“This way is much easier,” she said, her words rushing out and tickling the hairs on his thigh.
Air rushed between his legs as she freed him from the wet cotton, and his balls tightened, head aching. His body knew he was naked inches in front of a desirable woman and it was demanding attention.
So close, he was so close to her, and it wouldn’t take but a shift on his part.
A little lean forward and he could bump her with his cock, rest right against her moist lips and run his fingers through her wispy hair.
The thought just about killed him.
“Josie.” He grabbed her short hair, yanked her head back so she would have to look up at him.
“What?” Her nails dug into his thighs as she worked his briefs almost to his knees. Wide green eyes locked with his.
There were limits and he had reached his. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be friends.” He shook her head a little, frustration pulsing through his tortured body.
“Get out, Josie. And don’t come back, do you understand? Just do us both a favor and don’t come back.”
Chapter Thirty-One
A week later Josie paused in the hallway outside the recovery room to make a note on a patient’s file. An elderly woman wasn’t doing well in her physical therapy sessions. Josie wanted to speak with the therapist and Dr. Sheinberg about moving her to a short-term-care nursing home until she was more fully recovered from her hip replacement.
Sticking her pen in the pocket of her scrubs, it hit the shark tooth she had been carrying around since Houston’s accident. She hadn’t seen him since the underwear incident, and she didn’t expect to. He had made his feelings X-ray obvious. He did not want to be friends. And she couldn’t just have sex with him here and there, whenever the urge struck the two of them.
She wanted to be able to. She wanted to be the kind of woman who could have casual sex and leave her heart out of it, but she wasn’t. Her heart was already in it, and burrowing deeper by the minute, so it was probably all for the best that Houston had kicked her out of his condo, pulling her up from her knees where she had been hovering in front of his delicious version of The Full Monty.
Sure, she believed that it was all for the best. And maybe shewould suddenly grow six inches and develop fashion sense. Instead she just walked around feeling like a bad hair day, PMS, and a chronic case of lust had all just collided under the heading of Bitchy. She felt like she’d had a breakup from something that wasn’t even a relationship.
The end result of her night with Houston was that she was back to where she was before, dateless and depressed, only this time she knew what she was missing. Before she had only imagined that Houston had a hot body and magic hands, now sheknew.And had the lost lip panties to prove it.
Even though she hadn’t seen Houston, she’d heard about him. Dr. Sheinberg had come to discuss Houston’s surgery schedule and the changes that were going to be made until another surgeon could be brought on board to handle the caseload.
Josie wished she were qualified to be that surgeon, but she just wasn’t. Even if she held Houston’s position for him. Dr. Williams hadn’t been overly optimistic about Houston’s future. He had been confident that in time, with therapy, Houston would have a normal life, able to drive a car and do daily tasks. But he didn’t think that would extend to fine motor skills like writing right-handed or performing surgery.
With the possible loss of some mobility, and the complications from scar tissue and arthritis. Dr. Williams had said they would have to wait and see, but that returning to surgery was a long shot.
Guilt clung to her, creating sleepless nights and a tension headache that wouldn’t go away. Houston was so much more talented than she was, and he had lost his ability while she just slogged on, inadequate. She couldn’t even be a good friend to him without messing up and fondling his underwear.
She sighed and started walking again, flipping back through the file.
“Don’t walk into me. I’m not up to it today,” a familiar voice said in front of her, with no small amount of urgency.
Josie stopped dead in her tracks and looked up. There he was. Houston. Dr. Hayes.
Standing in front of her, wearing khaki pants that revealed none of the patchwork of sutures on his left leg. His weight was resting on his uninjured leg, and his right hand was still in a splint and wrapped.
His face looked a little pale under his tan, and he had dark circles under his eyes that she wanted to kiss and soothe away. Her fingers itched to touch him, and she concluded she was hopeless. Did he have to get a restraining order for her to get the message?
He didn’t want her. She needed to remember that.
“Dr. Hayes,” she said in a voice that only shook a little. “What are you doing here?”
And how was she going to maintain a professional facade when preoccupied with thoughts of him naked and stealing another pair of her panties?
Houston grimaced. “I’m bored, so I came to check and make sure nobody’s moved into my office.”
It was probably meant to be a joke, but she could see he was partially serious. Trying to lighten the tension on his face, she gestured to the very small foot or two between them. “I can’t believe I almost ran into you. I’m such a klutz.”
He opened his mouth as if to politely dispute that, then his lip twitched. He was fighting a laugh.