a woman he didn’t even want to like?
“Yes, it has.” Too long. Not long enough. “Iwasonmy way to say hello,” he said matter-of-factly to cover his slip.
She smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. Her mouth made him think of his favorite female actress, of her classic, infectious smile. Wide, bright, and contagious. Despite his determination to remain impassive, outwardly at least, her smile made his lips want to curve upward.
Which only served to annoy him all the more.
Although she was older than the too-young-for-him seventeen she’d been when they’d first met, there were a thousand reasons why he needed to stay away from Chelsea and safeguard himself from getting close to her. Even if she did now work at Madison Medical Center.
Chelsea held out her hand. She had nice hands with slender fingers and clean, unpainted nails.
Unable to avoid the greeting, Jared clasped the hand of the girl who’d become a woman in the years since he’d last seen her.
Warm. Electric.
His blood sizzled and fried his brain, short-circuiting the logic that said he shouldn’t think Chelsea’s soft touch so compelling, her smell so mesmerizing, her nearness so seductive. Time hadn’t changed the way she heated his blood. Unfortunately.
He let go of her hand, wondering why he wanted to turn her hand over and run his fingers over her palm. Ridiculous. He wasn’t a romantic and even if he had been, Chelsea would be the last person on his list of possible valentines. She held the power to destroy everything he held dear.
Their gazes met and desire flickered in her eyes. Desire he’d last seen right before she’d kissed him ten years ago.
At seventeen she’d affected his libido more than any other woman before or since. She’d also left him feeling guiltier than at any other point in his life.
Foolish as the notion was, he’d thought avoiding her would protect him.
He’d learned the hard way not to tempt fate and Chelsea tempted in too many ways.
“Ahem.” Will cleared his throat from behind his sister.
First shooting Jared a dazzling smile, Chelsea scowled at her brother. “Hold your ’taters.”
“My ’taters, huh?” Will laughed, giving his sister a conspiratorial wink. “That’s a new name for them. But if you insist on my holding them…”
“Eww.” She rolled her eyes. “Keep your nastiness to yourself, please.” Seeming glad of the interruption, she sighed with great exaggeration. “Do you have a brother, Jared?” she asked. “Because, if not, you’re welcome to mine.”
“Hey, what happened to being your favorite brother?” Will asked, pretending to be hurt.
“Like you said, you’re my only brother. Which means you’re also my least favorite.” Obviously relaxed in her brother’s presence, she grinned mischievously. “Now, quit pestering me at work. I’ve got patients to see.”
With that she paused long enough to bestow another uncertain glance on Jared, swished her ponytail with a great deal of sass at her brother, and headed toward the exam rooms.
“Isn’t she something?” Will asked with obvious indulgence.
Not sure how he was supposed to answer, Jared opted for watching Chelsea pause outside the first exam room. Why did she hesitate? Had their reunion left her as shaken as he found himself? Was she recalling how their mouths had felt against each other, how she’d moaned, parted her lips beneath his, granting him sweet surrender?
He winced. Her reasons didn’t matter because Jared planned to keep his distance. No matter that he found himself wanting to lean in and inhale her seductive scent, to know if she still tasted heavenly, to know everything there was to discover.
He turned and found Will watching him with narrowed eyes.
“She’s off-limits.”
Jared snorted. Despite the way he’d once again responded to Chelsea, he didn’t need this particular warning. “It’s not like that.”
“Uh-uh.” Will didn’t look convinced. He pulled him inside Chelsea’s small office. “You’re one of my partners and best friends.” Will’s eyes lost the good-natured humor that usually shone there, replaced by a steel Jared had never seen in his pal’s gaze. “But my sister is not your type.”
Recall of the electricity that had short-circuited his brain reminded him that physically Chelsea was exactly his type, but he kept his mouth shut. He was above acting on physical attraction when that attraction came in the form of something so bad for him.
“No problem.” He spoke slowly, keeping his voice level. “Because I don’t date coworkers anyway.”
Particularly one who was his partner’s baby sister and would turn his life totally upside down if he wasn’t careful.
He’d already been through that scenario once and didn’t care for an encore.
CHAPTER TWO
CHELSEA paused outside the exam room door and closed her eyes, welcoming Jared’s image into her mind.
The deep blue of his eyes stirred her memory. They were just as she remembered them, as blue as the Caribbean Sea and caressing her soul as if she splashed in their seductive depths.
In stark contrast to his eyes was the midnight inkiness of his hair, hair that promised silky smoothness beneath her fingertips. She’d itched to reach out and touch a strand, to see if his hair was really as soft as she recalled. His cheekbones were high, his chin strong with a tiny cleft in the center. Jared’s slightly crooked nose added character, making her think he’d probably broken it as a mischievous little boy.
God, she’d missed him, hadn’t realized just how much until this moment. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him how rarely a day went by that she didn’t think of him, and that never had just seeing someone caused so much chaos to her mind and body.
But her attraction to Jared ran much deeper than the surface. For all his good looks, she’d met more handsome men and not felt the flutters still dancing in her belly.
The whole package appealed, drew her in.
The way he smelled spicy clean. The spark that flickered through her when his warm fingers clasped hers. The heat in his eyes when their gazes met. The way she’d instantly wanted him with an intensity she’d never experienced before or since that spring break they’d met.
She’d looked at him and seen her future.
She’d seen…
Chelsea! Get a grip. Her hot thoughts meant allowing someone to see the Chelsea she kept carefully hidden away from the world, and that’s something she’d only done once. The result hadn’t been pretty, and she never wanted to bare her scars again.
Yet, realistically, she knew that to marry and have children, which she hoped to do someday, she’d eventually have to trust someone
