Page 22 of Unlawful Seduction

Beckett’s presence loomed in the doorway. I felt it. Every inch of skin tingled because of it.

I turned around with plates, forks, and napkins in my hands, ceasing all movement from the way he was looking at me.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” He moved closer, grabbing a second beer and popping the top. When he thumped it and the water bottle on the side of the table where I’d be sitting, I swallowed hard.

“Have the beer, Doc. It’s obvious you need it.”

CHAPTER 6

Beckett

Very few people had challenged me in my adult life. While women often pretended that they were bad-asses, once you peeled away the layers of clothes, makeup, and jewelry, they were almost always pussy cats needing a solid stroking.

The doc was entirely different. After the lip she’d given me, I’d easily determined she was a tough girl, but only to a point. Her eyes reflected such a soulful look I found my mind wandering to far too many filthy desires. That was totally inappropriate.

I’d found the search page on her computer in her office. She could dig all she wanted, but she wasn’t going to find anything. I’d also caught the expression when she’d noticed lumps in my jacket. Whether or not she’d put the pieces together I wasn’t certain, but it didn’t really matter.

If she’d wanted to call the sheriff based on her apprehensions of me, they’d be rousing me right now. Her curiosity and our chemical attraction had prevented her from doing do.

The mistake I’d made with her was underestimating her sneaky little abilities that came innate to her. The position of my jacket was slightly different. I’d survived two decades of working around the vilest of men by using crystal clear observation skills.

Given I hadn’t had the opportunity to check the wallet, there was no way of knowing if what she’d found had terrified her more than before.

Mallory didn’t respond to my command. She was still busy putting out little cartons of food. She also wasn’t looking at me. Perhaps she believed by aiding me she was an accomplice to whatever horrible crime she’d figured I was responsible for.

When she was finally finished, she rubbed her trembling hands down the front of her scrubs. “Sit,” she told me. “Eat before it gets any colder.”

I did as she asked, completely amused by her reactions to me. One minute she was hot and bothered, the other wishing she had an icepick in her hand. I did so love a woman with spirit. She was the perfect package with complete confidence in her work, the slight air of arrogance a wonderful addition. But privately she was reserved, her nervous tics not ones every male would be astute enough to pick up on, but I’d noticed everything about her.

As she eased into the chair, she brushed at long strands of hair on both sides of her face, tucking them behind her ears several times. The action was more about her continued anger and uncertainty around me.

I settled in, leaning back in my chair and sipping the beer. I still wasn’t certain what had possessed me to demand I stay the night. It wasn’t as if I believed she was incompetent inher profession. The way she’d handled digging a bullet out of my shoulder had been admirable. She’d obviously performed surgery on animals at some point, but working on an injured human could bring about an entirely different type of response.

The only thing that had provided me with a sense of how nervous she’d remained around me was the hitch in her breathing. From my perspective, the electricity we’d both experienced from the night at the hardware store had only increased.

She forked out food from two different containers, adding rice and two egg rolls on the side. I was even rewarded with her taking a couple of gulps of beer from the bottle before she dug into her food.

After a few seconds, I could tell she’d realized she was the only one eating. She lifted her head, a few drops of duck sauce remaining in the corner of her mouth. “What?” she challenged. “I’m hungry. Okay? I didn’t eat much this morning since I knew I’d have a busy day. And lunch, well, forget it. The people kept coming in. So I’m eating.”

Her lilting voice was so sensual that my balls tightened. She didn’t stop eating like a starving woman even as I reached across the small table, running the tip of my index finger through the remnants of sauce.

There was a strange joy in seeing her face turning beet red as she lifted her head. She blinked furiously, her voluptuous chest rising and falling as I pulled my finger into my mouth. Maybe teasing her was a shitty idea, but she’d done so with me almost every step of the way since we’d met.

Mallory swallowed again and forcefully forked her food around the plate, punishing the Kung Pao shrimp for my misdeeds.

She lifted her gaze briefly when I served myself twice what she’d put on her plate. As if not wanting to be outdone, she added a second helping.

“New practice?” I asked after polishing off half my food.

“For me. I purchased it not long ago.”

“Nice. You’re new to town.”

“Aren’t you?” she pushed, her head snapping up this time. “Didn’t you purchase the Ryan place up on the hill?”

“It’s a mountain and I have no clue who owned it before me.”

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