Holy shit! Be cool, Blaire. Don’t gush. “Of course. I look forward to it, Dr. Lademan.” I think I sounded pretty unflappable, though her smile told me she could probably read the sense of thrill in my voice.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to talk to William about his hamstring.” I nodded politely and successfully refrained from doing a little victory wiggle after she walked off. Barely.

I nibbled on a canapé and glanced around the room in awe. To my left, I saw the star quarterback. Next to him was one of his offensive linemen, and I giggled to myself when I noticed his plate piled high with at least twenty of the tiny appetizers. The chefs should really make fist-sized appetizers for the linemen.

Letting my eyes drift to the right, I saw a group of very tall and lean men, most of whom I recognized as receivers or cornerbacks for the team, with beers or mixed drinks in their hands. One, in particular, drew my eye immediately. His back was to me, but I would have recognized that back anywhere, as I had spent hours of my life with my nails raking down the skin hidden underneath that obviously custom-made suit. The shoulders in off-the-rack suits would have been busting at the seams over those broad shoulders. He slipped one hand into his pants pocket, lifting the jacket a bit to display a partial view of the finest ass I had ever seen on a man.

Oh, holy hell.

I lifted my gaze to the back of his head. The hair color was the same, though it was a bit shorter now. But it couldn’t be him. He was still with Boston, wasn’t he? Yes, I kept up with his career, almost religiously in fact, but I had been crazy busy since I started my residency, and… He turned to talk to the man to the right of him, and I saw his profile.

Dear God. It was him. A shiver ran down my spine, and a distinct tingling between my legs—as if his body could still talk to mine after all these years—made me clench my thighs together as I stared at the handsome face I hadn’t seen in person in five years.

Being a doctor, I knew the physiology of breathing. I could recite the pathway of air through the respiratory system with my eyes closed. From inhalation all the way to the alveoli. But I couldn’t seem to do this most necessary of bodily functions at the present time. It was like the air had simply stalled somewhere around my bronchi, and I had to focus just to do what my lungs were made to do. In and out, Blaire. Breathe in and out.