Chapter One
Where the hell did she go?
Dr. Jacob Ash peered into the evening twilight, the music from the party drifting up from the Rose Garden Terrace on a light summer breeze. There were only so many places to go on this path leading through the National Botanical Gardens and he was quickly approaching the end marked by the amphitheater and the water feature.
Piper Hill couldn’t have just vanished. She was just a girl. Although, there were times when he believed she was part fey creature and had bewitched his soul and — let’s face it — some other parts of his body located a bit farther south.
He’d watched her the entire evening, along with every other red-blooded male at the hospital's annual fundraising gala. In the crowd of stuffed shirts and their trophy wives all dressed in various shades of black, she’d stood out in her dress of deep emerald green which emphasized the generous curves of her body and matched her sparkling eyes. Her auburn hair with its bold platinum streaks was piled in a messy style that exposed the creamy curve of her neck. She looked like an old-fashioned pin-up girl or movie star — the kind men painted on their airplanes as they flew into battle.
Pure, unadulterated sex.
And, that was his problem.
Coming to the end of the trail, he peered into the evening, thankful for the full moon illuminating the area. He’d almost reached the end of the garden and debated retracing his steps. But, he really didn’t want to go back to the party. Never good with the small-talk, these functions were tests of his endurance and patience. But, they brought money to the hospital and he could endure the occasional bouts of mandatory fun for the place he loved.
“Piper!” he called out into the darkness.
The answering silence was punctuated only by the cicadas and the flow of water from the ornamental pond.
“Piper?”
Nothing.
This was crazy. But when had he ever acted sane when it came to Piper? From the moment she’d strolled into his patient’s room six months ago with her art therapy supplies and black painted fingernails, he’d been an absolute idiot around her. No longer the confident, experienced trauma surgeon but a tongue-tied, distracted, walking hard-on.
And, he’d determined at that moment to stay the hell away from her.
But, he’d broken. Lost his mind, really, and a month earlier found himself asking her out to dinner. The one meal had led to two amazing dates, the last one ending with them in a half-naked, sweaty, so-close-to-the-best-orgasm-of-their-lives tangle on her living room floor.
He couldn’t definitively say it was the best orgasm of his life because they’d never gotten to finish what they’d started.
Sighing, he shook his head and turned towards the origin of the light jazz offered by the band hired for the occasion.
“Over here.”
The voice drifting on the breeze from somewhere over his shoulder caused him to whirl around. His eyes scanned the area, straining to see in the gloom of the foliage.
“Down here,” she said.
Looking down he blinked and took two steps forward until he stood on the edge where the paving stones met a grassy area partially obscured by some kind of bush. Piper was stretched out on the lawn, arms extended over her head, long sexy legs exposed by the tangle of her dress and ending in her tiny, bare feet. Her skin glowed in the moonlight, the highlights in her hair sparks of silver as it spilled out around her in a silky pillow.
His mouth went dry, mind went blank — the only thing working was his cock, which hardened as if on command.
“Well, you found me. What do you want?”
That was an easy one.
“You.” He cleared his throat to make sure she heard him. “I want you.”
