by Kenna Ryan
Jake stands up and pulls me in for a slow kiss. He tastes so good. I don’t even care if we get caught.
“It means I’ve spent a month looking for a place for us. From the second I so much as suspected you were leaving. Snowbird is in the foothills, halfway between Maple Hills and here. We can be there nights, weekends...”
It’s not the declaration I’d hoped for. “So, for the whole month I was leaving you didn’t tell me you were finding us a place?”
“I didn’t know if it was for us. I hoped, but…” He pauses, staring at the floor for a moment. “I’m a doctor. I need have solutions and I need to be in control. I didn’t want to come to you without a plan and I thought if your reason for not wanting to be with me had anything to do with us working together, or people at the clinic knowing–”
“Brining it to me all wrapped up with a bow.”
He exhales, relieved. “Yes. Exactly.”
“But I did want to be with you. I guess I could have spit that out. But you didn’t think to… I don’t know, maybe just ask me not to go?”
“No.” He holds up swollen fingers. “For two reasons.”
“Which are?”
“One? I was a dumb idiot. When you came in that Monday after you kissed me and didn’t say or do a thing outside the ordinary?”
“Right?” I feel as understood as he did a second ago. “And you didn’t say or do anything either! So, I just thought... Ugh.” I give him a look. “I never should have listened to Felicity.”
He nods, a smile pulling up one side of that sexy mouth. “Never even once.”
Jake doesn’t get off the hook that easily. “But all the time before that? What about the two years before I planted one on you?”
He grimaces. “Control? Keeping it professional? I was your boss, Kate. I was a lot more buttoned down back then. And I’m a guy; we’re pretty chicken even when the writing’s on the wall. You were so goddamn wonderful. I guess I fell into the trap of good enough rather than ruin it and have nothing.”
“Why are we so dumb?” I wonder, smiling up at him. “We should write a book called Handholding for Idiots.”
He laughs and kisses me again. “You didn’t exactly encourage me.”
“You were my boss!”
Jake exhales. “Oh, the irony.”
“And the other reason?” I ask, ignoring his sarcasm.
“Welll… I’ve been filling in at the Maple Hills ER to brush up. I’m waiting for word on a transfer request.”
“To…?” I ask, barely able to contain my excitement.
Jake gestures around us, and I throw my arms around him.
“I know this isn’t a ring,” he murmurs, cuddling me close. “I wanted to get you one but… reassurance, you know? First, I had to find out if I had a shot, and in the meanwhile, I want to be with you every possible minute.”
“So, you rented me a condo?” I nip Jake’s ear. “That’s the second sweetest thing you could have done.”
“Bought.” He presses the keys into my hand. “We need a base to practice our real-life zombie survival skills.”
“You bought us a condo.” My mouth hangs open.
“Elia Alvarez gave me the idea. And your digital reflexes against Zed.”
I have to call my mom and tell her to stop bagging on my brothers for playing video games. They’re not a total waste of time, after all.
Jake glances at his watch. “Hey, I have it on good authority you’re working a short shift this morning.”
“Is that right?” He’s got his hand in everything today. I rake him with my eyes. “What do you want to do about it?”
“I want to tell you that I’m in love with you. Stupid in love with you…”
The world stops dead. My heart pull sin my chest like someone has stitched it to his. I want to hear him say those words over and over.
Jake squeezes my hand around the keys. “And I want to break in our new place. And at some point in the future, I want to stop buying condoms.”
I search his face and he nods. “A ring. A garden wedding. A fucking boatload of kids with your green eyes. I want every bit of it with you.”
“God, I love you, Dr. Jake Chance.” His name makes me laugh.
He nips my bottom lip. “What? What’s so funny?”
“I just thought I’d had my last chance.” I elbow him. “Eh? Ehh?”
“Smart, sexy, and a punster. How’d I get so lucky?” he asks.
“I don’t know, but I love you.” It feels so good and so terrifying to finally say it. I melt into Jake, grateful for a second chance.
The End
Need a prescription for more swoonworthy doctor romance? Take a trip to Strawberry Falls in the first full-length novel from my new series.
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Paging Dr. Hale for a Broken Heart…
Big city GP Matt Hale is happy with everything in his new home of Strawberry falls...except his single status. When hometown girl Jory McLaren blows in on a storm, he’s smitten.
But Jory isn’t home for romance. She isn’t home for longer than she has to be.
Baker extraordinaire Marjorie McLaren is in town because Strawberry Falls is where everyone comes back to when they’ve hit rock bottom. She’s lost her bakery, her boyfriend, and her patience for men. All that matters now is nursing her grandmother and getting out of the place she grew up...
And maybe having a one-night-stand with her Gram’s sexy new doctor.
Just a fling, the sort of risk she’s never dreamed of daring. When their night of passion takes an unexpected turn, Jory has to accept she’s on the line for a lot more than one summer.
Can Jory overcome her family’s shameful past to make a life with Matt? Can he heal her heart before old wounds steal their shot at a happily ever after?
Hey, Dear Reader! Strawberry Falls steamy small-town romances are hot as the summer sun. Come along for a smokin’ doctor, a sexy trash talking firefighter, one unapologetically sassy grandmother, and one count of unbridled workplace seduction.
Contains graphic depictions of a summer fruit festival.
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Who I Am and Where to Find Me
Kenna Ryan is an author of numerous kissing books, and a general nuisance who demands trial by combat from her HOA. In a former life she was a Public Safety employee.
She spends her free time hot-gluing things together and impatiently waiting for the Cubs’ next win. Her life’s purpose is convincing everyone the snickerdoodle is the world’s most perfect cookie.
Kenna lives in the Pacific North West with her baseball team of children and a guy who’s just everything.
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