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And definitely a whole lot of procrastinating.
Sighing, he left the report on his desk and went to examine his patients. Normally, he cleared up lab and radiology reports before starting his appointments and usually he finished quickly. Today, he’d tarried.
Partially due to Connie’s bad MRI report, but also because of the clinic’s newest employee.
Chelsea. He’d avoided seeing her since the night he’d made the biggest mistake of his life. Not an easy task when she was his best friend’s little sister. Today his avoidance would come to a screeching halt because, with Chelsea joining the practice, he’d see her more days than not.
How could he remain faithful to Laura’s memory if he was constantly confronted with the woman who’d made him second-guess his heart?
Knowing he had to get the inevitable over with, he headed to her office just in time to hear Will’s teasing.
“Now,” Chelsea’s brother said, “go see your patients before I have to fire you for slacking on the job. Nepotism will get you nowhere around here.”
Yeah, right. Will babied his kid sister and wouldn’t even consider Chelsea going to work elsewhere when Jared, risking his friend’s anger, had voiced his concerns. Family and business didn’t mix. Too bad Will had ignored Jared’s less than subtle hints.
“Oh,” Chelsea said as she rounded the corner of her office doorway, bumping into him. Surprised golden brown eyes lifted, met his and she gave a sharp, surprised gasp. “Jared.”
Reflexively, he grasped her arms to steady her and was struck by a hauntingly familiar waft of something sweet, like homemade cookies or vanilla. Whatever the fragrance, the inviting smell filled him with the desire to take a deep breath. Just as the thought of knowing only the cotton fabric of her lab coat separated their skins filled him with the memory of the single kiss they’d shared and how he’d run his hands over her bare arms that night.
She’d been so beautiful, so full of life, so innocent. Yet the sparks between them had been anything but when she’d caught him off guard by pressing her body to his. By pressing her lips to his.
Even now he recalled the warmth of her lips, the moan that had escaped her mouth when he’d kissed her back, the softness of her flesh when he’d molded her to him.
God, he hadn’t been able to get close enough, hadn’t been able to stop himself from kissing her even though he’d known it had been wrong. He’d have sold his soul that night to have made love to Chelsea.
And although he’d gotten his body under control before they’d done much more than kiss, he hadn’t walked away with his soul intact. Far from it.
No, kissing Chelsea had cost him a great deal, too much.
Which he didn’t need to be thinking of because some things were best forgotten.
Not that he’d been able to forget, despite years of trying.
Some things truly were unforgettable.
“Jared,” she repeated, her gaze traveling over him, almost as if she couldn’t resist seeing how time had changed him. Her honey-colored gaze softened, almost becoming a caress, stroking his insides to an ooey-gooey mess. Red stained her cheeks when her eyes lifted to his and she realized what she’d done. “It’s been a long time.”
His heart thudded against his chest in a rapid beat and his bones turned to jelly, leaving him off-kilter. Had he secretly wondered what Chelsea would think of him after all this time? Of how she’d perceive the changes the years had etched on him?
Annoyed at her stirring of his senses and thoughts, he frowned. How could he want to lean in and get a better smell of a woman he didn’t even want to like?
“Yes, it has.” Too long. Not long enough. “Iwasonmy way to say hello,” he said matter-of-factly to cover his slip.
She smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. Her mouth made him think of his favorite female actress, of her classic, infectious smile. Wide, bright, and contagious. Despite his determination to remain impassive, outwardly at least, her smile made his lips want to curve upward.
Which only served to annoy him all the more.
Although she was older than the too-young-for-him seventeen she’d been when they’d first met, there were a thousand reasons why he needed to stay away from Chelsea and safeguard himself from getting close to her. Even if she did now work at Madison Medical Center.
Chelsea held out her hand. She had nice hands with slender fingers and clean, unpainted nails.
Unable to avoid the greeting, Jared clasped the hand of the girl who’d become a woman in the years since he’d last seen her.
Warm. Electric.
His blood sizzled and fried his brain, short-circuiting the logic that said he shouldn’t think Chelsea’s soft touch so compelling, her smell so mesmerizing, her nearness so seductive. Time hadn’t changed the way she heated his blood. Unfortunately.
He let go of her hand, wondering why he wanted to turn her hand over and run his fingers over her palm. Ridiculous. He wasn’t a romantic and even if he had been, Chelsea would be the last person on his list of possible valentines. She held the power to destroy everything he held dear.
