Page 28 of If You Were the Only Girl in the World
He stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Do you feel better now to go on with your work here?”
“I do. Aurore was such a help. I had forgotten to look at what I enjoy. I was so focused on how different it is to live here under these conditions. And I have not taken time to develop friendships. I do enjoy those with whom I work.” She left out her relationship with Doctor Russell. “But they aren’t friends in whom you confide your greatest fears or ask to help you solve your questions about the futility of war on those you treat. I don’t make much sense. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll be more cogent.”
He lifted her chin. “You are perfectly intelligent right now, Doctor Schubert.”
So close, so inviting, so charming, he was irresistible. His lips drew near. His breath spoke her name. Her heart leapt. She sank her fingers up into his soft hair and their mouths met.
The touch was heaven. Just as before in Dover and this morning on the street, this mingling of heat and desire led her to break away and gasp. Yet she returned, his gaze beseeching her to come again, kiss once more. The second kiss was bliss, hot and wet, fervent.
“Oh!” She said or maybe he did.
“I want you,” he said.
“I’ve wanted you for so long. Missed you. Needed you,” she whispered in between kisses.
At once, she was flush in his arms and he was kissing her as if he’d never stop. She wound her fingers into his curls and brought him ever so near. His kisses descended to her throat.
But he jerked away and pulled her up to sit. Her back to the corner of the taxi, she watched him in the wavering gaslight as he rearranged her scarf at her neck and picked up her knit hat from the floor to press into her lap.
“We won’t forget ourselves.” It sounded like a vow.
She tipped her head. “Why won’t we?”
He curled her close and she went to his embrace like one finding home after a long journey. “We can’t.”
As if heaven knew this was the best time to arrive at her door, the taxi stopped.
“Come upstairs with me, Nate. Please. I want to kiss you more. I’ve never had a beau for long. I never wanted one. But you…you I have wanted since the night you saved me in London. Tell me you don’t want to kiss me and I’ll leave you. I’ll not offer again.”
He debated, his questioning gaze fixed on her as he struggled with his choice.
She grinned and clutched his hand. “You wait too long, sir!” And she fished in her purse to get francs to pay the man.
“Stop that! I’ve got the fare!” He was laughing.
Laughing!
CHAPTER9
She unlocked her front door, her thoughts awhirl with what she was about to do. Keep him. Kiss him. Seduce him.
She’d not done that, not even with that fool whom she would have married had she not come to her senses. That night, she broke from him with Nate’s help.
Tonight, she would allow herself the pleasure of romance. A novel emotion. The right one. She knew it in her soul. He had misgivings. She did too, but only one worried her above all others. To allow the fullness of her desire for him was what she needed to make the day complete. To make her life complete—and she’d found it. Found it with the help of Nate and Aurore. She’d been so focused on her profession and tangentially on what she could contribute to the war effort that she had forgotten to nurture who she was. What she was. Not simply a doctor, but a woman. A woman who wanted and yearned and needed. And loved. Tonight with Nate, she remembered and she would celebrate that.
“Come to the kitchen,” she said as she hung her coat and his greatcoat on her little hall rack. “I’ll make tea. Or if you like I have a bottle of fine French cognac? What is your pleasure?” She spun to face him.
On a groan, he gathered her up into his arms. “You’re my pleasure.”
She smiled against his lips and flung her arms around his shoulders. “My bedroom then?”
He cupped the back of her head and held her securely as he ravished her mouth. His lips were firm, his tongue a gentle probe, his ardor the very essence that she’d craved.
She walked backwards, laughing, as he moved with her, his legs in rhythm with her own. His hips flat to hers. His chest crushed against hers. The nearness of him, his intent, aroused her unbearably. How they made it to the bed was a miracle. How she managed to breathe when she wanted him so urgently escaped her.
As her calves struck the edge of the mattress, she kicked off her shoes and hooked one leg around his. He groaned and kissed her ear. Triumphant, she unbuttoned his jacket. She’d undone one button of his shirt but she could not resist pressing her lips to the hollow of his throat. He smelled of citrus and soap. He tasted of himself, unique—and hers.
He slid one hand slowly down her torso and caught up her derriere, then inched up her skirts. She encouraged him with a frantic kiss.
