The Nurse's One Night to Forever

Oh, my!

“Well, hello, there,” he teased, not stepping back from where he held her.

Neither did she. Which was a problem. Why was she not removing her body from where it was plastered to his? And why, oh, why did he feel so wonderful? So solid and chiseled to perfection?

Not to mention that his spicy clean scent was pulling a wicked number... She’d gotten whiffs of that clean, all-man smell in the OR, but had never allowed herself to really take it in. Where was an alcohol pad when she needed one to block it out?

Unable to stop herself, Riley breathed in through her nose, filling her nostrils, her lungs, her being, with Justin.

Goodness, the man was intoxicating. His body, his smell. The way he was lookin

g down at her.

His heart pounded hard against her chest as his gaze dropped to her mouth. She parted her lips, planning to apologize for falling, but nothing came out.

His hands trembled slightly where they pressed against her back. His throat worked as he swallowed, and then, surprising her, he closed his eyes.

The walkway lights flickered over his face, allowing Riley to see how the skin was pulled tightly across his cheeks, how he was struggling with something. Not something... With her and how their bodies were responding to one another.

“Justin?”

He opened his eyes.

“I feel as if I should be asking you if you’re okay,” she mused, still not moving out of his arms.

She’d thought it was his heart pounding against her chest. It wasn’t. It was her own, banging so violently against her rib cage that he might be black and blue if he didn’t step away.

He didn’t. Instead, his hands moved from her lower back to caress her face.

“I’m good,” he assured her.

She’d bet he was, and she wanted to know more.

Which scared her.

Terrified her.

Just as she’d worked up the strength to pry her body from his, he bent to touch his lips to hers. A soft brushing of his mouth, slow, gentle, in a show of great restraint because she felt the way his body tensed.

Lord help her for what she felt as his mouth coaxed hers to open, to allow him to explore to his heart’s content.

Riley’s head spun. That was how Justin made her feel. Spinning out of control.

A single moment or an eternity might have passed during their embrace. Riley couldn’t have sworn one way or the other. Just knew that Justin’s kiss took her beyond the realm of time, place, anything...

All that mattered was his kiss, how when she opened her eyes and looked into his what she saw weakened her knees. Mostly because what she saw there was reflected in her own for him to see.

But she didn’t want him seeing behind her carefully guarded walls—didn’t want anyone glimpsing behind her armor, least of all Justin.

What had she done?

She needed to run, to put as much distance between them as her high heels would let her.

But other than to tremble at the gravity of what was happening, her body didn’t move.

Holding her close, he smiled. “That was worth waiting for.”

Stunned at his admission, she blinked. “You were waiting to kiss me?”