CHAPTER ONE
IF THE PRETTY little blonde were a chameleon, Dr. Riley Williams was positive she’d have blended into the hotel ballroom wall long ago.
Who was she? Obviously not someone’s date as only a fool would have left her alone. She had to be a hospital employee he just hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting.
She sipped on a glass of what appeared to be rum punch and nervously surveyed the room as if she’d rather be anywhere than at the Pensacola Memorial Hospital Christmas party.
He took a sip of his soda and continued to listen to Dr. Sanders discuss an upcoming heart program the hospital was sponsoring while Riley’s attention was really on the blonde.
Never had he seen a less likely wallflower. Although she did seem as delicate as one of the orchids his mother loved to grow. Fragile even.
Every bit as beautiful.
Looking almost hopeful, she smiled at a group of women that passed by but they never paused in their hee-hawing to say hello. If anything, she seemed to wilt further. A pity because he’d liked that brief glimpse of a smile.
The need to see that smile again hit hard. Surprisingly hard. He liked women. A lot. Always had. He imagined he always would but he didn’t envision himself ever settling down. The long hours and demands of his career would keep him from ever tying a woman to him. A family deserved time and attention.
A plump pink lower lip disappeared between white teeth. Every muscle in Riley’s stomach contracted and he’d swear the air in the room had thinned.
Never had he had such an instant, strong reaction to a woman.
He placed his half-full glass on a passing waiter’s tray. “Excuse me, gentlemen, but I just spotted what I want for Christmas.”
Several of his colleagues followed his line of vision and grinned.
“Trinity Warren. She just started last week,” a cardiologist who was one of his partners informed him. “On the cardiac unit. I’m surprised you haven’t already noticed her.”
With the way his insides were stirring, so was he. Then again, he hadn’t been around the hospital much this week. He’d taken a few days off work to spend some time helping his mother with odds and ends of Christmas decorations and shopping. For too long since his father’s heart attack sadness had filled her at the holidays. Seeing her renewed joy in the festivities did Riley’s heart good.
“Trinity Warren…” He let the blonde’s name roll off his tongue, wondering at the way his pulse pounded at his throat. “She works on our unit?”
He didn’t usually become involved with women he worked with. Too messy.
“She’s been in orientation with Karen this past week. Quirky sense of humor, great smile, patients like her, seems to really know her stuff.”
Yeah, well, he’d really like to know her stuff too. Up close and personal. Plus, that glimpse of her smile had been great. He could only imagine what her full-blown one would be like. His imagination was working overtime at the moment.
He studied her, watching as she cast her big brown eyes downward to stare into her glass before taking another sip. Her tongue darted out to lick punch from her full lips. He swallowed. Oh, hell. Without even trying, she was sending his blood pressure through the roof.
How much he wanted to see her pretty mouth curved into a smile stunned him, to see her eyes dancing with pleasure. Want was the wrong word. He needed to see her smile, her pleasure.
“You want me to introduce you?”
He glanced at his best friend and one of the several partners in their cardiology group. “Have you ever known me to need you to introduce me to a beautiful woman?”
“Figured you needed all the help you could get,” Trey teased.
“Besides, I’m onto you,” Riley continued, hesitating just a little longer, feeling his friend’s interest in the woman too. “You’re just looking for an excuse to talk to her yourself.”
Trey grinned. “If I’d spotted her first tonight, I wouldn’t have needed an excuse to talk to her. I’d be over there now, rather than talking to your ugly mug.”
“But now?”
“Now I’ve seen the determined look on your face.” Trey shrugged. “She doesn’t stand a chance and neither does any other man in this room. Go for it.”
Relieved his friend didn’t have a vested interest, Riley didn’t deny his claim. Besides, Trey was right. Trinity Warren didn’t stand a chance when he turned on the charm. Before long she’d be smiling and enjoying her evening—with him.
Nurse Trinity Warren was smart enough to know that facin
g her fears was the best way to move on, to put her ho-ho-ho hang-ups to rest. But, seriously, had she really had to come to this Christmas party?
Leaning against the hotel ballroom wall, she took a sip of her third cup of fruit punch. Was she nuts or what? By coming here, she was sticking her neck under the proverbial guillotine. Two years ago she’d vowed to never attend another Christmas party, to ban Christmas for ever. Bah, humbug! That had been her motto.
Only she’d relocated two weeks ago and her new nursing director had said she needed to attend. So here she was, pretending she was having a good time and that she wasn’t contemplating a dash to the ladies’ room to toss the liquid-only contents of her fluttery stomach.
She smiled at a group of women who worked in the billing department as they paused near where she held the wall up. She didn’t personally know them. She knew very few people outside the cardiac care unit. But she had seen the trio around. Waving their hands with animation and talking a mile a minute, they didn’t notice her.
“He is so hot,” one of the women said, fanning her face with a bejeweled hand decked out with rakish long manicured fingernails and a sparkly ring so big it had to be fake.
“He’s yummy in his scrubs, but in those dress slacks and fitted button-down open just right at his collar…” a heavy-chested blonde gave an exaggerated sigh “…he’s outright lickable.”
Trinity followed their line of sight to see who had their tongues wagging. Oh, my. Um, yeah, they were right.
He was hot.
And lickable.
And a lot of other things that had her looking away really fast so her retinas didn’t start smoking.
Startled at her tongue-slurping reaction, she glanced back toward the object of their admiration. Her gaze collided with his. Wow. Something about him made her burn. Probably because he looked as if he’d walked straight out of every woman’s fantasy. The mischievous gleam present in his blue eyes said he was well aware of his many manly charms and that she threatened to spontaneously combust any moment just from his visual perusal. He knew he was that hot.
She gulped back another sip of punch, hoping it would cool the burn. It didn’t.
Which didn’t make sense because she’d banned men right along with Christmas two years ago. Especially a man like the one grinning at her. A man like that one would incinerate the already shattered bits of her heart.
“Oh! Shh! He’s coming this way,” one of the women squealed, slapping the other’s arm and sloshing a little of her Cosmopolitan onto the ballroom floor. All three of the women struck we-weren’t-just-talking-about-you poses and one gave a fake laugh as if whatever they were discussing was of the utmost interest and batted her lashes flirtatiously.
Really? Trinity wanted to roll her eyes. She glanced Mr. Lickable’s way again to see if he’d caught onto the women fan-girling him.
Yet again her gaze collided with electric blue and this time didn’t let go, couldn’t let go, as if there was some magnetic force at play that held her eyes in place.
She forgot how to inhale. Literally and figuratively. She couldn’t breathe.