It was no effort to whiz her around and push her gently down into the chair. “Stay there.”
It wouldn’t have surprised Rick if she’d bounced right back up, but when he returned to the table with both coffee mugs and placed one in front of her, she was just sitting silently, her lips tight and eyes a darker shade of blue with temper.
Hmmm, he wasn’t going to get any answers from her by tweaking her temper. Obviously embarrassment and anger were going hand-in-hand with this whole reaction, but he wasn’t sure why.
Sitting down in the chair opposite her, he relaxed back, stretching his legs out and crossing his ankles. “Let’s start this whole thing again,” he suggested quietly.
“Let’s not,” she retorted instantly.
Taking a deep breath, he rolled the mug between his palms and glanced around the room, giving her time to compose herself. Two of his ex-girlfriends had both said his gaze could be unnerving at times. Maybe this was one of those times.
When he looked back at Cherry, she was taking a mouthful of coffee and he caught a faint flicker of her eyes. Surely that wasn’t sadness? A little startled, he frowned slightly.
Cherry lowered the mug. “Look, I was supposed to meet Damien the other night, all right? I hadn’t met him before, I didn’t know what he looked like, and so when you came to the door I thought you were him. Okay? End of story.”
“Not quite the end,” he replied. “When I awoke, you were gone. You left money on the table, and your virgin’s blood on the sheets and me.’
“Do we have to go over this all the time?”
“How do you think I felt?”
“You?” She blinked.
“Yes, me. This isn’t only about you, Cherry, it’s about me as well.” He shrugged. “I don’t usually sleep with women I don’t know.”
“You did that night,” she said tartly.
“Whiskey will do that to a man.” When her cheeks paled, he swore silently. “I don’t mean to hurt you. I was a little inebriated that night and when I got to what I thought was my room, I thought you were the little surprise my friend, Tim, had mentioned. I don’t sleep with women I don’t know, as I already said. You were the exception.” And a damned nice one, he thought.
Her gaze dropped to the table as she traced slow circles on the clean top with the bottom of the mug. She was so quiet that Rick thought she might just get up and walk away any second, but she surprised him.
Her voice was soft, almost inaudible, and she didn’t look at him while she spoke. “It was my first time, as you know. A male escort seemed…safe. I thought you were him. You mentioned someone called Tim, but I was sort of…” Her cheeks flushed again. “Caught up in the moment. That’s it.” She shook her head. “It won’t happen again, that’s for sure.”
“No, it won’t,” he agreed.
She looked up at him. “I beg your pardon?”
Rick wasn’t sure who was the most startled, Cherry or himself.
“What did you just say?” she queried.
Well, hell, what he was going to say was the truth, so he might as well just spit it out. “You won’t hire male escorts, Cherry, and you won’t sleep with men you don’t know.”
“Who are you, my father?” Outrage shone in her eyes.
“It’s dangerous.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“I’m a doctor in your hospital, so it is my business.”
“Bullshit!” Surging to her feet, Cherry laid one hand flat on the table and leaned forward, stabbing her finger in his direction. “This has nothing to do with our working relationship. This is just you being a sticky-beak.”
“Our personal relationship.” He didn’t like fingers pointed at him, but he sure enjoyed the fire in her eyes.
“Of which we have none!” She stabbed in his direction again.
In a slow move, he stood and leaned across the table, meeting her halfway. She glared at him, and he arched one brow.
“Stop doing that,” she snarled, “Or I’ll slap it right off your face.”
“I wouldn’t try it,” he returned quietly. “Or I’ll return the slap, but it’ll be where you’ll feel it every time you sit down.”
Her lips parted in shock, her eyes widened.
“Oh yes,” he murmured, his gaze dropping to those cupid lips. “Don’t threaten me unless you mean to take the consequences, love.”
She was speechless for several seconds before stammering, “Don’t call me love.”
Rick looked deeply into her eyes. The blue irises were so clear, the lashes surrounding them naturally long and thick. Her scent flowed through his senses, warming him, and he could again feel those luscious curves beneath his palms, the silk of her skin beneath his stroking fingers.