Page 80 of After You

And in spite of how sweet and funny and hot it was when Kyle got possessive, Hannah felt a little prick of tears behind her eyelids again. He was doing this because he did care about her. He wasn’t pushing his medicine on her. He was willing to do it herway.

“You bet,” Hope told him. “I’ll mix this up too,” she said to Hannah, indicating the four vials Hannah had chosen for Kyle’s relaxing room spray, and the sweet marjoram she was going to make into a cream for Alice. It would help with inflammation and muscle pain after her surgery.

The moment Hope disappeared through her curtain, Hannah turned to Kyle. She put her hands on his forearms and pulled him close, then she rose on tiptoe and kissed him. Just a sweet, not-too-short, not-too-longkiss.

“You thought you heard someone coming?” he asked when she pulledback.

She smiled up at him, remembering her excuse for the kiss at the Come Again. “No. That one was completely because I couldn’t helpit.”

“Well, if we can use that excuse…” He cupped the back of her head and lowered his lips to hers again.

This kiss was much less sweet, and much longer, than Hannah’s, and she felt like she was vibrating from head to toe by the time he lifted his head. His hand slid down to the back of her neck again and he just held her there. He was gentle, touching her head and neck, but he didn’t shy away from it and didn’t touch her as if she would break. It was almost protective the way he heldher.

And she loved it. She loved that he knew about it now and wasn’t intimidated by it. Sure, it might be in part because he was a doctor, but she loved that he was still comfortable touching her and trusting her to tell him if he needed to stop or do something differently.

“Let’s get those windows washed,” he said gruffly.

She nodded. But she already had other ideas. Those windows could wait. Showing Kyle how much fun spontaneity could be…naked spontaneity, to be specific…could notwait.

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