Chapter 10
TEN
… look at the stars…
The words from the song were like a whisper in the back of her thoughts, but they didn’t have a hope of being anything else.
Dancing with Gibson was amazing.
She’d rarely danced with a partner. Men either didn’t want to dance or didn’t know how, and the opportunities that she’d had to step onto a dance floor with a man had been few and far between. Especially one where they were dancing in each other's arms instead of feet apart.
But Gibson didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea, nor did he lack the skill.
His hand had curved around her hip as if he was used to finding just the right spot on her body, and the hand that took hers was as gentle as it was steady.
Maybe, she wondered on a soft, soundless sigh, that was just the kind of man he was.
Gentle and steady.
She’d dreamed of men like him.
Humorous. Handsome.
And when he started to move them around the dance floor, she didn’t have a single worry about him stepping on her toes.
Why couldn’t this happen more than once in her life?
She felt more than heard his soft laughter against her ear, reverberating through his chest.
“Are you going to fall asleep on me?”
She lifted her head to look up at him and she smiled at the humor in his gaze.
“I wasn’t planning to, but if the big pillow fits-”
He pulled her closer and her chin met his chest. They laughed together as they continued dancing and other couples joined them on the floor.
Kay leaned back a little and managed to keep her eyes on his without craning her neck as much.
“You’re a mountain.” Her words rushed out before she’d made the conscious effort to speak. “I feel like a kid standing next to you.”
His lips pursed a little and she felt the touch of his dark eyes like a caress against her skin.
“You’re all woman, Kay. I’ve been wanting to say something for a while now, but…”
His cheeks and temples flushed with color, and he shook his head like he was scolding himself.
“But what?” She had to know.
Gibson Braun had wanted to talk to her for a while?
How had she not come face to face with him more often back in Center City?
Why did it take a fortuitous meeting in Chicago for their paths to cross?
“I guess I didn’t think you’d be interested in a guy like me.”
His answer made sense in a strange way, like Alice’s world through the looking glass.
From the moment she’d seen him she'd felt an instant interest in him, but now that she'd spoken to him, spent time with him, she wanted him for who he was under all the brawn, muscle, and good looks.
Now she knew that he wasn't forty, his reaction had been enough to tell her that he was younger than that.
Which meant that he was younger than she was.
Not that she was elderly or even fell into one of those antiquated ‘spinster’ categories from a different era.
But still-
The song ended and another one began, and all Kay could do was hold onto him and hope that the band never stopped playing.
"Does it matter?"
"Hmm?" She looked up and saw the way he was watching her intently. "Does what matter?"
"You guessed that I was forty." One eyebrow lifted up, just a little. "I'm thirty-four. Does that matter?"
She frowned a little at that trying to read his expression. "I don't know. Does it matter than I am? Forty, I mean."
He shook his head without missing a beat. "Not at all."
"I'm a workaholic doctor.”
He frowned a little at that. “I work twenty-four hour shifts on the regular. I don't see a problem if you don't.”
She couldn’t really argue with that.
"You should know that I really don’t care about age, Kay. The first time I saw you, I came into the ER chasing after a gurney. The man on it was my cousin.”
“Was?” She lifted her chin to look at him, wanting to soothe the tightness in his voice.
How? She had no idea. Soothing emotional pain wasn’t something she had much skill with, but she would try.
“He’d been caught in a flashover in a factory fire and the first doctor at the ER froze up.”
“Doctor Murphy,” she drew in a breath that shook her from head to toe.
Gibson lifted the hand that held hers to his shoulder before he slipped both of his hands around to her lower back, drawing her just a little closer.
“He stood there, just staring while Kevin screamed in pain. I’d never felt so useless before in my life.
It felt like everything around me slowed to a stop and I wanted to grab that doctor and shake him.
Before I could make my feet move, there you were.
You stepped in and moved the doctor aside and took over.
“My world started back up again. The people around me started to move. And I felt my heart pounding in my chest. I didn’t see you again that day, but I heard about you.
You were the one who gave Kevin his best shot at life.
You got him to the burn unit in moments and kept the rest of the Emergency Room going as other victims came in.
“Still, you checked in on my aunt and uncle as Kevin was being treated. You brought them news. You made sure hospital volunteers brought them something to drink and even some food. But most of all, you gave them hope.”
She swallowed and felt tears welling up in her eyes. “He didn’t last the week.” Her lips pursed tightly trying to hold back the memories of the pain and suffering that his cousin had gone through. “I’m so sorry.”
“Hey,” he cuddled her close as the music wound down.
He shifted against her, and she felt his cheek rub up against her temple.
“I didn’t want you to cry. I wanted to thank you and tell you that from that first moment, you were my hero. An angel.”
She leaned her forehead against his chest and felt like she was about to break down into tears.
The music around them picked up speed and some 80s party song blared from the speakers.
Gibson walked her to the side of the room, his arm protectively holding her against his side.
She was barely aware when he sat down on a chair and drew her down onto his lap.
He cuddled her close, one hand snuggly on her hip and the other hand cradling her head against his shoulder.
“I never wanted you to cry, Kay. Never.”
“He was your cousin.”
“He was also a firefighter. It comes with the job. We train hard. We do everything we can to keep ourselves safe, but things happen. Accidents happen. And flashovers happen. You gave him the best chance that he could have and your kindness toward his parents is still something they talk about.”
His hand curled around under her chin and lifted it up.
He coaxed her face toward his and saw her silvered tears glittering on her lashes.
Gibson could have kicked his own ass for making her cry. He had tried to explain why he’d found himself attracted to her and failed miserably.
“I’m sorry, Kay. It was probably good that I didn’t talk to you about this before. I would have tried to ask you out and ended up making you run for the hills.” He sighed and huffed at himself. “I feel like a total ass.”
He heard her sniffle and saw the heroic way she struggled to smile at him.
“I don't remember you.”
She sounded so apologetic about it.
“I noticed you, Kay Hata.”
Her lips parted in shock and the near silent gasp that came from her lips sent a warm rush of heat through his veins. What he wouldn’t do to hear that sound again when they were alone.
In bed.
Fuck, his fantasies weren’t going to give him a rest.
Not now that he knew what it was like to hold her in his arms.
“Gibson?”
He found his eyes drawn down to her lips and felt his chest tighten as he tried to breathe.
“Yeah?” He felt like he was dying of thirst and all he needed was a taste of her lips.
Maybe it was the stars above them revealed through the open skylight above.
Maybe it was the scent of her skin, spicy and warm, that was tantalizing his senses.
“Would… would you kiss me again?”
It was all of those things and the heated look in her dark chocolate eyes.
He’d only been this close once before.
Had precious little experience with her beauty inundating his senses like this.
“You want me… to kiss you.”
He wasn’t going to ask it as a question.
Gibson didn’t want to give her a chance to take it back.
Kay opened her mouth to say something, but he covered her mouth with his.
Wiped the words from her tongue with his own.
He felt her arms wind around his neck and pull him closer and he felt his good intentions turn to flames when her breasts pressed against his chest.
Fuck.
He wanted her.
Fuuuuck.
He needed her.
And when Kay Hata and that gorgeous ass that rounded out her scrubs, wiggled on his lap, he shuddered, going rock hard and then some with just that simple touch.
Gibson pulled back, breaking the contact of their mouths, but not the hunger that roared between them. “I can,” he swallowed and tried to keep the tone of his voice even, “I can get us a room… somewhere.”
Her smile almost undid him.
The look of triumph in her eyes made his dick twitch against her ass.
“I have a room upstairs.” She bit her teeth into her full bottom lip. “Do you want to come upstairs with me?”
He grabbed up her hand in his and turned her hand over to press an open-mouthed kiss against her wrist. He swept the tip of his tongue against her pulse point and saw her eyelids dip down for a second as she sucked in a breath.
“It’s not about me wanting to, Kay.” He gently nipped his teeth over the tender flesh of her inner wrist. “I need to be with you tonight.”
When she shifted on his lap, he held back a painful grunt as she moved over his cock. Together, they stood and headed for the exit. For him it was the second time.
But together, his first.
He caught Taylor and Emily’s attention just before they left the room, and he gave them both a smile. It might be the start of their married life together, but it was his next step with Kay. And he had big dreams about where they were going.
Together.