His smile was so genuine, so endearing, her breath caught. She fought against saying she’d changed her mind and was leaving the party she hadn’t wanted to attend to begin with. Even though that was what a smart girl would do.

Her IQ was dropping by the second.

“You wish,” she quipped, not waiting for him as she headed toward the path he’d pointed out.

He quickly fell into step beside her as they made their way along the cobblestoned walkway. Trimmed bushes, flowers, and solar-powered lights bordered either side, giving a sense of privacy and filling the air with the scent of sweet gardenia.

“I do, you know.”

“Do what?” She didn’t look at him, just carefully made her way along the path, thinking she should have gone for different shoes as four-inch heels weren’t ideal for garden walkways.

When she’d chosen them she’d been thinking of how the extra height would make her look taller, feel thinner, more in control during what she’d known would be a rough experience.

“Wish you had just made my night,” he clarified.

At his response, Riley stumbled, reaching out to keep herself from falling at the same time as he moved to catch her.

She fell into his arms. Literally.

Embarrassed, she glanced up, both cursing and blessing her heels. They’d caused her to stumble, but they also gave her the vantage point to more easily look into his eyes.

Blessing? She wasn’t supposed to be looking into Justin’s eyes—much less easily. Nor was she supposed to be pressed against his hard body.

Oh, my!

“Well, hello, there,” he teased, not stepping back from where he held her.

Neither did she. Which was a problem. Why was she not removing her body from where it was plastered to his? And why, oh, why did he feel so wonderful? So solid and chiseled to perfection?

Not to mention that his spicy clean scent was pulling a wicked number... She’d gotten whiffs of that clean, all-man smell in the OR, but had never allowed herself to really take it in. Where was an alcohol pad when she needed one to block it out?

Unable to stop herself, Riley breathed in through her nose, filling her nostrils, her lungs, her being, with Justin.

Goodness, the man was intoxicating. His body, his smell. The way he was looking down at her.

His heart pounded hard against her chest as his gaze dropped to her mouth. She parted her lips, planning to apologize for falling, but nothing came out.

His hands trembled slightly where they pressed against her back. His throat worked as he swallowed, and then, surprising her, he closed his eyes.

The walkway lights flickered over his face, allowing Riley to see how the skin was pulled tightly across his cheeks, how he was struggling with something. Not something... With her and how their bodies were responding to one another.

“Justin?”

He opened his eyes.

“I feel as if I should be asking you if you’re okay,” she mused, still not moving out of his arms.

She’d thought it was his heart pounding against her chest. It wasn’t. It was her own, banging so violently against her rib cage that he might be black and blue if he didn’t step away.

He didn’t. Instead, his hands moved from her lower back to caress her face.

“I’m good,” he assured her.

She’d bet he was, and she wanted to know more.

Which scared her.

Terrified her.

Just as she’d worked up the strength to pry her body from his, he bent to touch his lips to hers. A soft brushing of his mouth, slow, gentle, in a show of great restraint because she felt the way his body tensed.

Lord help her for what she felt as his mouth coaxed hers to open, to allow him to explore to his heart’s content.

Riley’s head spun. That was how Justin made her feel. Spinning out of control.

A single moment or an eternity might have passed during their embrace. Riley couldn’t have sworn one way or the other. Just knew that Justin’s kiss took her beyond the realm of time, place, anything...

All that mattered was his kiss, how when she opened her eyes and looked into his what she saw weakened her knees. Mostly because what she saw there was reflected in her own for him to see.

But she didn’t want him seeing behind her carefully guarded walls—didn’t want anyone glimpsing behind her armor, least of all Justin.

What had she done?

She needed to run, to put as much distance between them as her high heels would let her.

But other than to tremble at the gravity of what was happening, her body didn’t move.

Holding her close, he smiled. “That was worth waiting for.”

Stunned at his admission, she blinked. “You were waiting to kiss me?”

Brushing a few loose hairs away from her face, he nodded. “You know I was.”

No, she didn’t know that.

Wrong. She did know.

She knew. And there was no more denying what she’d been denying for months.

What she’d been wanting for months.

Justin.

CHAPTER TWO

RILEY HADN’T INTENDED to go home with Justin.

Ha—even a few hours ago, when they’d been swirling and laughing on the dance floor, she’d still been telling herself their kiss had been a one-off.

So much for good intentions and all that jazz.

Here she was, in his bedroom, in the midst of something straight out of someone else’s life, practically ripping Justin’s shirt off his muscled chest.

He trailed hungry kisses over her throat, slid her spaghetti straps down her shoulders while her every nerve cell strained to be nearer to his talented lips.

She’d lost her purse somewhere. Possibly it was in the Jeep he’d driven them in to his apartment. Or maybe she’d tossed it somewhere between his front door and where they were now wrapped around each other next to his bed.

His big bed.

A big bed he’d probably brought countless women to.

Hesitation hit. Did she really want to be another notch on Justin’s belt?

Abandoning their fumbling at his shirt buttons, her fingers lowered, tracing over the rich, smooth leather encircling his waist. Seriously, what was she doing? Feeling for literal notches on his belt?

She pressed her forehead to his chest, resting against the soft cotton material. Closing her eyes, she breathed in his amazing scent, full of spice and temptation.

It made women crave more.

It made her crave more.

Don’t inhale, Riley. Do not inhale.

Wasn’t that when she’d first lost her mind in the garden? When she’d allowed his scent to intoxicate her? Weaken her to his powerful sensory onslaught?

Swallowing, she clenched his belt and ordered her brain to use logic, not hormones, to calculate how she wanted to proceed.

Or not to proceed.

Unaware of her inner turmoil, he dipped his tongue into the indentation at the base of her throat as his fingers connected with her dress’s zipper.

A moan rose from deep inside her chest.

She was here, in Justin’s bedroom, the sole recipient of his many talents. Was she really going to tell him to stop?

He would. As wrapped up as he was in what was happening, she didn’t question the fact that if she told him she’d changed her mind he’d stop.

Letting go of his belt, her hands went back to working those last few shirt buttons free. The time for stopping had gone. Just like her inhibitions, apparently.

Possibly this was happening because she’d been so emotionally raw at Cheyenne and Paul’s party. And she’d drunk champagne while eating very little, because she was on yet another diet in the hopes of getting rid of the extra fifteen pounds she perpetually carried.

Or maybe she was here because what she’d seen in Justin’s eyes when he’d kissed her, what she’d felt at his touch, had soothed the ever-present rawness Johnny’s cruelty had dealt her.

“You taste good.”

Was that why he was nibbling at her neck that way? As if her skin was nectar and he was starved?

“Sweet as honey,” he continued, his lips miracle-workers at her throat.

“Too sticky,” she murmured, finally freeing him of his shirt.

Wanting to look at what she’d uncovered, she attempted to take a step back. But she was too close to the bed to manage more than bumping against the king-sized monstrosity.

“Sticky sweet,” he practically growled, prickling her more and more sensitized flesh with goosebumps.

His hands made their way beneath her dress, cupped her bottom, and pulled her against him.

Her entire body tingled. As if someone had hooked up a TENS unit and cranked the power full-blast.

Oh, wow.

He pressed against her belly, hard, tempting, promising great pleasure.

Riley wanted great pleasure.

She had heard about it, had dreamed of it a long, long time ago, but experience it? Nada.

Her ex sure hadn’t delivered great pleasure.

Johnny had been okay in bed. Probably as good as Riley. Which should have her reconsidering what was happening now, because the last thing she wanted was Justin thinking her a dud between the sheets. She must be. Johnny wouldn’t have strayed before they’d even made it down the aisle if she was any good, right?

But Justin wasn’t acting as if he thought her a dud. He couldn’t get enough, seemed to want to kiss her all over, touch her all over, as if he found her curves sexy rather than too fleshy. As if he found her irresistible.

Justin was with her, kissing her, grinding his body against hers. He was focused on her and making her feel good. He wanted her.

She’d regret it tomorrow. She knew she would. She knew herself too well to believe otherwise. She had to work with him, for goodness’ sake.

But when his fingers hooked her panties and slid them down she couldn’t lift her feet fast enough to shake free of the skimpy satin and lace material.

Not only was she doing this, but she was going to demand Justin make it worth every single recrimination she’d feel later.

With that thought, she pulled his belt free from his jeans, tossed it to the floor, then twined her fingers through the loops of his jeans and tugged him to her.

Eyes locked with his, she lifted her chin.“You only get one shot,” she warned, with the bravado of a seasoned siren rather than a woman whose groom had been a no-show at their wedding. “Make it good.”

Not looking the slightest bit worried about his making-it-good abilities, Justin grinned.

“I can do that,” he promised, and then he did.

Slowly waking, Justin felt his lips curve when he recalled how he’d spent the night.

With Riley. Sexy, curvy Riley. With her long brown hair and big green eyes. Sweet and sassy Riley, who was all business at work, tough and forceful with her patients when they needed to be pushed, kind and gentle when they needed a soft touch, and always professional.

It was her smile that had first hooked him. When she smiled her eyes lit, dimples dug into her cheeks, and a genuine warmth exuded from her that soothed something deep inside him and yet left a raw achiness.

Last night, when he’d gone to her, he’d been thinking along the lines of chatting, going for a walk, strolling near the lake to admire the fountain, then heading back to the party to dance.

Never in his wildest dreams had Justin envisioned them heading to his apartment. To his bed.

Well, maybe in his wildest dreams. He just hadn’t expected it to happen.

He wasn’t complaining. He’d wanted her for months.

She’d been a firecracker and she had put on an impressive show. She’d met him touch for touch, kiss for kiss, demanding more until he’d given all he had to give, and then had still found the strength to give more.

He stretched his arms over his head, surprised his muscles weren’t protesting his vigorous nocturnal activities. Instead he felt glorious—it was like the best runner’s high.

Amazing what a night of phenomenal sex with the right woman did for a man.

And Riley was the right woman.

He’d suspected that from the moment they’d met, and finally she seemed to have quit denying there was something between them.

She hadn’t said no, nor had she rolled her eyes and laughed. What she’d said had turned him inside out and shattered all doubts that they were meant to be a couple.

Anticipating the vision of Riley sleeping in his bed, her beautiful hair sprawled out on his pillow, he rolled onto his side and opened his eyes.

What?

The space where Riley should be lying was empty.

Was she already awake and hadn’t awakened him?

Listening for sounds in the bathroom, or coming from the kitchen, he didn’t hear the slightest creak.

With a rising sense of unease, he sat up and glanced to the bedroom floor where they’d stripped each other.

Riley’s clothes were missing.

Empty bed, quiet apartment, missing clothes.

Reality gut-punched him, wreaking havoc with his earlier post-phenomenal-sex euphoria.

Riley was gone.

Why hadn’t she woken him?

Getting out of bed, he grabbed a pair of shorts from a drawer, then made his way through the apartment, looking for some sign that she’d really been there and that he hadn’t dreamed the entire night.

Surely she’d left a note?

A glass slipper?

Something?

Nothing.

She’d awakened, dressed, and left.

Raking his fingers through his hair, he considered his options.

He didn’t have her phone number. Why hadn’t he gotten it last night when he’d had the chance?

Because he hadn’t expected to wake up alone. Not after the hot kisses they’d shared. The hot everything they’d shared.

Taking a pre-made bag of vegetables and fruit from his freezer, he dropped them into his blender, along with a scoop of protein powder, poured in some almond milk, put on the lid, then pressed the button.

Why had Riley left?

She’d enjoyed their lovemaking. She hadn’t faked her responses. Not the first time or the second. She’d have told him if he wasn’t pleasing her. She’d not been shy in saying what she wanted, and he hadn’t hesitated in giving her that and more.

No matter. He’d thought she was through denying the sparks between them, but now she’d made how she felt clear enough. He didn’t need a flashing neon sign that her being gone this morning wasn’t the making of a promising relationship.

He couldn’t make someone want him when they didn’t. He’d learned that almost before he’d learned to walk.

Feeling a fool, he raked his fingers through his hair, stopped the blender, then poured his smoothie into a plastic cup.

Rather than head downstairs to the condo complex’s gym, he pulled out a chair at his kitchen bar and contemplated his relationship with Riley—starting from the moment they’d met. Even before then...

From the outside looking in, he and Ashley should have had it all had they married.

Only their idea of “family” had varied.

Justin had always wanted kids of his own, but planned to adopt as well. Ashley had known about the foster boys Justin was involved with, but the week before their wedding she’d told him she wouldn’t be raising someone else’s kids—not even his “little charity cases” whom she barely tolerated.

Justin had called off the wedding and several months later had relocated his job. He’d thought he’d focus on the boys until he met someone who wanted the same things he did—to have a big family, which included adopted and—Lord willing—birth children, and maybe a few foster kids along the way.

Then he’d met Riley.

An orthopedic nurse full of curves and sass who refused to date him but ruined his interest in every other woman.

They’d seen each other out socially a few times. But, determined not to let her get to him, as he had no desire to chase someone who claimed she wasn’t interested, he’d done his best to stay away and had brought a date to each group event.

For the past few weeks he’d not even bothered dating because he hadn’t been interested. And he’d known the reason.

Riley.

He’d enjoyed talking with her last night—enjoyed how, while the conversation had flowed vocally, their eyes and body had been communicating in a whole other language.

When he’d asked if she was ready to leave the party she’d not hesitated, immediately taking him up on his offer to drive her home.

Only the moment they were in his car he’d half-jokingly invited her to his place for drinks, to sit on his balcony and enjoy his view of the river.

He’d expected a flat-out no.

Instead, she’d agreed.

He should have known better. Maybe he had. But he’d been caught up in the way she’d been looking at him. And he’d barely gotten the engine turned off in the parking garage before they’d been all over each other, taking their garden kiss to another level of intensity.

Thinking back, he was surprised they’d made it to his bedroom. Had the elevator ride to his floor taken much longer they wouldn’t have. The chemistry had been that powerful.

Probably because of how long he’d wanted her. How much he’d wanted her.

Frustrated, Justin downed the rest of his breakfast, then walked back into his bedroom so he could jump in the shower.

He’d really thought they had something special.

Too bad Riley had left.

“I wasn’t expecting you to stay at Cheyenne’s party after Sam and I left. How late did you stay?”

“Not too late.”

Riley eyed Cassie from across the table and took a sip of her coffee. The hot liquid scalded her tongue, but she gulped the drink down rather than give any sign of unease.

“Daisy slept in my room most of the night.”

“Did she?” Riley tried to make it sound as if it wasn’t a big deal that her dog had stayed in Cassie’s room. If Riley had been at home the dog would’ve been wherever she was. They both knew it.

“I’m not sure at what point she abandoned me,” Cassie mused. “I’m guessing whatever time you came home.”

Glancing down at the fluffy white dog, eyeing them in the hope they’d share some of their breakfast, Riley shrugged. “She met me at the door when I came in—” at the crack of dawn “—and she wanted to go outside. She crawled into bed with me after that.”

“Had Sam not had to be up early for work we’d have stuck around at the party, just so I could keep an eye on you and Dr. Brothers.”

Her friend waggled her brows suggestively.

“I was enjoying the fireworks exploding between the two of you.”

Ugh. Could they not just go back to talking about Daisy?

Reality had hit. Although Riley had been oblivious to everyone except Justin when they’d been talking, laughing, dancing, no doubt their friends and coworkers had seen them...had taken note of the fact they’d left together.

Double ugh.

“Was it him who gave you a lift home?”

“No.” A creepy I-know-what-you’ve-been-doing taxi driver had brought her home.

“Too bad,” Cassie mused. “You seemed lost in conversation with him when you waved me off and said you’d find your own ride.”

Staring into her coffee mug, Riley shrugged. “He’s easy to talk to.”

Easy to do a lot of things with. Things she regretted, yet wasn’t sure she’d have passed up, given the choice of a redo.

“Mmm-hmm?” Cassie teased. “Talk to.”

Knowing they were destined to have this conversation at some point, Cassie scooped Daisy into her lap, threaded her fingers into the dog’s soft white fur to rub her neck, then met her friend’s curious gaze.

“You two could have started an inferno with those sparks flying.”

An inferno was a pretty apt description of what they had started. Images of the night were definitely burned into her mind.

“I drank a little more than I should have,” Riley admitted, searching for the words to appease her friend.

Sitting her coffee mug on the table, Cassie leaned forward. “You left with him, didn’t you?”

Riley grimaced. “Do we have to have this conversation before I’ve finished my first cup of coffee?”

Cassie clasped her hands together and made a gleeful noise. “Which means you did!”

Riley’s face instantly heated. Cassie was her best friend, knew all the details of her wedding gone awry. She understood when Riley said she wasn’t interested in going back down that road.

“We all make mistakes,” she admitted, thinking hers were typically super-sized.

“No!” Cassie gasped, her bottom lip going into a disappointed pout. “Dr. Brothers wasn’t any good?”

“He was—phenomenal—good.” She couldn’t bring herself to say otherwise. “Just...” she stroked Daisy’s fur “...I shouldn’t have had sex with a coworker.”

“There’s no hospital rule about dating coworkers.” Cassie dismissed her comment with a wave of her hand. “I’d know, since I’m dating a really hot emergency room nurse.”

There was that.

“Justin and I aren’t dating,” Riley pointed out, staring at Daisy as if she was trying to convince the dog. “Last night was a one-off fluke. Nice, but no big deal.”

“Nice? The man is gorgeous enough to make even me look twice, and I’m gaga over Sam.” Cassie shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re describing sex with Dr. Brothers as ‘nice!’ Guess he’d be too good to be true if he was the total package.”

Justin was the total package. Witty, kind, attentive, gorgeous...hot in bed.

Stop thinking of him that way, she scolded herself, her temples pounding.

Still, letting Cassie think poorly of Justin didn’t sit well.

“Last night was better than nice—way better. But it doesn’t matter. What happened was one night. Nothing more.”

Her friend sipped her coffee, obviously processing what Riley had said.

“I can’t say this doesn’t surprise me, because it does,” Cassie began. “I thought—Oh, never mind what I thought. If that’s all he wants it’s his loss. You’re a great catch.”

Even her best friend assumed it must be Justin who didn’t want to continue their relationship. Because no one in their right mind would assume a slightly chubby plain Jane wouldn’t jump at the chance to be with him anytime he crooked his talented finger.

They were probably right. But she wasn’t giving Justin the opportunity to be the one to say, Thanks, but no thanks.

She liked her life just as it was. She’d worked hard to get Johnny’s voice out of her head, and on most things had succeeded.

She liked not having to worry about making anyone happy but herself. Not having to walk on eggshells because of her many flaws, or worry about starting over if the person she’d built her world around found someone new and left her.

Riley reached for the small golden cross she wore at her neck and toyed with when she was nervous or agitated.

It wasn’t there.

Her stomach knotted.

It had to be.

She touched her neck again, feeling around on her throat. Panic gurgled from her belly upward. No! She hadn’t lost—

Riley’s airway tightened.

Her necklace was gone.

Sitting Daisy down, she stood, patted her neck, shook out her clothes, looked around on the floor.

Nothing.

Panic rose, clogging her throat.

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked.

“My necklace.” Riley fought back tears, tracing back in her mind when she last recalled having it.