Jake (California Dreamy) - By Rian Kelley Page 0,10

became decidedly roguish.

He leaned into her space. “We’re going to wait on the physical, but when we do come together,” he warned softly, “it’s going to be explosive.”

His breath fanned her lips and Ivy thought about closing that space between them. The tension was like a ribbon running down the center of her and he was pulling on the raveling end. She felt her nipples bead and wondered if he could see them pushing against the thin fabric of her tank top.

He swore and it was a single, husky word of need. She opened her eyes to find his fastened on her breasts.

“This is crazy,” she whispered. She’d never felt even half this aroused with Trace. Of course, she had been a school girl then. And later, all feeling for him was gone.

“Never this fast. This hot. This need,” he agreed.

“I think I waited too long,” she blurted. “That has to be it.”

He took her confession with his lips, grazing over hers softly. He took her breath as his own as her mouth opened on a shuddering sigh.

“How long, Ivy?” he asked.

But she was beyond words. She was all about the scent of him, warm and close. The taste of him, moist and hot. Her fingers drifted over his shoulders, tracing their strength, and settled on his chest. She could feel the beat of his heart, accelerated but steady, an elemental rhythm that called to her.

“How long?” he asked again.

“Years,” she admitted.

His tongue plunged into her mouth then, sliding against hers, tangling in an erotic dance that melted Ivy from the inside out.

And then it was over. A bucket of ice water couldn’t have left her any colder than his sudden withdrawal.

She heard herself gasp. Felt her body pull into itself.

“Sorry,” he muttered. And she could tell from the anger in his voice that he was, truly. So

she spared him a glance.

His face was flushed. His lips wet from her mouth. His chest lifted in an agitated rhythm.

“Our first date,” he announced, “will be hands off.”

“What?”

“There’s more to us than sex. There has to be. But we’ll never discover it if we touch each other.”

“Because touch won’t be enough.”

“Not ever,” he agreed.

“Maybe it is just sex. A really strong attraction,” she pointed out. “Maybe we could work each other out of our systems.”

He shook his head and reached over her to open her door. “I don’t want to work you out of my system, Ivy.”

She gathered her purse and slipped out of the truck. Standing inside the open door, she held Jake’s gaze. His eyes reminded her of the ocean, a tropical green mixing with the blue and made more intense from his emotions. She nodded, pushed the strap of her purse over her shoulder, and cleared her throat.

“Thanks,” she said. “Really.” She gestured toward the truck and her car hooked up in back.

“You’re welcome. Really.”

“Mind parking it and leaving the key at reception?”

“Of course,” he promised.

Ivy shifted on her feet. She was probably down to two minutes now and would have to race through the lobby, but she had trouble shifting from fully aroused to work mode. “Well, OK. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

“Definitely.”

Ivy turned and dashed around the fountain with the children frolicking in the water and slid through the front doors of Rady Children’s Hospital. She loved this place. There were cheerful murals of children at play and many of the floor tiles had been painted with tic-tac-toe boards and row boats stuffed with giraffes and bears.

By the time she got off the elevator on the third floor, it was the stroke of seven. She should be dressed already and on the floor. She stopped at the nurses’ station. They were in the middle of shift change, too, but she caught the eye of the night supervisor, Genny.

“Car trouble,” Ivy explained. “I’m suiting up. Give me five.”

“Take your time, doll,” Genny called after her. “It’s not like you’ve run late before.”

True. Ivy was always early. She knew a good thing when she had it in hand.

Was Jake a good thing? He felt like it. But she was no judge of male character. And he had warned her that he was no Boy Scout. He’d gone so far as to tell her not to forget it.

But he was a man of honor. He’d proven that. He had follow through. He’d driven Ivy more than a hundred miles out of his way and while he was looking for a diversion, that was a

high level sense of duty.

Ivy ducked into the