The Best Of The Year - Medical Romance

The man then reached up to his seat, snagged two thick plaid blankets and handed them to Jack. “It gets chilly back there—better bundle up.” He smiled. “Mira used to look like a baby polar bear when she was young, she’d wrap up in so many layers. She’d fall asleep in the back and let us pull her and Ellory all over the place.”

Perfect. He’d been hoping to ignore the whole hunker-beneath-the-blanket thing. He covered it up by asking, “Ellory?”

Mira came over to stand beside them. “The woman who stopped by our table at dinner. She’s a good friend of mine.”

That’s why her name sounded familiar.

Giving the harness a quick check, Norm said, “Ellory came out to say hello to me a few days ago. I didn’t realize she was back in town.”

“She’s here for a visit. I’m trying to talk her into staying.”

Jack shifted the blankets to the other hand. “She’s also the one who gestured she’d meet you in five minutes when we were in the bar, right?”

“Five...?”

Jack couldn’t be sure if it was just a trick of the old-fashioned gas streetlamp, but her face seemed to grow pink, the tip of her nose taking on a warm glow. “Yes, that was her.”

Before he had a chance to wonder if something was wrong, the driver gestured to the back seat. “Climb aboard.” He tweaked Mira on the nose. “You want me to take the scenic route up by the silver mines?”

“Would you? I’m sure Jack’ll want to see them.”

“For you? Anything. I’ll let you point out the sights, since you know them as well as I do by now.”

The scenic route. He had no idea what that meant, but had a feeling it was a whole lot longer than the traditional route.

The snow had let up as he climbed into the back of the sleigh and then held out a hand to Mira and helped her up. The velvet seats were warm and inviting against the chill of the air. “Are these heated?”

Mira took the blankets from him and shook them out, placing them over their laps. “Mmm-hmm. Norm installed them. They’re powered with a rechargeable battery pack beneath the seat.” She snuggled deep, pulling one of the blankets up to her chin. “Comfortable?”

With the seats or with the company? At the moment he couldn’t really answer that. Despite his misgivings about coming on this little outing, he felt himself relax in a way he hadn’t in quite a while. It could be the lack of sleep, or it could just be from having a pretty woman sitting next to him. He could just glimpse a patch of stars through a break in the heavy cloud cover, and although the little pinpoints didn’t throw off much light, the streetlamps made up for them, providing a nice glow that ran down the path as far as he could see.

Norm clucked to the horse and turned her around in the small cul-de-sac, and then they were on their way, the metal runners making a slicing sound as they cut across the frozen earth.

The back of the vehicle was clearly built for romance and late nights under the stars. The walls surrounding them forced them close enough together that their shoulders touched.

Mira rested her head against the back of the seat with a sigh. “It’s been ages since I’ve been out on the sleigh. It always used to put me to sleep.”

Funny, because, despite his earlier thoughts, the last thing Jack felt like doing right now was sleeping. “How’s he going to find his way in the dark?”

“The paths are all lit, even the back ones, and the resort has its own plow to keep the snow from getting too deep on these throughways.” She angled her head to the side so she was facing him. “Thanks for letting me tag along.”

A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. “I should be thanking you again for bailing me out of an awkward situation.”

Not that the one he was in now was any less awkward.

“Mmm, well, you saved me from dining alone with my dad. Once you get him talking about football, that’s all he wants to discuss. That lets me off the hook.”

That surprised him. The two of them had seemed close. “Do you not get along?”

“We haven’t for a long time, but things are changing.” She sighed and turned toward the front again. “I’m hoping we can make a fresh start.”

He shifted to his right so he could see her better in the shadows. “You didn’t tell him about your breakup that night at dinner. Did you let him know later?”

The sleigh rounded a corner, pressing him against her for a second or two, before heading down a slightly darker path. He didn’t try to move away. With their heads close together, as well as the shared space beneath the heavy blankets, they could have been children whispering in the dark. Only Mira was no child. The rise and fall of her breasts as she gave another sigh reinforced that fact. “I told him that first night, although I just shared the bare essentials. Daddy always liked Robert, so I didn’t want to disillusion him.”

“About your ex?”

She nodded. “And the reasons we broke up. I’m afraid telling my father about that will reopen some old wounds between us.”

Had she cheated on her fiancé? Somehow he didn’t think so. From the way she’d talked about Mrs. Botox and the men the woman targeted, Jack couldn’t help but think Mira was cut from very different cloth.

“Your ex was an idiot for not wanting to work things out.”

That got a laugh out of her. “I agree with the idiot part, but it was actually me who didn’t want to work it out. Why bother when you obviously don’t have what it takes to make someone happy.”

Have what it took. Was she kidding? He was sitting here trying to think of anything but the warm, soft body hidden beneath those blankets and how easy it would be to simply lean forward and kiss her.

He swallowed, trying to rein in his wayward thoughts, but it wasn’t easy. “I had no idea there were silver mines up here. Is that where the town gets its name?”

“Yes. This whole area is riddled with them. It was a big industry once upon a time. The best thing my grandfather ever did was make sure he held onto the mineral rights, even though my dad has no interest in mining the mountain.”

Another turn had the wind blowing right at them. Mira shivered and gripped the covers tighter.

“Cold?”

“I’m okay. The breeze is just chilly.”

Before he could stop himself, Jack slipped his arm around her shoulders and tugged her against his body, pulling the blankets up around both of them. “Better?”

“Mmm. Much.” She laid her head on his shoulder, her arm going across his abdomen and making him all too aware that if she shifted it four inches lower, an uncomfortable reality was going to meet her.

He closed his eyes and let the cold of the outside air flow deep into his lungs in an effort to cool himself from the inside out. Instead, he found himself absorbing the feel of her, and thinking about how long it had been since he’d felt a woman against him in anything other than a quick round of sex.

This felt a whole lot more intimate than that because he was aware of Mira on more than just a physical level.

She surrounded him. Her scent. Her touch. The sound of her breathing. It was all right there. Coaxing him closer. A siren’s song that was growing harder and harder to resist, even though he knew he should.

The snow-covered path helped muffled the clip-clop of Patsy’s hooves, but the jingling of the bells on her harness sounded with each footfall.

And Mira was right. The whole experience was hypnotic. Soothing.

“Jack?”

“Yep?” He laid his cheek against the top of her head.

To keep the wind from hitting it.

Sure, buddy. Keep on telling yourself that.

“I think I’m supposed to be giving you Norm’s tourist spiel. What do you want to know?”

He chuckled. “I’m too comfortable right now to really care.” As soon as he said the words he knew it was true. He also knew it was the last thing he should have admitted.

Instead of kicking him away from her in horror, she murmured, “That’s good. Because I’m too comfortable to play tour guide.”

“We’re even, then.”

He reached up to smooth a strand of her hair that tickled his nose. Then, instead of dropping his hand back to his side, he allowed it to trail down the side of her face, touching the cool softness of her flesh for the first time. Not really, but it was the first time he’d purposely touched her for a reason other than being hauled up off his ass or letting her pretend to be something she wasn’t.

She could be, though. The insidious thought whispered through his mind just as his fingers reached her chin, his thumb strumming across the little indentation he found there. And hell if she didn’t have the silkiest skin known to mankind.

Her sigh let him know she wasn’t unhappy with what he was doing. If anything, she nestled closer, her hand splaying over his abs and sending a heady wave of warmth rolling down to his groin. This was a dangerous game to be playing in the back of a sleigh. A literal one-horse open sleigh.

His lips twisted. Scratch that. This was a dangerous game to be playing anywhere...with anyone...although, since the vehicle was in motion, there was almost no likelihood of having a police officer flash his spotlight on them, warning them to move along.

He explored the line of her jaw, his eyes traveling up to the seat in front of them for a second, but Norm and the horse had their attention focused on where they were going rather than on what was happening behind them. And there was no rear-view mirror that he could see.

No one would ever know.

No one would see if he... He slid his palm across the side of her throat, allowing it to rest there for a moment to gauge her response.

She didn’t move. He swallowed, the need to do something crazy growing by the second.

It had to be sleep deprivation.

Still, he raised his head to look down at her. Her eyes were closed, her lips barely parted as she breathed. If not for the frantic beat of her pulse against his skin he might think she was asleep. But she wasn’t. His thumb went to the bottom of her chin and exerted a slight upward pressure. As if she knew what was coming, her head tilted back to the perfect angle. Her eyelids parted, warm brown irises meeting his gaze. In their depths he saw the answer to his unspoken question.

She wouldn’t stop him.

He murmured her name into the cold night. Softly, so that only she could hear. Then he lowered his head and covered her lips with his.

CHAPTER FIVE

UNEXPECTED.

That was the only word she could come up with to describe the moment his mouth slid over hers. Oh, she’d wanted him to. Her heart had been screaming for him to do this ever since she’d curled into his side and let him pull her close.

She leaned her head a little further back so she could feel the full effect of his firm warm lips as they moved over hers.

A tiny sound exited her throat, and her mouth opened.

He hesitated. For a brief heart-stopping second he paused as if unsure whether to stop or continue.

Please, Jack. I just want this for a minute. Maybe two. Then I’ll let you get back to your nice shiny life with your fancy football team. I just need to know that someone, somewhere wants me.

Even if it’s just for a moment.

His hand went from her neck to the back of her head, his fingers sliding deep into her hair as he remained poised over her mouth, lips just barely touching.

Then he did it. His tongue slid home with a smooth stroke that had her closing her eyes half in triumph, half in the heady luxury of the moment.

Norm wouldn’t look back. He was used to giving his customers their privacy. And surely he’d had people make out in the back of his sleigh many times in the past. Not her, but generic people. She and Robert had certainly never done anything like this. She slid her hands beneath his coat, seeking the warmth between it and his shirt and debating whether or not she dared to duck beneath a second layer until she encountered bare skin.

Jack’s fingers tightened in her hair, and he tugged her head back so their lips came apart. “What are you doing?”

Maybe he’d read her mind.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she whispered. “What are you doing?”

“Right now, I’m wondering how long this ride is.”

“At least an hour. But it can be as long as we want it to be.”

Wow, had she really just said that? Evidently, because he gave a low groan that only she could hear and plastered his lips back to hers.

This time there was no question or hesitation, just a hard demand that she was more than happy to answer. Beneath the blanket, she worked his shirt free of his slacks until she had access to that smooth, firm skin she’d been thinking about. She allowed her fingers to slide to mid-abdomen.

Did he work out with the football players he took care of? Because there was some defined musculature beneath all these clothes. The sleigh turned another corner and her hand slipped further up, running over a hard masculine nipple.

Oops. She hadn’t meant to do that, but now that she was here...

He moved from her mouth to her ear. “Don’t.”

Oh, but she already had. Her fingers circled again, testing, bumping and finally giving a little squeeze that had him hissing in a breath. “Mira.”

And, oh, if she didn’t love hearing her name muttered in that rough, sexy way.

Never had she gone out of her way to drive a man wild, but this one was different. He seemed so uptight. So...unexpected.

There was that word again.

Any other guy would have been happy to oblige by returning the favor. But not this one. He was acting like a stick of dynamite with a very short fuse.

He bit her earlobe once, twice, sending a desperate shiver over her. Deep down inside her, things were changing. Moistening. Transforming want into need at an alarming pace.

As if sensing the shift in her, he turned his body into hers, using his broad back to shield her from any prying eyes. Then one hand splayed low on her abdomen, taking her breath away as he held it there with firm pressure.

Yes. Please, Jack.

She wasn’t sure what she was asking for—it wasn’t like they could just have sex in the back of Norm’s sleigh. But she wanted something. Wanted to feel him in her hand, wanted to drive him over the edge into insanity. Even if she got nothing more out of it than that. She squeezed his nipple between her fingertips again to see if he felt the same way.

“You’re playing with fire.”

She blinked up at him. “Fire is the best known antidote to freezing temperatures, didn’t you know?”

His hand skimmed up her hip and ducked beneath the hem of her shirt. His skin wasn’t icy, like she’d expected, but yummy and warm with slight callusing on the pads of his fingers. He glanced back as if making sure their driver was still facing the front. “This is not a smart idea, you know.”

“Never said it was.” She squeezed again.

“Hell, woman.” Just like that his hand swept up her side and cupped her breast, his thumb stroking across her bra-covered nipple and sending a shot of pure pleasure straight to her center.

Okay, maybe she hadn’t been playing fair. But neither was he, sitting beside her looking good enough to eat. And she was a little hungry. She could nibble, even if she couldn’t get a full meal, right?

But the second she started to trail her fingers back down his stomach, she found her wrist gripped in a steel band. “No.”

All playfulness was gone from his voice, and when she glanced at his face his eyes were dark, intense, a muscle working in his jaw. He slid his hand free of her shirt and tugged her clothing down. Pulled her coat back into place and buttoned it.

Her breath caught. Was he angry? Maybe she had carried this game a little too far. She started to withdraw, only to have his grip tighten, and he jerked her closer. His mouth moved back to her ear. “If we ever do this—and I’m not saying we will—it’s not going to be some furtive little quickie, Mira. I want time, lots of it, and room to maneuver. Got it?”

She gulped. “Yes.”

Whether she was acknowledging what he’d said or giving him permission she had no idea. But what else could she say? He’d taken her pass and intercepted it. The next play was with him.

With one last heart-stopping nip to her earlobe, he sat back and calmly straightened the blankets, while her pulse pounded madly in her ears.

“Now,” he said as the first flakes of snow began falling again, “tell me about the local silver mines.”

* * *

Jack wasn’t sure where he’d gathered the willpower to stop her. It had been pretty obvious where she’d been headed once her hand had left his chest and traveled south. He could have let her continue...a few pumps and he’d have been done. Sated. But that’s not what he wanted. If he was going to have her, he’d told the truth. He wanted hours. And he wanted to be able to use his hands. His mouth. He wanted to see her red hair spread out on a pillow and breathe in that purely feminine scent of her body.

Yes, he’d thought of having a fast encounter with some generic woman in his hotel room. But there was nothing generic about Mira. And he wasn’t interested in a few brief seconds of pleasure.

Compared to what he really wanted from her, a hand job was like settling for a grilled cheese sandwich when what you craved was a sixteen-ounce rib eye.

She’d seemed a little glassy-eyed when he’d asked her about the mines, but he’d needed to get his own mind off of what he’d wanted to do and put it on something a little less explosive. Between that and the snow that had started to fall more freely he’d been able to cool his body down enough to keep from snatching her up and laying her down on that heated red velvet bench, driver or no driver.

By the end, she’d giggled as he’d reached into the pocket of his leather bomber and pulled out a beanie cap, pulling the black headwear down over her head to protect her from the white, powdery precipitation.

“I have my own, you know.”

He couldn’t resist a little shrug. “You look good in mine.”

Once the ride was over, Mira thanked Norm and gave him a quick hug before moving to Patsy and rubbing her thickly furred neck. “Thanks for that, you guys. It was great.”

She promised to visit the stables more often, and the man tipped his hat and gave a courtly bow before climbing back on his sleigh and heading off again with another round of jingling bells and clip-clopping of hooves.

Then Jack—still in the throes of shaky reasoning and even shakier impulse control issues—had done the unthinkable. He’d asked Mira out again. Up on the slopes this time and ending with dinner in the restaurant.

And she’d done something just as unthinkable. She’d accepted.

* * *

“You have another date with him?” Ellory took a sip from her glass of Merlot and leaned a hip against the bar.

Mira squirmed. There was no way of avoiding it this time. Number Five might have become a problem. “Yes. But it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. And the sleigh ride kind of got snowed out.” But not before they’d done some necking in the back seat...and not before Jack had hinted he wanted to do darker things that involved time and lots of space.

She gulped a mouthful of her own wine.

How could she turn her back on something like that? Besides, it wasn’t as if she was looking for a long-term relationship. This might even work in her favor. If they did have sex, she could prove to herself that she could have a one-night stand without it necessarily evolving into something permanent. Wasn’t that what she was trying to avoid? Jack didn’t live in the area. He’d soon be heading home to Texas. Back to his team.

No strings. No unexpected visits. No occasional sightings, like she had with her ex.

But did she want a one-night stand? Was she built that way?

If not, she’d better figure out how to change her personal blueprint because unless she never wanted to have sex again she was going to have to play by a new set of rules. One that involved a quick roll in the sheets and kicking the man in question out on the other side of the bed the next morning.

No regrets. No heart involvement.

It was the perfect solution, which was why she’d made that toast on New Year’s Eve.

She glanced at her friend and took another—smaller—sip of her wine. “Don’t worry, Elle, I’m sticking with the program. I’m not getting hung up on him. I’m following the spirit of the bet. You said that I wouldn’t make it past Number Five. I never said I wouldn’t go out with any of them more than once.”

“Hmm...really? I understood that you would go out on a single date with twenty-five different men over the course of the year.”

Mira tried to think back to the exact wording of that resolution. Had she said only one date apiece? She decided to play dumb. “So are you suddenly going to go all legalistic on me? The queen of all things loose and free?”

“Touché. You know me way too well.” She sent Mira a grin and lifted her glass in salute before taking another drink of the dark red wine.

Relaxing onto one of the tall leather seats that surrounded the kidney-shaped bar, Mira swiveled around to face her friend. “Okay, so we’ll say intent, then.” She lifted her own glass. “Here’s to intent. That I intend to steer clear of serious male-female relationships.”

They clinked their glasses together. Ellory set her wine down on the polished wooden surface of the bar. “So let me get this straight. You’re going to have no serious relationships with males or females? Well, that’s a damn shame.”

Mira swatted her arm. “Very funny. You know what I mean.”

She laughed again. “Rats. Of course, I’ve sworn off men, too.” She sighed. “So you’re going to let man number five have another shot at getting this date thing right.”

“Yep, although there’s nothing to get right. We’re just going to hit the slopes one more time tomorrow and get a bite to eat afterwards. Then it’s done.” Maybe. That was if she didn’t fall into bed with the man right afterwards. A tingle of anticipation ran through her.

“Uh-oh. Speaking of hitting the slopes, ex-beau jerkwad at oh-three-hundred.”

Mira blinked before she realized what her friend meant. She glanced to the right and saw Robert nursing a beer far closer to them than she’d like. Their eyes met, and her ex lifted his glass to her. She just barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Was he worried she was going to run to Daddy and tattle about what he’d done? She should. Really she should, but she wanted nothing more to do with him. She was willing to let Robert save face to make that happen, although the creep didn’t deserve it.

She turned away and met her friend’s worried eyes.

“Did you take a good look at him?” Ellory asked.

“What?”

“Robert. I want you to memorize every last flaw that man has and imprint it on your memory.” She leaned over and squeezed her hand. “Don’t let someone do that to you again.”

“I won’t.”

Ellory was right. She needed to use Robert as a cautionary tale and not toss away one bad apple only to immediately pick up a second one. Even if at least one part of that apple tasted as sweet as honey. Because who knew what she’d find when she turned it around and looked at the other side?

Although she suspected the back side of Number Five would look just as crisp and tasty as the front. And that was the biggest problem of all.

CHAPTER SIX

SHE WAS LATE.

Jack wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or ticked. They’d agreed to ride up to the slopes together for another couple of lessons and then have dinner afterwards.

Propping his skis and poles against one of the heavy pillars that held up the wraparound porch, he inspected his snow boots for the fifth time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all the laces were well tied and nothing dangled where it could trip him up. He’d leave that to the infuriating woman he’d almost mauled in the sleigh.