She pressed her palms to my chest and pushed up, red hair falling all around her, lighting up in the dawn of the day that was barely breaking at the window.
She stared down at me, all that belief shining around her like a halo.
And this gorgeous girl?
Looking up at her?
I was gone.
Incinerated.
“What you did today, Kale . . .” Sincerity took hold of her expression, and she chewed at her bottom lip, like she was searching for what to say. “I want you to know how much that meant to me. You staying with us.”
“I wanted to be there,” I told her, threading my fingers through the fall of her hair.
Her eyes searched mine. Honestly. “I wanted you to be there, too.”
A heavy sigh pressed between my lips. “I hate that I have to, but I’m going to need to put in a transfer of care for Evan. It isn’t a good idea for me to see him as my patient if you and I are together.”
It was a tweak of joy that pulled at the corner of her lush mouth, though concern swam in her eyes. “Is that what we are . . . together?”
I bucked up a little. “Sure feels like it to me.”
Heat bloomed on those sweet cheeks, her freckles prominent in the wash of the sunrise that glowed against her face. Hesitation rimmed her words when she said, “But you do this all the time.”
I shot up to sitting, framing both sides of her face in my hands. “No, Hope. I don’t do this all the time. Not like this.”
“It feels different, doesn’t it?” she asked, voice almost whimsical as she chanced meeting my eyes.
I cupped the side of her neck. “Yeah . . . it feels different. It feels better.”
It feels right.
A sad smile tweaked her mouth. “I hate the idea of you not seeing him. You’re a good doctor, Kale.”
“I want to be.”
“Does this scare you?” There she was, once again, so goddamned open. Vulnerable and honest and real. No games.
I refused to play them, either. “Yeah. It fucking terrifies me.”
“I don’t ever want to put you in a position you don’t want to be in, Kale. I’d never back you into a corner. But you need to know, Evan is my life, and every choice I make affects him. I have to be careful, especially with what’s going on with his father right now. Most of all, I need you to know I will do whatever it takes to protect him.”
There was almost a warning in her words.
Anger flamed, and I pushed it down, refusing to let that bastard come into our sacred space.
Instead, I wrapped my arms around her slender waist and tipped my head back so I could read her expression better. “I’m not here to yank you around, Hope. You already made yourself perfectly clear, and I knew what I was doing when I followed you into this room. I get it. I know what’s on the line.”
With her, I wanted to walk it.
She wrapped her arms tighter around me, pressed her mouth to my neck. “I didn’t expect you, Kale Bryant.”
I hugged her body against mine, our hearts synced, beating in time. “I definitely didn’t expect you, Hope.”
I glanced at the clock on her nightstand. “I should go before Evan wakes up.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, albeit reluctantly.
I shifted so I could toss her onto her back on her bed. Giggling, she bounced, red, red hair splayed all around her, her smile brighter than the sun that rose through her window.
My chest clenched. Never thought I could feel this way.
I climbed off her bed, feeling the heat of her gaze as she watched me dress from behind. When I turned back to her, she had her sheets pressed to her mouth, blushing all over the place.
God. This girl.
I leaned over and planted my hands on her bed, kissed her mouth. “You can ogle me any time you want, Princess. You don’t have to be shy about it. I’ve been ogling you since the second I met you.”
“It’s just . . . you’re gorgeous, Kale. Such a beautiful man. Inside and out. I don’t think I ever want to stop looking at you.”
I dipped down closer. “And you’re the best damned thing I’ve ever seen.”
I let my gaze rake her body. “Fair warning . . . next time I get you in bed, I’m not gonna be so easy on you.”
Because there I was, wanting to climb right back onto her bed and take her again. My mind running wild with fantasies. The ways I wanted to have her. Wanting to incite that sweet little vixen.
Redness splashed those cheeks when she grinned. “Is that a promise?”
I growled, buried my face in her neck before I pushed back, smirking down at her. “You are in so much trouble, Harley Hope.”