“Good timing on that break,” Carol murmured and disappeared down the hall.
“Hey.” Ryan approached her, looking all too sexy in his jeans and button down black shirt.
Her tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of her mouth and she could barely form a response. Maybe she squeaked out some kind of hello?
Ryan was here. Had come all the way from Oregon to a small hospital in Idaho.
“Did I hear that right?” He gave a slight smile. “Are you able to take a break right now?”
“Yeah, I’m due for a lunch.”
“You mind taking it with me?” Even though the smile remained, there was uncertainty in his gaze. A nervousness that gave her a hope she didn’t want to feel.
“Sure.” She followed him out of the ward and to the elevators. She didn’t have her purse to buy anything, but right now food had just slipped on her priority list.
He was here. Ryan was here. The realization kept spinning in her head.
Behind closed elevator doors the room seemed to shrink, leaving her with a heightened awareness of the man beside her. She tried not to stare at his shoulders and remember how they’d felt beneath her hands. Tried not to remember the sound of his laughter in her head, and how it could make her stomach flip.
Of course he wasn’t laughing right now, and her stomach still felt like it hosted a dozen butterflies.
“I was right,” he murmured, turning slightly to glance down at her.
“What?”
“You look just as gorgeous in scrubs and a ponytail as you did all dolled up at the wedding that day.”
A flush heated her face and she ducked her head. It meant nothing. This man was a born and bred flirt.
“Thank you.”
“My car’s out front. Thought we could go for a drive?”
“Sure.” God, she really wished she could get out more than a few words. She must sound like a complete idiot.
A few minutes later she settled in the front seat of a shiny black sports car.
He’d barely driven out of the parking lot before the cork on her emotions popped off.
“I’m sorry, Ryan.”
He whipped his head to look at her. “Wait, what? Why the hell are you apologizing?”
“Because I left early.” She twisted her hands in her lap and kept her gaze lowered. “I stood you up for dinner when I knew you wanted to talk.”
“Shit, Ciara, you don’t owe me an apology. I don’t blame you one bit for taking off, I probably would’ve done the same.” He cursed. “Is there somewhere I can pull over? Where we can be somewhat private?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “There’s a small road about a mile ahead. Take a left and it’ll lead you to a lake.”
Ryan floored the gas pedal and the car raced forward, then turned onto the road she’d mentioned. A few minutes later they were parked at the lake—or really more of a pond.
He turned in his seat to look at her. “First, let me just clear up one thing.”
“Oka—”
He cupped her face gently and closed his mouth over hers. The kiss sent her head spinning and her heart kick-starting.
When he lifted his head she was trembling and cursing herself mentally for being so damn easy with him.
“This. What we have between us has always been real.” He paused and ran his thumb over her lower lip. “But I won’t lie, Ciara. When I found out who you were I wanted to send you home. Knew I should let you go and not touch you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I couldn’t. I wanted you like I’ve never wanted a woman.” Guilt flickered in his already tormented eyes. “So I was a selfish asshole and slept with you that night knowing full well I’d send you off the next day and never call.”
Ciara’s heart pinched. “You know, I’m not really sure I want to hear this.”
“Please, let me finish.”
Why? So he could see the hurt and humiliation on her face?
But if anything, his gaze seemed to soften as he saw the tears in her eyes.
“Only it wasn’t that easy. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, darlin’. It didn’t take long for me to realize how much I needed you.” He moved to grab her hand and held it between his.
“How much I still need to you.”
Her blood pounded with each of his words and their context.
“I know I hurt you and I’m so sorry. But I hope you’ll consider giving me a second chance. I’m not perfect and this whole being in love thing is new to me.”
Her breath caught and she gripped his fingers. “You love me?”
“I do, Ciara. And I’ll be honest. This is a first for me. I’ve never been in love before. I’m glad you’re my first, and I’m kind of hoping you’ll be my last.”
Her heart careened with joy and the tears that were in her eyes spilled out to trail down her cheeks.
“But I live in Idaho.” Oh jeez, that was her response to his declaration of love?
“Yeah, about that part. I work for the Coast Guard, darlin’, and I can’t up and move.” He lifted her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “But I was hoping I could talk you into moving to the coast, marrying me, and maybe applying for a job at the local hospital. I have some job applications in the back of the car for places that said they were hiring nurses.”
“Did you just...was that a marriage proposal slipped in between moving to the coast and applying for jobs?”
Ryan winced. “I suck at romance.”
“Oh I don’t know. You had a few good moments when we were together.”
His gaze darkened. “Does this mean you’re thinking about it?”
“I need two weeks.”
He blinked and pulled back a little. “Oh. Right. Yeah, you should think about this—”
“I need to give the hospital two weeks,” she murmured and leaned forward to brush a kiss across his lips. “I would love to move to the coast, find a job, and marry you. And not necessarily in that order.”
Ryan closed his eyes and she saw the shudder of relief that slipped through him.
“I thought you would hate me,” he confessed.
“I couldn’t hate you. I’m in love with you, Ryan. And that’s why I ran away that night, because realizing it scared the crap out of me.”
Ryan closed his eyes briefly and let out a shuddering breath.
“I’ll be up here every weekend before you make the move,” he promised thickly. “And my nephew, your nephew, will be visiting Wyattville in a few weeks. I’d love for you to meet him.”
Her heart stopped and then swelled with emotion. “Oh, Ryan, I’d love that. You have no idea what that would mean to me.”
“I think I do now. And I want you to be in his life. In my life.”
He kissed her again, harder this time. And her world swirled with dizzying speed in an intoxicating mix of need, love, and happiness.
He finally lifted his head and his breathing was ragged. “I need you to answer a couple questions for me, Ciara.”
“Anything.”
“How long is your break, and how difficult is it to get you out of those scrubs?”
“One hour and I challenge you to find out.”
Ryan reached for her and smiled. “You should know I never turn down a challenge.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” She met him halfway, every inch of her alive and burning with anticipation—with the need to touch him again.
Cinderella had it right. So this was love...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shelli is a New York Times Bestselling Author who read her first romance novel when she snatched it off her mother’s bookshelf at the age of eleven. One taste and she was forever hooked. It wasn’t until many years later that she decided to pursue writing stories of her own. By then she acknowledged the voices in her head didn’t make her crazy, they made her a writer.
Shelli currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her daughter, where she writes variou
s genres of romance. She is a compulsive volunteer, and has been known to spontaneously burst into song. www.shellistevens.com
Want to find out how the Wyatt brothers found love? Check out the other three stories in the Holding out for a Hero series.
Holding Out for a Hero, Book 1
Eleanor Owen needs to get out of Chicago and quick. It’s not that she doesn’t want to obey the subpoena to testify against her drug-trafficking ex-boyfriend. It’s making it to the witness stand alive, should a dirty cop make good on his threats.
Tiny, remote Wyattsville, Oregon looks like the perfect place to disappear, but it’s hard to blend into the woodwork when one of the town’s infamous namesakes sends her heart racing. Worse, Mr. Tall, Hot and Packing is the town sheriff, which means she should stay as far away from him as possible.
Tyson Wyatt is positive the sexy new girl in town is hiding something. Question is, what? He vows to feel out her secrets—including what she feels like beneath him. Preferably naked. Until then, he’s not buying the story she’s selling.
Their chemistry is sheet-melting hot, and Ellie realizes much too late that the man with the badge is as dangerous to her heart as her ex is to her life…
Buy at Barnes and Noble
Holding Out for a Hero, Book 2
Megan Asher has a thriving career, looks, self-confidence to spare. It all means little without the love of her life. Trevor has returned from deployment in Afghanistan a haunted man, emotionally distant and unwilling to connect—except in bed. Then even that fragile thread snaps. Brokenhearted, she is forced to call off their wedding and, after a few months’ separation, try to move on.
With every aspect of his life spinning out of his once-legendary control, Trevor Wyatt convinces himself that Megan is better off—and safer—as far away from his demons as possible. Until he comes back to town for his brother’s wedding, and discovers Megan is dating.
Suddenly realizing what he’s thrown away, he vows to breach the fortress she’s built around her heart. They come together in a cataclysm of rekindled passion that unleashes the very demons he never wanted her to witness.
Back to square one, Megan realizes she must take the ultimate risk to slip past Trevor’s defenses. Give him control in the one place she can. The bedroom. The seductive move is one she prays will be the first step in helping heal him and their love.
Buy at Barnes and Noble
Holding Out for a Hero, Book 3
Kate has always been everybody’s friend and the de-facto little sister to the Wyatt brothers. But her feelings for Todd Wyatt, the town’s hottest firefighter, run far beyond the sibling variety. Not that he’s ever noticed.
After years of nursing her crush, Kate decides it’s time to take action. Except she has one awkward little secret: she’s still a virgin. She hopes she can seduce Todd without him realizing just how inexperienced she is.
In Todd’s mind, Kate’s the sweet girl he teases and hits up for free cupcakes. One surprise kiss over the summer, though, and suddenly she’s jumped from the platonic side of his brain to the want-her-in-my-bed side. Even though the last thing he wants is to lose her friendship, his resistance to her determined seduction is slipping. Fast.
When malicious attacks on her bakery escalate, it soon becomes clear that for all Kate’s friends, she’s made at least one big enemy. And if they don’t figure it out soon, things could take a deadly turn.
Order at Barnes and Noble
Love Me Knot Page 6