Page 50 of How to Kiss on Christmas Morning

“So…we can go see her this weekend? She’s in Lawson Cove, which is only an hour away from Silver Creek.”

Noah breathes out a highly exaggerated, long-suffering sigh. “Yes,” he says with a grin. “We can go see her.”

I throw myself into his arms, then pull back, taking his face in my hands so I can kiss him thoroughly. Far more thoroughly than I usually would in the hospital, but he definitely earned it. If I were on an actual break, I might be tempted to lock the closet door and?—

“I have to get back to work,” Noah growls, his voice raspy enough to make my blood heat.

“I know,” I say with a sigh. “Me too. I’ll see you tonight?”

He shakes his head no. “Alder called out, so I’ll probably be here until tomorrow morning. But Friday is the day after that and then…” He kisses me one more time. “Then I’m all yours.”

When we step out of the supply closet, I expect Noah to go one direction while I go the other, but he surprises me when he threads his fingers through mine and walks me all the way back to the nurses’ station. The two new hires are there now, as well as Maren, who watches us approach with wide eyes.

Noah stops right in front of the desk and turns me to face him, then lifts his hands to my cheeks and kisses me right there in front of everyone.

It’s not like we keep our relationship a secret. We’ve filed all the appropriate paperwork with HR. Checked all the boxes to make sure we’re keeping things above board. But we don’t exactly flaunt it either. Noah is a very private person, and I love him enough to do whatever makes him most comfortable.

So this is very uncharacteristic.

When he pulls away, his eyes sparkle with humor as he says, “I love you, fiancée. I’ll see you at home.”

I press my lips together to keep from laughing as he casts a pointed look toward the nursing station, then turns and heads toward the elevator. As I watch him walk away, I gotta say, the way he fills out those scrubs, he reallyisDr. McHottyPants.

When I turn back to the nurses’ station, the two new nurses are staring at me with wide eyes. “We didn’t…” one of them starts.

“If you heard us talking,” the other says. “We didn’t know.”

“And we wouldn’t have,” the first one says. “If we had known.”

“You’re totally fine,” I say with the warmest smile I can muster. “Don’t even worry about it. Just…maybe stick to calling him Dr. Hawthorne?”

“Right. Absolutely,” the first one says.

I appreciate how readily they agree, so I decide not to tell them that Dr. McHottyPants is my new favorite nickname for my fiancé.