Read The Perfect Gift: A Christmas Billionaire Sexy Romance (Three Wise Men Book 1) for Free Online Page B

eyes. “I like yoga. I paint a bit, not well, terribly messy abstract stuff that doesn’t mean anything to anyone but me, but I like doing it. I listen to funky rhythm and blues and jazz, and I can sing a bit. I like watching comedies that make me laugh and emotional dramas that make me cry. I love chocolate and I hate ginger. How’s that?”
    Brock studied her face, watching how it lit up as she talked about the things she enjoyed doing. She’d look a million dollars in a designer dress with her hair done, makeup applied, and expensive jewelry glittering at her ears and on her fingers, but equally he loved her fresh-faced look, her sheer joie-de-vivre. She obviously thought she’d lost it since becoming a mother, but it was still there, like the Christmas baubles hanging by the counter that glittered when they caught the light.
    “So,” she said, a light pink touching her cheekbones as he continued to watch her. “You’re a consultant pediatrician at Auckland Hospital?”
    “Yes. My brother Charlie works there too—he develops medical equipment. My other brother you know as Matt King—he of Ward Seven fame.” He waited for her to quiz him about Matt the way most women did, captivated by the guy who was famous nationwide for his Kiwi cartoon characters.
    “So what made you want to be a doctor?” she asked instead. “And a pediatrician at that?”
    Warmed by her interest, he finished off his cake, pushed away the plate, and sat back in his chair. “My sister, Pippa, died when I was fourteen. She had an asthma attack. She was only eight. I was looking after her while my parents took Matt and Charlie to a school football competition. It was the middle of winter, freezing cold, but Pippa was bored and annoyed that the guys had gone to play football without her, so I took her into the garden for a kick around.”
    It was still surprisingly difficult to talk about it, even after all these years. Brock concentrated on the table, picking at a black mark on the plastic with his nail. “I stuck her in goal, which she wasn’t happy about, but I was six years older than her and she tended to do whatever I wanted. We played for a while, and then she started complaining she was wheezy. Now, I recognize she’d had signs of asthma for a while. She had a recurrent cough. After playing sports and in the cold weather she’d sometimes complain of shortness of breath, but it always went away after a while. One doctor prescribed her an inhaler, but she didn’t like using it as none of us really understood asthma, and we didn’t realize how important it was. In a family of four kids, nobody has much sympathy with illness.”
    In spite of his attempt at humor, to his surprise Erin reached out and held his hand, so she’d obviously spotted that this was still difficult. “Go on,” she said.
    He shivered as she brushed her thumb across the back of his hand. “Eventually Pippa stopped playing,” he said distantly, “and sat on the grass. I teased her for a moment, then realized she was really in trouble. I carried her inside but by then she was barely breathing. I rang for an ambulance but she died before it turned up.”
    Erin pressed her fingers to her mouth. “Oh, Brock. That’s awful.”
    He didn’t say anything for a moment, and neither did she. Her hand was warm on his, and he concentrated on the feelings that gentle stroking of his skin aroused in him. He’d been too long without human touch, he thought. He hugged his mother, occasionally kissed a female friend on the cheek, but this was different. It felt intimate and sensual, and it stirred up a confusing swirl of emotions, from guilt to comfort to pleasure.
    He swallowed and tried to concentrate. “I’d not been great at school before that—I was bright but messed around a lot, and my grades were all over the place. After she died, though, I decided I was going to become a doctor and do my best to make sure others didn’t have to go through what I went