Medical Romance November 2016 Books 1-6. Kate Hardy

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      Max’s hand slid around her waist and swung her around the room for a second time, the music pulling him into a world where nothing else existed but her touch and the synchronised movements of their bodies as they danced together. It had been ages since he’d held her like this.

      It felt good and right, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. What he did know was that he didn’t want this night to end any time soon.

      Maybe it didn’t have to.

      Annabelle had said she didn’t want any expectations or any preconceived ideas.

      Had she meant that she didn’t want the past to stand in the way of them being together tonight? He had no idea. But if she was willing to just take tonight as it came, then maybe he should be okay with doing the same.

      And with her cheek pressed against his left shoulder, he wasn’t in a hurry to do anything to change the situation.

      He’d been an idiot about Dale being there with her at the table. But the man—a general physician—had somehow charmed his way into more than one bed when they’d served on the medical mission in Sudan that year. The women hadn’t complained, but back then Max had been too raw from his own heartache to take kindly to someone jumping from one person to the next.

      He’d fielded some veiled invitations of his own from female volunteers, but he hadn’t taken any of them up on their offers. In reality, he hadn’t wanted anyone. The sting of rejection when Anna had asked him to leave had penetrated deep, leaving no room for anything else but work. In reality, he’d been happy to be alone. It was a condition he was well acquainted with.

      And something he didn’t want to think about right now.

      ‘Are you okay?’ He murmured the words into her hair, breathing deeply and wondering what the hell he was playing at.

      ‘Mmm.’

      It wasn’t really an answer, but the sound made something come alive in his gut. How long had they been here, anyway?

      Not that he wanted to look at his watch. In fact, he didn’t want to leave at all. But they couldn’t stay here all night, and once they left...

      It was over.

      ‘Anna?’

      ‘Yes?’

      He paused, trying to figure out what he wanted. ‘Are you still okay with spending the night in London?’

      Her feet stopped moving for a second. ‘Yes. I can stay with my folks if you don’t want me at the flat, although I didn’t ask Mum if she had room.’

      ‘We can share the flat. I just wasn’t sure if you’d decided you wanted to get back to Cheltenham—’

      ‘No. As long as we can check on Hope at some point, I have no plans until my shift starts midday tomorrow.’ She eased back to look into his face. ‘Unless you’ve changed your mind.’

      Not hardly.

      But he should have told her he had. Because holding her brought back memories of dancing with her other times, when life was simpler and all that mattered was their love for each other. Seeing that picture on the wall at Anna’s parents’ house had made all those feelings come back in a rush. He’d been having trouble tamping them down again, but he’d better work out how.

      Because, as of now, he and Anna were going to be sharing their flat one last night.

      And the memories and feelings that haunted that place were a thousand times more powerful than anything he might have felt as he’d looked at that wall of pictures. His heart thudded heavy in his chest as the music changed, the singer they’d hired shifting to a lower octave, his voice throaty with desire. The mood in the place changed along with it, dancers beginning to hold each other a little closer.

      Right on cue, the arms around his neck tightened just a hair, bringing his face closer to hers. And suddenly all he wanted to do was kiss her.

      ‘Anna...’

      Her eyes slowly came up and focused on his. He saw the exact same longing in them that he felt in his gut. Tired to hell of fighting what he’d been wanting to do for days, Max lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers.

      * * *

      Nothing was fast enough.

      Annabelle’s body couldn’t keep up with the ricochet of emotions as Max spun her back into his arms the second they were inside the lift at their old flat, heading towards the fourth floor. Thank heavens no one else was in the compartment, because it felt as if she were on fire, and the only one who could quench the blaze was having none of it. He was keeping the flames fanned to inferno-like proportions.

      Her gloved fingers gripped the expensive fabric of his tuxedo jacket as she tried desperately to return kiss for kiss...to respond to his murmured words. In the end, all she could do was hang on and pray they reached the flat before the dam totally broke and the camera caught them doing something that could get them arrested.

      Ping! Ping!

      Finally. The soft sound signalled they had arrived at their destination. The only thing left was to... The doors opened.

      ‘Max.’ His name came out as half chuckle, half moan as she tried to tug him to the side. ‘We need to get off.’

      His fingers tunnelled into her hair, his lips nibbling on the line of her jaw and making her shiver with need. ‘And if I don’t want to move out of the lift?’

      ‘Then...ooh!...then we’re going to be stuck riding it for the rest of the night.’

      ‘Bloody hell.’ His pained smile put paid to his words, but he stuck a hand between the doors just as they were getting ready to close. ‘The image of you “riding it for the rest of the night...”’

      They slid into the foyer, a ring of doors lining the fourth floor. She tried to call to mind the number of their flat, but, with her head this fuzzy with need, she was having trouble. ‘I don’t—’

      ‘Four-oh-three.’

      Gripping her hand as if afraid she might try to flee before they made it inside, he came up with a set of keys from one of the pockets of his trousers.

      No way. She wasn’t about to run.

      Somehow Max got the key fitted into the lock and turned it. They practically fell inside the door.

      Home!

      No, not home. But close enough.

      Dumping the keys onto the marble table in the foyer, he navigated through a hallway, switching lights on as he went, towing her behind him. She glanced around as they went through the flat.

      It was immaculate. He’d said that Suzanne came once a month to clean. Annabelle didn’t even want to think about how much money that added up to over the course of the last couple of years.

      The place looked just as she’d left it. Her mum had told her to take the furniture with her to her new flat, but Annabelle СКАЧАТЬ