After the Christmas Party(4)

A full-blown smile slashed across his handsome face. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but I’m not sure Mr. Right is one of them.”

She started to correct him, to let him know that she hadn’t been implying that he was calling himself Mr. Right, but before she could, he reached out and ran a tingle-inducing fingertip across her cheek. Hello, lightning bolt!

“There’s always a first so, sure, I am the right person for you to be partying with tonight. I’m Riley, by the way.” His smile cut dimples into his cheeks again and he stared straight into her eyes. “I don’t want you to go.”

Not offering him her name, she closed her eyes. It was all she could do not to lean towards him, be seduced by the appeal in his voice. Was he like the Pied Piper of women or what, because she just wanted to follow him wherever he led.

“Stay. Dance with me,” he whispered near her ear in an enchanting tone that made her want to dance to his tune in more ways than one.

Mesmerized, she stepped towards him, her body almost pressing to his.

He inhaled. “You smell amazing. Good enough to eat.”

Um, no. She was not going to let her mind go where his words threatened to take her. Not going to happen. Only her mind went exactly where it wasn’t supposed to go. Bad mind.

Keeping her eyes squeezed shut, she parted her lips to say no, that she was leaving and couldn’t be tempted by visions of sugar plums and whatever else he dangled in front of her. Apparently, he took her movement and open mouth as an invitation. Without hesitation his lips covered hers.

Shocked at the unexpected kiss, Trinity’s eyelids flew apart, startled to find his intent blue eyes open, watching her, as his lips gently brushed over her mouth. Tasting. Tempting. Teasing. Rocking her world to the very core. Wow.

Shockwaves rippled to the tips of her toes and she questioned if time was standing still because the hotel seemed to fade away to just the two of them, just his eyes searching hers, his lips branding hers.

When he pulled away, reality immediately sank in. Hospital Christmas party. Surrounded by new coworkers. The most gorgeous man ever had just kissed her. Hello, had she lost her mind?

“Why did you do that?” She took a step back, wiping her lips as if trying to clear away his kiss. Sandpaper couldn’t have erased his kiss. Riley. Riley’s kiss. He’d permanently branded her lips, her entire body. The man started fires.

He pointed up to the doorway she’d stepped beneath.

“Had to.” He shrugged nonchalantly, as if the kiss had been no big deal. To him it probably hadn’t been. His knees weren’t the ones shaking. “Tradition.”

She glanced up, eyed the large clump of mistletoe tied with a red ribbon that hung over the doorway. Her gaze dropped back to him suspiciously. “You’re a traditional kind of guy and just couldn’t resist?”

“Absolutely, just ask my mom. She’ll tell you I’m the apple of her eye.” He grinned. “Now that we know I’m a traditional kind of guy, that you smell and taste like the sweetest candy, and the pressure of our first kiss is out of the way, let’s go party. I guarantee a good time. Plus, you can tell me all about you while I hold you in my arms on the dance floor, Trinity.” His eyes sparkled with devilment.

Feeling oddly out of sorts that he knew her name despite the fact she’d purposely not told him, that he was piling on the charm, she felt what little resistance she had to him ebbing away. “Do you always get what you want?”

One side of his mouth curved upward. “Not always, but it is Christmastime and I’ve been a very good boy.”

She doubted that. Besides which there was nothing boyish about his broad shoulders and testosterone-laden aura.

“I’m hopeful there will be something sweet under my Christmas tree this year. An angel.” He raised his brows. “You have plans? We could start a new holiday tradition.”

She should go. She knew that. Her tattered heart was no match for this man’s charisma. But the thought of going back to her lonely apartment just didn’t appeal. Not even with Casper there, waiting for her. Her cat might love her but, whether Trinity wanted to admit it or not, she craved the temptation Riley waved in front of her.

An escape, albeit temporary, from the deeply embedded loneliness that had taken hold of her soul from the moment Chase Langworthy had dumped her publicly at their hospital Christmas party two years ago and plunged her into depression and Scrooge-dom.

Darn him for doing that. Darn her for letting him.

She took the punch glass Riley still held and downed half the contents as if she were chugging a shot of whiskey. Ha, she never drank alcohol, but she needed something to give her the push to do what she suddenly wanted to. She’d pretend the punch was liquid courage. She’d pretend that she was the kind of girl used to men like him flirting and wanting to dance with her. She’d pretend she was the life of the party.