light eyes were startling in a tanned face that was both brain-ambushingly handsome and rugged. Like one of those naturally hot guys they used for advertising extreme sportswear. The kind of man who got his tan in the great outdoors—like standing on the prow of a pirate ship—and not from a tanning salon.
“Just peachy,” she squeaked, swallowing her mortification at having sprawled at the feet of the hottest guy in Manhattan—maybe even America—and being caught eyeing his package then staring into his eyes like she’d been hypnotized.
Her belly quivered and for a second she wondered if the disrespectful little twerps had done her a favor. At least she now wouldn’t have to suffer the additional indignity of swooning at his feet.
“You sure?”
“I’m f-fine,” Holly croaked, her eyes dropping momentarily to his mouth, where the sight of well-sculpted lips tipped up in an almost-smile had her tongue swelling in her mouth like she was fifteen and crushing on a hot lifeguard. Her face flamed and she pushed back to sit on her heels. “Just incredibly embarrassed,” she mumbled, brushing her hands together. “So, please… just ignore me and let me die with my dignity intact.”
Crinkles appeared beside his amazing eyes and the corner of his mouth curled up even more, revealing—horror of horrors—a dimple. She caught herself staring at the shallow dent in his tanned cheek and gulped. Darn. He just had to have a dimple, didn’t he? It was the one thing that could turn her into an awkward ninth-grader.
“I…er…” He cleared his throat and Holly looked up sharply, catching his attempts to suppress amusement. “I think it’s a bit late for that.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and gave a low moan of embarrassment. “G-great. Now I’m….” She sucked in a shaky breath and waved her hand in a quick dismissive gesture. “You know what, never mind.”
Abruptly turning away, she looked around for her purse and briefcase. And there—in freaking plain sight for everyone to see—was her emergency stash of tampons, littering the floor like white bullets. And for just an instant she wished they were so she could just lock, load and pull the trigger to end her misery.
They reached for the closest tampon at the exact same moment and Holly squeaked, “I’ll get that,” quickly snatching it up and stuffing it into the bottom of her purse. She then pounced on the remaining cartridges, hoping he hadn’t seen—but when she sent him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye and saw his teeth flash, she realized he had.
Oh, boy.
Pushing out her bottom lip, she huffed out a breath and lifted a wrist to shove aside tendrils of hair obscuring her vision. Could her day get any worse? Then a hand reached for hers and she forgot all about her crappy day when a snap of electricity bolted up her arm the instant their skins touched.
He too must have felt that audible little zap because he grunted softly and his eyes narrowed speculatively before he gingerly turned her hand over to inspect her scraped palm. She barely heard him rasp, “You’re hurt,” over the blood rushing through her ears.
The hand engulfing hers was large and tanned with long, surprisingly elegant fingers that drew her fascinated gaze even as they sent tingles rolling over her skin. Then his thumb was brushing gently over her scraped palm and the tingles became a raging firestorm of sensation that shot directly to her breasts and…well…further south.
Her eyes widened. Oh…oh, wow. What the heck was that? “It’s n-nothing,” she managed to croak, both to herself and him, before sliding her hand from his when she realized her mouth had dropped open and she was on the verge of babbling. She scooted back a little and sucked in a shaky breath, averting her face in the hope that he couldn’t read her turmoil. Because, well…darn…The last time she’d been this flustered had been in the seventh grade when Jimmy Richards had caught her drawing hearts and flowers around his name.
Absently rubbing her tingling palm against her thigh, she stared at the jumble of her belongings and wondered what the heck she was supposed to be doing. It was only when she saw a half-eaten candy bar that she snapped to attention and began stuffing everything she could lay her hands on into her purse.
Holy cow. Where had all this stuff come from? She couldn’t even remember having seen half of it before. Certainly not the gold pen or the roll of mints. And how many hairbrushes did one person need, anyway?
She left him to gather up her textbooks, study notes and stethoscope, thinking there was nothing in her briefcase that could embarrass her—until she remembered the old before-and-after photographs of herself that she kept as a reminder of why she was doing P&R.
Whipping around, Holly was relieved to see that the photos were nowhere in sight, but the guy was holding aloft a small foil square she hadn’t even known she had. And if it was hers, it had to be at least two years old. Maybe even older.
Holly tried to look innocent, but it seemed the guy had an evil streak because he lifted a brow over gleaming blue-green eyes and drawled, “Medium?”
Oh, God, really? He was going to comment on the size?
“Keep it,” she croaked. “Most condoms have a shelf life of four years, anyway. As long as you keep them in a cool, dry place.” And nothing could be cooler or drier than the bottom of her briefcase, especially the past couple of years when she’d been focusing on the P&R fellowship and not relationships.
His grin turned wicked, deepening that dimple in his cheek. “Way too small,” he said innocently, as though they were discussing a pair of shoes and not a freaking condom. He tilted his head and squinted at the printing on the back. “Besides, I think this one’s already a year and a half past that four-year shelf-life date you were talking about.”
Her face heated and she mentally rolled her eyes. Way to let a hot guy know your sex life is non-existent, Holly. She groaned silently and reached out with a growled “Just give it here,” before tossing the package in the wall-mounted trash bin. For a couple of beats he stared at the stainless-steel receptacle then turned to her with a level look.
“You know someone is going to find that and use it, don’t you?” He shook his head at her. “How do you think you’ll feel knowing you had a hand—even unwittingly—in an unplanned pregnancy?”
“Ohmigod,” Holly burst out, wondering if the torture of this day would ever end and what she’d done to deserve it. “Fine!” She opened the lid and fished it out, shuddering when her fingers encountered something sticky. She shoved the errant condom into her pocket and glared at him challengingly. The unspoken words Are you happy now? vibrated in the air between them.
Eyes crinkling at the corners, he rose to his feet and offered her a hand but Holly ignored it and scrambled up—all embarrassing items finally hidden, thank God—before accepting her briefcase from him with a strangled mutter of thanks.
She was careful not to let their hands touch. Her body was buzzing with enough electricity to light up Manhattan for a day—and she hadn’t even had her coffee yet.
Fortunately, the elevator dinged its arrival at her floor and when the doors opened she escaped, hoping she never saw him again. Just before the doors slid closed he called out a friendly “Don’t forget to replace that condom, it’s the responsible thing to do.”
A few people heard and sent her curious looks but Holly ignored them, stomping down
