by J. H. Croix
Holly’s pager went off. “Gotta go. If Charlie comes out, tell her another nurse will be here in a sec.” She hurried off, giving me a little wave. Another nurse approached and stepped into the room.
This would normally be the cue for me to go. I had no reason to hang around at this point. Yet, I didn’t quite feel right about leaving just yet. The nurse came out another moment later with Olive in a wheelchair. Olive smiled brightly at me, waving as she passed by. The nurse flashed a distracted smile as she spoke to Olive. “We’re just gonna check on a few things.”
I stood there in the hallway, wondering if Dr. Lane was okay. I’d just about talking myself into leaving when I heard the sound of sobbing. I rapped my knuckles sharply on the door and stepped in without even pausing to think. Dr. Lane was leaning against the examination table in the center of the room, her hands over her face as she took a shuddering breath.
She didn’t appear to have heard me knocking or stepping into the room. “Are you okay?”
Her breath stuttered, and she lifted her head. Her gray eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed and damp from her tears. She swiped at them with her thumb, collecting herself quickly. “Thank you for finding her. She’s been gone for over an hour, and I’ve been so worried.”
“It was kind of by accident. I’m not even on duty, so I didn’t know you’d put a call in. She wandered onto my property earlier. My dog was pacing and whining. Honestly, I thought she was a hiker on my property without permission, so I walked out there to check. That’s how I found her. I’d like to take credit, but you should thank Waffle, not me.”
“Waffle?” she asked, a smile barely teasing the corners of her lips.
I really wanted her to smile. I didn’t like seeing her like this. The Dr. Lane I knew, all two times I’d met her, was put together and sharp. My heart twisted to see her look so concerned.
“My dog,” I explained.
I stood there, my hands stuffed in my pockets as I fought the urge to pull her into my arms. Because she looked sad and worried, nothing like the buttoned up, proper doctor I was used to seeing. Right now, she didn’t have on her lab coat. She had on a pair of leggings and a fitted T-shirt. Her hair, usually pulled back tightly, had fallen loose as if she’d run her hands through it a few too many times. It fell in a tousle around her shoulders, that streak of purple I’d noticed before standing out amidst the glossy brown locks.
Even though it was completely nonsensical given the setting, my body had some thoughts about how she looked. Her T-shirt was pulled tight across her breasts. Garbed in her lab coat at her office, I wouldn’t have guessed she had curves like this. But damn, she had curves for days.
Get your mind out of the gutter dude. She’s upset because her mom got lost.
“Dr. Lane…” I started to say.
She shook her head. “No need to call me that, just call me Charlie. That’s what everyone else calls me anyway.”
“Ah, so it took me finding your lost mom to get that privilege?” I asked with a careful smile.
She rolled her eyes. “No, it wasn’t that. You were just too cranky with me, so I never got around to it. Neil always says he never goes by Dr. Johnson because the town’s too small.”
“True, some of us call him Doc, but the rest of us call him Neil. I’m sorry about your mom. Next time she goes missing, just give me a call first because I’m right next door. Next door is about a quarter-mile down the road, but still. Waffle can help find her quick. I’m not saying don’t call 9-1-1, I’m just saying it’s easy for me to help look for her.”
Charlie nodded, dragging her sleeve across her face. “I need to find someone to watch her during the day, but she gets upset every time I bring it up.”
“She mentioned that she lived here for years, but that doesn’t seem right. I mean, you just moved here a bit ago, right?”
Charlie lips curled in a tired smile. “My parents lived here a long time ago. Actually, I was born close to here. My dad was stationed at Fort Richardson, just outside of Anchorage. He later got stationed elsewhere, but they always missed Alaska and meant to move back here. You know how it goes though. They meant to do it, but it never happened. After my dad died, I thought maybe she’d like it because she talked about it so much.”
“That makes sense,” I replied.
Charlie’s shoulders rose and fell with a shuddering breath. Her gaze broke from mine, and she turned to snag a tissue off the counter nearby, blowing her nose quickly and then grabbing another one to dab at her eyes.
“You must think I’m an idiot,” she muttered. “Crying, moving here just because my mom missed it.”
“Not at all,” I said, meaning it completely. “Why would you think that?”
“Well, when we got here, my mom wasn’t as bad as she is now. But she’s gone downhill fast. I didn’t really think about what it meant to get a house in the woods where she could wander off. It would be better if we were somewhere where there were more people around.”
I stared at her for a moment, unsure what to say but then I figured I might as well be honest. “I don’t know. If you were in a busy area, she could wander off and just get lost in the city. At least here, once everybody gets to know her, people will keep an eye out for her. Plus, now that I know you’re my neighbor, I can check on her when I’m around. It’s not a big deal. I’ll bring Waffle over to visit her too.”
Charlie stared at me, and then burst out laughing. Tears were rolling down her cheeks again by the time she stopped. Again, I found myself resisting the urge to pull her into my arms. “What’s so funny?”
She gulped in air and then shrugged. “Having your dog visit her. I dunno. It seemed funny.”
“I suppose so, but if it weren’t for Waffle, I might not have found her today. If she gets to know your mom, she’ll find her easy every time. She’s a hound mix, and let me tell you, she follows her nose.”
Charlie’s gray eyes scanned my face, a small smile teasing her lips. “I guess that makes sense then.”
We stared at each other, the room getting quiet. I didn’t know what else to say. Her mother was fine, and I should leave. There was no reason for me to linger. Yet, I found myself wanting to say. Actually, what I wanted to do was kiss her. But that was totally out of place and half-crazy, and I damn well knew it.
I started to turn just as Charlie moved. The room was small. Her phone rang. She slipped her phone out of her pocket, glancing at the screen. “I have to take this if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, of course. I’ll just…”
“No, don’t go,” she said.
Without even thinking about it, I simply nodded and waited.
“Hey Emily, what is it?”
Charlie listened and then nodded. “I’m with grandma at the hospital right now. We’ll be home in a little bit. I can pick up pizza on the way home.”
Whatever Emily’s reply was, it didn’t seem too friendly by the look on Charlie’s face. My curiosity about her was piling up. Nothing about her was fitting in with what I had expected. But then, I didn’t know what I’d expected.
After Charlie hung up the phone, her eyes caught mine. “My niece. She lives with us too. She’s fifteen years old, and she kind of hates me,” she offered with a sigh.
Warning bells should have been going off in my mind. Hell, she had a mother with dementia and apparently a teenager who hated her. I didn’t know what the hell I was thinking. Except I couldn’t stop looking at her. Her gorgeous gray eyes, that whimsical purple streak in her hair. To see her out of her usual lab coat and buttoned up look, fuck me. She still had her glasses on, but her tousled hair softened her features.
As she looked at me, the air started to heat, and my body tightened. I didn’t know what it was about her, but my usual warning signals seemed broken. I heard nothing and thought nothing. My entire focus narrowed to her—to the fine arch of her brows, the angle of her cheekbones, and her full lips, which seemed out of place in her otherwise sharp-featured face.
/> Her wide gray eyes stared back at me, darkening like the summer sky on a stormy day. The air hummed. Before I thought about it, but let’s face it, I wasn’t really thinking, not with my brain, I stepped in her direction. At the same time, she took a step, bringing us flush together. Lifting a hand, I slid my fingers through her hair, the locks silky soft. I could see her pulse fluttering in her neck. Her cheeks flushed pink, her lips parted, and the next thing I knew, I was threading my hand into her hair.
Cupping the nape of her neck, I dipped my head and dusted a kiss over her lips. A small sound came from her throat, something between a hum and a moan. Coming from her, it was like spurs to my need. I swiped my tongue along the seam of her lips. Her mouth opened on a gasp. She tasted divine—sweet with a hint of mint, her mouth warm and welcoming. The uptight Dr. Lane, excuse me Charlie, moaned into my mouth.
Fuck me. She kissed like a dream, her tongue tangling sensually with mine, her hand sliding up to grip my hair. I lost sight of everything but the feel of her against me, her mouth moving under mine and those luscious curves that I hadn’t known existed pressed against me.
A sharp knock at the door punctured the haze in my mind. I broke free, looking down into her gray eyes, dark and flashing silver.
“Oh,” she said, her eyes widening. Yet, she didn’t move and I didn’t want her to move.
Charlie
Staring up into Jesse’s eyes, I tried to catch my breath. I tried to think. But thought was hard to come by. All I could focus on was the feel of him against me.
The man might as well have been sculpted from stone, all coiled muscle and power. Just now, every inch of him was pressed against me. Somewhere in the middle of the madness of our kiss, his hand had slid down my spine to cup my bottom. I felt as if I were falling with butterflies spinning wildly in my core.
Desire throbbed inside, sending heat and liquid need sliding through my veins. Another sharp knock at the door nudged me, mentally kicking through the haze and madness in my mind.
“Oh!”
I forced myself to jump back. Because, let me tell you, my body did not want to move. I could’ve stood there for days with the feel of Jesse pressed against me. It wasn’t simply desire, it was feeling encompassed by his strength. Oh, and I might mention the man kissed like a dream. Soft and masterful. I nearly melted the moment his lips met mine and his hand threaded in my hair.
It was an act of will to step further away from him. My body was drawn so powerfully to his, like magnet to metal. Jesse’s eyes stayed on mine, making me feel as if he could see right through me. Yet, when I met his gaze, I didn’t feel the judgment I expected to see.
Oh no. It was something else altogether. The heat in his gaze seared me, and something else flickered underneath. My belly fluttered and my heart clenched.
Coming soon!
Sweet Fire
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Into The Fire Series
Burn For Me
Slow Burn
Burn So Bad
Hot Mess
Burn So Good
Brit Boys Sports Romance
The Play
Big Win
Out Of Bounds
Play Me
Naughty Wish
Diamond Creek Alaska Novels
When Love Comes
Follow Love
Love Unbroken
Love Untamed
Tumble Into Love
Christmas Nights
Last Frontier Lodge Novels
Christmas on the Last Frontier
Love at Last
Just This Once
Falling Fast
Stay With Me
When We Fall
Hold Me Close
Crazy For You
Catamount Lion Shifters
Protected Mate
Chosen Mate
Fated Mate
Destined Mate
A Catamount Christmas
Ghost Cat Shifters
The Lion Within
Lion Lost & Found
Acknowledgments
To my readers—every single one of you. It’s a honor to have you read my books. Your notes make my day. Thank you, thank you for making it possible for me to keep writing stories!
My proofreader angels swoop in to make sure I don’t miss anything - Janine, Beth P., Terri D., Terri E., Heather H., & Carolyne B. - hugs! Yoly Cortez continues to create absolutely stunning covers for this series.
My husband cheers me on, makes me laugh, and keeps me grounded in this crazy journey of life.
xoxo
J.H. Croix
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author J. H. Croix lives in a small town in the historical farmlands of Maine with her husband and two spoiled dogs. Croix writes steamy contemporary romance with sassy independent women and rugged alpha men who aren't afraid to show some emotion. Her love for quirky small-towns and the characters that inhabit them shines through in her writing. Take a walk on the wild side of romance with her bestselling novels!
Places you can find me:
jhcroixauthor.com
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