Page 6 of Heartbeats Amidst Chaos: Part 2

Her hand was still on his chest, holding him there, just inches away. His heart was beating faster than it had been before. As was hers. She felt breathless—smothered and safe at the same time. He smelled of sandalwood, laundry detergent, and warm, clean skin. His heat enveloped her, burning through the thin fabric of her robe.

She wanted him to keep coming closer until they merged into one being. Slowly, she lifted her eyes, just as his own fluttered closed. He bent centimeters closer until his temple rested against hers, his breath a featherlight touch on her cheek. Hishands slid lower, lifting the short hem of her robe and brushing her butt cheeks with warm, calloused palms.

She caught her breath again and gave in completely. Her hand slipped from his chest to the back of his neck as she pulled him in, burying her fingers in the thick, soft depths of his hair and turning their faces to meet each other in a kiss that was somehow even more perfect than their first.

Her hands clutched at him, pulling him closer, slipping beneath his shirt, and caressing his muscled abdomen. Heat pooled at her core, and her kiss grew frantic. She drew back just slightly and caught his lower lip between her teeth, biting it gently, and he groaned—definitely not with pain this time.

She caught herself smiling as his hands moved to her neck and slid down her shoulders, taking her silky robe with them. He cupped her breasts in his warm palms as the light garment slipped easily from her body, pooling about her bare feet and leaving her naked. Then, his hands were sliding down her sides, over her hips, clutching her buttocks once again and lifting her into him, deepening a kiss she hadn’t thought could go any deeper.

Rissa was completely lost to her better judgment as she gasped for breath between kissing him. She wrapped her legs around him, feeling the hard swell of his clothing-blocked cock between her legs once again. With one arm wrapped around his neck, the fingers of her other hand fumbled lower, toward his waistband, and Elio winced.

Abruptly, Rissa was yanked back to reality. She remembered the maze of bruises and cuts that covered Elio’s body, the sutures she had put in. Despite the virility she felt surging through the form pressed so closely to hers, he was in no condition to be doing any of this.

And now that she was returning to her senses, she was not at all sure that theyshouldbe doing this. He was no longer her patient and she was no longer his hostage, but where did that even leave them? And he hadn’t answered her question.

Elio must have felt the sudden tension that overtook her. When she suddenly drew away from the kiss, dropping her feet to the ground and untangling herself from his grip with almost frantic haste, he did not resist. He released her immediately and stepped back, his face lost in the room’s deep shadow as she snatched up her robe and pulled it back around her, shock at her own abandon quickly cooling her arousal.

With her robe tightly back around her, Rissa somehow still felt naked and exposed before him. She took a moment to catch her breath and order her thoughts. Then, she asked him again, this time in a tone that broached no avoidance.

“What are you doing here?”

Chapter five

“Did you know your house was being watched?” Elio asked. Before him, Rissa managed to look regal and distant in her silky robe, as if they hadn’t just made out like long-lost lovers against the wall. The only hint that she had just been beautifully naked and straddling him was the flush diffused over her high cheekbones, her swollen lips, and the mussed state of her damp hair.

Elio was having more of a struggle pulling himself together. He wanted nothing more than to pull her back to him, strip off both their clothes, and finish what they started. His heart was still pounding double-time, and his erection was obvious and slow to subside.

But Rissa’s arms were crossed protectively over her chest, and she pulled back with a suddenness amounting to panic. It wasmore than he could have ever expected that she had come to him for even that brief moment. He would not push her.

“I figured the detectives would put someone on the house,” Rissa answered, her gaze flicking toward the curtained window.

Elio nodded. “There are cops,” he confirmed. “One in the front and one in the back. But I think there’s someone else too. Charcoal Mustang, tinted windows. Any idea who that could be?”

Rissa shook her head and bit her lip, her forehead crinkled with worry as she glanced at the window again. “How did you get in?” she asked after a moment. “Andwhyare you here? You still haven’t answered that question, and I’m going to keep asking it until you do.”

Elio grinned as the spunkiness returned to Rissa’s voice. It reminded him of when she had scolded people right and left at the hospital in his defense. Nothing kept her down very long.

“I need to talk to you,” he said. “But I’d rather do it without the risk of someone coming to the door. Are you down to go somewhere? I’ll take you out to breakfast,” he offered with a glance at the clock on her bedside table.

Rissa’s eyebrows rose, and Elio felt a sudden, unexpected flutter of nerves. This surprised him. It had been a very long time since he had asked a girl out and felt anxious about her answer.

She was studying him in a way that made him tingle.

“All right,” she said abruptly. “I’m not going to sleep now until I get some of my questions answered anyway. Just let me get some clothes on.” Her face flushed a slightly deeper shade of pink as she turned back toward the bathroom.

She came back out in a pair of faded blue jeans and a pale pink t-shirt with a Marathon logo across the front, running a hand through her damp hair and tossing it lightly as if to speed the drying process. He found it hard to believe she was the same carefully professional and guarded angel doctor who had cared for him only hours before. With her freshly kissed lips, fitted clothes on her curvy figure, rakish hair, and challenging eyes, she looked ready for anything in an entirely different way.

Elio’s heart was still thundering, and he felt slightly lightheaded. That could still be the effects of the blood loss though. Or the concussion. Surely?

“Okay,” she said gamely. “How do we get out of here without being seen?”

Elio grinned. “The same way I came in. Side window. No one ever watches the sides of the house—just the back and the front.”

“Isn’t that because you can usuallyseethe sides from the back and the front?” Rissa asked, following him through her house to the tall window he managed to unlatch in the small, unlit dining room.

“Not when there’s an overgrown hedge between your house and the neighbor’s,” Elio explained. Poking his head out the window,he glanced quickly to the right and left before wedging his body through the narrow space with a grunt. Rissa followed more easily. When he reached to help her and stumbled, she grabbed his elbow instead and steadied him.

He saw the doctor appear for a moment in her expression again, but she said nothing as they crept across the sheltered space along her side wall and around the back of the neighbor’s house. The sky glowed with the lingering sunrise. Aside from the clear trill of morning birdsong, the neighborhood was quiet.

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