Playing Doctor (13 page)

“Nothing wrong with a little PDA,” Gabe said, and reached for her again, but she skillfully evaded his grasp. “True. Unfortunately, this type of public display of affection could get us fired.” Beth glanced around for her papers, and then shook her head when she realized she still had them clutched to her chest. One touch, one kiss, and her brain was mush. Now that her gray matter was functioning again, the complications of their situation settled in. Workplace romances were rarely a success.

Reaching down, Gabe adjusted his erection to a more comfortable angle. “Right now, I’d almost risk it.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Think you could show me my office first, before I get fired my first day on the job for walking around with a hard on?”

Fighting back the urge to run her fingers over the firm column pushing against the front of Gabe’s slacks, Beth pulled herself together and led him out of the conference room and down the hall.

“By the way, how did you find out where I worked? I don’t remember telling you.”

“I saw your paperwork on the desk at the hotel,” he admitted. “The thought of applying for the job didn’t cross my mind at the time, but after I left the hotel…” The muscle in his jaw ticked. “I couldn’t get you out of my head. I had been considering a change of scenery, interviewed at a couple of hospitals before we met, but nothing jumped out at me. Nothing caught my interest…until you.” He drew in a breath and pushed it back out. “It wasn’t over when I walked out that door, not for either of us. The only way to prove that to you was to be near you.”

“What if they hadn’t hired you?”

“I would have found another way.”

Beth’s step faltered. Part of her still wanted to be annoyed with him, but damn, with confessions like that falling out of his mouth, all she wanted to do was drag him into the janitor’s closet and have her wicked way with him.

They turned a corner and made their way toward the ER. “You’re quiet,” Gabe said, stepping to the side as a radiology tech pushed a patient past them on a stretcher.

“We need to talk. We’ll be working together…”

He nodded and kept walking. “That’s the plan.”

“Our offices are through here.” They passed through a set of double doors and into a small side hall with two facing doors. “This is mine.” She indicated the one on the left.

Gabe studied the plaque on the door that read
Beth Roberts, MSN, Nursing Manager, Emergency Department
. “And mine?”

“There.” She pointed to the door across from hers, watched him slide the key in and trip the lock. “We need to talk.”

“You’re right.” He grabbed her by the wrist, dragged her inside and flicked on the light. Kicking the door shut, he whirled her around and trapped her there with his body. “We’ll talk… after I do this.”

He claimed her mouth, took total possession with a raw intensity that left no doubt of his need. God, he tasted so good, every bit as good as she’d remembered. His breath rushed out, she swallowed his moan…or was it hers? The hard slab of wood at her back was nothing compared to the solid wall of muscle and man pressing her into it. Beth arched up, frustrated with the differences in their heights, the way it denied vital areas from meeting. She rose on the toes of her sensible, low-heeled shoes, but it wasn’t enough.

He was right. They could talk after.

With an irritated growl, Gabe tore his mouth free. “I need to feel you.”

“Oh, God, yes!” Right here, right now, Gabe wasn’t her coworker, he was a man. Her man. She no longer cared about the details of how he came to be here…only that he was.

He worked the button at her waistband free, pulled the zipper down and drove his hand inside. His fingers slid over her sex once, twice, and then plunged deep. Her body quaked, her inner walls grasped and squeezed at his fingers, but it wasn’t enough.

“More,” she moaned. “I need…I’ve got to have my hands on you.” Beth tugged his shirt free of his slacks, keenly aware of the thick column of his cock pressing against his fly. She plunged her hands under the soft fabric, smoothed her palms up the firm ridges of his abdomen. She pressed her hand to his chest, just over his heart, felt the gallop and pitch of it beneath muscle and bone.

For her.

She was in so much trouble and she didn’t give a flying fig. Right now, at this moment, all she cared about was this man, and that he was here, standing before her. Wanting her.

His forehead fell to hers, his breathing ragged and uneven. He pulled her hand from his cock, grasped her hips and dragged her in, grinding his erection against her upper abdomen. “I’ve dreamed about you, woke up with the taste of you in my mouth.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “I’ve dreamed about you, too. Of your mouth, your tongue on me.” She shuddered against him.

“God, Beth.”

“I came, but it wasn’t enough. It’s not enough now. I need you…inside me. Right here, right now.”

“Fucking hell!”

Had she not known it was lust that caused his fingers to bite into her hips, Beth would have been frightened, but she knew she was safe. By the way his eyes burned with it, the way his shoulders heaved as he fought for control, by the way his touch gentled, she knew. The hollow feeling in her chest filled to overflowing, sealed over, and healed. A new sensation crept in and tapped at her heart.
Open up
, it beckoned,
and see what awaits
.

Fabric shifted, just enough to accommodate. Beth toed off her shoes, slid her slacks and panties down to kick one leg free. Gabe fought his belt open, yanked down his zipper and shoved his slacks over his hips. His cock sprang free, heavy and full.

He bent his knees, cupped her ass in his hands and hoisted her up. “Hang on to me. I’m sorry. This is going to be fast,” he apologized and reached between them to align the rigid length of his cock between her thighs. “Ah, damn, you’re so wet,” he gritted, and then slid into her.

Beth buried her face against his neck, ran her tongue along the line of his jaw. His body shuddered. She wrapped around him, wound her arms around his neck, squeezed her legs around his hips and held him there. He was thick and hard and she thought she’d come from the sheer bliss of having him inside her again. He pulled back, all the way to the tip, and, when he thrust back in, the door rattled on its hinges.

They both froze.

Beth sucked in a breath. “Oh, God, as much as I’d love for you to do that again—”

Gabe’s forehead banged against the door. “You’d hate to get fired for getting fucked against my office door.” He turned, moved to the side and braced his back against the wall.

Beth glanced around the small room, her gaze landing on the desk. Gabe laughed, causing his cock to flex and pulling a moan from her throat.

“Baby,” he rasped, “there’s nothing I’d like more than to bend you over that piece of furniture and take us both to heaven, but unless it’s nailed to the floor…”

“Oh, God.” The image he painted, pushing over the desk, driving into her…her pussy clenched.

“Ah, fuck! Squeeze me like that again,” he panted. “Just…hold on to me.” Widening his stance, Gabe grasped Beth’s hips and lifted her, angling his pelvis up as he brought her back down hard on his shaft. Then he did it again.

“Gabe, that’s…oh, I…just don’t stop!” Each pause was punctuated with another lift and thrust.

“No way in hell. Just don’t scream when you come.” And then he moved, lifting, lowering, rotating his hips to find that sweet spot that drove her wild.

It started in the soles of her feet—that sizzle of electricity signaling her orgasm. It snaked up her legs, curled around her inner thighs, and with a low keening sound, Beth buried her face in Gabe’s neck and welcomed it as it speared her clit with an orgasm that clung to every inch of Gabe as he drove into her. He was right with her, his breath a harsh hiss against her ear as he thrust deep and held her tightly against him.

The soft brush of Gabe’s lips over her sweat-dampened temple was in stark contradiction to the choppy breaths lifting his chest against hers. “I’ve missed you, missed this,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Me, too.” After a moment, when she’d caught her breath, Beth lifted her head and said, “We really…”

“Need to talk,” he sighed. “I know.”

…

“This can’t happen again.”

Gabe pulled up his pants, tucked his shirt in and zipped up. It was hard to concentrate on the pros and cons of an office romance with Beth bent over, her bare ass bobbing as she worked her panties over her foot. “Uh-huh.”

She shot him a glance over her shoulder, tracked his line of sight and whipped around, and in doing so, gave him an equally distracting view of her breasts in a barely-there bra that exposed far more than it covered.

“Gabe!”

“Hmm?” His eyes shot up to find her frowning at him.

She worked the buttons of her blouse, and had she not been covering up such a precious view, Gabe would have marveled at the fine dexterity of her nimble fingers.

“Unless that’s an otoscope in your pocket, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

Gabe glanced down at the front of his pants and sure enough, he’d gotten a semi from watching her dress, and she was fussing at him for it. Whether she knew it or not, they already had the makings of a relationship in the works. He looked up, gave her a sheepish grin and shrugged. “What can I say? I’m just happy to see you.”

She planted her fists at her waist and cocked her hip. “Will you please be serious? This is
serious
.”

It
was
serious and he knew it, but when Beth finger-combed her hair and smoothed it back in place, all he wanted to do was drive his hands through it and mess it back up. Because he knew that would get him into more trouble—and there would hopefully be another opportunity to mess her up in the near future—he sat down on one of the two chairs in front of his desk, offered her the other and resisted the urge to pull her onto his lap. When she’d taken her seat, Gabe scooted his chair around to face her. If he’d learned one thing from their night together, it was that Beth tackled her problems head on.

She was right. This was serious.

“We have two major issues here.” Gabe leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs, his hands dangling between his knees. “My taking this job the way I did has messed with your trust, and again, I apologize for that, but if I had called, told you what I was planning to do, you would have been against it.”

Several conflicting expressions crossed her face until she finally nodded. “You’re right, I probably would have.”

Probably
. Gabe swallowed a grin.

“What I did, right or wrong, I did for us.” He reached for her hands, rubbing his thumb over the backs of her fingers. “That morning, at the hotel, when I asked to see you again, you almost said yes.”

Shock widened her eyes, parted her lips. For a moment, Gabe thought she was going to deny it, and then it was as if something released in her and she relaxed. “Yes.” The admission slipped out on a quiet breath. His fingers tightened around hers as his heart thundered in his chest. This fragile balance building between them suddenly became the most important thing in his life. Screwing it up was not an option.

“Less than an hour ago, we decided to see each other on a personal level. I hope that meant we were on the same page.” He watched her work this over in her head and tamped down the urge to pump his fist when she nodded. “This job is background noise. You and I, that’s my most major issue. I need to know if it’s still yours.”

Her blue eyes held his, steady and unblinking. “Yes. I want this to work.”

“Good.” That was what he wanted to hear. What surprised him was how badly he’d needed it. “You’re too far away.” He sat back and patted his thighs. “Come here.”

Her chin came up. Good. His girl still had a little fight left in her. His girl. Damn, he liked the sound of that. He was ridiculously pleased when she pushed out of her chair and sat on his lap. He waited until she settled herself, then he draped one arm over her hips and the other across her shoulders. He skimmed the pad of his thumb down her arm, felt her shiver, then cuddle closer. Trust.

“I took this job because this is where you are, to give us a chance at a relationship. I can walk away right now and never give this hospital another thought except that you work here, but unless you ask me to leave, I’m staying. Now, what has you so worried about the two of us working together?” He’d seen interdepartmental relationships work, but it was something she needed to resolve and he’d do whatever it took to make her feel secure where the two of them were concerned.

She rested her head on his shoulder. Her breath tickled his neck when she spoke. “Working together in the same department will be difficult.” Her shoulders tensed. He slid his hands there and worked the muscles loose. “If no one knows about us…”

“No. I’m not going to lie or hide what’s going on with us. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it for real. I want to date you, meet your parents”—he waggled his brows—“mow your lawn.”

“Administration won’t like it.”

“They can mow their own grass.”

She sighed. “You know what I mean.”

Yeah, he knew what she meant, but now that he was this close to having her in his life, there was no way in hell he’d let his job get in the way of keeping her there. Closing his eyes, Gabe tucked her back in and rested his cheek on top of her head. Contentment settled over him like a well-worn blanket and he’d be damned if anyone or anything ripped it away.

It would work out, he’d make it, but first he had to work it out with Beth.

“Okay, let’s put it on the table. What problems are we looking at?”

She rested her hand on his forearm, skimmed her fingers over the hair there. “A charge and a staff nurse had a relationship a few years ago. Preferential treatment caused jealousy and resentment among the other staff until the charge nurse transferred to another department.”

“So, you had a couple where one supervised the other.”

“Yes.”

He shrugged. “We’re both in leadership roles, so I don’t see a problem there…unless someone takes offense if I open a door for you, or allow you to choose which table to sit at for lunch.” That was easy enough. “What else?”