Forcing himself to turn away, he took a step to leave. But then he heard...
“Why did you ask me to dinner tonight?”
He faced her again. “What?”
She pulled the wrap covering her shoulders a little tighter. “Why did you really ask me to dinner?”
He swallowed the truth. “I told you. I had questions I needed to—”
“You could’ve asked those over the phone.” She moved closer. “Or you could’ve asked them earlier, when we spoke in the cafeteria.”
“I could have,” he admitted.
“So why didn’t you?”
Man up and tell her, asshole.
His chest tightened, his heart slamming against his ribs. “I think you know why.”
“Maybe.” Her enticing gaze remained locked with his. “But I’m a doctor, so I’m not big on making assumptions. Especially when it comes to men. Besides...” She inched forward. “Sometimes a girl needs to hear the words.”
Jason studied her a moment. The hesitation hiding behind her playful flirting making him think maybe she’d been hurt in the past.
I’ll hunt the bastard down and kill him.
“I asked you to dinner because I wanted to spend time with you outside the hospital walls.”
There. Now she knew the truth.
The moonlight reflected off her gorgeous eyes, making it possible for him to notice the way her pupils expanded with his words. The corners of her plump lips curved into a slow smile.
“Was that so hard?” she asked quietly.
Baby, you have no idea.
A breeze blew some hair into her face, and before he thought better of it, Jason reached out and brushed the stray strands behind her ear.
Despite his earlier decision to leave, he stepped closer. Their bodies separated by mere inches.
With his heart trying to pound its way out of his chest, he brought his other hand up to frame her face and whispered, “You’re so beautiful.”
Raising a hand, Sophie wrapped her fingers around one of his thick wrists. She didn’t say a word, just stared up at him as if she wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her.
He made life and death decisions damn near every single day. He had the President of the United States on speed dial, for fuck’s sake. And he’d seen more war and destruction than most people could even imagine.
He’d lost everything in one horrific, life-altering moment.
But right now, inthismoment, Jason was more terrified than he’d ever been in his entire life.
“Soph, I—”
“Kiss me.”
Hell, yes!
He was not a man that needed to be told twice.
Leaning in, Jason pressed his lips to hers. Despite the sudden jolt to his system, he held back, fighting the urge to devour her right there on her front stoop.