, it was a wonder he didn’t follow through.
She asked in an equally quiet voice, “Are you coming on to me, Dr. Hart?”
“No,” he corrected her. “Evan is coming on to you.”
“Which is the one who’s been avoiding me for a week and making me chase him from coast to coast?”
“Both. As a podiatric surgeon, I have no interest in debating the merits of stilettos versus the hazards. As a man, I find you too tempting by far. From the moment I saw you in the hallway.”
“Oh…” That one word fell from her glossy lips on a soft sigh.
“I have a lot of respect for your persistence,” he confessed. “Whatever the hell your cause is, I admire how dedicated you are to it. How tenacious you are. Even if you are a bit on the feisty side.”
“Just a bit?” she challenged with an arched brow.
He grinned. “Okay, a lot.”
Her fingers skimmed over the lapel of his lab coat as she said, “You’re incredibly infuriating, Dr. Hart. But Evan is seriously sexy.”
His grin faded. “I don’t think anyone’s ever said that to me before. I mean the latter part.”
“Yeah, I caught on to your meaning pretty quick. I’m sure you piss off a lot of people.”
“You really do have a smart mouth.”
“And I suspect that the reason you don’t hear you’re sexy is because all of the women you speak to are more engrossed in what you have to say about podiatry than how you actually say it.”
His brow knitted. “Was there a compliment somewhere in that convoluted statement?”
“You have an unbelievably arousing voice. But I might be the only one who really hears it because everything that comes out of your mouth when you’re in surgeon mode goes completely over my head. So I’m particularly sensitive to the warm timbre, the measured cadence that intensifies just so when you’re trying to drive home a particular point…All that.”
“Fascinating.”
“Very much so.”
Their gazes locked.
She said, “Those women also don’t get to see you the way I saw you at the hotel. As…Nick.”
“I told you then and I’ll tell you now, that was all you. From the very second I opened my door.”
Her gaze didn’t waver. Her eyes shimmered with desire. He’d swear he could hear her heart pounding erratically, but it was likely just his own heartbeat echoing in his ears.
Evan was instantly trapped in a moment that held incredible intensity and heat. Like the first time he’d met her.
She said, “Now would be an acceptable time to kiss me, Evan.”
“I want to do more than just kiss you, Staci. And you know it.”
The smile tugged at her lips again. Another soft quiver at the corners, which turned him on even more. His cock strained against the zipper of his pants, and his pulse spiked.
“You’re full of surprises,” she said.
“You give all-new meaning to the term temptress.”
“Whomever determined that opposites attract is a complete genius.”
“Completely,” he gently mocked. Then he dipped his head.