Kinsey ducked her head and splashed more cold water on her face. It had been a very long day already and she was exhausted. On top of it, she was coming down with a cold, and her day had taken a nosedive for the worse.
She'd managed to avoid Austin for days, but she knew that would come to an end soon. He didn't tend to be the most patient even on the best of days, let alone after she refused to answer his calls.
She was confused, though, and didn't know what to think about their relationship. She had no doubt that it was, in fact, a relationship. She could no longer call it a one-night-stand. Not after the two exquisite times in various parts of the hospital, the massive amount of roses he'd given her, and his messages. Oh, the messages.
He'd been leaving her voicemails that made her want to melt. How could she possibly gain perspective on what to do when he wasn't giving her time to think?
She'd been in the same examining room they'd made exquisite love in earlier that day, and her body had responded as if he were going to walk through the door at any minute. She had to be in control, always. That was how she managed to survive. Since being with him, she seemed to have lost all semblance of that carefully measured control she lived by. Was it really so bad giving up a little control in return for being with him?
After cooling off her face, she dried it, reapplied her chapstick, then knew she had to get back out there. Her shift was almost over, then she had three days off. She was grateful for the extra time she got, taking care of the Anderson men, but she was still having a difficult time catching up on her needed rest. It was nice to have a normal schedule again.
She came out of the bathroom and quickly went down the hall. She just had to get through another fifteen minutes, and she was free.
She turned a corner and ran right into a solid wall of muscle. She knew without looking up that it was Austin's arms around her.
She'd been telling herself she didn't want to see him, she needed to escape, but the reality was that she'd missed him, missed him so much that being in his arms was like coming home.
As she lifted her head, her eyes clashed with his. He didn't give her time for words. He didn't even allow her a second to catch her breath, his mouth just descended on hers, and as usual, the rest of the world faded into nonexistence.
Austin felt relief the moment Kinsey was in his arms. Her literally running smack dab into him had him in a much better mood.
He'd missed her. There was zero hesitation in taking her luscious lips with his own. His day didn't really begin until he could taste her.
He leaned against the wall, not caring they were in the public hospital, not bothering to hide his passion for her. He wanted her always and he didn't care if the world knew. He was falling for her, fast.
He finally broke away and watched as her eyes slowly opened and gazed at him through passion filled clouds. He needed to get her to the nearest on-call room.
"Fancy running into you here," he said with a fake southern drawl. She looked at him in surprise, then, as he'd hoped, her lips twitched and laughter spilled out.
"I bet you say that to all the girls," she replied, batting her eyelashes.
"Not since meeting you," he answered, suddenly very serious.
She blinked at him. He could see she was trying to figure out if he was telling her the truth. She'd eventually have to learn to trust him because he couldn't let her go.
"Austin Anderson, you're breaking down every wall I've ever managed to put up," she said, making his heart soar.
"That's the plan. Aren't you supposed to be off work soon?"
"Not for ten minutes, but I'm all caught up. There's a janitor's closet just around the corner," she said shyly. It was the first time she'd ever taken the initiative. Pleasure consumed him, his body responding in a flash.
He didn't need any more invitation than that. He pushed away from the wall, grabbed her hand, and went racing into the room.
"Hey, Kinsey, can you … " someone started to ask, but he flew by them, not giving her a chance to respond.
He knew it had only been a week, but it felt like years. They'd make love and then talk. They really needed to talk. For that matter, he had to take her on a real date. This hospital stuff was fun, but if he wanted her to believe it was more than just sex to him, then he needed to prove that by romancing her.
He'd have to ask his sister for ideas. He'd never dated a woman before with the intention of it lasting longer than a night or, at most, a week.
He got to the closet and threw open the door, pushing her inside as he quickly shut and locked them in. Any kind of interruption wasn't an option.
He took two seconds surveying his surroundings, shelves lined with cleaning supplies, brooms, mops and dusters in the corner. Not an ideal room of seduction, but he didn't care – he didn't need anything other than her.