“You’re crazy.”
“About you.”
That was twice he’d implied he had feelings for her. Trinity glared. “You’re not going to run off when I close my eyes, are you?”
“You couldn’t run me off. I’m right where I want to be.”
“At the mall, shopping?” She gave him a doubtful once-over. “You sure you’re straight?”
“With you,” he clarified, shaking his head at her. “And if you’d like me to give a demonstration of my straightness, I’ll gladly do so.”
She gulped back the image of Riley proving to her that he preferred the opposite sex. Even when she was tired and irritated at him, the man could send her libido through the roof. Wow.
“Fine.” She closed her eyes and did as he said. Or tried to. The image of his straightness refused to budge from her mind.
“Do you see where you want to go?”
“Oh, yeah, I see where I want to go and you offered to take me there, but for some reason I’m still quite hungry and there’s no food in sight.”
He laughed then surprised her by leaning forward to drop a kiss on her lips. Just a quick peck, but a kiss all the same. Had he read her thoughts?
“Come on, Scrooge,” he relented, not sounding angry but definitely not his usual happy-go-lucky self. “I’ll feed you.”
Guilt hit her. He was trying to be nice. It wasn’t his fault she was being so otherwise.
“Hey.” She feigned surprise, wanting his sparkle back. “I take back everything. That star thing worked!”
After staring at her a brief second, he grinned. “I never thought it wouldn’t. Glad to know you were imagining me kissing you.”
Wondering if he’d just played her with his probably feigned disappointment, she shook her head. “Keep telling yourself that, lover boy, but it’s the promise that you’re finally going to feed me that I referred to.”
His grin way too endearing, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “You keep telling yourself that you weren’t imagining my arms as where you want to be but I’m going to prove otherwise to you.”
Unfortunately, Trinity couldn’t argue with him because she feared he was right.
Trinity managed to make it through the next week without Riley dragging her shopping again. Thank goodness.
However, that didn’t keep him from dragging her to the local soup kitchen where everyone greeted him by name. They helped serve over a hundred meals and whether it was in the name of the Christmas spirit or whatever, Trinity felt good about doing so and promised herself that she’d sign on to help on a regular basis. Not only that, she’d look for other charitable places where she could volunteer.
Of course, with Christmas being only a week away she couldn’t escape the festivities. Who would have guessed that people who lived at the beach would be so into the ho, ho, ho swing of things?
At work, everyone was wearing Christmas print scrub tops and a few of the docs had Christmas ties, Riley included.
Having just returned to the nurses’ station and spotting him, she rolled her eyes at the tie currently around his neck. “Seriously? You have a reindeer with a light-up nose on your tie? That’s what you wore while you saw patients at your office all day?”
Waggling his brows, he grinned. “Yep, I’m quite disappointed that no one asked me to guide their sleigh tonight.” He shifted to where he could look behind her at her bottom. “How about you, princess? You want me to light up your world and guide your sleigh tonight?”
That he could light up her world she had no doubt. In the past week she’d smiled and laughed more than she had…well, maybe ever. The man was a nut. And brilliant. And kind. And generous. And…
She was getting way too dependent on him. It was barely a week since he’d kissed her under the mistletoe at the hospital Christmas party and every free waking hour had been spent with him. When she wasn’t with him, she was thinking of him, dreaming of him.
“Sorry, I’m fresh out of sleighs and there’s not a bit of fog in sight.”
If spending a week with him could have her feeling so clingy, she really needed to get a hold of herself before she did something silly. Like fall in love with him. That would be nothing short of a tragedy.
And something she needed to guard against.
“This Santa is flexible. How about we grab a bite to eat then catch that new Christmas movie?”