Page 26 of A Soldier's Return

“Will you be okay?”

He forced his features into a smile, wishing he hadn’t brought the subject up at all. “I’m fine. Thanks for worrying about me.”

“In your professional opinion, Dr. Sanderson, is it appropriate for us to hug? I could sure use one, after everything that’s happened this morning.”

He didn’t consider himself necessarily a physical person, but he really craved the comfort of Melissa’s arms right about now. “I could use one, actually.”

He wrapped his arms around her and she sagged against him with a little sigh, wrapping her arms around his waist.

It felt so damn good, warm and personal and kind. He had needed a hug for a long time.

He and Justine hadn’t been in love. She was more concerned with saving humanity than starting up a relationship with him or anyone else. Still, their relationship had been a bright, happy spot in a miserable situation, and her death had filled him with a complex mix of guilt, grief and deep regret that her shining light to the world had been extinguished.

Melissa’s arms tightened around him and she rested her head against his chest, soft and sweet and vulnerable.

After a few more moments, his sadness seemed to trickle away, replaced by something far more dangerous.

Maybe this hug between them wasn’t such a good idea. His body was suddenly reminding him that he was still very much alive, and he could think of several excellent ways to reinforce that.

She made a soft, breathy sound and his groin tightened. He’d had a thing for Melissa for a long time. Having her in his arms now was better than anything he could have imagined.

And he shouldn’t be here.

“I should, uh, probably go,” he said.

She sighed and stepped away, and he instantly wanted to gather her close again. It was only a simple embrace. Why did it fill him with such peace?

“I’m proud of what you did. You saved a man’s life, and I was honored to be part of it.” She smiled a little and, before he realized what she intended, she stood on tiptoe and kissed the corner of his mouth.

For a moment, he stood frozen, stunned into immobility. Her lips were soft and tasted like strawberries and cream, his very favorite dessert. He felt her breath on his skin, warm and delicious, and the heat of her where she stood close to him.

More.

That little taste wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot. She eased her mouth away after that first little brush of her lips against his. He wasn’t fully aware of moving his mouth to more fully meet hers, but he must have. One moment her lips were barely touching the edge of his mouth, the next he had turned his head so that he could capture her mouth in a true kiss.

She made a little sound in her throat, a gasp or a sigh, he wasn’t sure which, and her breath seemed to catch, then she kissed him back. Her arms were still around his waist from their hug and now they tightened, pulling him closer.

She was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted, and the sweetness of her kiss and the incrediblerightnessof her arms around him seemed to wash over Eli like cleansing, healing rain. He kissed her with an urgency bordering on desperation, afraid he would never have the chance again to stand with her between the ocean and a flower garden, afraid he would never again know a kiss like this, one that moved him to his soul.

He shouldnotbe doing this.

The thought whispered to him over and over, quietly at first, then with increasing intensity.

She worked for him. For his father, technically, but right now for him. This was highly inappropriate, and he needed to stop this moment.

He started to pull away, but she made a soft, sexy little sound and pressed her body against him, as if she couldn’t bear to let him go. It was like a match held to dry kindling, the only spark needed for him to ignite. He deepened the kiss, pulling her tightly against him.

He wanted her more than he remembered wanting anything in a long time.

All week as they had worked together, he had been trying not to admit that to himself. He had forced himself to view her strictly as a colleague, a nurse whose dedication and abilities he admired.

Now he could admit he had been lying to himself. Now, with her here in his arms, he could no longer deny it. He saw her as far more than that.

He had a thing for Melissa Fielding and had from the time he was eighteen. She had been the prettiest girl in town, with her big green eyes and her generous smile and the kindness that had always been part of her.

He couldn’t have her then because she had eyes only for the jock and popular kid, Cody Fielding.

He couldn’t have her now because of a hundred different reasons, mostly because he couldn’t be the kind of man she needed.

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