Page 48 of The Exception

It didn’t matter because Trav was her intern.

Oh, my God! She was one of those teachers lusting after her students!

Okay, he was actually a year and a half older than her, and she wasn’t his teacher, but there was a power dynamic there. Even if it wasn’t explicitly against the rules, it would certainly be frowned upon. And definitely bad for her rep if people found out she’d slept with the paramedic student she was responsible for.

My God, Sonya.She pressed a hand to her forehead as that picture took form in her mind. Again.

“You okay?”

She expected him to be wearing his usual cocky smirk, but when she looked over at him, Trav looked equally disturbed for some reason.

“I’m fine.” She pressed the button to roll down her window. “Just warm. From the vodka. And… because it’s warm.”

“Right. It’s really warm.” He rolled his window down too and wiped at the back of his neck.

“My place is right up here.”

Trav rolled to a stop at the curb in front of her modern, white brick townhouse with flowers lining the walkway to her door. He put it in park and stared out the windshield.

Sonya gathered her purse and shawl, her fingers fumbling with the door handle. “Um, thank you for the ride. And the drinks.”

Trav seemed to snap out of whatever trance he’d been in and he hopped out of the car, coming around to her door just as she pushed it open. She stepped out onto the sidewalk, and he shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’re welcome. I’ll, um…” he jutted a thumb over his shoulder toward her walkway. “I’ll just walk you to your door.”

She turned carefully, walking slower than normal to avoid any tangling between the cobblestones and her heels. She could feel Trav behind her, his imposing presence warming her back.

When she got to the door, she turned around, tipping her chin. She’d intended to thank him, maybe take one more look at those dimples before she said goodnight, but he was closer than she thought. Her nose ended up inches from the hollow of his throat and she instinctively put her palms up, pressing them against his pecs. Her fingers curled without her permission.

“This was fun,” he said while she clawed him through his dress shirt.

Put your hands down, Sonya. But her limbs weren’t taking orders from her brain anymore.

Trav looked down at her hands, smiling, but it was a nervous smile she hadn’t seen on him before. “I’m glad we decided to be friends, Nurse Pope.”

“Sonya,” she said. Her voice was breathy and low. She sounded absolutely ridiculous.

“Sonya.”

She pressed her legs together and smiled back. “Trav.”

Her gaze flicked across his face. When he licked his bottom lip before pulling it between his teeth, she knew she’d been caught staring.

Embarrassed, but not enough to back away, she lifted her eyes to meet his and caught him watching her mouth just as intently.

He reached up to tuck a stray braid behind her ear and the warmth that had been on a slow simmer inside of her reached a rolling boil. Instead of pulling away, she inched close, her hands sliding up across his chest to cradle his warm neck. He tilted his head as he moved in closer, pausing just as his lips hovered a breath away from hers. He was asking her a question in that pause, just as clear as if he’d spoken the words out loud.

Are you sure?

Her answer should’ve been a goodnight as she went into her townhouse, but that wasn’t the answer the real Sonya who’d been let out of the box she kept herself in wanted to give. And it sure as hell wasn’t what she wanted to do.

Shutting out the alarm bells sounding in her mind, she closed her eyes and pushed to her toes, brushing her lips against his.

That small taste was enough to ignite the sparks that had been swirling in the air around them from the moment they’d escaped the benefit like a couple of teenagers dodging chaperones at the prom. Before that, if she were honest. It was enough to make her a little lightheaded but not enough to satisfy the craving for him that had snuck up on her.

Trav parted his lips and she took full advantage, sweeping her tongue into his mouth and drawing a quiet moan from him as he responded in kind. He tasted like the whiskey he’d had at the bar, smoky and sweet. Her hands continued doing whatever the hell they wanted to do, sliding into his hair, twisting the thick silky strands between her fingers.

She’d initiated it, but Trav was kissing her now and her whole body tingled at the way he took control. This wasn’t a polite response to being kissed, no. He kissed her like he wanted her and he needed her to know it. Had he thought about this too?

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the warmth of his mouth, the scratch of his stubble, their shared breaths and racing hearts.

---