He nodded, taking a step toward her to close the distance she’d put deliberately between them. “A few kisses isn’t enough to change everything.”
“Well, yes, that’s what I just said. I…”
His hands closed around her forearms and he pulled her toward him with a little more intensity than usual. There was no hint of the clown in his eyes when he lowered his head.
“A change is on the way,” he warned, just before his lips closed over hers.
This kiss was definitely different. Sensations exploded inside her when he deepened the embrace, taking her mouth with a thorough, masculine confidence that made every feminine cell inside her spring to life. His tongue thrust between her lips, exploring and claiming. His arms were strong around her, holding her so tightly against him she couldn’t possibly be unaware of his hunger for her.
She locked her arms around his neck and strained to get closer, her tongue parrying his with an equal fervor. All the impatient curiosity building inside her for the past few weeks fueled her response to this embrace, urging her to push on, to explore, to finally have her answer to the question that had been haunting her. What would it be like when they finally came together?
This preview was telling her it was going to be amazing. Perhaps life changing. And that thought scared her as much as it thrilled her.
Ron’s hands slid down her hips, moving inward to cup her bottom, to fit her even more snugly against him. He tilted his head to taste her lips from a new angle. She locked her fingers in his hair, holding him there while she thoroughly explored every inch of his mouth.
Her tingling breasts flattened against his broad chest, she rocked lightly against him, eliciting a groan from him. His fingers dug spasmodically into her, and this time the moan was hers.
He tore his mouth from hers with a gasp. “Haley—”
Drawing a deep, hitching breath, she pushed lightly against him. He released her immediately, a kaleidoscope of emotions shifting through his darkened blue eyes.
Everything was changing. Had already changed.
Without a word, she held out a hand to him, pleased that it was relatively steady.
Ron glanced from that offered hand to her face. He must have read the invitation in her expression. He took her hand in a grip that was just short of painful before deliberately loosening his grasp.
Haley turned and led him to her bedroom.
More kisses. More leisurely, yet increasingly urgent, caresses. Exploring touches. Encouraging murmurs.
Clothing fell to the floor, tangled in piles of his and hers. A sweep of Ron’s hand and the decorative throw pillows from her bed tumbled on top of the clothing.
What might have been a long time later—or maybe only minutes—Ron hovered over her, his hair tousled around his face, which was taut with need and restraint. The dimmed bedside lamp threw shadows across his features, changing his appearance in some way. Or was she simply seeing him differently now?
She reached up to stroke a lock of hair out of his eyes. Though her entire body quivered with eager need, she didn’t try to rush him. She savored the moment. The anticipation. The certainty that the wait would be justified.
He pressed his lips lightly against her cheek, trailing a line of kisses to her mouth, which he took tenderly this time, weakening whatever defenses she might have had left against him. Her hand slid to the back of his head, her fingers burying themselves in hi
s hair.
His bare skin was so warm against hers, as if heated by a low-grade fever. She knew the heat had nothing to do with illness. She suspected her own skin felt as warm to his prowling hands.
Poised to join them, he hesitated one last time, looking down at her as if to be sure she hadn’t changed her mind. For just a fleeting moment, she asked herself what on earth she was doing. This was Ron! Her friend, her study partner, her sometimes squabble mate. The man who exasperated her with his lack of willingness to fully commit, who teased her mercilessly until she snapped at him, who she’d always thought of as a charming, walking heartache. Ron.
The man whose touch made her yearn for more.
Smiling mistily, she arched to welcome him. With a muffled groan, he accepted the invitation.
Ron’s mood was so good for the next few days that nearly everyone he encountered seemed compelled to comment on his cheery attitude. He flirted more vigorously with the female staff, joked with the guys, teased with his patients, reassured and comforted their families.
Maybe he felt so confident because things were going so well at work—he’d even received a few grudging compliments from his resident and attending. He was actually starting to feel like a physician—or at least, a potential one. And while he knew things could take a fast downturn in that respect, with one embarrassing gaffe or one poorly timed moment of forgetfulness, he decided to enjoy his good fortune while it lasted.
He behaved himself as best he could around Haley, at least when other people were around. She was extremely busy during those days and they barely had time to greet each other in the hallways, but he relished the new warm gleam in her eyes when she saw him. At least, he thought he saw a new warmth there. He hoped he wasn’t simply projecting his own feelings onto her.
For the first time in more years than he could remember, Ron was almost giddily optimistic about his future. He was going to be a doctor, he would help people—kids…and he had good reason to believe that Haley would be very much a part of that fulfilling future. There was nothing more he could ask for now.
Watching Haley laughing with one of the nurses over a particularly amusing patient, he swallowed hard on a sudden wave of unease. It had been so long since he’d allowed himself to want anything this badly. Since he’d invested so much of himself in anything, knowing that it wouldn’t be so easy to walk away this time.