The Boss and Nurse Albright by Lynne Marshall

completely open up, and it made her think he was an emotionally unavailable man. That was the last thing she was looking for. She’d been married to one, and look how horribly that had turned out. She’d never repeat the same mistake.
    This was just dinner with a business associate. They’d admitted their patient and had been hungry. It only made sense he’d ask her to eat with him. So why was she making more out of it than it was?
    Because the restaurant had been cozy and romantic, with white tablecloths and dim candlelight. Because the conversation had come easy and she’d kept getting lost in his ocean-at-dusk-colored eyes. Because she couldn’t deny it any longer—she was attracted to Jason. He was a skilled and dedicated doctor who loved his patients. Unbeknownst to her, he’d been the force behind the medical group that she’d discovered in the renovated Victorian house, the place where she’d yearned to work. He was kind to her daughter. And he’d proved to be a concerned business partner when he’d gone the extra mile last Friday night to bring her pay check, and he’d surprised her even more with a gourmet breakfast Saturday morning.
    Chianti or no Chianti, she found him extremely attractive, even liked the way he talked, with his deeper than average voice. He had a wide smile when he cared to share one with her, and masculine lips, the kind that had made her mind wander to kissing when he’d told her about sailing. She found it fascinating how his beard had darkened as the day progressed into the evening, was glad she’d been around to notice, and surprised to realize she wanted to touch the stubble.
    He glanced at her and tilted his head with an inquisitive expression when he realized she’d been studying him. Again.
    Thankfully, they’d reached the ice cream store because her line of thinking needed to stop.
    “How should we work this?” Jason asked later, afterscooping up the last of his ice cream from the small foam cup. “Should I drive you back to the clinic to get your car, or should we buy Gina a mini ice cream and take it right to her?”
    “That’s sweet of you, but no. It would just get her all wired. You can take me back to my car. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her feelings. But thanks for thinking about her.” His small, yet considerate gestures kept adding up, and it made him hard to resist.
    Fifteen minutes later he’d parked in the medical clinic lot and something told Claire to be still. Jason didn’t make a move to get out of the car; he stared straight ahead for a few moments, and she could hear each breath he took. Then he turned toward her. “I can’t remember the last time I asked a woman out to dinner.”
    She wanted to brush off his statement. To say oh, I’m just a business associate, we were working late and got hungry , but she didn’t want to believe that. And he’d hinted that he’d made a point of asking her to dinner. He didn’t have to. It complicated things, and she opted to keep the mood light by mocking herself.
    “I’m glad you did,” she said, “even if I had to go to great lengths to figure out a way to get a patient to take toxic herbs, and get hospitalized, in order to get you to ask me.” She grinned.
    He grinned back. “So this was all your devious plan,” he deadpanned.
    “Oh, yes. I thought of everything.”
    His smile slipped away as his steady gaze melded with hers. “Then I’m glad, too.”
    She couldn’t fight the growing attraction, eventhough it was the last thing in the world she needed right now. She also considered herself good at reading people—a natural ability that she’d enhanced with her homeopathy studies—and, by the look on Jason’s face, he seemed deeply interested in her, too.
    He leaned toward her. With the smoky tinge to his eyes, she knew what he planned.
    Before she had a chance to think one extra thought, his mouth covered hers. The lips she’d wondered about were warm and smooth, and they fit