Free Masquerade by Nicole Flockton Page B

said.
    “It’s all I’ve been thinking about most of the evening,” he eventually replied.
    Sophie watched as, with lithe movements, Alex replaced his cup on the table and came back to stand in front of her. He reached for her cup, taking it and placing it next to his. She wanted to take it back. She needed the security of holding the mug in her hand. It stopped the temptation to reach up and run her fingers across his broad shoulders.
    “I think we could make this work, Sophie.” She held herself still as he reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. All she wanted to do was turn her face into his warm hand.
    “Make — ” her voice squeaked out. She cleared her throat and started again. “Make what work?”
    “A personal relationship between us.”
    To prove his point he closed the gap between them and placed his lips on hers. No other parts of their bodies touched, just their lips. His heat consumed and warmed her. She clenched her hands to stop from reaching out and sinking her fingers into his hair.
    Standing on a balcony underneath a full moon with a stunning city view as a backdrop was what romance was made of, and his lips were decadent.
    They were soft and firm and she couldn’t fight it any longer. Sophie opened up beneath his touch. She needed to feel more. She gave into her earlier desire and wrapped her arms around his neck and let her fingers fulfill their wish. He gathered her close and she moaned in appreciation of the hard male body pressing against hers.
    It would be so easy to give in to the chemistry between them. So easy to push aside her doubts, so easy to shout the word yes . But the fallout if anything should go wrong between them would not be so easy to deal with. One of them would have to leave the hospital. She’d didn’t want to be the person who had to move. She loved working with her colleagues. She’d been there since she’d graduated from college. She’d achieved her goal of becoming NUM. Getting involved with Alex couldn’t possibly work. No matter how attracted she was to him. No matter how much she wanted to take him by the hand and drag him into her room.
    Sanity and common sense barged its way through her sensuous thoughts.
    She pushed against his powerful chest and tore her mouth away. “No, Alex. No. I can’t do this again.”
    His words sounded tortured, as if ripped from his throat. “Can’t do what again, Sophie?”
    “This,” she waved her hand between them. “Us. I can’t do us. I can’t do another one night with you. I just can’t.”
    She turned her back on him and gripped the railing. She sensed him wanting to reach out and grab her. “Don’t, please don’t.”
    “Sophie, it wouldn’t be for one night, it would be for more. Can’t you at least try?”
    She whirled around and faced him, anger at the world, at him, at the situation they found themselves in starting to build. “And if I try, what happens to me when it all ends? I’m the one who can be easily replaced. I’m the one who, as I said in our office earlier, has so much more to lose.”
    She had to move away from him; being in close proximity to him wasn’t helping the situation. She made her way back into her living room, sensing him following her. Maybe she was more in tune with him than she’d thought. But she had to fight it. She kept walking until she reached her front door. Only then did she face him again.
    “Look, Alex, I’ll have a relationship with you, but it will be a professional one. I’ve come too far in my career to jeopardize it by having a relationship with the director of emergency.” She paused momentarily before continuing. “I broke my engagement with a work colleague not long ago. Part of the fallout from that was dealing with the gossip around the hospital. I’m not going through that again. I’m not ready for a personal relationship with anyone. Can you respect that?”
    Sophie waited as Alex walked toward her, his steps sure and predatory. When he