by Amy Ruttan
“I’m still glad you were there,” Henry said.
“Thanks.”
The ambulance drove away and they locked the car. Kiera shivered in the cold. She sat back in Henry’s car and it wasn’t long before he joined her. They were stuck on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.
The only sounds were the noise of the snow blowing around and covering the windshield and the clicking sound of the car’s hazard lights.
“Well, this has been an exciting night,” Henry stated.
“It has. I don’t think I’ve ever been on such a crazy date in my life,” Kiera teased.
Henry laughed. “No, that was unique.”
He glanced at her and her heart skipped a beat. “You did look really pretty tonight.”
“Thank you.” Heat flooded her cheeks.
Her pulse was thundering in her ears as they sat there next to each other in the car. She shivered.
“Here.” His arm slipped around her, pulling her close. She knew she should push him away, but his arm felt nice and she stopped shivering.
And she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt something like that.
It felt good.
What was she doing?
She looked over at him. Her body was humming with anticipation. Her mouth was dry, and her breathing was fast as their gazes locked.
And before she could stop herself, she became swept up in something.
Something she didn’t quite know how to control and something that she couldn’t stop. And she wasn’t completely sure that she wanted to stop it.
She knew it was wrong and shouldn’t happen.
Kiera didn’t know Henry, but in this moment she didn’t want to stop the kiss from happening. His breath was hot on her neck, fanning her skin, making her aware of him. Every part of her tingled with something.
Her body was betraying her as it reacted to her enemy, to this man she didn’t know and who wasn’t the type of man she would ever think of going for.
This man was infuriating, privileged. He was everything she hated about this world. Yet, she didn’t think he was what his parents were.
Kiera closed her eyes. She wanted him to kiss her, and her body trembled being so close to him, his strong arms around her. Her heart raced as she anticipated what it would be like to be kissed by him.
To have a kiss like this.
A forbidden kiss.
A sinful kiss. And though she should stop him, she couldn’t.
His lips were gentle against hers. So many emotions came bubbling to the surface as she sank into his kiss. Anger, guilt, lust.
Definitely lust.
That hot, heady need.
Kiera couldn’t remember the last time she’d been kissed. And she certainly couldn’t recall if she had ever been kissed like this before, or even if that kiss had been good, which made her think it wasn’t.
Henry’s kiss was all consuming.
Devouring.
She melted in his arms. She wanted him here, in the car, this man she had just met. The man who could either save everything she cared about or destroy it.
Henry’s kiss made her feel like she was alive for the first time in a long time. Like she wasn’t alone. Like she could have more, and that scared her.
For so long she had relied only on herself, something she’d learned at a young age. All she ever had to worry about was herself and Mandy.
And nothing else. But this kiss she was sharing with Henry made her feel safe.
What’re you doing?
She pushed him away. “I can’t, Henry. I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”
“No, I’m sorry, too,” he said breathlessly. “I don’t know what got into me, either.”
Kiera swallowed a lump in her throat, her heart still racing, her blood burning with an unquenched need.
Something she hadn’t felt in such a long time.
Then they spotted flashing lights as the tow truck appeared through the heavy snow. Henry got out of the car, and the rush of cold air that blasted in calmed her down. She was able to regain some control over her emotions.
He came back to the car once the tow truck had the instructions.
“The driver said the roads are slick,” Henry stated. “I’ll get you home as soon as I can.”
“Okay.” She couldn’t look at him. It was hard to look at him.
“I’m sorry for kissing you, Kiera. It won’t happen again.”
“Okay,” she said, unsure that she didn’t want that to happen again. She was relieved and disappointed at the same time, and it was a strange place to be in. “It’ll be okay.”
Henry nodded. “It will. I’ll get you home and we can talk about this tomorrow. We can’t let this affect our work.”
“Sure. Sure. It won’t.” She straightened her shoulders. “It won’t happen again.”
Henry nodded and barely glanced at her as he drove back out onto the road.
It was a long, tense drive back to her place. The snow was still falling, and as he got out to help her up the slippery ramp to her house she hoped he didn’t have a long drive to wherever he was staying.
“Are you headed back up to your parents’ place?” she asked.
“No. The party will still be going for a while. I have a small condo in the new part of town. It’s not far from where the new hospital is supposed to be built.”
She nodded. “Just be careful.”
“Thanks.” He smiled. “Look, we have to work together. There will be meetings, and I will do what I can for Aspen Grace Memorial Hospital, as long as you do your part.”
The reminder of why they had been at the party tonight and of the deal they had worked out together brought her back to reality.
This was business.
Nothing more, and she’d been a fool to be swept up in such a trivial feeling like lust. This was a business arrangement, pure and simple.
She wasn’t going to risk her heart on a chance.
She wasn’t a fool.
She had walls for a reason. Walls were the things that had protected her for her whole life.
“I’ll do my part. You needn’t worry, Dr. Baker.”
“Good night, Kiera,” he said gently, and she thought she detected a hint of regret, but she pushed the thought away. She had to push him out of her mind.
There was no room for Henry.
And she had to remember that.
CHAPTER SIX
HENRY COULDN’T STOP thinking about Kiera and that kiss all night.
All he could focus on was how she had felt in his arms and how little space there was in the front of his car. How he had wanted to pull her closer to him. How he wished that they hadn’t been on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.
And how he wished that they weren’t in the awkward situation of pretending to be engaged.
These were the thoughts that swirled around in his head all night.
He barely got any sleep.
He had several cold showers and went for a run on his treadmill. There was no change.
Nothing could get Kiera out of his mind.
When he’d been called to Colorado he had thought it would be an easy job. It would be no problem to shut down Dr. Brown’s protest. He had foolishly thought this would be a simple thing to take care of.
Then he’d met Kiera and everything had changed in an instant.
He didn’t know why he had kissed Kiera last night. It had been something he’d been fighting all night from the moment he had seen her come down the stairs in that stunning jade-colored dress. His blood heated as he thought of her in that dress.
Her long red hair tumbling down over her shoulders, the way her green eyes sparkled in the light. The pink tinge to her creamy cheeks.
The kiss fla
shed in his mind again.
You’ve got to get a hold of yourself.
He’d been doing okay all evening, resisting the urge at the party, but then he saw her climb into the back of a car and take control of a woman giving birth. She was smart and strong. Dedicated to her work, and that attracted him.
He wanted her.
Kiera was spectacular and he was overcome with an emotion, a need, that he hadn’t felt in such a long time.
It scared him.
So, after tossing and turning all night, running on the treadmill and a couple of long, cold showers, he had got up as the sun was rising and had come to the hospital.
There was paperwork to do, paperwork he couldn’t concentrate on. All he could think about was Kiera’s lips. The taste of her. The softness of her hair as he ran his fingers through it.
Get a grip on yourself.
He dragged his hands through his hair.
He was tired of staring at the four walls of the boardroom. He needed air, and he needed to think. He usually had clarity when he was in the operating room, but he didn’t have this option here.
He had no patients.
He was a surgeon with nothing to do. Normally, when he was plagued by indecision or a turmoil of emotions, he’d throw himself into his work, but that was impossible here.
So he was going a bit stir-crazy.
He needed air.
He needed to breathe.
Henry got up and opened the door of the boardroom, running smack-dab into Kiera.
“Dr. Brown!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t expect to see you this morning.”
“I was told you were here,” she said. “And I think in public you should call me Kiera.”
Henry laughed quietly. “Oh, and call you Dr. Brown in private?”
Pink tinged her cheeks, and she cocked one of her finely arched eyebrows. “Really? We’re going to do this here?”
“What can I help you with?” he asked.
“Can I come in, or are we going to continue the conversation out in the hall.”
Henry stepped to the side to let Kiera enter. He shut the door behind her and turned to face her.
“So to what do I owe the pleasure this morning?” Henry asked.
She held out a folder to him. “You wanted information about the free clinic. Here it is.”
Henry took the folder. “Thanks.”
Henry placed the folder beside the rest of his work. She glanced at the table, her eyes widening.
“You seem to have a lot of stuff piled up.”
Henry shrugged. “It’s not my favorite thing, but it’s something I have to do while I’m here. As a shareholder, I have a few things I need to take care of, but I loathe it. I don’t mind doing charting or operative reports, but business stuff isn’t as exciting.”
“Then why have shares in something that makes you do what you loathe the most?”
“Because it’s a hospital and I want to support medicine. I just don’t like the administrative work attached to it. I’d rather be practicing medicine than balancing a budget.”
What he didn’t tell her was that his father actually invested the money for him. He didn’t mind that his money went to a hospital, but he didn’t like the work attached to it. He didn’t like the hold his father had on him and he didn’t know why he kept jumping.
His father was never there for him. As soon as his father was satisfied, the protests were over, and AGMH was shut down, Henry would sell all those shares his father invested for him.
He was going to sever all ties.
He was done.
Kiera cocked her head to one side. “Why don’t you come down and help in the emergency room today? You said you don’t get to see many general surgeries in Los Angeles, and I know that Dr. Carr would gladly give you medical privileges.”
It was tempting.
He’d rather be practicing medicine than doing paperwork.
“Okay, but I don’t have scrubs.”
“That’s an excuse,” she teased. “You were able to find scrubs yesterday just fine.”
“Okay then. I guess I have no excuse. Take me to where the scrubs are and get me down to the emergency room.”
“Is that like take me to your leader?”
Henry rolled his eyes. “Just show me where to go.”
Kiera smiled. “Follow me then.”
Henry followed her out of the boardroom. He was glad for the change of pace. He was glad he’d be doing his job, the thing he was passionate about. He’d be practicing, but he was nervous that he would be working with Kiera. Especially after what had happened last night.
Especially after the kiss that was still burned on his lips.
Maybe he should go back to the boardroom.
Still, the pull of working—not thinking about his father’s or his own problems—and saving lives was a delicious distraction he couldn’t get enough of.
He was calm when he was saving lives and helping others.
He could clear his head when he was in the operating room.
In the operating room he didn’t think about Michelle, his parents or the loneliness that consumed him.
It was like breathing for him. It was calming. It came naturally.
It was his safety.
“You know,” Kiera said, breaking into his thoughts as they walked through the halls. “We’re going to have to tell Dr. Carr about our engagement. I mean, if we’re going public and announcing to everyone we’re engaged, we should let him know. He’s not only the chief of surgery, but he’s like a second father to me. Next to Dr. Burke, that is.”
“How do you think he’ll take that?”
“Take what?” Kiera asked.
“The announcement of our engagement. I mean, I don’t know him all that well, but I assume he is aware of your protests at the new hospital site.”
Kiera smiled. “I do know him well and, yes, he does know about my protests. He’ll be hard to sell on the idea we’re engaged. I’ve made it clear for years that I had no interest in ever getting married.”
He was intrigued by that. “No interest?”
“No. None.” Only there was something about the tone of her voice that didn’t quite convince him she was telling the truth. She was putting up a wall, and he understood walls. He had his own.
“Maybe I should get you a ring, and then maybe he’ll believe you really are my fiancée.”
* * *
Kiera paused, not sure that she’d heard him correctly.
“Pardon?” she asked, trying not to show him how shocked she actually was.
“I said maybe I should get you a ring and make it more official. More real.”
Kiera opened the door to the locker room where the extra scrubs were kept. She was stunned. Her palms were suddenly very sweaty and she wished she was anywhere but here.
A ring? Was he for real?
What would she do with it? She didn’t want him buying her some frivolous thing to perpetuate a lie.
That made her nervous. She didn’t want to wear it.
She didn’t want him to buy her anything.
“I don’t want it,” she said, laughing nervously as she found her voice. “I think that’s the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.”
A smile tugged on the corner of his lips. Lips that she had become very familiar with last night and couldn’t stop thinking about this morning.
And now she was in the locker room, pulling out a pair of scrubs for him, and he was offering to buy her a ring and seemingly enjoying her discomfort over the whole thing. Which infuriated her even more.
“You think this is funny, don’t you?” she asked.
“I do. I never thought you would get so worked up over a piece of jewelry. It’s kind of fun.”
“Fun?” She grabbe
d a pair of scrubs and whipped them at his face. “I’m glad you think this is fun!”
“I have to get some enjoyment out of this.”
Kiera rolled her eyes but smiled. “Fine.”
Henry started unbuttoning his shirt, and all she could do was stare at him. It was bad enough that she had been up half the night thinking about being in his arms and that kiss. She had a bruise on her thigh from the stick shift.
She needed to get out of there.
Only she was frozen. She couldn’t move.
She turned and looked away. This had not been her plan for this morning, although she was thankful for help in the emergency room. All she had been going to do was hand Henry the report on the free clinic and then distance herself from him, because that one kiss had gotten under her skin and through her defenses.
She was obsessed by the way it had seared her soul, burned her blood.
Made her yearn for something she was afraid to reach out and take because she’d been burned before.
Usually she could resist, but for some reason she couldn’t resist Henry.
It rattled her.
And she didn’t like to be rattled.
All she wanted to do was bury herself in work. If she kept busy in the emergency room and the operating room, she wouldn’t have to see him until she collected herself. Until she stopped thinking about the kiss that had fired her blood and sizzled through her system all night long.
Work would help cleanse that. It would help her focus.
She could get clarity from saving lives.
It didn’t matter that Dr. Henry Baker working with her in the operating room and offering her a ring had not been on the agenda.
The whole idea was silly.
“You can look now, I’m changed,” he teased. “Though, if you are my fiancée, you really shouldn’t be embarrassed if I’m changing in front of you.”
She glared at him. “You know what? I really like the grumpy, nonverbal, moody side of you, Dr. Baker.”
He laughed. “And I kind of like getting under your skin a bit, Dr. Brown.”
Kiera rolled her eyes. “Just follow me and try to stay out of my way today.”
“I’ll try, but you know if we’re going to convince my parents that we’re engaged, we’re going to have to seem a bit friendlier toward one another.”