Page 16 of Close Quarters

She wandered over to stand next to him and looked at the sketches. “There’s little money in it. I would have to crank out a lot of these every month—and sell them—to make what I do now. I doubt my work would go that quickly. Plus, I like forensics. I like helping people.”

“Well, if you have to have a hobby, I suppose it’s a good one.” He glanced down at her. “You’re very talented.”

She blushed and looked away. “Thanks.”

There was that insecurity again, he noted. He wondered what caused it. She had no reason to be uncertain of herself; she was both brilliant and talented.

“You should hang some of these in the lab.” An idea hit him. “Say, could you do a medical themed set for my office?”

She glanced up at him, her eyes wide with surprise. “You want to hang my drawings in your office?”

“Well, yeah. They’re amazing.”

Her eyes traveled between him and the wall of art, then back. “They’re okay, but I wouldn’t call them amazing.”

“Seriously?” He frowned down at her. “Katie, I don’t know where this misguided perception you have of your art comes from, but you’re dead wrong.”

She looked at the sketches again, her head tilting as she studied them through his eyes for a moment before she shrugged. “If you say so. I’m happy to draw something for you if you want, though.”

“I do.”

Katie walked over to the couch and sat down, picking up a sketchbook from the coffee table. She patted the cushion next to her. “Come tell me what you want.”

“You want to do them now?” He walked over and sat down, leaning his elbows on his knees. He rolled his empty bottle in his hands as he watched her flip to a blank page.

“I can start them. It’ll take me more than an evening to get them right, though.” She glanced up at him, her glasses sliding down her nose.

Damn, she looked cute sitting there like that. All sexy librarian-ish. He took a deep breath through his nose to clear his head and focused his gaze on the paper. “Can you do an anatomy sketch? Like of the heart or brain or something?”

She nodded. “Let’s do the heart.” With swift strokes, she outlined a heart on the page, then flipped to the next one and glanced up at him, a question in her pretty hazel eyes.

“Medical instruments?”

Wordlessly, she roughed out a grouping of a scalpel, stethoscope, and some clamps.

“I probably have enough wall space for four drawings. What about a skeleton on one and the Caduceus for the fourth?” he said, mentioning the universal symbol of medicine.

She nodded. “That would look good,” she said, continuing to draw as she talked. “If you group them two by two, it will balance the instruments well.”

He leaned back, watching her sketch. She was like a different woman when she was absorbed in her art. There was a softness about her that was missing when she was engrossed in a task in the lab. But the crease in her brow as she concentrated was the same. Her tongue peeked out to touch the corner of her mouth as she drew, and Alex’s heart rate picked up.

Katie paused to examine her drawing, then glanced at him. He wasn’t quick enough to avert his eyes, and she caught him staring at her mouth. Her eyes widened a fraction, and her breath hitched ever so slightly. It was enough to tell him she felt this insane, sudden attraction too.

He shifted, setting his bottle on the table, then leaned toward her. His fingers skimmed her knee as he turned. She watched him as he bent closer, her gaze flickering between his eyes and his mouth as it descended toward hers. With just a few inches between them, he paused, wanting to be sure she wanted this as much as he did. When her eyes met his again, they blazed with heat. He closed the distance and pressed his lips to hers.

Holy shit! Disbelief ping-ponged through Katie’s head as Alex kissed her. Desire was fast on its heels as the feel of his warm, supple mouth on hers registered. Her thoughts scattered, and she dropped her pencil to clutch fistfuls of his shirt, holding herself steady as he nipped at her bottom lip, then soothed the bite with his tongue. He elicited a gasp from her as he threaded one hand through the strands of her ponytail, wrapping his fist in it and angling her head for better access. He took full advantage and tasted the inner recesses of her mouth. She returned the favor, noting the lingering taste of bright hops and tangy pizza sauce.

He pulled back to stare down at her, his normally bright blue eyes the color of the twilight sky. His chest heaved as he sucked in air, matching hers breath for breath.

“Damn.”

Understatement of the century.

She licked her lips, tasting him as she stared back. His eyes followed the movement, getting impossibly darker before his mouth crashed back onto hers. He didn’t hold back this time, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her half onto his lap. Katie twined her arms around his neck and grasped his dark hair, raking her nails over his scalp as he invaded her mouth, plundering its depths. Who knew Mr. Stick-in-the-mud had this in him?

Her sketchbook fell to the floor with a soft thud as she turned and tucked one leg up on the couch. Alex’s hands drifted down her back to hold her butt, urging her in closer. As she straddled his lap and felt the evidence of his desire, rationality crashed back into her, and she broke their kiss. Breathing hard, she rested her forehead against his.

“What are we doing?”

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