Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
I was saved from doing anything when the elevator door opened and a couple of nurses got on. “Morning, Dr. Grisham,” the younger of the two nurses said with a wide smile as she gave me a once over and then actually giggled as she turned her attention back on her colleague.
“Morning,” I murmured in response. I couldn’t remember her name despite the many times she’d sent me her not-so-subtle message that she was interested in me. I’d expected Trace to move away from me when the ladies joined us, but he didn’t. To my dismay, he moved even closer and I barely stifled a moan when his fingers brushed mine. The sparks that flew were immediate and unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and the rush of having the other two occupants of the elevator car so close, yet so unaware, was heady. But Trace wasn’t just content with the minimal contact because his arm actually stretched out onto the handrail at our backs. To anyone else, he would have looked like he was just bracing himself as he leaned against it but behind my back, his hand was busy as it skimmed over my lower back before dipping down to slide over the curve of my ass. Even through the fabric of my doctor’s coat and pants, the shock of his touch reverberated through me.
I was barely aware of the elevator dinging as the door slid open or the nurses saying their goodbyes to me as they both stepped off the elevator. Before the door even finished closing, I turned on Trace with the intention of laying into him about his behavior but then his hand was snaking around the back of my neck and drawing me forward, and any argument I was about to make died in my throat as his tongue slipped between my lips. I’d been kissed plenty of times but what Trace was doing to me wasn’t kissing. He was owning me, consuming me, changing me. In that instant, I didn’t care that I had patients to see or rounds to finish or that there was even a fucking security camera in one corner of the elevator that was likely capturing everything Trace did to me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew the elevator doors had to be opening and closing over and over again since Trace had pressed nearly every single button on the panel, but I didn’t care about that either.
It was Trace who finally drew back from the heated kiss. “What’s your name?” he asked breathlessly.
“Ronan,” I responded without hesitation before I leaned forward to steal another kiss. He gave it to me before putting some space between our bodies.
“Have dinner with me tonight.”
The request registered but I was still too off balance to answer. Luckily, my beeper went off. The sound was so jarring that I yanked myself away from him and silenced the damn thing and checked the number. It was a stat call to the OR.
“I have to go,” I mumbled and it wasn’t until Trace handed me the medical chart I’d been reading that I realized I’d dropped it when he’d kissed me.
“Dinner?” Trace asked again as he grabbed my arm before I could escape out the elevator door as it slid open.
“Can’t, I’m working,” I said, glad that my common sense was finally coming back to me. Random hook-ups and dead-end relationships were one thing but dinner with a guy who could fuck me up so completely with just one kiss…no way, not happening.
I tugged my arm free of Trace’s hold and forced myself to not look back as I hurried for the stairwell. I blew out my breath at the close call and then let the chaos of the OR engulf me as I began the process of scrubbing in for emergency surgery.
It wasn’t until a few hours later that I had the time to wonder if I’d blown a chance at something good…or at worst, a chance at some phenomenal sex. I had my answer as soon as I left the Surgery department intent on seeing the patient I’d hadn’t gotten to before the emergency page.
Because sitting on the small bench near the bank of elevators, was Trace.
* * *
“Ronan?”
Seth’s concerned voice knocked me from my thoughts and I looked up to see him walking down the stairs, his hair damp from his shower and wearing fresh clothes. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been leaning against the inside of the front door for while I’d gotten lost in the past, but even the brief memory of Trace had my gut churning and my skin crawling.
“Are you okay?” Seth asked as he came to a stop in front of me. He settled his hand on my arm and I couldn’t stop myself from yanking it away from him. I ignored his startled look and moved away from the door.