KeyParty by Jayne Kingston Page B

as I get the chance,” he assured her.
    “Good.” Dr. Marks turned to Rachel. “It was good to meet
you.”
    “Thank you. You too,” Rachel said, smiling despite the
disappointment over the lunch and the time with Ben she was going to miss.
    “I’m sorry,” Ben turned to her when his mother was out of
earshot again. “Dr. Li has been an amazing mentor to me over the years. If he
thinks I should be part of this, it must be something I don’t have a lot of
experience with yet.”
    “Of course you should go,” Rachel reassured him. His
excitement was palpable.
    “What are you doing tonight?” he asked, stepping back into
her space once they were alone again. “Can I pick you up and take you out for a
drink later?”
    She had an early interview with a spa in the city in the
morning. “Yes.”
    “I really have no idea how long this is going to take.” He
pulled his phone out of his pocket, touched the display a couple of times. “Can
I call you when I’m finished?”
    “Yes,” she repeated, feeling unexpectedly elated, “but you
still owe me lunch.”
    He programmed her number in when she gave it to him and
dropped the phone back into his pocket.
    “Yes I do.” His expression went darkly erotic and he slipped
the fingers of one hand around the back of her neck. She had to press her palms
to his chest to keep from falling into him as he took another deep, dreamy pull
of a kiss from her mouth. “I’ll make it up to you soon,” he murmured.
    And then he was away from her, his hand on the small of her
back as he walked her to her car. He held the door as she slid into the
driver’s seat, gave her a reluctant look before he closed it and stood with his
hands in his pockets until she drove away.
    Rachel ventured a glance in her rearview mirror as she
stopped at the end of the driveway and waited for traffic to clear. Her stomach
fluttered dangerously when she found him standing in the same spot, still
watching her. And when he raised his hand and waved, her heart skipped several
beats.

Chapter Six
     
    “Where’s your roommate?” Rachel asked, her fingers working
the buttons on his shirt before he had the door closed behind them.
    He’d gotten out of Dr. Li’s office so late he’d been
surprised that she’d answered when he called. They’d gone out to one of the
corner bars in her neighborhood, but he hadn’t really had the stomach or the
patience for the beer he’d ordered.
    The consult and following discussion with Dr. Li had been
exhilarating, and Rachel was distractingly hot in the jeans and loose, gauzy
top she was wearing. She’d barely made it through her own drink when she
suggested they go somewhere else.
    “Gone ‘til morning,” he answered, letting go of her long
enough to shrug out of his shirt. He reached for the button on her jeans and
popped it open while she pulled her top off over her head. “Gotta love the
roommate being on night shift.”
    And then she was clinging to him again, her fingers dug into
his hair, the silky skin of her curvy body against his, her hard nipples
pressing into his chest through the soft satin of her bra. The taste of whiskey
still on her tongue and the heady smell of her was intoxicating. He got an arm
under her bottom and lifted her off her feet.
    “Nice place you got here,” she said, biting gently on his
earlobe and nearly making him lose his footing.
    He crushed her body to the wall in the hallway. “You’re not
even looking at my place,” he said, shifting so his cock ground against her
through their jeans.
    He could feel her heat through the layers of their clothes.
She started to laugh and he took her mouth hard enough her head hit the wall
with a light but solid thump.
    She dug her nails into his back. “Busted,” she panted when
he grazed his teeth along her jaw. “Oh, fuck Ben. Just take me here.”
    She unwrapped her legs from his waist to stand and gave him
a little backward shove. She pulled open the fly on his jeans, then