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“Hard to avoid you when I spend eight to ten hours a day in your bachelor pad.”
If I had to guess, I’d say it was the other way around. Cal was avoiding me—either because his ego was hurt or he was trying to come up with another way to get me in bed again.
The sound of his fading footsteps allowed me to relax just enough to finish the task without any mistakes or injuries. The man was so damn confusing that I refused to waste another moment trying to figure out his motives, because I realized he didn’t have any beyond getting what he wants. He was a singularly-focused man both inside and outside the operating room, and while some women might appreciate it, I considered myself too smart to fall for his charms.
At least I was working really hard at being too smart to fall for his charms. His considerable charms.
“Beer?”
I whirled around at the sound of Cal’s deep voice and found him standing in the hall, a bottle of beer in each hand and a satisfied smile on his face.
“Creepy much?” My heart raced, and not in the sexy-times kind of way. The man moved like a ninja.
He held out the beer and tilted it back and forth, the icy bottle making my mouth water and he damn well knew it. “Come on, Teddy, you know you want to.”
“I want plenty of things that are bad for me, Cal. I’m a grown up, so I abstain.”
He smiled and shook his head. “All I hear is that you often deprive yourself of things you really want because you think you should.”
Oh, boy. I took the beer and sucked down a third of it in one unladylike gulp. “Or I deny myself things when the bad outweighs the good, so really, it’s more like I’m saving myself.”
“For marriage?”
I barked out a laugh. “From pain.”
“You work out all the time—that’s painful.”
I couldn’t help but smile as he came closer. “But that pain is worth it. I look good, I feel good, and I’m strong as hell.”
“You do look good, Teddy. Really damn good.” His words came out on a low, gravelly voice that sent shivers down my spine and hardened my nipples to peaks. “Even covered in dirt and sweat, you’re so sexy.”
His words surprised a huff of laughter out of me. I finished my beer and shook my head. “You, Cal, are a master flirt, but it’s not going to happen.”
“It might,” he shot back, a challenge in his tone. “One little kiss, Teddy. If you don’t want me, don’t kiss me back, I’ll stop. Scout’s honor.”
I put a hand to his chest and laughed again, this one a little sharper and more brittle as my control wavered. “Or you can back off right now.”
Cal’s deep chuckle reverberated through my fingers and down my arm. “Scared?”
“Terrified,” I shot back sarcastically.
“Good.” Before I could agree or run for my life, Cal was in my personal space and taking both beer bottles to set them down. His hands cupped my face and his lips were on mine, slow, gentle, and questioning until he was sure I wouldn’t reject him and push him away. Then he slid his hands around my neck and slowly down my back until they found my ass and gripped it hard, bringing us hip to hip so I could feel how much he wanted me.
Damn him.
I literally melted when Cal moaned into my mouth and squeezed my ass and my hips. I ground against him, telling the good doctor in no uncertain terms that I wanted him just as badly. Screw it! Instead of just standing there and taking the wonderful, panty-melting kisses, I joined in and let my hands slide up his T-shirt to feel his hot, hard flesh. I smiled at the way his muscles jumped at my touch. When his breath hitched, I took advantage of his momentary distraction and nipped his bottom lip.
“Teddy,” he growled, and the sound was wickedly delicious, sending shivers down my spine and my legs. “I can’t stop.”
His words hit me in all the right places. I can’t stop. He was too far gone to think straight, and it was based on nothing but the strength of his desire for me. I pulled back, needing to see his eyes when he said those words. I needed to know if he really wanted this the way I did, or if he just didn’t want to lose.
“Say it again.”
His blue eyes were the color of the night’s sky over Jackson’s Ridge, dark and rich and deep. “I can’t stop, Teddy.” His chest heaved as he licked his lips, his gaze darkening as he focused on my lips, moist from his kisses. “I can’t.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat at the raw, naked heat in his eyes. It was stupid to take things this far with Cal, I knew that. I knew it and I didn’t give a damn, not while his big hands caressed my body, not with the way his mouth devoured mine, or the way his chest pounded against my breasts. I knew it was a bad idea, but I was too far gone to care. I wanted Cal and I was tired of denying myself the one thing I really craved.
