Page 80 of Filthy Lovin Heroes

“Too late.” I didn’t know where to look. Everything above her neck disoriented me and everything below made me want to grab her, claim her with a heart pounding kiss right here in front of everyone, and then take her back to my place for an all-nighter.

“Thank you.” She took a sip of her wine, eyes locked on mine. “You’re staring. Though for the record, you cleaned up pretty well too, but you already knew that.”

And there it was. The other half of the equation. Holly never missed a chance to let me know just how arrogant she considered me. It came with the job description. To do what we did you had to have a certain level of confidence or many would huddle in the corner under the pressure.

I happened to carry my arrogance with a little more pride than most, I suppose. I liked to think of it as a no bull-shit approach to life. Others thought I was crass.

With difficulty, I pulled my gaze away from hers. Only then did I notice I wasn’t the only one drinking in her sensual appearance.

Oliver and Lucas caught sight of us from across the bar. They were obviously checking her out. Thank God, her smoking hot body was hidden behind the bar.

“I’ve never seen you out of scrubs.” I cleared my throat and tried to remember that I was not a horny teenage boy.

Get a grip, Murdoch.

She hummed a little laugh and it zinged straight to my core. “It does feel like they are my second skin.” Her grey eyes studied me as she tilted her head to one side. I knew that look. She was calculating.

I wouldn’t admit it, but I suspected Holly was smarter than me. And honestly, I’m a pretty intelligent guy. I graduated top of my class from my Ivy League college and medical school. In the next month, my three-year residency program would come to an end. I was already planning to stay in the emergency department and move to a staff position. To no one’s surprise, I lived for my work.

Now I felt like I was the subject of an elaborate prank. I was standing here with a colleague that I deeply respected, had worked with for a year, and thought I knew.

But I was wrong. This woman sitting next to me made my cock stand at attention. All I could think about was marching her to the back of the bar and fucking her against the wall in full view of the patrons.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Lucas approached from opposite sides of the bar like two wolves on the hunt.

I wanted to tear their eyes out. It was utterly illogical, but I knew without a doubt if one of them touched Holly I would kill either or both of them.

“Hey, you two, we found a free table in the back. Want to join us?” Oliver leaned an elbow on the bar and trailed a lingering eye over Holly’s cleavage.

Holly pivoted, facing my friends and that one little movement sent a wash of her perfume over me. I swear to God right, if I could find a clear path to the door, I would He-Man us out of here and find the nearest Hotel room. “Looks like the peds ER and the pathology department has arrived in force. Lucas, did you get my email about those lab results?”

Oblivious to my inner war, Holly and her tight little body were all business.

Instead of dampening my desire, my cock hardened. At this rate, I’d be crawling out of the bar tonight.

Lucas held up his hand and groaned. “No work, please. In fact, it should be illegal for a woman--a Doctor--as beautiful as you to be talking shop tonight.”

Her body stiffened at the rebuke and I surmise the good doctor wasn’t at all accustomed to compliments.

With Holly turned around, those two jackals I called friends leered at the outline of her ass like they’d never seen a woman before. The deep vee of her neckline in both the front and back showed off her bare skin in an intensely erotic fashion. I couldn’t blame them. But that didn’t stop me from peering over her head until they got the message to fuck off.

Standing this close, my hand itched to reach around and stroke down her back. I longed to touch her supple skin and feel her vertebrae under my fingertips.

Clearly I have lost my freaking mind.

“Thanks for the invite for a table, but I’m here with Noah. I better get back. He’ll be wondering where I wandered off to. See you guys tomorrow at work. Be sure to send me those lab results asap. I might write up an article on that case.”

When she turned toward me, her hem rode up, showing more of her curvy thighs. She glided off the barstool with the finesse of a New York model. “Thank you for the drink, Doctor.”

Always so damn formal.

I watched her walk off a minute before I carried my crappy whiskey with me to the table the guys paid the waitress to hold. My brain churned furiously. Our new table happened to have a view of Holly and Noah.

Noah was a psychiatrist who we often called in to consult on patients in our emergency room. The best thing I could say about him was that he was competent. I never gave him a second thought until now.

How long had he and Holly been dating?

What the fuck was wrong with me? Why should I care that my colleague showed up in a pretty dress and on the arm of another man?

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