Unknown (10 page)

'Your office will be fine.'

'But...'

He knew that wasn't what she had meant but he wasn't about to let the opportunity pass him by. No way. If she wanted to make this some kind of battle between them, so be it, but he wasn't going to play fair, not when the stakes were so high— not when he wanted her so damn badly. The conflict that had arisen so unexpectedly between them could not be ignored, but neither could the amazing chemistry they shared. Fate had decreed their paths should cross a second time and he was damned if he was going to let Ginger get away again. Not until they had talked things out, explored all the possibilities of making this work. He yearned for her as he never had for anyone else. There had to be a way to separate their professional differences and their personal connection.

Moving up one more step, closing the gap between them, so close he could feel her heat, inhale her fruity scent, he leaned closer, his mouth a hair's-breadth from hers.

'Your office. Now... Or we do this in public.'

Do
what
in public? Ginger worried frantically.

She stared into Cameron's mesmerising grey eyes, feeling the familiar electricity fizzing between them. It was all she could do to keep her hands off him. But she had to. This wasn't just about them any more. She couldn't forget that. Hearing a few ribald comments, she glanced round, her face flushed, as a group of junior doctors went down the stairs, smirks on their faces as they looked at her and Cameron standing so close to each other. Embarrassed, she moved tack up a couple of steps, putting some much-needed distance between them.

'My office,' she managed to rasp, scared what Cameron might do if she didn't agree to talk with him.

This was a very bad idea, she fretted as she led the way along the corridor, but it sure as hell beat being found in some compromising position on the hospital stairs. She opened the outer door and found her assistant still at her desk.

'Sarah, you're here. I thought you'd be at lunch.' She cleared her throat, far too aware of Cameron close behind her. 'This is, um, Dr Kincaid.'

'Hi, Sarah.'

'Hello.'

Ginger saw the young redhead blush as Cameron smiled at her and shook hands. The man was lethal! And he wasn't even trying. Getting herself back under some semblance of control, Ginger made herself glance at him, trying to keep her manner polite and formal.

'If you would wait in my office, I just need a word with Sarah.'

'Of course.'

She sucked in a breath as he deliberately brushed the length of his body against her on his way by, his gaze holding hers long enough to convey his desire, to challenge her to deny hers. Her pulse racing, she turned her attention back to her secretary, who was wide-eyed with a mixture of surprise and interest.

'Sarah, I've just come down from Intensive Care. They've had to admit Danielle Watson,' she said with a resigned sigh. 'Can you get hold of Pip and Andrew and let them know, please? I'll see them both for a crisis meeting this afternoon.'

The young assistant nodded. 'No problem.'

'Thanks. You head off to your break now.'

'OK.' Still flushed, Sarah regarded her with open curiosity. 'Can I get anything for you?'

Ginger glanced towards her office, her heart thudding as she saw Cameron perched on the edge of her desk, watching her. 'No, that's all right, thanks. I'm already running late. I'll get a coffee while I, um, talk to Dr Kincaid,' she mumbled, her mind distracted.

Talk. That was right. That was
all
she and Cameron were going to do, she thought determinedly, pouring two mugs from the coffee-percolator Sarah kept fresh for her in the outer office. Legs like jelly, she walked into her office and closed the door, scarcely able to breathe as her gaze locked with a sultry grey one. Mutely, she handed him a mug, startled when he took them both and set them down on her desk before taking her hands in his. Instantly, the connection was made, shooting fire along her nerve endings as if she'd received an electric shock.

'Ginger...'

'We shouldn't be doing this.' Her protest was pitifully weak, and she tried unsuccessfully to resist as he drew her closer. 'Nothing changes the fact that we're on opposing sides. Unless you're going to give up applying for the funding.'

Cameron's expression was regretful but determined. 'I can't do that, Ginger.'

'Neither can I.'

'I know.' He brushed some wisps of hair back from her face. 'It doesn't mean I don't admire or support what you do, but I have my own patients and staff to think of.'

Tears of disappointment and frustration stung her eyes. 'Then we're still enemies.'

'Never enemies.' His smile brought a reappearance of his dimple, and his fingers began to trail across her face and down her throat, taking her breath away.

'Don't, Cam.'

His throaty voice was all temptation. 'Just a kiss.'

'It's never just a kiss,' she reminded him, knowing how instantly things flared out of control between them.

'I promise.'

'You can't.' She certainly couldn't.

His hands returned to her neck, one thumb brushing across her lips, and she fought to stop herself swaying towards him, every fibre of her yearning for his touch. 'It's been for ever since I held you, kissed you,' he whispered hoarsely, the roughness of his need making her think of the last time, their farewell that Thursday morning in London. He had held her tight, and kissed her long and hard in the doorway of her hotel room...before the reality of their situation had crashed down around them hours later.

'Eleven days, three hours and...' she glanced at her watch before her hands moved to his sides, clenching in the thin material of his shirt '...nearly twenty minutes.'

'Far too long.'

Before she could protest further, his mouth captured hers. The relief. The excitement. As his fingers dispensed with her braid and locked in her hair, her arms slid round him, her lips parting in welcome. She sighed, pressing herself closer, burning with longing for this man. He leaned his hips back against the desk and slid one leanly muscled thigh between hers. Damn. She'd known it was never going to be just a kiss! How could she want anyone so much? Unable to help it, she urgently rubbed herself against his leg, seeking to assuage the desperate ache building deep inside her. It didn't work.

Tormentingly, Cameron sucked on her lower lip, and she whimpered. He nibbled with his teeth then let go, slowly increasing the pressure of his mouth, changing the angle so he took more. The kiss turned deeper, hotter. Her tongue brushed and stroked along his, and she moaned when he gave her what she wanted, his tongue curling with hers, drawing her into him. One of his hands slid beneath the hem of her shirt, his fingertips tracing circles of fire on the heated skin along her spine. A tremor ran through her and she rocked against him, her hands tightening on the broad strength of his back as she matched his every move. But then he teased her, his tongue retreating, its tip returning to lightly tickle the sensitive roof of her mouth, driving her mad. Her own tried to intervene, to stop him, and she felt him laugh, his breath huffing into her, warm and exciting. No one should be allowed to kiss this way. It simply wasn't fair. All rational thought and common sense had long since evaporated.

Finally, he drew back, cupping her face in his hands, his breath as ragged as hers. 'I like the way you do lunch,' he whispered naughtily.

'God!'

She'd forgotten everything, including where they were. Her gaze strayed to her office window, thanking fate that her room wasn't overlooked. Anything could have happened—would have happened—if he hadn't stopped. Somehow, she dragged herself away from him and made it round her desk, sinking to her chair, shaking from head to toe. She was a fool. She hated herself for losing control, for giving in so easily, for forgetting the important reasons why this could never work. For goodness' sake, she had even forgotten poor Danielle Watson, lying alone, so thin and pale and lost up in Intensive Care. Shame curled inside her. How could she have put lustful desire before patient needs? This was just what she had feared, one of the many reasons she couldn't allow Cameron to distract her.

Fighting for some sanity, she picked up her mug and sipped her now lukewarm coffee, watching over the rim as Cameron sat down opposite her.

'What are we going to do?' he asked, his intent grey gaze meeting hers.

'There's nothing we can do but stop.' Sighing, she set her mug down on the desk, hiding her hands on her lap as they were still trembling. 'If it was just me, I could walk away, but it isn't. I have to think of patients, staff, investors, backers.. .the same as you do, Cam.'

A distracting pout of consideration shaped his mouth. 'This thing we have isn't going to go away.'

'It's just lust,' she fabricated, shifting uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

'Is it?' His eyes turned silvery as he dismissed her words. 'I don't believe that, Ginger, and I don't think for a minute that you do, either:'

'It doesn't matter what we believe. There can never be anything between us.'

She looked away from him, trying to be strong, to do what she thought was right. Yet she was unable to deny the raging, elemental desire and unquenchable need that overtook her whenever she thought of him, saw him, touched him. He may be the enemy, but attraction flared out of control whenever they were together. How was having Cameron Kincaid on her patch going to affect her work? True, he dealt with self-harm, a different area to her, but at the very least they were bound to bump into each other from time to time. Somehow they would have to develop a workable, professional relationship, but she wasn't at all sure she could handle seeing him and yet not be with him.

On the other hand, allowing anything else to develop between them would be a terrible mistake. A brief, albeit exciting affair might get it out of their systems, but it would just make everything, especially the final goodbye, even worse. She—

'Ginger, please.' Cameron's heartfelt interruption drew her from her difficult thoughts. 'I'm not letting you walk away from me again. There has to be a way we can separate our personal and professional lives.'

'Don't you see? One of us is going to be badly hurt when this ends—and end it must, when a decision is made about the money.'

'But—'

She held up her hand, forestalling him. 'No, Cameron. For one of us the dream is going to come true, while the other will be left with nothing. That is going to be even harder to deal with if we are involved in any way beyond the professional. I'm not prepared to take that risk. I have to put my patients first,' she insisted, knowing she had already made the painful decision once when she had walked away from him in London. It had been the hardest thing she had ever done. Could she find the strength to do it a second time?

'It doesn't have to be that way. What we have has nothing to do with the money,' Cameron countered, his determination, his nearness, and her own desire playing havoc with her resolve.

Cursing her weakness, she failed to resist him when he reached out and took one of her hands in his. 'Cameron...' She closed her eyes, unable to look at him, part of her frightened he would finally agree and walk away, although she knew that was the best thing to do, for both of them.

'In the immediate future we're bound to meet each other. There will be times we'll have to work together, here at the hospital,' he reasoned, mirroring her earlier thoughts.

'I suppose so.'

His fingers linked with hers, his thumb gliding across her wrist, distracting her. 'I really am interested in the work you do, Ginger. I'd like to know more about it.'

'Spying on the competition?' she challenged, suspicious of his change in tactics. But she regretted her words when he flinched, releasing her hand, and she saw hurt cloud his eyes.

'No, that's not what I meant at all.'

'I'm sorry.' She bit her lip, affected by the chastisement in his voice. 'That was unfair of me.'

He considered her in silence for a few moments, his expression shuttered, giving away none of his emotions. 'I've no doubt your schedule is as hectic as mine, but I was going to ask you to come and sit in on one of my evening self-help groups. I thought you might be interested.'

'I would be, thank you.' She was surprised how much she wanted to learn about his work, but she was confused at the footing they were going to be on. Could they really keep things professional? 'When do you run them?'

'Tuesdays and Fridays. I'll give you all the details. You'll come?'

'All right. Perhaps you'd like to sit in on one of our sessions some time,' she found herself offering in return, berating herself for being all kinds of a fool.

His smile reappeared, warming every atom of her being. 'Thanks, Ginger, I'd love to.'

'OK.' She was finding it hard to breathe again. She had to be mad, committing herself to spending more time with him. Struggling to keep things businesslike, she averted her gaze and controlled her voice. 'I'll ask my assistant to sort something out.'

Without waiting for his response, she tied her tousled hair back in a ponytail, gathered up her things and rose to her feet. Her gaze flicked over him and she immediately wished it hadn't. She couldn't think when she looked at him. He was so gorgeous, so sexy. And it wasn't fair that things were so impossibly complicated.

'I'm sorry, but it's late, and I have appointments downstairs,' she explained, edging towards the door. 'I have to go.'

He rose from the chair with supple grace. 'Me, too. I'll walk down with you.'

Ginger wasn't sure that was sensible but there didn't seem to be an easy way of avoiding it. She reached to open the door, hesitating when his hand closed over hers, preventing her escape. Her whole body trembled in reaction to that simple touch and she smothered a groan.

'Cam?'

His free hand cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him. Grey eyes darkened and she shifted restlessly, her exit route cut off as his body pressed her lightly back against the wall. His lips met hers, warm and sensual, starting a new inferno of need raging within her. All too soon he moved away, leaving her unsatisfied, his fingers tracing her tingling, kiss-swollen lips before he lowered his hand.