Flirting with the Society Doctor / When One Night Isn't Enough (28 page)

“You’re the one I want,” he said simply, his voice calm, determined. He leaned in and took her hand between two of his. That simple touch energized her. A scene flashed in her mind. Jared’s weight covering her, his hands, fingers entwined with hers, holding her arms over her head. Panting breaths. Moans. Ecstasy.

“You may not remember our night together, but I can’t forget it. The feel of your beautiful body pressed to mine, your legs wrapped around my hips, urging me deeper …”

“Stop!” Though she’d never admit it, since his return she’d been remembering more and more details of their night together. The sound of his voice, his scent, his touch when he went out of his way to brush up against her triggered erotic flashes of memory at the most inopportune times. Like right now. She shifted in her seat and took back her hand.

“I’m nowhere near good enough for you,” he said, moving even closer. “I can’t give you the future you have your heart set on. But if you’ll let me, I can give you the best twenty-four days of your life. We have great chemistry. We could have a blast together.”

“For twenty-four days.” Good for sex and nothing more. Ali’s body cooled at the reminder. “And then what? You’ll flick me to the curb like a used-up cigarette butt? Never to be thought of again?” Until he wanted more. Men always came back for more.

“And then I’ll leave town and you can resume your search for the man of your dreams.”

Right now he was the man occupying her dreams, interrupting her sleep and making her body ache with need. Unfortunately, he was also the man of her nightmares, a man who didn’t value commitment, monogamy or love. A man like her father. A man to avoid. “Thanks, Dr. P., but I’ll have to pass. I won’t take the chance my Mr. Right will happen by while I’m—” she made air quotation marks “—'having a blast’ with you.”

Thank heavens Gramps chose that minute to knock. “Allison? You in there?”

“Yes, Gramps,” she called out. “Be right there.” She turned to Jared. “Night, Dr. P. Sorry you wasted your time coming out on this chilly evening.”

“No time spent with you is ever wasted,” he said. “I’m not giving up,” he added as she walked toward the door.

An unwanted thrill zipped through her traitorous body. He was right. They had great chemistry. If she agreed to his proposition, for the next twenty-four days she could go loose-in-a-fudge-factory wild, indulging every one of her repressed sexual desires to the point of gluttony.

Tempting.

Except she wanted more. Devotion. Trust. Marriage. Stability. A chance for a happier life than her mother had had.

Jared watched her leave. Since his father’s death, except for a brief few months of happiness before he’d learned his
wife’s true nature, Jared had lived a solitary life focused on work and school. He’d learned to enjoy his own company, liked reading and searching the internet when he had the time. Until Ali, he’d never longed for companionship, never felt lonely or wished he were somewhere else.

Missing her, craving her was slowly driving him out of his mind.

They weren’t scheduled to work together the next day. At first Jared had been disappointed. Maybe it was a good thing. It’d give her time to think over his offer. And she was considering it. Jared stood and walked out into the hallway. He’d seen the indecision in Ali’s eyes, the same helpless-to-stop-it lust he’d noticed in his own reflection after encounters with her.

He entered the community room to grab his jacket. Ali was nowhere in sight. He smiled. She had a talent for making herself scarce when she wanted to.

A layer of pristine white snow blanketed the parking lot. Big flakes drifted to the ground around him. Jared turned his face to the sky, welcoming the chilly wetness, enjoying the peace and quiet.

“Un-friggin-believable!” Ali’s voice yelled out.

He looked around but didn’t see her.

“Ali?”

“Perfect. This night keeps getting better and better.”

He followed her words to a car parked beneath one of the huge lights at the far end of the lot. She wasn’t there. He circled the car, looked over the edge of an embankment beside the car and found her, six feet down, on her back, lodged in a huge pile of snow. She didn’t look hurt, was moving her arms and legs. Their important chat over, he decided to have a little fun. “Watcha doing?”

“Why, I’m sunbathing, Dr. P.” She sounded totally frustrated and looked absolutely adorable. “Can’t seem to pass
up an opportunity to work on my tan.” She squinted up at him, the wintry precipitation hitting her in the face. “Care for some company?”

“Not especially.” She struggled into a sitting position, snow caked in her hair, her legs now buried. He removed his jacket and threw it down to her because she wasn’t wearing a coat of her own. “Put that over you. I’ll be down in a minute to help you up.”

“I don’t need your coat.”

“Neither do I,” he answered as he took the first step down toward her, the snow coming up to his knees. “I prefer to sunbathe in the nude.”

She mumbled something.

He smiled to himself, happy to have had the opportunity to plant that visual seed in her fertile mind. Although, to be honest, since his return his need had grown into more than simple sexual desire. He wanted to talk with her, laugh with her, spend every minute with her.

Halfway down Ali called out, “Wait. Stop. Look at your right boot.”

Jared did. The light above reflected off a set of keys. He picked them up and shook them off. “Yours, I presume?” He dropped them into his pocket.

“Wow. You’re really bright, Dr. P. Medical school must have been a breeze.”

Jared smiled again. Too bad about her predicament but he was enjoying every second of her rescue. She lifted his spirits, made him want to laugh out loud, frolic even.

“Look out,” she yelled at the exact moment his right foot slid out from under him. He flailed his arms to help regain his balance. His foot continued its slide, forcing his legs into a split that would have made a goalie in ice hockey proud.

Ali howled with laughter. He would not give her the
satisfaction of screaming out in pain. Instead he dropped forward and rolled, and rolled, until something stopped his motion. Ali. Next thing he knew he was facedown on top of her.

That shut her up.

“You okay?” He tried to lift his body but his arms sank into the loosely packed snow.

“I. Can’t. Breathe.” Her words came out muffled beneath his chest.

He lifted his head. “Good thing I’m trained in mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

A handful of snow mashed into his right ear. “There’s more where that came from.” As if to make her point, another handful landed on the back of his neck. “Now get off me.”

“Fine thing when a man risks life and limb—” and his reproductive organs being ripped in half “—to rescue a woman, and this is the thanks he gets.” Jared wiped the snow from the side of his face and neck.

“Thank you. Now please get off me. I’m cold.”

“I have some ideas on how to get you warmed up.” He looked down at her and cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m thinking a hot shower and a warm bed.”

Oh, yeah. “That’ll work, too.” He turned onto his side, moving carefully.

“Alone.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” He managed to stand, wiped the snow from his clothes, and held out his hand to Ali.

A huge tug and she was free. When she tried to put weight on her right foot she cried out, “Ouch. Shoot.” And grabbed onto him for support.

“What is it? What hurts?”

“My ankle.” She looked up the steep slope to the parking lot. “How am I going to …?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here.” Jared retrieved his coat and shook off the snow that had accumulated on it. He held it open for her. “Put this on.” She did. Then he turned his back to her and bent his knees. “Jump on.”

“I think I’d be safer if I crawled up.”

He wouldn’t allow her to risk doing more damage to her ankle. “Piggyback or fireman’s lift. You have ten seconds to decide.” Playtime was over. They were both chilled and he wanted to get a look at her injury.

“Don’t think you can boss me around. I’ll …”

He turned to her. “Fireman’s lift it is.” He reached for her waist.

“Wait. No.” She grabbed for his hands. “Piggyback. I choose piggyback.”

He pivoted around and helped her onto his back. In the process his shirt pulled from his pants. The cold, wet denim of her jeans chilled him further.

“Tyrant,” she mumbled.

“Ingrate,” he replied.

She crossed her arms loosely around his neck.

“Don’t get any ideas.” He leaned forward and started to climb. Ali clung to him, her strong thighs clamped above his hips.

“I’ll try to control myself.”

The climb was harder than it looked. Each step sank his foot into deep snow that shifted and crumbled under their combined weight. It seemed for every two steps up he slid one step down. “How did you wind up down there?” Jared asked, to keep from thinking about the fragrant smell of her hair, which hung down the side of his left cheek, and the feel of her breasts flattened against his back.

“Apparently there was a patch of ice behind my car. When I went to get the containers of stew I’d made, I
slipped. My keys flew out of my hand. I thought I could reach them.”

“And fell.”

“Yup.”

By the time Jared reached the parking lot his hands felt frozen, his pants were soaked and he was breathing hard. But he wasn’t ready to part from Ali.

“Hey, you’re passing my car.”

“You can’t drive anyway.” Since it was her right ankle that was injured. “I’ll take you home.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

No. He didn’t. But he wanted to. “It’s no problem.”

A W
EEK
ago, if someone had told Ali she’d spend her Tuesday night out on a date with Dr. Jared Padget, she would have laughed. Yet here she was, in the ritziest restaurant in the county, sitting catty-corner to him at a table for two. Brushing knees with him and inhaling his alluring eau de aphrodisiac cologne.

After Jared had driven her home from bingo last week, he’d carried her into her condo and gently removed her boot to examine her ankle. Then he’d got her set up on the couch with a pillow to elevate her foot, an ice pack and a mug of hot chocolate. When he’d got up to leave, she’d made the mistake of saying, “I don’t know how to thank you.”

To which he’d replied, “Have dinner with me.” He’d been so sweet, so helpful. How could she say no?

Sure, she could have backed out at the last minute, she’d thought up some great excuses. But the sad truth was she hadn’t wanted to cancel. Over the past few days she’d started to look forward to their date, to getting to know more about him. Like why did such a superb physician travel from hospital to hospital when, with his skills, he could easily land a job at any leading trauma center?

The restaurant had dream date potential. The lighting subdued, the piano player superb, small tables situated for optimum privacy. Huge windows and strategically placed
outdoor lamps showed off the picturesque, snow-covered landscape. Jared wore a dark gray pinstripe suit with a purple shirt and matching checkered tie and looked like he’d just walked off a photo shoot for upscale menswear. Edible from head to toe.

“I’ve wanted to come here since it opened,” she said, trying to ease the uncomfortable silence that settled between them after they’d exhausted conversation about the menu. “There’s a two-month wait for reservations.”

He winked. “It’s good to have connections.” Aka the thirty-two-year-old male chef who’d sustained first- and second-degree burns on his hands and face from messing with the pilot light on the restaurant’s commercial oven last week.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he said, making shopping for a new dress, waiting an hour for a haircut and undergoing an unplanned midwinter wax job all worth it. He’d stood speechless in the doorway of her condo forty-five minutes earlier, staring at her with a look of complete rapture, while the beautiful bouquet of flowers he’d brought her had hung blooms down, from his hand.

Mission accomplished.

Presenting her best possible look made her feel confident and empowered. It fortified her defenses against him. Unfortunately he’d spent a bit of time putting together his best possible look, too, and the result had neutralized her confidence, weakened her power and whacked at her defenses with a giant-sized sledgehammer the second he’d slipped off his overcoat.

“Thanks. So do …” She shook her head and let out a small laugh. She’d almost called him beautiful. She was as nervous as a teen out on her first date. “Sorry.”

“It’s only dinner, Ali.” He placed his hand on her forearm and her entire body, including the tiny hairs on her
arms, which stood at full rigid attention since he’d picked her up, relaxed.

She could do this, smile, make small talk. She decided to start with a few neutral topics. “So, Dr. P., where’s home?”

He swirled a piece of
focaccia
bread in olive oil. “Wherever I happen to be.”

Ali’s mouth watered at the
focaccia’s
fresh-baked aroma. On edge about their date, she’d been a bit queasy all day and didn’t want to chance eating it. “I mean, where are you from? Originally.”

“Rochester.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “Does your mom still live there?”

He kept his eyes on the plate of oil, looked a bit stiff.

“Yes.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” At this rate dinner would be over before she learned anything significant.

He lifted the bread to his mouth and took a bite, chewed, and swallowed, before answering. “No. Ali, there are so many things more interesting than me to talk about. You, for instance. How long have you been going into the senior center?”

“Nice try, Doc. But we’re talking about you right now.”

He leaned in and, with a flirty smile, said, “Only if you call me Jared.”

She smiled back. If he meant to deter her, he had another think coming. “Okay. Jared. Tell me about your mom.”

He let out a breath. “You want to know about my mom? Fine. I’ll tell you. But first we dance.”

Ali glanced at the empty dance floor, the dozens of people sitting at tables around the room, and suffered a wave of uneasiness at the thought of everyone watching her
and Dr. Padget dancing together. What if someone from the hospital saw them? The gossip from New Year’s Eve was just starting to quiet down.