Midnight Heat (Black Phoenix Book 2) (19 page)

Since she’d been sipping her coffee, Rebecca choked. “Who?”

“Well, that answers question number one.” Karmen forked a bite of chocolate cake into her mouth. “That it really is a just-been-thoroughly-laid look on your face.”

“I thought you said it was a just-had-the-most-amazing-sex-of-my-life look?”

She stopped with another bite of cake halfway to her mouth, then leaned forward, her voice dropped conspiratorially. “Was it? The most amazing sex of your life, I mean.”

Rebecca looked at her friend, amused despite herself. She mirrored Karmen, leaning forward in her chair, elbows on the table and hand curled around her mug. “I’ll never tell.”

“So it was.
Nice!
” Her cell phone whistled. Karmen pulled it off her waist, glanced at it, and dropped it to the table with a frown.

“Problem?” Rebecca asked her.

“It’s nothing. Just…let’s get back to you, shall we?”

“Karmen?”

Her friend waved her off. “Do I even need to ask the identity of the man who put that look on your face? Tell me it was the walking fantasy.”

“I’m sorry but you’ll have to be more specific.” She grinned broadly, enjoying teasing Karmen.

“Tall, Dark, and Studly.”

“I don’t know who—”

“Ha! Don’t even pretend you don’t know who I’m talking about. How can I live vicariously through you if you won’t admit it was Dominic Price who rocked your socks off over the past three days, leaving you with that just-been-thoroughly…sorry, I’ve-just-had-the-best-sex-of-my-life look on your face!”

The room fell silent around them. Rebecca stared at Karmen, horrified.

“Oops. I said that rather loudly, didn’t I?” Karmen asked, then grinned unrepentant.

“Fantastic. The rumor mill will now be abuzz with talk of me.”

“Sweetie, tongues are already wagging about you.” Karmen washed down the cake with a swallow of milk.

Chocolate milk. Chocolate cake and chocolate milk; her two comfort foods.

Before Rebecca could ask her if everything was okay, Karmen continued. “Jeanine in X-ray? She’s telling everyone how she saw you and a patient from a few weeks back, all over each other in the parking lot.”

“No. We never…” They’d never done anything inappropriate on hospital grounds. “In the parking lot?”

She forked up another bite of cake. “Mmm-hmm. Something about a sexy number pulling up in a sexy number and giving you the hottest kiss she’d ever seen.”

Shit.
That may have actually happened. A flush of warmth spread through her at the memory.

“She describes it for anyone interested, and I have to say it does sound pretty hot.” Karmen slid her a long look. “Did he really cup your jaw and hold you in place before moving in for the kill? Hold you there, and look at you for a while first? Because
da-ham
!”

A shadow fell over their table and Rebecca looked up to find Nathan, coffee in hand, the corners of his mouth pulled down in a frown. His gaze danced between her and Karmen before settling on her. “I was going to ask if you were aware of the stories spreading through the hospital like wildfire.”

Fantastic.
If they’d reached Nathan, they’d already burned out of control.

“But it’s apparent you have.”

Rebecca grimaced. “Don’t ask me what I think I’m doing.”

“By the sound of it you know exactly what you’re doing,” he replied, his tone a tad too patronizing for her liking. Her mood just shy of pissed-off, she narrowed her eyes at him. Nathan sighed. “You’re a grown woman, Rebecca. You’re free to make your own choices.”

“Yes. I am.”

With that, Nathan walked away.

“Poor man,” Karmen said, her gaze on his retreating back.

Rebecca finished off her coffee. “Nathan? Only the other day you called him a jerk.”

Karmen shrugged. “He’s still a jerk, just a broken-hearted one.”

“He’ll get over it.”

“I’m not so sure, Bec. That was a pretty heavy look he gave you before walking off. Maybe you’re the one who should be called ‘The Stud.’”

Rebecca rolled her eyes and pushed to her feet. “I’m out. I have some charts to finish before the end of my shift. Thanks for helping me feed the gossip mill.”

Karmen flashed a smile. “Anytime, girlfriend.”

She was smiling as she walked out of the cafeteria heading for the emergency department, smiling as she passed a couple of young volunteers, heads tipped together in conversation, smiling when she felt the hand circle her arm.

And then she was pulled around, slamming against a hard chest. “Mr. Masters—” She tried not to panic, to regulate her breathing and calm her heart rate. They were in a hospital, surrounded by people. He couldn’t hurt her here. Why would he try?

But there was no denying the hatred in his eyes as he glared at her, or the force with which he squeezed her arm.

“I know what you did, letting my son die like that.”

“Letting him die?” Rebecca straightened, shifting her shoulder in a way meant to encourage him to release her arm. His grip tightened to the point of pain. “Mr. Masters, I didn’t let your son die. I fought like hell to save him. But his injuries were too severe.”

“It wasn’t my fault. I’m a good father…It wasn’t my fault.”

She set a hand against his shoulder, felt the raggedness of his breaths move through his body. “No one is saying it’s your fault, Mr. Masters.”

He stepped closer, the scent of whiskey wafting off him. “You need to be stopped.” Eyes narrowed into slits, he glared. “You shouldn’t be treating patients.”

Rebecca’s heart skipped a beat as she scanned the hallway for help. Dread crawled over her skin when she found none.
Where the hell was everyone?

Cold fingers circled her other arm, digging in, demanding her attention. He pulled her closer yet, in an embrace that mimicked intimacy, and bile crawled up the back of her throat. “You shouldn’t be treating patients,” he repeated, mouth so close to hers his breath brushed across her lips. “Someone needs to stop you.”

* * *

Rebecca had just finished reporting the incident to hospital security when Nathan walked up. He flicked his glance over her, checking for injuries, then then shook his head. “I just heard what happened.”

“I’m okay,” she said, straightening her lab coat, folding and re-folding her stethoscope before shoving it into her pocket. “He didn’t hurt me.”

“Thank God.” He settled a hand on her arm, blinking with surprise when she jerked away. “Rebecca?”

“I’m sorry.” The adrenaline in her system manifested itself in a severe case of the jitters. Her body trembled, her fingers fidgeted, and her skin felt hypersensitive. It was all a perfectly normal part of the winding-down process, but that knowledge didn’t make dealing with it any easier. “That’s how…I’m sorry.”

He was looking into her eyes. Whatever he saw there must have reassured him because he nodded. “What did security have to say?”

“That they’ll keep their eyes open. Notify all shifts to be watchful in case he returns.” Which he wouldn’t. He was nothing more than a grieving father looking to place blame on someone other than himself. “But that I should remain alert.”

“Good advice. You should probably also make sure you don’t arrive or leave alone until they figure out what the guy wants. Why don’t you grab your things and I’ll take you home?”

The glass doors swooshed open and Dominic stepped into the ER. At the sight of him, Rebecca’s heart tripped along at a stuttered beat. Her breath backed up in her throat. “I’ve got that covered.”

Dominic’s piercing blue eyes settled on her. A smile spread slowly across his face and her chest expanded to the point she feared it would burst. She did the only thing she could do. She walked right into his arms.

They closed around her warm and taut with muscle, held her tightly as she absorbed his warmth and strength. “You’re trembling.”

“Because she was attacked,” Nathan said matter-of-factly.

“I wasn’t attacked,” she was quick to correct as the body against hers went still.

“What else would you call it, Rebecca?” he asked angrily. “You were attacked and threatened.”

“Christ, Becca!” Dom pulled back, cupping her nape to look into her eyes. “Someone threatened you?”

“No. He didn’t threaten me.” Not really. He only said she needed to be stopped, not that he planned to stop her. “Nathan is overreacting.” She hadn’t thought it was possible, but at the mention of Nathan, Dom’s body tightened even more. She smoothed her hands over his back, communicating with touch that there was nothing for him to worry about.

His gaze lifted, focusing on a spot behind her. “Ah, the infamous Nathan.”

“Dr. Nathan Connelly. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure,” Nathan said not at all welcomely.

“Who said it was a pleasure?” Dominic returned.

Rebecca stepped back in shock, her gaze bouncing between the two of them. They were sizing each other up, and she knew neither could miss their differences. It was like looking at polar opposites. At least physically. As far as similarities went, they both had a streak of arrogance running through them, a confidence that could grate on the nerves. Were both above average in looks, and at the moment, they were also both puffed up like peacocks, squared off in some sort of male posturing as old as time.

Silence reigned. Finally, Nathan broke it. “So, this is your Englishman?”

“Bloody hell,” Dominic muttered.

“Charming,” Nathan replied.

Rebecca shook her head. Having had enough of their nonsense, she stepped away.

Only to have Dom snake his arm around her waist and pull her back. “Becca, tell me it isn’t him.”

“What isn’t me?”

“Dominic—”

“Are you shitting me?” He looked Nathan up then down, an expression on his face of a bad taste in his mouth.
“Him?”

The confident smile drained from Nathan’s face. “What’s wrong with me?”

Dominic continued, his attention focused solely on her. “A fucking vibrator is better than this guy.”

Nathan’s body went taut, hands clenched at his sides. “Fuck you!”

Gazing back at him, she gave Dom the truth. “Aside from the arrogance, he was about as far opposite from you as I could get.”

“Fuck you, too, Rebecca.”

She felt more than saw Nathan walk away. She would deal with him later. Right now her only concern was the man standing at her side, arm slung around her waist, looking more than a little uncomfortable over what he’d just learned. She considered him carefully. “You don’t have to be jealous, you know.”

“I’m not jealous.”

His reply came far too quickly for her to believe. “Dom.”

“I’m not jealous, Becca.”

If that was true, what was the emotion swimming in his eyes? “It was only one night.”

“Fuck,” he muttered beneath his breath, then released her and stacked his hands atop his head. He looked around the emergency department, gaze never settling in one place for long. He looked everywhere but at her. “Is there anything you need to finish up or are you ready to go?”

“I need to hang up my lab coat and get my purse from my locker.”

“Sure. I’ll wait here.”

True to his word, she returned to find him standing in the exact spot she’d left him. Deep in thought he seemed completely oblivious to the people around him, a few of them staring openly as if they recognized his fame. It was either that, or he just didn’t care.

As she approached, he pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against and slipped an arm around her waist. Uncustomary quiet settled over them. By the time they reached the car, Rebecca couldn’t take it any longer.

“Hey,” she said, snagging his hand as he pressed the remote door release. “Talk to me.”

He cupped the side of her face, brushed his fingers over her temple; his thumb over her jaw, her lips. He replaced his thumb with his mouth, delivering a soft caress of lips, a slow seduction that promised so much more and had her reaching for him.

But he had already stepped back, and was holding the car door open as he waited for her to slide in. He closed the door behind her, then he circled the vehicle, slid behind the wheel, and drove her home in silence.

Chapter Seventeen

If Dominic had thought learning Rebecca had slept with another during their time apart was like a punch in the stomach, meeting that person face-to-face had been a kick in the dick.

He sat in the middle of Rebecca’s living room while nursing an ale. The lights were dimmed. Muted sounds of running water carried to him from the other room, and he knew she was standing beneath the shower, running hands over luscious curves. She’d invited him to join her, yet here he sat, imagining what her body looked like all soaped up and wet instead of seeing it for himself.

He’d turned her down. Not because he didn’t want her with a violence that twisted his gut. He did. But because he knew he couldn’t touch her right know without wondering if the noises she made while he pleasured her, were the same she’d made for the doctor.

And didn’t that just make him a sorry sonofabitch?

Nathan.

Dr. Nathan Connelly.

She couldn’t just pick a man with golden boy good looks; he had to be a doctor? A fucking trauma surgeon to boot!

Dr. Nathan Connelly, chief trauma surgeon at her hospital and an arrogant prick.

He knew, because as Becca went to fetch her purse, he’d pulled his mobile from his pocket and checked the man out.

Bloody wanker.

Lifting the ale to his lips, he took a pull, admitting to himself that he was bothered more by the guy’s appearance than his arrogance. Arrogance he understood, but…that was the type of guy Becca was attracted to? The type of guy she wanted?

Polished.

Put together.

Creased dress slacks.

Proper shoes.

Every close-cropped hair in place, and hands that looked as if he got regular manicures.

Respectable.

Fuck.

If this was the type of guy Becca wanted, he didn’t stand a chance in hell. What was it she’d said to him?
“Aside from the arrogance, he was about as far opposite from you as I could get.”
Who knew she could throw a punch without ever making a fist?