I could have told him to wait, that this wasn’t the time or place, that we needed to maintain boundaries at work, especially since the investigation was closed and we had no more excuses to see each other.
Instead, I smoothed my blouse, checked my reflection in the dark screen of my monitor, and waited.
A few minutes later, my office door opened without a knock. Cole strolled in and shut the door behind him. He wore standard dark blue scrubs and a white coat, his ID badge clipped to his chest pocket. His hair was disheveled as if he’d been running his fingers through it, but his brown eyes were smoky and he seemed…alert.
Cole was honestly rakishly handsome, standing in the middle of my office.
He crossed the room in three strides, pulled me up from my chair, and dropped his lips to mine like he had every right to—in my office, in the middle of the workday, with my door closed but not locked and the blinds only half-drawn.
When he finally pulled back, I was breathless and light-headed.
“Good morning,” he said. “Missed you.”
“It’s been like four hours since we saw each other,” I whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you.” He traced his thumb across my bottom lip. “And staking my claim. Making shit real clear. I’m not hiding my feelings for you anymore.”
“Cole, we’re at work. We ca?—”
“I know where we are.” His hand slid to the small of my back, pulling me against him. “I also know I’m tired of pretending I don’t want you every second of every day, no matter where we are. That I don’t want everyone in this building to know you’re mine.”
My heart galloped double time. “Yours? Aren’t we possessive, Dr. Vaughn?”
“We sure as fuck are, and I know I’m not the only one.”
I bobbed my head side to side. I could admit that I’d have a severe problem if someone else laid a claim to him. I was in too deep and not asking to be rescued. “You right. So, you came all the way to my office to get a kiss and claim me?”
“I need you to let me do something.”
“Oh?” A brow flicked up. “Do we need to dip to the supply closet for this?”
He scowled playfully. “Harper. It’s ten in the morning. Damn.”
His voice dropped lower. “I want to take you out. Make it nice. Dinner, whatever show you want to see, the whole thing. I’m done with kisses in the parking garage and fucking in a storage closet and hoping nobody sees us having dinner together. I’m done with only loving on you behind closed doors.”
A month ago, I would have been adding up the consequences—the rumors, the office grapevine, what this would do to my reputation, my career. I didn’t go looking for a tall, dark, handsome surgeon to bust into my life, ravage my body fromhead to toe on a regular basis, and make me want something I’d told myself I didn’t want, hadn’t wanted for a very long time…
Then Cole Vaughn came along and my life became complicated in ways I never saw coming. He became the name I couldn’t get out of my head, the force I kept drifting toward without meaning to. Wanting him became a welcome feeling.
Beneath all of it, I couldn’t stop myself from hoping he’d feel the same, that he’d never lose that hunger for me.
“Okay,” I said.
His eyebrows rose. “Okay? That’s it? No arguments?”
“I know how you love that but…” I shrugged my shoulders and grinned. “What do you want me to say? No, let’s keep sneaking around? I’m grown. I want to act grown.”
“Woman…” Cole shook his head, bending to kiss me again. “You are very grown. I want to make sure this is what you want.”
I reached up, cupped his face in my hands, and brought his lips to mine again. “I want this. I have no idea how this dating someone from work thing goes, but I want it.”
Cole’s smile was devastating. “Bet. Saturday? I’ll pick you up?”
“Cole—”
“Seven, Harper. Wear something that makes you feel good.” He kissed me again, slower this time. “I got to run. I’ve been hiding from Dr. Webb. I’ll see you later.”
He walked out, leaving my door open behind him, and I stood there like a dreamy teenager, one hand braced on the edge of my desk, the other pressed against my mouth. I couldn’t remember the last time anybody left me speechless. It wasn’t a thing that happened to me.
