Page 10 of Backdraft
I imagined his hands on me and moaned. My exhausted body obviously wasn't too tired for arousal.
Sexual heat, seductive, sultry.
I jolted when my hands slipped. I'd gone too deep into my dream.
The ache for Taylor was still strong, and I turned off the tap and swept the water out of my eyes. I grabbed a towel and wound my hair in it, then quickly dried myself. I was hungry and I was thirsty. I remembered the invite to breakfast, but I just couldn't do it. I was shattered. Instead, I grabbed a bottle of water from my cooler and an energy bar to tide me over.
The bed looked like heaven, and I swear the white duvet and pillows beckoned me over like a siren. Pulling back the sheets, I dropped naked into the soft coziness.
The last thing I thought about was Taylor. Just what was he doing here anyways?
It was late, or early, however you wanted to look at it, when Taylor accepted the three bodies and signed the paperwork. He would let the assistant schedule and notify everyone about the PM. He was too tired to even think about it now.
Drea, as he’d called her when they met in Denver, would most likely attend. The fire investigator usually did, and she said she’d be there. He wondered how it would go. It had been a shock when he’d realized who she was, and memories of their weekend together came barreling back.
Taylor filed the paperwork and sealed the bodies into the drawer. He wondered what she was doing now. With the bodies having arrived here at the morgue at this ungodly hour, he knew she was probably done for the time being.
He hadn't forgotten their weekend in Denver. It had been the most scorching sex he'd ever had. Who knew why, but their connection was incredible. He’d even felt it again today.
Perhaps it was the lack of commitment. They’d agreed to the weekend, and it'd been damn awesome.
Nothing had compared since, and every now and then, she crossed his mind. He went into his office and took one last look at his calendar for the week. It'd been a draining day. He'd overseen a couple of autopsies and waited for the victims of the fire to arrive. Now he had to go home and sleep.
His phone pinged with a text. It was the crew from today. Mac, one of the firefighters, said they were going to Kali's for breakfast and asked if he wanted to join them.
He quickly typed back
No, thanks. I need to go home.
He wanted to ask if Drea was going to be there, but the last thing he needed to do was get tongues wagging on that front.
He closed his computer, flicked off the lights, and yawned. Yep, he needed sleep. It would be easy to just relax in his truck and snooze, but he wanted his bed. He was eager to get home.
His route home took him past the ER, where he'd spent all his time prior to switching to pathology. If there was any other way to drive from his office and not go past the ER, he would. But there wasn't, and it was forced exposure.
He didn't look at the bright light that screamed emergency, nor at the ambulances in the bay with their lights flashing. The illumination of their emergency lights reflected inside his truck, and that was as close as he wanted to be. He hadn’t been back in the ER since the pandemic, nor did he want to.
Yep. It was time to just go home. But the whole drive there he couldn't get Drea out of his head.
A sound in the hall startled me. My eyes refused to open, so I just lay there, grudgingly pushing myself up through the layers of sleep.
There was no light behind my eyelids, so I wasn't sure if it was night or day, nor did I have any idea what time it was. I was completely turned around time wise and had no desire to emerge from my comfy cocoon.
I snuggled into the duvet a little deeper, far too cozy to contemplate pushing the blankets aside. The pillows, sheets, duvet… Everything was sublimely perfect.
Maybe I could turn my phone off and simply stay here all day.
My phone buzzed, and I groaned. I didn’t move until my sense of duty overtook my need for rest and sleep. Any number of things could require my attention.
I reached out for my phone on the nightstand, still refusing to move my body. If I could just reach it and pull it into the bed, I could stay here a little bit longer.
My fingers snagged on the charger cord, and I wiggled them to bring it closer. I almost had it, but it fell to the floor.
"Crap." Now I really had to move.
I rolled over and leaned out of the bed, searching for my phone.
"Gotcha." I grabbed it and nestled back in the pillows, holding it close to my face. My eyes were still prickly and refused to focus. I squinted at the message blurring the screen. Blinking away the sleepiness, I came alert in a hurry to see it was a note from the coroner’s office. The autopsies were scheduled for later today.
