Under Sam's palm, she felt Holt's heartbeat speed up. Being a doctor had certain advantages when it came to gauging a person's reactions. Right now she could almost guarantee that Holt's increased heart rate, his slightly faster breathing, and his dilating eyes meant that on a physical level he'd just responded big time to her attempt to distract him from her uncle's unwitting sign that they weren't alone.
"I—" she started to say and heard another scuffing sound come from behind the door. Holt's head jerked up, breaking their eye contact. He started to move around her. Sam stepped into his path. Just what was her uncle doing? If he didn't want anyone to know he was here then he ought to be making more of an effort to keep himself from being noticed, she thought wildly.
"Someone's in here." Holt raised his hands and gripped her shoulders, apparently intending to set her out of his way. There was no doubt in Sam's mind that this time Holt meant to find out where that noise was coming from. This called for drastic action.
"Kiss me," she said quickly, and threw her arms around Holt's neck and mashed her lips against his.
Sam admitted to herself that she wasn't the best kisser in the world. Most likely because of a distinct lack of practice. But Holt's lips were warm and firm under hers. She eased the pressure of her lips on his. It felt odd being the one leading the kiss. She wondered if she should nibble on his lip a little. It was what she wanted to do. For some reason her instincts were a lot stronger around this man than they'd ever been with anyone else. She'd probably shocked him silly with her hasty action, but she'd wanted--no, she reminded herself, she'd needed to distract him. Yes, that was it.
Or was it?
After a moment of stunned hesitation, Holt took control of the kiss. His strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. He held her securely against his hard body as one of his hands slipped down to her hip and pressed her against him. Wow. His most definitely hard body.
Sam was in awe of the masterful way he ran his tongue across the flesh of her tender lips. She parted them in invitation. What in the world would her family and friends think if they knew how wanton she was acting right now, how wanton she felt? They would be surprised, no doubt. Everyone thought she was such a prude, everyone but her uncle, who was one of the few people that Sam thought really understood her. He--Oh, God--he was behind the door right now, listening to every moan and whimper that came out of her mouth!
She broke free of Holt's kiss, but she was unable to pull back very far because he did not loosen his arms from around her. "No, I--You'd better go."
He seemed to be lost in a daze. He shook his head as if to clear it. "What the hell's going on here?"
"I--I've changed my mind. I don't want to kiss you anymore."
He looked incredulous. His eyebrows furrowed and a scowl covered his face. "You don't want to kiss me anymore?"
"That's right," she said breathlessly, pushing back from him. He did not release her right away, but once he did, she immediately put as much distance between them as possible. From the corner of the small exam room, Sam watched Holt warily. She wasn't afraid of him; no, that wasn't it at all. She was afraid of herself. She didn't know if she could trust herself not to be all over him again if an opportunity arose. Before she could stop herself, her eyes drifted downward, following the line of Holt's well-fitting uniform. Oh, god. An opportunity had arisen. For some reason, seeing the effect she'd had on his body was far more embarrassing than feeling that same reaction from him a few moments ago.
Holt wasn't saying anything and his silence was making Sam nervous. She tried to keep from glancing at the door where her uncle hid. Of all the times for him to be here. She wished he'd kept to his regular schedule, so that she could have--absolutely not! She tried to reign in her heated imaginings. "Ah-hem," she cleared her throat. "Don't you think you'd better go now? It's getting kind of late."
"It's dangerous for you to be here all alone this late in the evening," Holt stated and crossed his arms over his chest.
Sam raised her thumb to her mouth and started to bite on her nail, but caught herself in time. She lowered her hand and rested it on the counter beside her. "I'll be okay."
"I think I'd better stay and make sure you get out of here okay."
Panic set in again. Until she forced herself to take a deep breath and say calmly, "No, that's okay. I can manage. But thanks anyway."
Sam could tell from the expression on his face that he wasn't going to give up that easily. His words proved her right. "Somebody might think they can take advantage of you to get their hands on the drugs that are kept here. I couldn't leave knowing that you're putting yourself at risk."
Her lips tightened. He was doing this deliberately, she thought. Maybe she ought to just give in and get it over with. But nothing said that she had to do it gracefully. "If you're not going to take no for an answer, would you at least wait outside by my car? I have some things I need to finish up before I leave." Exasperation made her voice sharper than she'd intended. Holt's eyes narrowed and she realized that he was angry.
"I think," he said in a dangerously soft voice, "that you'd better hurry up, because we have something to talk about when you get done." Then he unfolded his arms, spun around, and stalked out of the exam room, leaving Sam behind to breathe an unhappy sigh of relief.
~~~~~~
When her uncle came out from behind the door where he'd been hiding for the past fifteen minutes, the first words out of his mouth had Sam bristling with indignation. "What did you think you were doing out here, girl?" were spoken in that tone of voice he used for dealing with hardened criminals. Or at least it sounded like it to Sam.
She stuck her hands on her hips and gave him a scorching look of disgust. "That was all your fault," she accused. "If you hadn't been trying to keep your little secret, I wouldn't have been forced to do what I just did. So I don't want to here a word about it, okay?
He looked startled. Then a wide grin curled across his lips. "Oh, my girl. You've got it bad for that boy, don't you? Just wait till your Aunt Martha hears about this."
Sam scowled. "I do not have it bad for anybody." She raised one hand, pointed her finger at him, and said sharply, "And anyway, unless you're going to fess up to Aunt Martha, you can't mention a thing about what happened here tonight."
That wiped the smirk off her uncle's face and effectively ended their conversation.
She didn't waste any time giving him his shot.
After she finished with her uncle and sent him out the back door, she straightened her desk and unpacked the few items left in the box that she'd been meaning to empty all this week but been too busy to get to. She was just putting off the inevitable she knew, but she needed the extra ten minutes the chore gave her to compose herself. She took her time locking up.
It was as she was pulling the heavy front door closed behind her that she remembered the news she'd planned to give her uncle that night. Immediately her mood soured even further. What kind of doctor let her personal problems interfere with her ability to carry out her duties to her patients? Not a very good one, that was for sure. Mutinously, she blamed it on Holt Brennon before she finally admitted to herself that ultimately it was her own fault.
She looked across the small parking lot anxiously wishing that Holt had left, but surprisingly relieved to see that he hadn't. He was leaning negligently against her car. Of all the nerve. What if his heavy belt scratched her paint?
As she neared the car and Holt, she pressed the small button on her key chain to unlock the doors. She never bothered with the alarm anymore, not since she'd moved here a few months ago.
"You took long enough," he said as she stopped in front of him.
"I had things to do." Her words faded into an unexpected yawn. She didn't raise her hand in time to cover it and she became a little embarrassed by it. After all, it was only seven-thirty.
He pushed away from her car. His eyes glittered in the darkness. "Look," he said, "I don't know what's going on with you but I don't like games."
"Me neither," she mumbled.
He reached out and tenderly stroked the side of her face. "I don't know what it is..." he said. He stepped closer to her.
She stepped back.
He dropped his hand from her silken skin. So much softer than it looked. He couldn't explain it, but he wanted this woman fiercely. A strange combination of wild innocence hovered around her, enticing him, begging him to get closer, to make her his. He would. When the time was right. But not tonight, he decided as he watched her yawn again. Tonight he would let her go.
But tomorrow she would not escape so easily.