Page 38 of Doctor Charmer

Chelsea smiles at me, and I know I’m missing something.

“Tonight, she was nervous. Had me redo her makeup six times. Griff and I had to practically push her out of the room, or she’d miss the party. You make her nervous.”

I want to dismiss her words, but I don’t have time for a debate. If I’ve just missed Ivy, she’s headed to the lobby to grab a cab back to the hotel. I have no clue which hotel she’s staying at, so I need to catch her before she gets in the car service.

“She’s not the only one.” I give the words Chelsea was hoping to hear. It won’t matter if I don’t catch up to Ivy. I race out the door and down the stairwell three steps at a time. I jump at the ground-floor door, my hip crashing against it, slamming it open. The door bangs hard against the doorstop, a harsh crash echoing across the vast lobby. I begin to race and ignore the startled faces of the security guards.

I hear the pants of my breath as I rush toward the exit. I’m out the door just as I spot her. She’s bending down, tossing a bag into the back seat of a cab twenty yards away from me.

“Ivy!” I shout. Snow crunches beneath my feet, and I continue to rush toward her, trying to maintain my balance on the ice. “Wait.”

She pops her head out of the cab, whipping back the hood of her coat to see better. She gives me the look I expect, awhy is this crazy man yelling at melook.

I ignore the look, I ignore the snow falling in my face, I ignore the fact that it’s freezing outside and I’m not wearing a coat. I ignore everything except her.

“You win.” I stop a foot in front of her, the glint of the overhead hospital lights reflected in her beautifully dark eyes. “You were always going to win. From the moment we first spoke, and you put me in my place, I knew. Every time I turned up the charm, and you sent it back to me in spades, you won. Every time I walked into a room and saw you there, you won.” I reach forward, my hand cupping her face.

“Every time you called me out for leaning into my reputation, you won.” I brush a sprinkling of snow off her cheek. “I don’t have a secret girlfriend somewhere. There is no one else. No one else I’m interested in other than you. You win.”

Her lips part to speak, but I react first. I slam my lips to hers. I kiss her. First. She wins.

Lips locked; the shock of my sudden move must fade for her as her lips soften. She twists her neck for a better angle and kisses me back.

“Reggie…” My name on her lips is the greatest Christmas gift this holiday season. “Tell me this isn’t a game to you. That this is…”

“The start of something I want.” I address her concern, and her gaze bores into mine, reading me like only she can.

She tips forward up on her toes and presses her lips to mine. This kiss differs from my rushed stake-in-the-ground kiss. Hers lacks the hesitancy of mine. It’s softer, quieter, gentler.

Our lips part, and our kiss intensifies. Her hands are in my hair, combing it as she peppers kisses down my collarbone. “You must be freezing.”

I shake my head. “Never been hotter in my life.”

“Come back to the hotel with me,” she offers, surprising me. “I don’t want to be alone. Not tonight.”

She offers exactly what I want, but I know myself. “You, me in a tiny hotel room? All night? There’s no way I’m not going to…” Idon’t complete the sentence on purpose, painting the picture for her. We are moving a million miles an hour.

“Are you saying you can’t resist me, Dr. Morgan? You don’t trust yourself to be alone with me?” she teases.

“Not in the confines of a two-hundred-square-foot hotel room, no.” I don’t even try to deny my attraction to her.

She rewards my admission with a soft kiss on the corner of my lip. “I get it. But I’m not about to let you out of my sights. I want to celebrate my victory.”

I feel the same way. The words are out of my mouth before I’ve thought it through. “Come home with me. Stay at my place.”

Her eyes flash with something I can’t read.

“It’s much larger than two hundred square feet, I promise. And I have a pull-out couch in my home office. I’ll be the perfect gentleman.”

She slips her hand into mine, leaning forward to whisper. “That’s not what I heard.”

I press my lips behind her ear, stealing another kiss. “Don’t believe the hype.”

Chapter Twenty

Ivy

The clink of silverware against china causes me to rip my gaze from the winter wonderland I’ve been staring at. Reggie is stirring a spoon in a coffee mug, and the scent of warm chocolate reaches me.

---