That First Special Kiss

Joe chuckled. “You sound as if you’re going to slow down in front of her building and tell her to jump.”

Shane laughed. “Maybe I’ll come to a complete stop, if she asks me nicely.”

Kelly made a face at him, but said only, “I just have to get my coat and I’ll be ready.”

There was no question, of course, that Shane would accompany her inside when they arrived at her apartment. She didn’t bother to ask and he didn’t wait for an invitation. He simply followed her in, closing the door behind him. He waited until she turned on a lamp and the Christmas tree lights. And then he pulled her into his arms without giving her a chance to resist.

Not that she would have resisted, she thought as she lifted her face to his.

He held her so tightly, he almost squeezed the air out of her. And then he kissed her until her head buzzed from lack of oxygen. She didn’t complain. Right now, she needed Shane more than she needed her next breath.

When he finally lifted his head, she sagged against him, drawing in a long, unsteady breath. “Wow,” she said after a moment.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all evening,” he growled. “Do you know how tempted I was to kiss you on the dance floor?”

“Shane...”

“Don’t frown at me like that. I didn’t kiss you, did I? I did exactly what you wanted, behaved just like your older brother or favorite cousin. But I didn’t like seeing you in this great dress and only being able to tell you that you looked ‘nice.’ And I hated having Brynn try to fix up you with some clown right in front of me.”

Every word he said only added to her anxiety. She could only imagine how everyone would have acted if Shane had followed through on his impulses at the dance. If he had kissed her on the dance floor, acted possessive in front of the new doctor in town, their friends would have been stunned, and gossip would have flown. By tomorrow, the news would have made its way through two large families—the Walkers and the D’Alessandros. Everyone would be speculating about what was happening between Shane and Kelly. They would want to know how long this had been going on, where it was headed. How long it would last.

And then, if—when, most likely, she amended pessimistically—it ended, everyone would wonder what to say to her. Should they mention Shane to her, or would that be too painful? Should they invite her to intimate family gatherings at which Shane would be present, or would that be too awkward? It was exactly what was happening with Cameron and Amber now, she reflected sadly. Eventually, one of them would find the situation too uncomfortable and would simply drift away. It had already started to happen, really. Amber never would have missed a glittering holiday party before she and Cameron had tried dating.

Shane sighed. “Whatever you’re thinking, I don’t like it.”

“I’m just not ready to be the subject of family gossip,” she said apologetically. “There’s too much else going on right now. School. The holidays. My father.”

He nodded somberly. “I’ll play along. For now. I don’t want to complicate your life, Kelly. I only want to be an important part of it.”

She lifted a hand to his cheek, tracing the firm line of his jaw with her fingertips.

“You already are.”

He kissed her again, this kiss so tender, so sweet, so filled with emotion that her chest ached. She could no longer deny to herself that she loved Shane—had probably been in love with him since he’d walked into her hospital room, introduced himself as a longtime acquaintance of her surgeon’s and asked if she needed a friend in her new hometown.

“I can tell you now,” Shane murmured, cupping her face in his hands, “that you were the most beautiful woman in the room tonight. I can tell you that I nearly fell flat on my face when I saw you standing under the chandeliers in your sexy red dress with those glittering stars in your hair and even brighter stars in your eyes. I can say that I wanted you so badly my hands started to shake—and that I want you every bit as badly now.”

Once again, Shane had taken her breath away, this time with nothing more than his words. Her throat too tight to allow her to speak, she could only gaze up at him with her heart in her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her high onto her toes as he kissed her again, this time with a passion that emptied her mind of everything but him.

“Are you going to send me away tonight?” he muttered between kisses.

She knew exactly how far her willpower extended—and it wasn’t that far. “No,” she whispered, trembling with terror and anticipation.

“More than anything else in the world, I want to stay. But I need to know this is what you want.”

She wished he would just stop talking and take action. It was so much easier to simply follow his lead. But Shane demanded that she take an active—not a passive—role. He would not stay unless she asked him to. Did he know how hard it was for her to ask?

Of course he did.

He waited patiently. Implacably. His arms remained around her, his gaze held hers, but he made no other effort to persuade her. She found herself growing irritated with him. “Do you want to stay or not?”

“That wasn’t the question,” he reminded her gently. “I’ve already said I want to stay. What I need to know is whether you want me to.”

“I said I wouldn’t send you away.”

He still wasn’t satisfied. “Ask me to stay, Kelly.”

It would serve him right, she thought, if she asked him to leave instead. But she didn’t want him to go. She’d spent the entire evening pretending, disguising her feelings. She couldn’t do so now. “Please stay,” she said quietly.