Page 16 of Doc
“It doesn’t hurt.”She watched as I opened an antiseptic wipe.
“Adrenaline.”I gently cleaned the blood from her skin.“You’ll feel it later.”
Her hand looked impossibly small in mine, delicate bones and slender fingers marred by the angry red line across her palm.I worked carefully, my touch as gentle as I could make it while still being thorough.When I glanced up to check her reaction, I found her watching me, her hazel eyes wide and dark in the dome light.
“You’ve done this before,” she said softly.It wasn’t a question.
“More times than I can count.”I returned my attention to her wound.“I was an Army medic.Then got my M.D.and now I’m the club doctor.Not much I haven’t patched up.Especially during my stint in the ER.”
I finished cleaning the cut and reached for a small tube of antibiotic ointment.“This might sting a little.”
Nova didn’t flinch as I applied the ointment, her gaze never leaving my face.“Thank you.For back there.For… protecting me.”
My hands stilled on hers.The clinical detachment I’d been maintaining cracked, just a little, as I met her gaze.“You don’t need to thank me for that.”
“Yes, I do,” she insisted.“You could have been killed.”
“So could you.”The image of what might have happened if that Blood Pagan had drawn a weapon flashed through my mind -- Nova’s small body crumpling to the asphalt, her blood staining the same road where her parents had died.My chest tightened painfully at the thought.
I reached for a bandage, needing to focus on something concrete, something I could fix.But as I smoothed the adhesive over her palm, my fingers lingered longer than necessary, tracing the edges of the bandage, the soft skin of her wrist where her pulse fluttered like a trapped bird.
“Doc,” she said, her voice barely audible even in the silence of the truck.When I looked up, her face was much closer than I expected.
I should have pulled away.Should have maintained the professional distance I’d been so careful to keep since she’d arrived at the clubhouse.But something in her eyes -- vulnerability mixed with a fortitude that matched my own -- held me there, suspended in a moment that felt somehow outside of time.
My hand moved of its own accord, cupping her cheek.Her skin was soft beneath my calloused palm, still cool from the night air but warming under my touch.I felt her slight intake of breath, saw her eyes widen fractionally before darkening with something that mirrored the heat building in my chest.
“We shouldn’t,” I murmured, even as my thumb brushed across her cheekbone, tracing the constellation of freckles I’d been noticing since the day she arrived.
“I know.”But she leaned into my touch, her bandaged hand coming to rest lightly on my chest, just over my heart.She must have felt it pounding, giving away what I’d been trying so hard to hide.
I didn’t know which of us moved first.Maybe we both did, drawn together by something that had been building since that first accidental touch over a coffee mug.One moment we were inches apart, the next her lips were on mine, soft and hesitant at first, then pressing more firmly as I responded.
The kiss deepened quickly, desperation fueling a need I hadn’t allowed myself to acknowledge.My hand slid from her cheek to the back of her neck, fingers tangling in the soft hair at her nape.Her arms wound around my neck, pulling herself closer until she was nearly in my lap, the center console the only barrier between us.I could feel the warmth of her body through her jacket, the slight tremble in her body.
There was nothing gentle about the way we came together -- it was all heat and need, the adrenaline from our narrow escape transforming into a different kind of urgency.Her mouth opened under mine, a small sound escaping her throat that sent fire racing through my veins.I pulled her closer, needing to feel more of her, to assure myself that she was here, alive, safe in my arms.
The hardness of my chest pressed against her softer curves as she shifted, trying to get closer despite the awkward angle.My heart thundered in my ears, drowning out everything but the sound of her breathing, the soft noises she made as my tongue traced the seam of her lips.Her hold on me tightened.
Reality crashed back when the distant sound of a vehicle drifted from the main road.I jerked away, both of us breathing hard, staring at each other with shock tangled up in lingering desire.Nova’s lips swelled from our kiss, her eyes wide and dark, her cheeks flushed with heat.I knew I looked just as wrecked, my careful control shattered by a kiss I hadn’t seen coming.
“I --” she began, then stopped, seeming at a loss for words for the first time since I’d met her.
I eased her back to her seat, putting distance between us that felt both necessary and painful.“That was…” I couldn’t find the words either.Inevitable?The most alive I’d felt in years?
Nova looked down at her bandaged hand.“What happens now?”
The question hung between us, heavy with implications that went far beyond the investigation into her parents’ deaths.I knew she wasn’t just asking about the evidence or our next steps with the club.She was asking about us -- whatever “us” might mean after crossing a line I’d been determined to maintain.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, the truth easier than any comforting lie I could have offered.“But we’ll figure it out.”
She nodded slowly, her gaze meeting mine with a new intimacy that both thrilled and terrified me.In the soft glow of the dome light, with the evidence of conspiracy clutched in her hand and the taste of her still on my lips, I knew we’d passed a point of no return -- in our investigation and in whatever was developing between us.
And there was no going back for either of us now.
Chapter Five
Doc
