by Gina Wilkins
Haley thought Ron was still occupied with the other guys, so she was a bit surprised when he appeared suddenly at her side, a diet soda in his hand. “Thought you might be thirsty,” he said, offering it to her.
“Thank you.”
Nodding cordially to Drew, Ron spoke to Haley again. “Alexis just told me that Connor and Mia are taking her and McKenzie to the state fair next weekend. She’s really excited about it.”
Remembering family outings to the state fair from her own childhood, Haley smiled. “I’m sure she is.”
“You and I should go while it’s in town. That’s something we haven’t done together yet.”
It wasn’t so much the words as the tone that took her back. He smiled as he spoke, showing a lot of teeth—apparently aimed directly at Drew, whose own smile had faded.
Drew took a step backward. “Excuse me, I think my son is signaling for me.”
Haley spun on one heel. “Ron—”
“Haley, Ron, come on.” Alexis skidded to a stop beside them, nearly crashing right into Ron, who caught her with a laugh. “She’s going to open her presents now.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” Haley said beneath her voice to Ron as they moved toward the table where Mia had been seated behind a stack of gifts.
He grimaced, but stayed close by her side when they rejoined the others.
“Okay, let’s have it.”
Ron stood in the center of her living room, visibly braced for whatever was to come. Haley didn’t bother with prevarications, nor did she have to ask him to clarify what he meant by the demand. She had deliberately kept the conversation neutral on the way from the birthday party, not wanting to get into a serious discussion in the car. She’d known Ron was aware she was only procrastinating.
“What was that performance you put on in front of Drew this afternoon?” she asked, planting her hands on her hips as she faced him.
He shoved a hand through his breeze-tossed sandy hair. “It wasn’t a performance. He was making an obvious play for you, and I blocked it. That’s all.”
She huffed. “I am not a football.”
His lips quirked, but she was sure he knew better than to laugh. “No.”
“And I am perfectly capable of deflecting passes, myself,” she went on, unintentionally continuing the metaphor. “I didn’t need you stepping in to make both me and Drew feel awkward.”
The hints of amusement left Ron’s face then. “He should have felt awkward. It was damned rude of him to corner you like that at a party for a friend. Especially considering you’d come with a date.”
“I guess he knew I’d ridden to the party with you, but I doubt he or anyone else was aware that we were there…well, together. Not until you decided to act like you were marking your territory, anyway.”
His brows drew together. “Maybe we should have made it clearer from the start—to everyone—that we weren’t just carpooling.”
“Like a general announcement, you mean?” she asked with more than a touch of sarcasm.
He responded more seriously than she’d expected. “Yeah. Something like that.”
She took a tiny step backward, a physical enactment of her emotional response. “We’re nowhere close to being ready for that step.”
His frown deepened. “What? Letting people know we’re seeing each other? That we enjoy doing more together than just studying? That we’re attracted to each other?”
“I just think it’s best if we don’t mention to the others that anything is different from the way it’s always been between us. It’s all still too new. Too…well, experimental.”
“Experimental.” He repeated her ill-chosen word with a tone of distaste.
Flushing a little, she shook her head. “That’s not exactly the word I meant. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to make things uncomfortable with our friends when we get together in the future.”
“If things don’t work out between us, you mean.”
“For any reason.”
Tired of being on the defensive when he was the one who’d gotten out of line that day, she lifted her chin. “We haven’t even talked, ourselves, about what’s changing between us. All we’ve done so far is share a few dinners and a few kisses. That’s hardly enough to change everything.”
Nor for him to start acting like she was now off the market when it came to other men, she added silently. True, she’d had no interest in responding to Drew’s flirting, but still…
“You’re right,” Ron surprised her by saying a bit too evenly.
“I am?”
He nodded, taking a step toward her to close the distance she’d put deliberately between them. “A few kisses isn’t enough to change everything.”
“Well, yes, that’s what I just said. I…”
His hands closed around her forearms and he pulled her toward him with a little more intensity than usual. There was no hint of the clown in his eyes when he lowered his head.
“A change is on the way,” he warned, just before his lips closed over hers.
This kiss was definitely different. Sensations exploded inside her when he deepened the embrace, taking her mouth with a thorough, masculine confidence that made every feminine cell inside her spring to life. His tongue thrust between her lips, exploring and claiming. His arms were strong around her, holding her so tightly against him she couldn’t possibly be unaware of his hunger for her.
She locked her arms around his neck and strained to get closer, her tongue parrying his with an equal fervor. All the impatient curiosity building inside her for the past few weeks fueled her response to this embrace, urging her to push on, to explore, to finally have her answer to the question that had been haunting her. What would it be like when they finally came together?
This preview was telling her it was going to be amazing. Perhaps life changing. And that thought scared her as much as it thrilled her.
Ron’s hands slid down her hips, moving inward to cup her bottom, to fit her even more snugly against him. He tilted his head to taste her lips from a new angle. She locked her fingers in his hair, holding him there while she thoroughly explored every inch of his mouth.
Her tingling breasts flattened against his broad chest, she rocked lightly against him, eliciting a groan from him. His fingers dug spasmodically into her, and this time the moan was hers.
He tore his mouth from hers with a gasp. “Haley—”
Drawing a deep, hitching breath, she pushed lightly against him. He released her immediately, a kaleidoscope of emotions shifting through his darkened blue eyes.
Everything was changing. Had already changed.
Without a word, she held out a hand to him, pleased that it was relatively steady.
Ron glanced from that offered hand to her face. He must have read the invitation in her expression. He took her hand in a grip that was just short of painful before deliberately loosening his grasp.
Haley turned and led him to her bedroom.
More kisses. More leisurely, yet increasingly urgent, caresses. Exploring touches. Encouraging murmurs.
Clothing fell to the floor, tangled in piles of his and hers. A sweep of Ron’s hand and the decorative throw pillows from her bed tumbled on top of the clothing.
What might have been a long time later—or maybe only minutes—Ron hovered over her, his hair tousled around his face, which was taut with need and restraint. The dimmed bedside lamp threw shadows across his features, changing his appearance in some way. Or was she simply seeing him differently now?
She reached up to stroke a lock of hair out of his eyes. Though her entire body quivered with eager need, she didn’t try to rush him. She savored the moment. The anticipation. The certainty that the wait would be justified.
He pressed his lips lightly against her cheek, trailing a line of kisses to her mouth, which he took tenderly this time, weakening whatever defenses she might have had left against him. Her hand slid to the back of his head, her fingers burying themselves in hi
s hair.
His bare skin was so warm against hers, as if heated by a low-grade fever. She knew the heat had nothing to do with illness. She suspected her own skin felt as warm to his prowling hands.
Poised to join them, he hesitated one last time, looking down at her as if to be sure she hadn’t changed her mind. For just a fleeting moment, she asked herself what on earth she was doing. This was Ron! Her friend, her study partner, her sometimes squabble mate. The man who exasperated her with his lack of willingness to fully commit, who teased her mercilessly until she snapped at him, who she’d always thought of as a charming, walking heartache. Ron.
The man whose touch made her yearn for more.
Smiling mistily, she arched to welcome him. With a muffled groan, he accepted the invitation.
Ron’s mood was so good for the next few days that nearly everyone he encountered seemed compelled to comment on his cheery attitude. He flirted more vigorously with the female staff, joked with the guys, teased with his patients, reassured and comforted their families.
Maybe he felt so confident because things were going so well at work—he’d even received a few grudging compliments from his resident and attending. He was actually starting to feel like a physician—or at least, a potential one. And while he knew things could take a fast downturn in that respect, with one embarrassing gaffe or one poorly timed moment of forgetfulness, he decided to enjoy his good fortune while it lasted.
He behaved himself as best he could around Haley, at least when other people were around. She was extremely busy during those days and they barely had time to greet each other in the hallways, but he relished the new warm gleam in her eyes when she saw him. At least, he thought he saw a new warmth there. He hoped he wasn’t simply projecting his own feelings onto her.
For the first time in more years than he could remember, Ron was almost giddily optimistic about his future. He was going to be a doctor, he would help people—kids…and he had good reason to believe that Haley would be very much a part of that fulfilling future. There was nothing more he could ask for now.
Watching Haley laughing with one of the nurses over a particularly amusing patient, he swallowed hard on a sudden wave of unease. It had been so long since he’d allowed himself to want anything this badly. Since he’d invested so much of himself in anything, knowing that it wouldn’t be so easy to walk away this time.
He’d forgotten how much fear could be embedded in hope.
Shaken out of his reverie by a summons from his resident, he told himself to push the worries aside and focus on the present. After all, it was Haley who always encouraged him to expect the best, to prepare only for success and not to anticipate failure.
He was looking forward to practicing what she preached.
Haley hadn’t been involved in the initial planning, so she wasn’t sure quite how it had come about, but the weekend after Mia’s party, she found herself on a double date to the state fair with Ron, James and James’s friend, Elissa Copeland. It turned out that James had never actually been to the fair, and Ron seemed to think it was his mission to remedy that grievous situation. Ron had convinced Haley to join him in that endeavor—which hadn’t been too difficult, she admitted to herself as they climbed out of his car in the fairgrounds parking lot.
Elissa seemed nice enough, if a little too reserved. She was tall, slender, attractive, her hair expensively colored to a multitoned warm blond, her face perfectly made up. She’d dressed appropriately for the occasion—slim jeans and a thin, form-fitting orange sweater with an orange-and-brown cardigan tied around her shoulders in preparation for the after-sundown temperature drop. She and James made a striking couple, with him being so dark and broodingly handsome.
Ron wore faded jeans with a gray medical school sweatshirt. Haley, too, had donned jeans, along with a red hoodie with red-and-white striped sleeves. She’d thought she looked sort of cute and sporty when she’d left the house; seeing Elissa made her feel just a little grubby. She pushed that feeling aside with rueful self-reproach, reminding herself that this wasn’t a fashion competition. Especially since a predominant pattern seen at the fair was camo, and many of the people in attendance were teenagers dressed in all sorts of odd and attention-begging garb.
Ron took her hand as they joined the crowd streaming in through the gates of the fairgrounds. He was keeping them from becoming separated, true, but he also seemed to enjoy the contact. He wasn’t even pretending tonight that they were still merely friends.
She wasn’t sure if he’d said anything to James about the change in their relationship. She and Ron had been lovers only for a week. It was still too new for her to be casual about it, or comfortable sharing the news with everyone else. She hadn’t yet mentioned the change to her mom or even her own best friend, Anne. She’d been trying to decide exactly how to announce that her relationship with Ron had gone to a new level, but no one should expect wedding bells anytime in the future.
It was very much the same sort of relationship she’d had with Kris. Light. Fun. Nothing serious. It was just a little trickier this time. Kris hadn’t been part of her close circle of friends, so his absence was hardly noticeable in her life.
She supposed her study group was already drifting onto different paths as they moved through the latter half of medical school, and they would go their own ways after graduation, but she hated to think she couldn’t remain friends with all of them, wherever their careers took them. She couldn’t bear to think of a future without Ron in it, though she wanted to believe that was only a sign of how much she valued his friendship.
Trying to hear each other speak over the cacophony of loud music, amplified game barkers, screaming rides and shrieking children, the two couples wandered down the fairway, taking in the sights. The sun was just setting, and the colorful lights on the fairgrounds glared against the purple sky. The musky scent of the surrounding animal barns blended with the aromas of popped corn and grilled turkey legs and fried dough and beer, taking Haley straight back to her childhood. Her mouth was already beginning to water for a fatty, blatantly unhealthy meal.
“So what do y’all want?” Ron asked, pausing in the center of a grouping of concession trailers and motioning toward some of the more garish signs. “Chocolate covered bacon? Gator on a stick? Fried candy bars?”
Elissa studied the offerings with an almost visible shudder. “Seriously? People eat that stuff?”
Because they were surrounded by people eating “that stuff,” none of the others bothered to respond.
They found a food vendor operating from beneath a pavilion covering quite a few wood-slatted picnic tables, and they decided to eat there. Haley and Ron ordered Cajun chicken wings and grilled corn cobs slathered with melted butter and dusted with spicy seasoning. James and Elissa settled on cheeseburgers, though Elissa barely touched hers.
It felt good to sit for a few minutes, Haley thought with a little sigh. She’d been at the hospital at seven that morning and had barely stopped running since, getting home just in time to change for this outing.
During the meal, Haley discovered that Elissa was a pharmacy student at the medical school. Elissa and James had met in the cafeteria, and had dated a couple of times. They seemed to get along well, but Haley saw no real chemistry between them. James was as polite and considerate with Elissa as he was with everyone else. She treated him pretty much the same way, though Haley suspected that Elissa was a bit more invested in him. But Haley would freely admit that she couldn’t even guess what James was looking for in a mate.
“How long have the two of you been dating?” Elissa asked Haley, nodding toward Ron as she spoke. James looked as though he wouldn’t mind hearing the answer to that question, himself.
“Not long,” Haley said, glancing at Ron before looking back at the other woman. “But we’ve been friends for quite a while. How’s your burger?”
“Greasy.”
James wiped his mouth on a paper napkin. “Mine’s pretty good.”
&
nbsp; Ron grinned. “Grease is the best part of fair food, right, James?”
James didn’t look quite convinced, but he nodded obligingly.
Elissa wasn’t ready to have her conversational topic derailed. “It’s sort of tricky dating a classmate, isn’t it?”
Wiping her fingers, Haley began to gather her trash to carry to the nearest receptacle. “No, not really. We’re equals. It isn’t like one of us is a resident or attending and the other a student, or any other sticky balance of power issue.”
“No, I just meant I’ve heard it’s sometimes difficult for couples to get residencies in the same place. Especially if they’re particularly exclusive residencies. Which means both having to settle for alternate choices.”
Haley’s heart gave a hard thump, though she kept her smile bland. “Oh, we’re a long way from choosing residencies. We still have to get through the rest of our peds rotation.”
And she had no intention of talking about her future—with or without Ron—with Elissa tonight. Standing, she tossed her trash into the receptacle and looked at Ron. “Want to ride the Ferris wheel?”
He rose with a laugh, though his eyes were hard to read when they swept her face. “I’ll ride the Ferris wheel if you’ll ride the pirate ship with me.”
She hated the pirate ship. But she’d rather ride that than continue this particular discussion. “It’s a deal.”
Elissa sighed lightly, but stood to join the others as they left the dining pavilion.
Though James and Elissa remained on the ground, Haley and Ron rode the Ferris wheel. Ignoring the other riders in the big gondola, Ron kissed her at the top, assuring her it was tradition to do so. Grinning, a teenage boy on the opposite seat took the opportunity to steal a kiss from the blushing girl with him.
The huge, wildly swinging pirate ship made Haley close her eyes and cling for dear life to Ron’s arm. Laughing, he pulled her close on the pretext of keeping her safe. She decided maybe she didn’t dislike that particular ride so much, after all.
James was nearly toppled by a runaway preschooler when they moved on down the fairway. He caught the little redhead just before the collision, keeping a hand on the laughing tot while the four of them looked around for the adult in charge of him. Only moments behind the boy, a fresh-faced young redhead in her early twenties ran toward them.