Chapter 2

McKenna

Impulse decisions: I was the queen of making them. And the second I decided I wanted to kiss this bun-wearing, sexy-bearded, eyes-the-color-of-grass, forbidden man, I knew there was no going back.

My mother always told me my impulsivity would get me in loads of trouble one day. That being the petulant child with big dreams and no brains would only make said trouble worse. But as my tongue slipped between Gavin St. James’s lips and I felt him relax against me, I told that woman to go straight to hell because this impulsive decision was the right one.

For the first time since our elevator had skidded to a stop, the tension in his body eased, and a new emotion seemed to overtake him. He moaned and tangled his hands in my hair, tugging me even closer, like he couldn’t get enough. Teeth clamped down on my bottom lip, and my lady parts warmed, begging for friction. But it wasn’t the time to step over the line. Gavin had the kind of injuries I couldn’t tend to.

Still, distracting him was something I could do. And clearly, this was the best idea ever.

I think.

His beard tickled my skin with every moment of our mouths. Over and over, our tongues tangled, even after the elevator began to move again. For the briefest of seconds, I thought about pressing the stop button just to keep the momentum going. But with his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, I knew we were out of time. What kind of woman kissed a guy and stayed anyway?

Okay, so lots of women kissed and stayed. Just not me.

He growled as he pulled me even closer, the hardness beneath his jeans giving me exactly what I craved. Once more, the elevator jerked to a stop, and a tiny Thank you, yesss echoed in my brain.

I should’ve stopped him, warned him that we had six floors to go, maybe less. That as soon as the elevator began to move again, this would all be a distant memory. Yet the second his fingers slipped into the back of my scrub shirt and grazed the skin beneath my shoulders, I knew I was done for.

Goddamn. Now I could see why my best friend had warned me away from him. This guy was a pent-up ball of aggressive sex in the making. And exactly my type.

“Kenna,” he whispered, the sound so right that I couldn’t help grinding my body against his even harder. He kissed my chin, taking his sweet time before he found my lips again. Addie would kill me if she knew I’d let this happen. But Addie had the perfect life and the perfect man, so sue me if I liked taking the long road to something that lasted more than one night. Although from the way Gavin kissed, I could tell he was a “take me, have me, keep me” kind of guy—and that alone should have had me rocking in a corner. Still, even though my mind told me to run, I couldn’t help but think about bringing him home with me—something that rarely occurred.

Most of my flings didn’t get past my car or a dark alley. Sometimes a bathroom, when I was feeling particularly impatient.

A shiver raced through me at the thought of a full night with him, forcing me to rub over his erection even harder. It’s like I was eradicating my normalized ideas and taking what I could get for the next few minutes.

Sweat coated my back, and his fingers trailed over the dampness in an expert move. I lifted my hands and undid the tie holding his hair, sighing as the strands nearly melted through my fingers. Fabio had nothing on this guy’s locks.

Itching for more, I touched his chin, tightening my fingers through his beard. He pulled back, looked me dead in the eye, and through staggering breaths, said the one thing I didn’t want to hear.

“I’ve always wanted you, Kenna. That’s my biggest secret.”

“Crap.” I jerked off his body, then pressed my hand over my mouth, gaping, annoyed with myself, and terribly horny.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, fear gathering in those gorgeous green eyes. Eyes that I’d come to know from a distance. Eyes that still haunted me whenever I dreamed of them and the night we’d first met in November.

It was the night my best friend, Addie, met Collin, the love of her life. And this man’s best friend.

I shook my head. “Gavin, I can’t—”

The man above hollered down, interrupting me. “You’re good. Have you out in seconds.”

I cringed, facing the elevator doors and willing them to open and suck me out whole.

Gavin liked me, liked me. And that was not okay.

Stupid impulse control.

Wordless, Gavin stood too, just before the elevator reached the second floor. Two floors to go. Then this would all be behind me. For good.

Something tickled my back as Gavin moved in close, reaching under my shirt, along my spine. I felt the clasp of my bra being undone and hanging open. Regardless of my regret, I couldn’t help but grin at that. Damn, he was stealthy. How had he done that without my knowledge?

Quickly, I redid the clasp and lifted my head, just in time for the doors to open. But instead of being able to run, like I’d planned, we came face-to-face with my supervisor and three other nurses.

“Um…hi, all.” I cleared my throat and tried taming my hair. “We, uh, had a bit of an elevator malfunction.” I jerked my thumb back, cringing, because really, what else was I supposed to say?

Gavin moved even closer to my back, his hands settling along the sides of my waist, while his very large erection poked the top of my ass. I shivered, and my stupid, ridiculous lady parts tickled in betrayal too. Not good, Kenna. Not good at all.

I stepped out of his hold and stared at the floor, heat filling my face.

A nightmare—that’s what this was. A sexual nightmare, to be more specific.

“McKenna.” His dark voice had my skin prickling with desire and panic.

Ignoring him, I smiled at Emma, the curves-for-miles nurse who always had my back, while my supervisor—a huge flirt named Bonnie—reached for Gavin’s arm.

“Are you all right, sir?” Bonnie batted her lashes, tugging him out into the hall. His stare veered back to mine, urging me to come with him. The vulnerable expression made my heart skip a beat.

More than anything, I did want to go with him, but I shook my head, knowing it was wrong, and turned pleading eyes toward Emma. Like the heroine she was, she pushed around the others and stepped into the elevator next to me. She stared back and forth between him and me before she nodded in understanding and said, “I’ve got you, babe.” Then she tapped a button to shut the elevator doors, blocking my view of the man I’d almost wanted to break my rules for.

“It smells like sex in here.” Emma flung her long, red braid over her shoulder and tugged at the end.

“W-we didn’t…” My lips parted, embarrassment rendering me speechless for once. Though if we’d been given another ten minutes, I’m pretty sure that not-happening sex totally would’ve happened. Or at least a dry-humping orgasm.

“I was teasing.” She grinned, her hazel eyes raking over me. “Though you are looking pretty flushed right now.”

I exhaled, willing my body to cool. “Can you hide me for a little while?”

“No problem, sweetie.” Emma was new at Carinthia Medical Center—twenty-five and quite possibly the smartest woman I’d ever known. She should’ve been a doctor, but she’d been divorced by one instead. Married at nineteen; cheated on and divorced by twenty-two. Yet she was ten times stronger than I was, despite being two years younger. She was also my savior when Addie was too busy with her man for me.

“Thank you.” I squeezed her hand and blew out a breath.

The reality of the last half hour hit me square in the chest.

Good God. What had I just done? Gavin was the former marine with…PTSD? I didn’t remember exactly what Addie had said about him, other than that I should steer clear because he was too fragile to be messed around with.

Secretly, though, I’d held him at hero stature for a long while. Mainly because he’d practically carried my drunken ass out of O’Paddy’s bar eight months back when I’d overindulged due to Paul—my ex who’d not only cheated on me, but also destroyed my trust in men.

Gavin, whose ass was so perfect I could still see the image of it as I’d seen it through his living-room window while he ran on his treadmill. Totally by accident, of course. I wasn’t that creepy.

Seriously though… Who ran half-naked on a treadmill with their curtains wide open for the world to see?

“Penis…” I sighed to myself, forgetting I wasn’t alone.

“Penis?” Emma jerked her head back, a smug look on her face.

“Long story.” I waved her off.

Again, I reminded myself that Gavin became off-limits the second my best friend decided his best friend was her forever. She knew what I was like—the term man-eater was an adequate description. And Gavin? Well, he needed someone stable and good—a partner in all things in life. He was a forever kind of guy, and I was…not that.

At least, not anymore.