"Oh, I needed that," she said on a moan.
"There's more where that came from," he murmured, giving her a devilish smile.
She glanced past him to their children. Alexander was investigating the desk drawer, and Kate caught him before he made it to the supply cabinets. "Do I have to make a date to get some privacy with you?"
"Let's wear 'em out," he said.
She smiled. "Deal. I just have to get these notes down." He let her go, and turning away, she spoke into the Dictaphone as she shrugged out of her lab coat, then opened her closet and pulled out something to wear.
"Mom, come on. We'll be late!"
Hayley glanced at the twins. They looked so cute in their riding outfits. So adult. "I'm hurrying. Close the door." The girls stepped inside and Hayley finished her dictation, switched off the machine, then slipped behind the patient screen.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked, peering around the screen and watching her slip out of her dress. Nash admired her body and wanted to get his hands on all that skin. Her breasts were fuller, her hips a little rounder, but she still turned him on like a floodlight.
"No." She pulled on jeans and a blouse.
"Me, neither. Alexander, simmer down," Nash said with a stern look at his son when the child bounced in Hayley's desk chair. Alexander settled and smiled at him, and Nash's heart overflowed with love for his son.
"I tell myself that they are trained and ready, but I just keep remembering the grown men I've put back together after a rodeo."
"Don't worry, Mom," Kate said, and Hayley's heart jerked just as it did every time the twins called her that.
Hayley pulled on her boots. "Not in the mom manual. If fact, it's required." She swiped on some lipstick and ran a brush through her hair before stuffing her clothes in a duffel. She slipped around the screen.
"We promise not to get hurt," Kim said.
Hayley smiled. "That's what you said the last time. Just do your best and you'll be fine."
Handing Nash the duffel, she lifted Alex in her arms, kissed him noisily, then grabbed the black medical bag from the high shelf before heading to the door.
The family filed out, trotting down the hall. Hayley paused to give last-minute instructions to the nurse on duty, then signed out, hoping tomorrow at her offices' would be less hectic than at the hospital.
"Got your beeper? Your cell phone?" Nash asked, and she smiled. She could never survive without him. He was truly her partner.
"Good luck, girls," the staff called, and the twins thanked them, then took their little brother from their mother and raced toward the elevators.
Hayley sagged against Nash.
He pressed his lips to the top of her head. "Tired?"
"No, not really." She tipped her head to look at him. "How can I live in the same house with you and still miss you?"
"Auction season, baby, and—" he lowered his voice "—I plan to change that tonight."
Hayley smiled and paused at the elevator doors to kiss him.
"Mom," Kim called, hitching Alexander on her hip. "Put a fire under it."
Hayley grinned, and she and Nash dashed into the elevator before the doors closed.
"Oh, you're hired, sir," she moaned as his hands massaged over her naked spine, fingers digging deep.
Nash chuckled. Didn't she know how much pleasure it gave him to see her relaxed and happy?
"I did something today."
That long bubble bath was having its effect. "You're doing it now, or do you mean screaming like a madman when your daughter took that jump? Or when she won first place and you bought the entire team dinner?"
Nash grinned, bending down to nibble her neck. "I hired a chef and another housekeeper."
"I was going to get to that," she said, waving limply. Mrs. Winslow had resigned a week ago, and Hayley had barely enough time to interview a replacement.
"I called Katherine."
"Smart man."
"I did it so I could get you alone and ravish you."
"Like I said, smart man." She rolled over, pulling him down on top of her. Her hands were on him, stroking him, arousing him, and Nash didn't think there was a purer moment in his life than when Hayley made love with him.
"I love you," she said between kisses.
"Oh, darlin', that's what I live for."
He made love to her softly, slowly, but the passion rose and spread through them, burning their love deeper with every joining.
Sometime later Nash sank into the huge bed, pulling her close and kissing her again and again. "I've missed my wife." Under the sheets his hand mapped her lush figure.
"I know, and I'm taking some time off." His brows rose. "There're two new residents and we're getting another doctor at the hospital. And I deserve it."