Private Partners (Doctors in Training 2)

“I know you do.” Anne’s heart clenched at the memory of how close she had come to losing her own mother. “Thank you again for the necklace. I’ll take very good care of it.”

“I know what a difficult time you’re having now. I remember from Stephen’s experience that the second semester of the second year is one of the most challenging parts of medical school. Several of his friends suffered severe burnout during that time, and I suspect Stephen was more stressed than he allowed us to see. I just want you to know your father and I are so very proud of you.”

Anne was immeasurably affected by her mother’s words. Yet, why did she now feel even more pressured than she had before? “Thanks, Mother. I’ll try to live up to your expectations.”

Her mother laughed and reached up to kiss her cheek. “We’ll always be proud of you, no matter what.”

Anne left without responding to that sentiment. As sweet and as heartfelt as it had been, she was fully aware she could disappoint her parents all too easily.

Anxious to get back to her studies, she parked her aging compact in front of her West Little Rock apartment and hurried up the stairs. Her small, two-bedroom apartment was on the second floor of the two-story, outward-opening building. She was already thinking about what subject she would study first when she paused in front of the door to insert her key in the lock. She wondered how much her study group had accomplished that evening. Maybe she should have met with them instead of taking the night off to dine with her family.

If she fell behind, she would never catch up.

Liam had always accused her of requiring too much of herself, on top of the expectations of her family. He’d told her she couldn’t hope to be perfect, that she didn’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations but her own—which were set much too high for an ordinary mortal. He’d never quite understood what it was like to be an Easton.

Less than half an hour after arriving at her apartment, she’d let down her hair and changed into comfortable clothes—a T-shirt and yoga pants with fuzzy socks. She booted up her computer in preparation of a few hours of studying before she crashed for the night. It was only 9:00 p.m., so she figured she had three or four solid study hours before her brain shut down.

She had just plopped down in her chair to get started when her doorbell rang.

She wasn’t expecting visitors that evening, and certainly not at that hour. Approaching the door warily, she ran through a mental list of possibilities. Maybe it was Haley from her study group, bringing by some notes or study materials, though Haley usually called before dropping in. Could be one of her neighbors, though she didn’t know any of them very well, since she was rarely home and usually locked in with her books when she was there. Her brother, maybe? Had she left something behind at her parents’ house?

When she looked through the peephole in the door and saw the face on the other side, she realized she never would have guessed correctly. It actually took her a moment to recognize him.

Disengaging the locks, she threw open the door. “Liam!”

“Hello, Annie.”

“What on earth are you doing here?” Had she somehow conjured him with her earlier thoughts of him?

Perfectly fitting the description, “tall, dark and handsome,” Liam gave her the kind of wickedly charming grin that could make an impressionable young woman do all kinds of crazy and irresponsible things.

“I wanted to see my wife,” he said in that beautifully modulated voice that whispered in her dreams so many nights.

Glancing instinctively around the otherwise empty landing to make sure no one else was within hearing, she moved aside. “Don’t just stand there. Come in.”

He didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation. He moved through the open doorway, scooping her into his arms and kicking the door closed behind him.

The kiss seemed to last for a very long time, and Anne would have been perfectly satisfied had it never ended. Only the eventual need for air brought them reluctantly to the surface.

Opening her eyes with a dazed blink, she realized she had practically climbed Liam like a tree. Her legs were wrapped around his lean hips, and his hands supported her beneath her bottom. Her arms had locked strangle-tight around his neck.

The metal-framed glasses he rarely wore sat a little crookedly on his nose and there was a smudge on the right lens.

Liam seemed to have no complaints about any of the above. He smiled at her with a flash of white teeth, looking as though he wouldn’t mind taking a bite of her as he nuzzled her cheek and nestled her more snugly against his notably aroused body. “Now, that’s what I call a welcome.”

Her cheeks warming—though not as hot as the temperature burning deep inside the core of her—she disentangled herself and stumbled an inch or so away from him. He let her go, making no effort to hide his reluctance to do so.

Anyone observing their reunion would find it hard to believe they had parted in a quarrel only a few months earlier, she realized with a hard swallow. But then, it had always been that way between them. When they were together, the explosive attraction between them had a way of making them forget the many reasons why they shouldn’t be.

She pushed her hands through the fine blond hair that tumbled in loose curls to the middle of her back. “I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. Why didn’t you call?”

“I’ve been trying for the past hour. You didn’t answer your phone.”

She clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh. I turned off the ringer earlier. I guess I forgot to turn it back on.”

She hadn’t wanted to interrupt her family dinner, and she hadn’t even thought of her phone since. She hadn’t been expecting any calls.

“You cut your hair.” She’d noticed immediately that his signature mop of almost shoulder-length dark curls was now tamed into a cut just a little longer than military length, but she’d been too distracted by his kiss to comment at first. He looked so different without all that hair. She’d once teased him that his hair was more famous than his face.