at her. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œYou seemed so alone—”
    He gestured toward her impatiently. “I was standing here with you.”
    â€œYou can be in the middle of a crowd and still be alone.”
    He didn’t like the fact that she was playing Gypsy fortune-teller with him. Worse, he didn’t like the fact that she seemed to be reading him so well. Because she was right on target, which was waging hell on his resolution to keep his distance from theworld at large. He wasn’t about to let any of it in, ever. The price was too high.
    And what he hated most of all was that the desire to take her back into his arms, to kiss her again with the same feeling, the same passion he just experienced, was still alive, still thriving in his veins, urging him on.
    He shrouded himself in anger. It was the only weapon he had.
    â€œI don’t need to be psychoanalyzed, Raven.” Because she’d unsettled so much inside of him, he glared at her. “We’ll get along a lot better if you keep that in mind.”
    â€œIt wasn’t a matter of psychoanalyzing you,” she told him gently. “It was more a case of one kindred soul connecting with another.”
    â€œAnd that’s how you connect?”
    She gave a half shrug, one shoulder rising, brushing against her hair. “Beats paper clips.”
    She’d called them kindred souls. He was no more like her than he was like a mermaid. Trying to get a grip on his thoughts, he shook his head and laughed dryly. “You