“Thank you, dear. You don’t have to work tomorrow, do you? Now that they’ve got you in the rotation, weekends aren’t expected.”
“I have my on-call weekends, but no, it’s not this one. Nonetheless, I do have a few patients I want to check up on, and I need to get Carli home first. Luckily, she’s on the way.”
“Where—”
“See you later, Dad.” Blake thrust his hand out, then kissed his mother’s cheek. He knew exactly what she was going to ask. Where did Carli live? If it wasn’t a place like Westover, it wasn’t good enough.
“Thank you again for having me. I had a lovely time.” Carli’s impeccable manners were obvious.
Blake pulled her through the hallway and grabbed their coats before his parents could detain them further. Harrison and Annie had gotten to bug out early, needing to get the sitter home. Lucky. It was an excuse he wanted to have some day.
Carli talked about the party on the way home and all the things she’d loved about the house. He’d noticed she did that a lot, chattered on about nothing while they were driving, not really giving him a chance to respond. It wasn’t something she did when they were out or having a lesson.
“I’ll walk you up,” he said once he’d pulled in front of her house.
“You don’t have to. I’ll be fine. Thank you for bringing me tonight.”
“You can thank me when I escort you to your door.”
Her expression was confused, then her eyes widened, and she laughed.
Once on her porch, that stupid motion sensor flashed the lights on. Though she might have a hard time understanding him if it wasn’t on, he didn’t want an audience. Did he dare suppose it was late enough that Mrs. Whatshername from down the street was already in bed?
“Thank you again.”
“Happy to have you with me.” It took him a few moments to remember some of these signs, but he managed and felt quite proud of himself, especially when Carli smiled that brilliant smile of hers.
“I had a great time.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t…” How did he say this word? “…lousy.”
When she slapped her hand over her mouth and giggled, he knew he’d gotten it wrong. He’d been studying and trying to learn a few more outside of their lessons.
“What did I say? Or do I want to know?”
Her gaze bounced around as she bit her lip. He wanted to bite her lip, too.
“You said you were glad it wasn’t…an orgasm.”
“Oh, no. Really? I am so sorry. I mean, not because I didn’t give you a…though I wouldn’t mind…no…that wasn’t what I meant. Maybe I should shut up now. Please, tell me you didn’t get any of what I said. Maybe your CIs ran out of batteries, and you missed my complete screw up.”
The fact her shoulders were shaking and her mouth was clamped tight was an indicator that she’d gotten most of his ridiculous rant.
“Time for thethank youwe talked about?” she said. “It will keep your mouth busy.”
“Now you’re talking.”
“And you won’t be,” she teased as she melted into his arms and slid her gloved hands up his chest.
He wasted no time in lowering his head and pressing his lips to hers. Perfect, again. Wrapping his arms around her, he licked along her lower lip, nibbling until she opened for him and shocks shot through every nerve in his body. The contact was electrifying, and the hands that clung to him let him know she was equally as consumed. There wasn’t a part of him unaffected.
Even though she was warming his blood to boiling temperatures, the cold still seeped in. Easing back, he nipped at her mouth one last time. “I think I might be addicted.”
“Addicted, huh?” Her gaze took a moment to clear. “There must be a twelve-step program for that. I could look it up and see if there’s one around here you could attend.”
“You’d do that for me?”
One shoulder lifted. “If you were really bad off.”
