Rain ran down his neck and dripped off his nose as he watched her. Her hair was no longer pinned to the back of her head, but caught in the wind. Her stark white lab coat had been replaced by a long leather jacket cinched firmly around her waist.
Without thinking, Thorne swept across the puddle-strewn lot. “Nikki!”
She looked up and he was stunned. “Oh. Thorne.” With raindrops caught in the sweep of her eyelashes and her blond-streaked hair tossed around her face in soft layers, she was more gorgeous than he remembered. Raindrops slipped down sculpted cheekbones to a small mouth that was set in a startled pout.
For a split second he thought of kissing her, but quickly shoved that ridiculous thought from his mind.
She jabbed her key into the SUV’s lock. “What’re you doing lurking around out here?”
“Maybe I was waiting for you,” he said automatically—actually flirting with her. For the love of God, what had gotten into him?
He saw her eyes round a bit, then one corner of her mouth lifted in sarcasm. “Try again.”
“Okay, how about this? I just got finished dealing with Nurse Ratched up in Pediatrics and was tossed out on my ear.”
“Someone intimidated you?” One eyebrow lifted in disbelief. “I don’t think so.” If she’d been teasing him before, she’d obviously thought better of it and her smile fell away. She yanked open the door and the interior light blinked on. “Now…was there something you wanted?”
You, he thought, then chided himself. What the devil was he thinking? What they’d shared was long over. “I didn’t get your home number.”
“I didn’t give it to you.”
“Because of your husband?”
“What? No.” She shook her head. “There is no husband, not anymore.” She was standing between the car and open door, waiting, her hair turning dark with the rain. His heart raced. She was single. “You can reach me here,” she said. “If it’s an emergency, the hospital will page me.”
“I’d feel better if I could—”
“Look, Thorne,” she said pointedly. “I understand that you’re a man used to getting your way, of being in charge, of making things happen, but this time you can’t, okay? At least not with me, not any more, nor with St. James Hospital. So, if there’s nothing else, you’ll have to excuse me.” Her eyes weren’t the least bit warm and yet her lips, slick with rainwater just begged to be kissed.
And, damn it, he reacted. Knowing that she’d probably slap him silly, he grabbed her, hauled her body close to his and bent his head so that his lips were suspended just above hers. “Okay, Nikki,” he said as he felt her tense. “I excuse you.” Then he kissed her, pressed his mouth over hers and felt a second’s surrender when her lips parted and her breath mingled with his as rain drenched them both. The scent of her perfume teased his nostrils and memories of making love to her over and over again burned through his brain. Dear God, how she’d responded to him then, just as she was now. He was lost in the feel of her and old emotions escaped from the place where he’d so steadfastly locked them long ago. With a groan, he kissed her harder, deeper, his arms tightening around her.
Her entire body stiffened. She jerked her head away as if she’d been burned. “Don’t,” she warned, her voice husky, her lips trembling a bit. She swallowed hard, then leaned back to glare up at him. “Don’t ever do this again. This—” she raised a hand only to let it fall “—this was uncalled for and…and entirely…entirely inappropriate.”
“Entirely,” he agreed, not releasing her.
“I mean it, Thorne.”
“Why? Because I scare you?”
“Because whatever you and I shared together is over.”
He lifted a doubting eyebrow as rain drizzled down his face. “Then why—?”
“Over!” Her eyes narrowed and she pulled out of his embrace. Though he wanted nothing more than to drag her close again, he let her go and tamped down the fire that had stormed through his blood, the pulse of lust that had thudded in his brain and caused a heat to burn in his loins. “I don’t know what happened to you in the past seventeen years, but believe me, you should take some lessons in subtlety.”
“Should I? Maybe you could give them to me.”
“Me?” She let out a whisper of a laugh. “Right. Just don’t hold your breath.”
She slid into the interior of the car and reached for the door handle. Before she could yank the door closed, he said, “Okay, maybe I was outta line.”
“Oh? You think?”
“I know.”
“Good, then it won’t happen again.” She crammed her key into the ignition, muttered something about self-important bullheaded men, twisted her wrist and sent him a look that was meant to cut to the quick. The SUV’s engine sputtered, then died. “Don’t do this to me,” she said and he wondered if she was talking to him or her rig. “Don’t do this to me now.” She turned the key again and the engine ground but didn’t catch. “Damn.”
“If you need a ride—”
“It’ll start. It’s just temperamental.”
“Like its owner.”
“If you say so.” She took a deep breath, snapped her seat belt into place and grabbed the handle of her door. “Good night, Thorne.” She yanked the door closed, turned the key again and finally the rig roared to life. Pressing on the gas pedal, she revved the engine and rolled down the window. “I’ll let you know if there are any changes in your sister’s condition.” With that she tore out of the parking lot and Thorne, watching the taillights disappear, mentally kicked himself.
He’d been a fool to grab her.
And yet he knew he’d do it again.
If given half a chance.
Yep, he’d do it in a heartbeat.
Chapter Three
“God help me,” Nicole whispered, trying to understand why in the world Thorne would embrace her so intimately and more to the point, why didn’t she stop him. Because you wanted him to, you idiot.
As she wheeled out of the parking lot, she glanced in the rearview mirror, and saw him standing beneath a security light. Tall, broad-shouldered, bareheaded, rain dripping from the tip of his nose and the hem of his coat, he watched her leave. “Cocky son of a gun,” she muttered, flipping on her blinker and joining the thin stream of traffic. She hoped Thorne Almighty McCafferty got soaked to the skin. She switched her windshield wipers to a faster pace to keep up with the rain. Who was he to barge in on her, to question her and the hospital’s integrity and then…and then have the audacity, the sheer arrogance, to grab her as if she were some weak-willed, starry-eyed, spineless…ninny!
Oh, like the girl you once were, the
