Relief floods through me when I see Linnea get out of the car. I’m breathing hard, my body raging with adrenaline. She shuts the door behind her and takes a couple steps, still holding her phone to her ear.

In an instant, she runs and crashes into me. My phone drops to the ground and I wrap my arms around her. I kiss her hair, holding her tight, crushing her against me.

I pull back and cup her cheeks. I need to see her face. I kiss one cheek, then the other. “Oh my god, Linnea.” Kiss her forehead. “Are you okay?” Kiss her left temple, then her right. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.” I keep kissing her, all over her face. “I wanted to come get you.” Plant a hard kiss on her lips.

We look at each other for half a second, shocked. Then I surge in, still holding her face in my hands, and kiss her. Really kiss her. My mouth is soft, moving against her lips in a slow caress. Her hands slip around my waist and she presses her body against me. I delve in with my tongue, just a taste, and hers is there to meet mine. Heat races through me as the tips of our tongues brush.

I tilt my head to take the kiss deeper and she welcomes me in. Her mouth opens and her tongue slides against mine. We move together, our mouths tangled in a slow dance. A warm, wet kiss that goes on and on, well past when I should have stopped. I shouldn’t be kissing her at all—especially not like this—but she feels so fucking good, I can’t stop.

I’m suddenly aware of Linnea’s body. Her arms around me. Her tits pressed against my chest. I’m a heartbeat away from pushing her up against the wall. Ripping this fucking dress off her. But rational thought floods back. I can’t do that. Especially not after the night she just had.

But because she isn’t stopping me, I kiss her a little longer.

Gradually, I take the kiss from deep to shallow. I pull my tongue back and kiss her lips a few more times before I gently separate.

Her eyes are dazed and she blinks at me, her lips still parted.

“Sorry,” I say quietly. I drop my hands. “I, um… I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay,” she says.

The taste of her lingers on my lips; it’s making it very hard to stay in control. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yeah,” she says. “I’m fine now. That was just… it was awful. I never should have gone out with him.”

“It’s not your fault,” I say. “You had no idea he’d be like that.”

“I guess not.” Her eyes linger on me for a moment and she takes a deep breath. “Tonight was… I’m really overwhelmed. I should probably…” She gestures to the stairs.

“Yeah,” I say.

“Thank you,” she says. “For everything.”

“You’re welcome.”

She steps in to hug me and I wrap my arms around her. It’s brief, just a squeeze before she steps back. She touches her hand to my chest and gives me a tired smile.

“Goodnight.”

I watch her walk up the stairs, my heart racing. Holy shit, what did I do? I just kissed the fuck out of Linnea—right after she was on the brink of being date-raped. God, I’m an asshole.

Waiting for her to get home was the worst. I was losing my mind with worry from the moment she called. Actually, I started worrying about her as soon as she walked out the door with that douchecanoe. The way he looked at her made me want to rip his face off. But what was I supposed to do? Linnea’s a grownup. She can decide who she wants to date.

But him? If I had to guess, he was mid-thirties. He was way too old for her—probably older than me. And she teaches his son? That’s a clusterfuck now. There’s no way she can keep the guy’s kid as a student. What an ass. He screwed his own kid over. I can’t imagine doing something like that to Charlotte.

Of course, I wouldn’t try to force a woman to come up to a hotel room with me either.

I shut and lock the front door, then grab my phone. Luckily it didn’t crack when I dropped it. I’m way too keyed up to go to bed, so I go sit on the couch and turn on the TV.

I’m going to have to talk to Linnea about that kiss tomorrow. But what do I say? I wasn’t trying to take advantage of her when she was vulnerable. When she ran to me, I was overwhelmed with relief. I shouldn’t have started kissing her in the first place, but I didn’t even think about it.

The real kiss, though? I thought about that. Only for a split second. But I looked at her and I knew I had to have that gorgeous mouth. I can’t claim that was an accident. It’s not like I tripped and our lips happened to crash together.

I lick my lips again, still tasting her. That’s really the worst part. Now that I’ve had a taste, my whole body aches for her. I want to kiss her again. And again. I want to kiss her everywhere.

What if… what if I went upstairs to talk to her now? Nothing would have to happen. I could check on her, make sure she’s really okay.

Don’t kid yourself, Caleb. There’s only one reason you want to go to her right now. And it’s not to have an innocent chat.

Fuck, I shouldn’t have kissed her like that. This isn’t how I meant for things to happen. I wanted to talk to her, maybe over dinner. Approach this carefully. I have more than just me to consider; this impacts Charlotte too.

Of course, Linnea did kiss me back.

She really kissed me back. It was as if she wanted it as much as I did. Although she did say she was overwhelmed. Maybe that’s all it was—just relief at being home. She was caught up in the moment.

I rub my hands up and down my face and let out a long breath. God, I really made a mess of things. And I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it.

* * *

After a very restless night—I might have slept a few hours, but I’m not sure—I get up. I don’t have to be back at the hospital again until Sunday evening and I’ve been looking forward to having an entire weekend off. But the biggest thing on my mind is what happened with Linnea.

I shower and get dressed. When I come downstairs, the girls are already there. Charlotte is still in pajamas and her hair is messy. She comes over to give me a good morning hug, then goes back to the couch with her book.

Linnea is at the dining table with a mug of tea. She smiles but looks away quickly. Damn it, I was hoping things wouldn’t be awkward between us this morning.

I try to talk to her a few times, but Charlotte appears out of nowhere whenever I open my mouth. She needs help with breakfast. Then she wants to know if she can have more milk. There’s an opportunity when Linnea is putting her dishes away, but before I can get a word out, Charlotte is suddenly next to me. When did my kid learn to freaking teleport?

“Daddy, I forgot my vitamin,” Charlotte says.

I smooth down her hair. “Sure, sweetie.”

Linnea already has the jar of children’s vitamins out. She opens it and hands one to her. Charlotte takes it, pops it in her mouth, and goes back to the living room.

I glance back at Charlotte to make sure she’s staying put. “Linnea, I think we should talk about last night.”

She sets the vitamins back on the counter. “Yeah, okay.”

“Daddy?” Charlotte’s voice behind me makes me jump. Oh my god, again? “Can I turn on the TV?”

“Yes, Bug, that’s a great idea. Go turn on the TV.” I grab Linnea’s hand as Charlotte scampers off again. I only mean to lead her out of the kitchen, but I twine our fingers together. “Let’s go upstairs.”

The My Little Pony theme song comes on as Linnea and I walk upstairs, our hands clasped together. Her closeness and the feel of her skin makes my heart beat harder. We just need a few minutes alone, so I pull her into my bedroom and close the door behind us.

I should let go of her hand, but I don’t—I adjust my grip so I can turn and face her.

“Look, I’m sorry about last night,” I say. “I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you.”

“I know,” she says. “But… Caleb, I really can’t.”

She pulls her hand away and it feels like my heart sinks straight into my stomach. Damn it. I shouldn’t have entertained the thought that this conversation would turn out any other way. I’m about to tell her it’s fine, but she’s not finished.

“Especially if you’re already seeing someone, it wouldn’t be right.”

I blink at her. Seeing someone? What is she talking about? “What? I’m not… You think I’m seeing someone?”

Her lips part and she hesitates for a beat. “Well, yeah. You brought Abigail home to meet Charlotte. It must be getting serious if you wanted her to meet Bug.”

“Abigail?” I shake my head. “I’m not dating Abigail.”

“You’re not?”

“No, she was Mel’s friend when we were residents. She was in town with her husband for a few days and got in touch to see how Charlotte and I are doing. I invited her to come see Bug; she hadn’t seen her since she was a baby. They didn’t rent a car, so I picked her up, and I brought her here because it’s better for Charlotte. She’s more comfortable at home.”

She touches her hand to her lips. “Oh my god, I thought…”

“Linnea, I haven’t dated anyone in quite a while,” I say. “Certainly not since you’ve been here. I’m sorry, I should have explained who Abigail was, but you had to leave and I didn’t see you again that night. Then I forgot all about it.”

“I’m sorry Caleb, I feel so stupid.”

“No, don’t. I can see why you thought that.” I want to tell her that no other woman has existed for me since the moment I saw her on that escalator at the airport. That I wonder if any woman will ever exist for me again. But I should cut my losses and make sure we’re okay. The last thing I want to do is screw this up for Charlotte. “Like I said, I’m sorry about last night. I was really worried about you and I got carried away. I hope we can move past it. Charlotte loves you so much. We can’t lose you.”

“No, you won’t,” she says. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Relief mixes with my disappointment. “Good. Thank you.” I rub the back of my neck. I’m damn lucky she’s such a good person, or she might have been out the door before morning. “Okay, so we’re good, then?”

“Of course we are,” she says.

I nod and start to step past her. There’s no sense in making this more awkward than it already is.

She puts a hand on my arm. “But, Caleb?”

I stop and look at her. “Yeah?”

“Why are you sorry?”

“What?”

“Well, I’m just wondering… are you sorry because it wasn’t the right time? Or are you sorry that you kissed me at all?”

Oh god, how do I answer that? I’m not sorry I kissed her—not really. I probably should be. I’m doing this all wrong, and it feels like things between us are spinning out of control.

“Which do you want it to be?” I ask, my voice quiet.

“Neither.”

That sends a jolt of electricity racing through me. I step closer. “There are a lot of reasons this is complicated.”

“I know.”

Closer. She tilts her face up and our noses almost touch.

“I want to kiss you again,” I say. “But I’m not sure if I should.”

“You should,” she breathes.

And I’m done.

I lean in and slant my mouth over hers, slipping my hands around her waist. She moves her arms around my neck and presses herself close. I kiss her long and slow and deep, savoring the feel of her mouth. Her soft lips. Her tongue tangled with mine. I kiss her like I can. Like I have a right to. And in the midst of this kiss that is setting me on fire and making my cock achingly hard, I’m hit with the realization that she did want this.

Holy shit.

Gradually, I pull away. I brush her soft hair back from her face and she gazes up at me with those beautiful blue eyes.

“Did you just kiss me again?” she asks.

“I did.”

“I’m sorry, I think my brain is stuck back five minutes ago when I thought you were dating someone else and you’d never see me this way.”

I laugh. I guess there’s no sense in holding my feelings back now. “God, Linnea, I’ve wanted to do that since I picked you up at the airport.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I saw you come down that elevator and it was like being hit by a freight train.”

“Me too,” she says.

“What?”

She nibbles on her bottom lip. “I’ve had this silly crush on you since I got here.”

“Aren’t we a pair?” I say. “But I don’t think it’s silly.”

“I guess not, if it wasn’t just me,” she says. “So… what happens now?”

I stare at her for a long moment. We’re steps away from my bed. The door is closed. But as much as I want her, I shouldn’t. Not yet. This isn’t just about me wanting her body—although, god, that body. But this means more; she means more.

Plus, Charlotte is downstairs and bound to come looking for us any minute. When I do have Linnea, I don’t want to rush. I want to be able to enjoy every second.

“How about I take you out,” I say. “I know we see each other all the time, but I want to do this right. Can I take you out on a date?”

“I would love that so much,” she says. “But who’ll watch Bug?”

I touch her cheek and kiss her again, gently. I love that her first thought is Charlotte. “I’ll take care of it. Does tonight work if I can find someone last-minute?”

“Yeah, tonight works,” she says.

I’m still holding her close and I smile at her, taking her in—feeling the relief of finally letting this out. Alex was right, this was inevitable. I try to push aside my concerns—what people will think. What will happen down the road. For now, I’ll focus on this. On her. On giving us a chance.