“You hungry?”
She spun a gaze around the hospital cafeteria. The place had a reputation for being lackluster at best. At worst? She didn’t want to think about it. “Enough to risk eating anything from here? That’s a negative.”
“Pity.” Emmett reached into his backpack to unearth a small brown bag stamped with the Sweetie Pies logo. “I have this extra chocolate pomegranate scone, just waiting for someone to devour it, but—”
She’d snapped up the bag before he could finish. “Not fair, tempting me with my favorite.”
“Mmm. I guess it’s lucky for you I don’t always play fair.”
Sofia’s breath caught as his stare locked over hers. And as she opened the bag and took a bite of the decadent pastry, she realized that what she was really hungry for was the man sitting across from her.
“Whoa, Mallory. Where’s the fire?”
Emmett forced his feet to stop even though he was three steps shy of the door to the attendings’ lounge. Damn it, he was already running late courtesy of a cheerleader with a badly sprained ankle, and he didn’t want to keep Sofia waiting. Their study sessions had gone from obligation to happy habit over the past week and a half. He’d had to keep his attraction to her under wraps, which had been no easy feat considering he was harder than advanced calculus for her. But she’d been clear about wanting to keep things professional for now. Until she was ready for more, Emmett would keep enjoying the time they spent together, prepping for her boards.
Sure, he wanted her. But Sofia was as smart as she was sexy, and he couldn’t deny how much he didn’t just want her, but liked her.
Tess Michaelson, Remington Mem’s ED attending, looked up from her spot at her locker, answering before Emmett could manufacture a no-big-deal reply to his fellow surgeon, Jonah Sheridan’s question.
“Judging by the fact that he’s wearing cologne and a shirt that was actually ironed? I’d say the fire’s in his pants.”
Emmett’s heart rate went from zero to oh-shit in four point four seconds. Time to play this off. “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful, Michaelson. I can’t help it the rest of you are heathens.”
But, of course, his friends were smarter than that. Fucking doctors. “You do look really nice,” Natalie Kendrick, Jonah’s fiancée, put in curiously. “Are you going on a date?”
“No. Uh-uh, definitely no,” he said, too quickly. Gah, this was going south, fast. “I mean, what makes you think that?”
“Oh, my God! He’s got The Look!” Charlie crowed from across the lounge, and Tess and Natalie nodded in unison.
“What look?” Emmett asked.
Jonah snorted, which should’ve been unattractive, but since the guy was like a walking GQ spread, he made it work. “The one a guy gets when he’s into someone.”
“Or wants to get into someone,” Tess cracked. “And before you go denying it, you’ve been wearing The Look all week, smooth talker. We are so onto you. So, who’s the lucky girl?”
Nope. He and Sofia might’ve kept up their nightly (and sometimes daily, depending on their shifts) study dates for the last ten days, and yeah, each one might have grown longer and more full of flirty laughter than its predecessor, but Sofia had been wildly clear about being all business at work. Emmett wasn’t about to kiss and tell. Especially since—much to his dismay—they’d only kissed that one time, despite talking for hours on end as they’d studied every night since.
“Sorry, I don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Goodnight,” he called out over a smile that made all of his friends groan in unison, keeping the gesture firmly in place as he moved through the door and headed for the lobby. Okay, so he wanted to kiss Sofia again, deeper and slower and a lot more privately than he had the first time. But their study sessions had all gone down either in public or on hospital property. Her gaze might linger on his long enough for him to know she hadn’t forgotten about that night in the lounge, either, but until she made a move?
They were study buddies. Him, her, and his very blue balls.
“Hey,” Emmett said a minute later when he reached the lobby. Damn it, by the look of the bright red scarf wound around Sofia’s neck and the ridiculously adorable matching mittens on her hands, he’d kept her waiting. “Sorry I’m late. I was finishing up with a patient.”
“It’s okay. It looks like we might have to cancel, anyway,” she said. “Look.”
Emmett peered past the huge wall of windows in the lobby, and whoa. “It’s snowing? That wasn’t even in the forecast.”
She nodded. “The storm took an unexpected turn. We’re supposed to get nearly a foot of snow by morning. They’ve already declared a state of emergency.”
Well, shit. There was no way the diner where they’d planned to study would stay open in those conditions. This much snow in North Carolina? Even when they were prepared for it, the city shut down.
“Damn. How are you going to get home?” Emmett had the luxury of living six blocks from the hospital, but Sofia had a good thirty-minute commute.
“Oh.” She bit her lip. “Well, I guess I’m driving.”
“Excuse me, miss?” A woman wearing a snow-covered coat paused in front of them. “Did I just hear you say you’re going to drive in this?”
“Yes,” Sofia said, but the woman shook her head.
“The police just closed all the highways, and the side roads are treacherous. It’s really awful out there.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Emmett said, turning back to Sofia. “You got a Plan B?”
Thankfully, she didn’t push trying to drive. “I guess I could stay here? I mean, I’ve already been here for fourteen hours, the on-call rooms are kind of funky, and the cafeteria food is one step up from a biohazard, but…”
“You can come to my place.” The offer vaulted out before Emmett could cage it. “I mean, only if you want to. At least that way, we won’t have to skip studying. But if that makes you uncomfortable, I can walk you back upstairs and we can reschedule.”
“No,” Sofia said, her cheeks flushing. “I mean, yes. Your place sounds good.” Her gaze met his and held. “As long as—”
He refused to look away. “I’m sure.”
Leading the way, he moved through the automatic doors. A gust of wind tagged him center mass, knocking his breath from his lungs, and Sofia cried out from beside him.
“Oh!” As if out of instinct, she grabbed his hand. “God, it’s freezing!”
But then, as they acclimated to the bone-chilling swirl of snow and wind, she didn’t let go.
And what do you know, Emmett didn’t hate that one fucking bit.
Curling his fingers around hers tightly, he maneuvered the six blocks to his apartment. Although the walk took less than ten minutes, he felt like a human Popsicle by the time they got there. Sofia’s cheeks were flushed dark pink from the cold, her hair and eyelashes decorated with a heavy collection of snowflakes as he guided her inside the building.
“Here,” he said once they got to his threshold on the eighth floor, reaching out to brush the last of the snow from her shoulders. “God, you’re chilled through.”
“S-s-so are you,” she pointed out, not incorrectly.
Emmett peeled off his coat, then took hers and ushered her inside his apartment. “I’ll get you a blanket. Hang on.”
Leaving his boots and outerwear in the foyer, he grabbed the blanket from the back of his sofa, flipping the switch to the gas fireplace on his way back to the spot where Sofia had just slipped out of her own boots.
“This should help,” he said, draping the soft fleece over her shoulders. The snowflakes that had gathered on her lashes had melted into glittery drops, making her eyes even prettier than usual as she looked up at him.
“Thank you.” She glanced at the pair of oversized windows on the far wall of his open concept living space, her smile brightening. “Oh, you have a beautiful view.”
The low light from the fireplace combined with the displays of holiday
lights strung over the snowy city below, but his eyes didn’t budge from her face.
“Yeah. I really do.”
She caught him staring a second later. “Emmett—”
“I know,” he said in a rush, stepping back. “I’m an attending, and you’re a resident. Work is your priority, as it should be, and I respect that. I really do. I just—”
He didn’t get to finish, because she reclaimed the space he’d put between them, her fingers sliding over his lips, and good Christ, the taste of her alone nearly undid him. “You’re right. Work is my priority. When we’re at the hospital, you’re an attending, and I’m a resident. The thing is, right now, we’re here. Together. Not at the hospital.” She lowered her fingers. “And the last thing I want to think about is work.”
The words had barely faded between them before Emmett’s mouth was on hers.
7
Since the moment she’d met him, Sofia had thought she and Emmett were like gasoline and matches. But now, standing here in the warmth of his apartment with his mouth on hers and her body on fire, she realized how wrong she’d been.
They weren’t explosive because they didn’t mix.
They were explosive because they did.
And even if it was just for one night, she wanted the fire they’d been keeping banked between them.
“Do you have any idea,” he murmured as he broke contact with her lips to trail a line of kisses down her neck. “How badly I’ve wanted to do this since we got stuck in that elevator?”
She gripped his shoulders with hot fists and laughed. “Actually, I do.”
“Oh, good. Then let’s make up for lost time.”
His arms were around her in a flash, palms curved against her ass as he scooped her up in one swift motion.
“Emmett.” Sofia barely got the word past her surprise. “What are you doing?”
He moved through the dimly lit apartment, each stride creating friction between their bodies that made her want to moan. Stopping by the windows, he lowered her into an oversized chair before flicking a glance over his shoulder.
“You wanted the view, right?”
She took in the snow-covered city, the pretty, twinkling lights making everything glitter so beautifully. “No. I mean, yes.” She’d spent the past week and a half—God, the past year and a half, really—holding back when it came to this man. She couldn’t wait anymore.
So she didn’t.
“The view is pretty,” Sofia said, leaning in to kiss him. “But I only want you.”
Emmett’s kiss in return deepened quickly, going from soft to wildly suggestive in seconds. But that was how they worked, the sparks between them flashing over as soon as they formed, and rather than fight it, Sofia let it in. Emmett cupped her face, holding her steady as he explored every inch of her mouth with his lips, his teeth, his tongue. His stubble rasped over her skin, heightening every sensation. Bright, demanding need built between her legs, and oh, God, as sexy as kissing him was, it wasn’t enough.
“Emmett.” She reached down to yank his shirt free from the waistband of his jeans, her fingers traveling over the buttons just long enough to free them. Sliding into sync with her, he shouldered his way out of the cotton, then reached low for the hem of her sweater. Their clothes starting hitting the floor with speed, until finally, only her bra and panties and his boxer briefs were left between them.
But Emmett didn’t move to touch her. He simply stared. “You don’t know, do you? How beautiful you are.”
Sofia looked down at her plain pink cotton bra and panties—hardly sexy, even in the firelight—and flushed. Beautiful was not a word most people attached to her. Ambitious, maybe. Stubborn, definitely. Painfully direct, all the time. And yet…
“When you look at me like that, I feel beautiful.”
Welcome to the painfully direct part of things. Sofia bit her lip, scrambling for a way to take the words back.
But then Emmett was on his knees in front of her, and she didn’t just feel beautiful.
She felt perfect.
“Good. Now let me make you feel everything.”
Parting her knees, he wrapped his fingers around her hips and pulled her in close. His mouth was directly in line with her breasts, and he—oh, God, yesssss—didn’t waste any time on pleasantries. A deft turn of his wrists had her bra undone, his lips closing around one aching nipple while his thumb circled the other with equal attention.
“Ah,” Sofia moaned, her head falling back against the chair cushion.
Emmett smiled darkly, but didn’t stop. Instead, his intensity grew, and by the time he slid her hips to the edge of the chair and angled her shoulders all the way back, her need was like a live wire humming under her skin.
“So beautiful,” he murmured, kissing his way down her belly and pressing his lips to her hip. Her clit throbbed with greedy need, and she was helpless to do anything other than lift her hips in search of more contact, in search of fucking everything.
And Emmett gave it, just as he’d promised.
Shifting so he was directly between her thighs, he kissed his way over the want-damp fabric there, making her pussy clench. Sofia’s hand drifted down, her fingers gliding up the back of his neck and threading through his hair. Her thighs fell wide in wordless invitation—please, please, touch me. But rather than take off her panties to stroke her bare, hot skin, he left them on, his tongue working some kind of crazy voodoo magic over the cotton that spiraled her want straight into a screaming demand. Her panties were slick, sliding with ease over her insanely sensitive clit, sending tremors through her belly. Every stroke brought her closer…closer, her need coiling and compressing like a spring. Her chin fell heavy against her chest, her eyes fluttering open, and the sight of him between her legs, so intent on her pleasure, tipped her right over the edge.
“Oh. God.” Sofia’s moan came from the back of her throat, all power and release. Emmett read her body language, working her through every wave before lessening his contact with her hyper-sensitive core in degrees, shifting back to look at her in the firelight.
She still didn’t want to wait. Reaching for him, she tugged him closer, kissing him once before sliding her fingers beneath the waistband of his boxer briefs. His cock pressed an impressive outline against the fabric, and Sofia wrapped her fingers around him, skin to skin.
“Okay,” Emmett bit out, thrusting into her palm once, then once more before pulling back. “We’re not going to be here too long if you keep that up.”
“Who’s cocky now?” she teased, slipping her panties off before giving his boxer briefs the same treatment.
His laugh was low and sexy as sin, but he grew serious in a blink. “We don’t have to do this, Sofia. If you’re not—”
“Sure?” She skimmed her hands over his shoulders, moving them inward until she cupped his face between both palms. “I am, Emmett. I’ve been sure since the minute you asked me to come over. I want this. Just you and me, here tonight.”
He paused for only the barest of seconds to grab a condom, then another to get it safely in place. Sofia stood, twining her fingers in his as she swung him around to take her place in the chair, then straddled his lap, her body hovering over his thighs. His hands shaped her waist, his stare taking in every nuance, hot and sultry, like a touch. Her pussy squeezed, want and ache both re-blooming inside of her. Emmett reached between them, his thumb circling exactly where she wanted the contact, pressure and friction and that dark, dirty smile doing things to her that she couldn’t explain, but wanted.
“Emmett,” Sofia said, half plea, half demand.
He answered both. “I’ve got you, beautiful.”
Pulling Sofia closer, he exchanged his fingers for the crown of his cock. She lowered slowly, the sudden fullness where she’d just been so needy threatening to make her gasp. Her inner muscles tightened, the pleasure so deep it kissed the boundary of pain, and she pressed forward until they were fully joined.
“Fuck,” Emmett breathed. “
Sofia. You feel…”
“So good,” she finished, beginning to rock against him. Oh, holy hell. “Please. I just want this.” She thrust again, chasing the closeness. The warmth of his chest on her chest. The deep, delicious pressure between her legs. “I want to feel this good.”
Emmett wrapped his hands around her hips and became a man of action over words. He guided Sofia into a rhythm that matched her want in an equal give and take. Pleasure and want combined low in her belly, making her roll her hips against his in greedy movements, riding him harder and faster until her body began to tremble.
“Right there.” Emmett’s cock filled her completely, and he held her in place, letting her take what she needed. “There.” He fit his hand between them, stroking her clit as she rocked against him even faster. “Come for me, Sofia. Let me make you feel good.”
Her orgasm slammed into her, wave after wave of pure pleasure. Just as she let go, Emmett took over, gripping her hips and thrusting more purposefully, his muscles growing taut and his breath shaky as he followed her in release a minute later.
They sat, collapsed together, with her in his lap and his arms around her rib cage, until their breathing evened out. The sound of snow batting against the windows filled the room, the press of Emmett’s heartbeat keeping time against Sofia’s chest. Reality threatened to remind her of its presence, of the fact that she’d just slept with her attending when she should’ve been studying for her boards and doing her best to make her father proud.
But then Emmett kissed her temple and held her tighter, and she let herself feel good for just a little longer.
8
“Okay. Amityville Horror or Carrie?”
Emmett handed over the giant bowl of popcorn as he palmed the remote, a pang working its way through his chest at the utterly adorable way Sofia’s nose scrunched up in thought. He’d known he liked her before they’d gotten to his snow-covered threshold, before she’d skimmed her fingers over his mouth and told him she wanted him. But now that they’d had mind-scrambling sex, not once, but twice in the course of the last twelve hours, filling the space between with laughter and some stolen sleep as they’d tangled together beneath the covers, Emmett realized like was an understatement.
Baby, It's Cold Outside: An Enemies to Lovers Holiday Medical Romance Page 5