After his bedroom eyes and thick, dark-blond hair, his mouth was by far his most appealing feature. She enjoyed watching his well-defined lips move when he said something in his deep baritone, then smiled. And he would undoubtedly know just what to do with his mouth when words were no longer the order of the day. Yes…Dr. Colin McKenna would definitely know how to kiss a woman. A man as attractive as he was not wearing a wedding ring—if she were married to him she’d probably solder it to his finger—didn’t get far without tasting his share of women. And though she wasn’t getting exactly the response she wanted from him with her leg-crossing, she did recognize the flare of attraction in his eyes before he covered it up and moved on to the next topic.
The problem was, he wasn’t moving the topic anywhere at the moment. He’d stayed silent after her last comment, obviously expecting her to go on.
Lucky swallowed hard and shrugged. “That’s it.”
He squinted, as if trying to get a handle on her. She could have told him not to waste his time. There was no handle to find. If there was, she would have found it a long, long time ago and maybe wouldn’t have to depend on that vodka bottle to help her get by every now and again when the shadows of the past grew long and her ability to battle them short.
Finally, Colin turned his attention to the man to his right.
Lucky shifted, though this time it had nothing to do with getting the sexy doc’s attention. Rather she was slightly relieved that she no longer drew his attention. Of course she couldn’t be sure if the tension filling her stomach had to do with his question or her insane attraction to him.
But she was sure she was going to find out….
2
COLIN COULDN’T REMEMBER a time when his tie had felt tighter.
“Thank you, Dr. McKenna,” Doris Borgdoff said as she passed him on her way out the door. Forty-five years old, mother of two grown boys, secretary at Owen-Illinois, he found it interesting that she still had trouble meeting his eyes when she spoke. “I got a lot out of today’s session.”
Colin forced a smile and said something he hoped was acceptable as his gaze shifted to the final member of the group. The reason for the peculiar tightness of his throat. The sole participant who had not participated, but who had accomplished what she’d set out to do, which was to drive him to distraction.
Sexy Lucky Clayborn glided, rather than walked, to stand in front of him and he was aware of every inch of her shapely legs, her lithe body, her full breasts under her thin shirt.
She smiled up at him, a seductive mixture of fearless feline and mesmerizing minx. He wasn’t even aware that she’d slid her hand against the door to close it until he heard the soft click of the catch hit home, essentially leaving them alone in his office.
“I was hoping to have a word…alone with you for a minute,” she said quietly, her deep-green-eyed gaze trapping his.
Colin’s tie was no longer tight, it was choking him. Everything that was male in him responded to everything that was female in her. A kind of primal reaction that elevated his heart rate and made him all too aware of how long he’d gone without sex.
And how much he wanted to have sex with her.
During the session he’d been overly aware of every move Lucky had made, the sound of her bare thighs sliding together as she crossed and recrossed her legs seeming to grow louder until he’d sworn he could smell the musk of her sex and had imagined what kind of underwear she had or didn’t have on. His gaze dropped to her plump lips, devoid of anything but a hint of gloss and moisture from where she’d just licked them.
Dear God, she was a patient. And he’d had attractive patients before. Even attractive patients that had come on to him.
But no one had made his groin ache the way Lucky Clayborn did.
He broke eye contact and moved to stand behind his desk. The more distance between them the better. “What is it, Miss Clayborn?” he asked, pleased that his voice still sounded like his voice.
She stood still for a long moment, apparently considering his movements, then she crossed to the desk—behind, not in front—and smoothly sat on top of it, giving him a peek of hot-pink panties under the short black skirt.
“You call all the other patients by their first name,” she didn’t say so much as purr. “Why not me?”
She sat not a foot away from where he stood and he was certain now that he could smell her unique musk. An intriguing mix of ginger and one-hundred-percent turned-on woman.
“You’re new,” he managed to push past his tight throat. “I generally address new patients by their proper names until a doctor-patient relationship has had a chance to develop.”
“Mmm.” She slowly scooted over until she sat in front of him.
Despite his best intentions, Colin’s gaze dropped to her sleek thighs, watching as her skirt hitched up a little farther. His mouth watered with the desire to put his tongue right there where a lone mole sat an inch or so away from the pink edge of her panties.
“Miss Clayborn,” he said, trying to keep things light though he felt anything but. He met her gaze, noting the widening of her pupils, the unmistakable desire to be kissed tinting her alluring features. “It’s my duty to remind you that as long as you’re my patient, there can be nothing of a personal nature between us.”
The way she was sitting directly in front of him, with her legs slightly spread, it would be all too easy to slide between those supple thighs, put his arms around her curvy body, then claim that decadent mouth of hers with a kiss that he knew would lead to so much more.
And boy did he want that. He wanted that bad.
She gave him a sexy half smile that suggested she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Shame,” she whispered, though she stayed right where she was.
“Mmm,” he admitted.
He forced his gaze away from her face, and his thoughts away from the voice that urged him to kiss her. Just once. Just touch his tongue to hers to see if she tasted as good as she looked. Slide his fingers up to see if her panties were damp.
“You didn’t participate in the session much,” he said, focusing on his Medical College of Ohio degree and his Ohio license to practice which hung in customized frames on the far wall. He’d worked hard to obtain both and wasn’t about to throw them away because of one electrifying temptress. “I can’t force you to, but you understand that I’m to submit progress reports to the court.”
That seemed to urge her into action. She slowly slid from the desk, putting her luscious body flush up against his.
Making her all the more irresistible.
Colin froze, trying not to notice the way her hips pressed against his, the graze of her hardened nipples against his chest through her shirt and his. His erection pulsed and twitched. There was no doubt she was aware of his aroused state. Their physical closeness allowed for few secrets.
He didn’t dare move. To do so would be to tip his hand, to let her know she had control. And he couldn’t give that to her. To do so would be to undermine their professional affiliation.
To do so would be to lose control, period. Not just over his desires, but over his entire life. Because to kiss Lucky, with those false charges hanging over his head, would be akin to kissing his career goodbye.
“Well, we all do what we have to in the end, don’t we?” she finally said.
She stepped away, but not before brushing against him in a way that made him grit his back teeth to keep from shuddering with need.
She smiled at him, picked up her purse from the desk, then let herself out the exit door.
Colin