He clearly still wanted to play with fire today.
Skylar’s cheeks flushed bright pink. It was crass, but it was true. He’d held onto a professional thread in the ED, but he’d been thinking about her all night and didn’t hold back.
She remembered. There was no way she could forget the magic that had sparked between them every time they’d made love, the way she’d whine for more, the way he’d feathered kisses over her navel and along the crux of her thighs while his fingers toyed with her orgasm, knowing each and every trigger, knowing how to bring her body to its peak, make her beg and squirm and giggle and dig her nails into him as he rewarded each gesture with more of what she’d wanted until he finally let her crash over the edge.
She pinched the bridge of her nose now. Closed her eyes. Exhaled slowly, as if grasping at composure. But he saw the goose bumps pebbling her arms. Damn straight she remembered how he’d satisfied. He’d once made it his mission to perfect his craft on her, and every time she’d lain herself bare like willing tribute.
“Also, I’ve got questions to discuss with you.”
“That’s funny because I distinctly remember you justifying why you dumped me and just, oh, forgot to ever tell me,” she said.
Dammit. Yeah, he could kick himself for how he’d choked yesterday. But he hadn’t known what to do. She’d thrust him off balance. Disoriented him. It had taken time to process her intrusion on his new life to realize he’d handled the whole ED visit and Ashley poorly.
“I was at work. I ain’t drudging up the past when I’m on the clock.”
“Oh no, I think first of all having the audacity to show up alive made it pretty damn crystal clear that you weren’t interested in seeing me ever again. So excuse me if I don’t just adoringly bask in your glow and fall at your feet like that insecure girl anymore and ask you how you’ve been all this time over coffee and croissants.”
She waved her hand like he was a pesky fly on her picnic plate. Her shoulders postured defensively. Odd that she was so defensive. What did she mean, him showing up alive? Her toned arms, arms that worked hard and had probably lugged every ounce of her success into place until she’d built her dream, perched on her hips, hugged by those low-rise jeans and tight tank top and a tiny bite of flesh squeezing over her waistline that showed she was trim and healthy but just the right amount of lush… He nearly groaned, wanting to run his palms over it. She was badass. Where she’d been unaware of her tantalizing beauty when they were younger, hiding herself in a grunge aura, she seemed to not care an ounce what she looked like now, which might just drive him wild, and she wasn’t even trying.
And yet his sweet, adoring Skylar was replaced by this jaded woman who didn’t seem like she took any shit anymore, and he didn’t want to stop this tug-of-war with her, either. Still, he stood silently, waiting for her curious side to get the better of her.
“What sort of questions?” she finally asked.
A smile tugged at his mouth—he’d hooked her. “Job questions.”
“You’re looking for a job?” She popped her hip now and leveled an incredulous grimace at him. “V-Tech not paying their superstar top dollar?”
Superstar? Had she been reading the bang-up bio his assistant had written for him? All this coldness and yet she’d done her homework on him apparently, too.
“Nope. A job for you.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. I don’t need a job or whatever handout you might be offering. I might sink everything I earn back into my business and wear the same jeans I wore in college, but I’m not hurting for money. Not anymore.”
She said it so seriously, like it meant something that she was solvent. After Rhett? It was damn well impressive.
“I didn’t say you were. I can tell you’ve worked your ass off and have an impressive CV to show for it.” He bit into his cheek now to calm the mounting frustration that he felt that she was pushing back on him again.
“And you’d know this how?”
“Because I couldn’t sleep last night and read every goddamn word on your website, Sky.” He vented the frustration. Raked his hand through his hair. Wanted to kiss her stubborn attitude right off her lips. It was killing him not to have that freedom to touch her anymore. This wasn’t going at all like he’d hoped it would. “Did I do something? I wanted to see you last night, but after I finished charting on Brandon, you guys had already been discharged.”
She froze. Her eyes softened a degree, the cool sparkle allowing a glimmer of her gentler side to show through the cracks. So she was still in there, the gentle creature who’d mesmerized him and never uncast her spell.
She bit her lip.
“I couldn’t sleep, either,” she breathed.
Skylar turned toward the door again.
“So that’s it, then?”
“Did you think there’d be more?” She peered over her shoulder, a coy look that she wasn’t even trying to make as her braid swung behind her down her back, eyes oddly hopeful.
He held her gaze, trying to decipher her look. “I guess not.” Muscles bunched in her jaw at his remark, almost angrily, giving her modelesque features a razor edge he’d never seen before. She wanted to unleash something on him, he could sense it. “But I’d hoped there would be.”
Her eyes once more skittered over him and settled back on his face, as if by reflex, and he felt heat creep up his neck, burning where her gaze touched. Self-conscious, like when people stared at his prosthetic. Which was why he never wore his old, comfy basketball shorts in public anymore. He didn’t like the discombobulating feeling of being vulnerable, didn’t pump weights and work out so he could feel vulnerable, and she was making him feel vulnerable. Flipping the tables on him.
“Why did you want to see me when there are at least three emergency vets in El Paso County?” she asked earnestly, as mist glistened in her eyes.