Page 14 of Desire Me
Damn it. Of all the questions she couldn’t answer, this was probably the biggest one. “I honestly don’t know. We have a few more days before you are well enough to even consider leaving. That gives the police time to see what they can uncover.”
One corner of the woman’s mouth quirked up. “Time is one thing I do have.” Fear flickered in those deep brown eyes. “What happens if they don’t find anything?”
Leah dared to move closer, to ease one hand over and place it gently atop the ones gripping the covers like they were the only thing anchoring the woman in place. Her Jane Doe watched the move like a snake approaching.
“We’re not going to abandon you,” Leah promised before easing her hand back.
The woman gave a sharp, abbreviated shake of her head. “I don’t know any of you.”
I can’t trust you,she meant.I can’t trust anyone.
Leah nodded. The woman likely wouldn’t be here long enough for true trust to build, but Leah couldn’t escape the feeling that she needed to try to help anyway. “I know,” she said. She’d been where this woman was, no one to trust, no one to turn to. She truly did know. Turning to the bedside tray, she poured half a glass of water and passed it to the woman. “But that will get better as your brain heals, I promise.”
As if her promises were worth anything right now. Leah watched as the patient sipped the water, chatted inanely for a few more minutes, then took the glass back as the woman’s eyes began to droop. Squaring her shoulders, she gave the woman another smile. “I’ll be back to visit you tomorrow. Leah, remember?”
“For now?” The woman almost returned her smile, then closed her eyes. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Good.” Leah moved toward the door. “See you tomorrow.”
As she stepped into the corridor and down the hall, passing the orderly pushing the cart of dinner trays, she held the glass by its rim, tucked close to her thigh. When she reached the elevator, she pulled out her cell and placed a call to the Agozi brother she knew could help her most.
Chapter Eight
Remi Agozi stuffed another chocolate chip cookie into his mouth and chewed like it was his mission. It had become a habit, indulging his sweet tooth while he waited for the woman he loved to finish work. The parking garage outside Fulton Memorial felt about as safe as a fucking drug den, and until he could convince her she didn’t need to work—hell, didn’t need to live anywhere but with him, much less work—he tried as often as he could to be outside the elevator doors when she walked through them each night.
Cookies just naturally became his sidekick.
He grabbed another soft brown circle from the container on the dashboard and brought the sweet thing to his mouth. Leah and Brooke had made the batch together this past weekend. He’d never tell either of them that he preferred the oatmeal molasses cookies his brother’s girlfriend made, though he did. Abby’s cookies were perfection, but he wasn’t going to turn his nose up at the dark-chocolate goodies Leah and her daughter had supplied him with. Sugar was sugar.
Maybe for the upcoming holidays they could attempt making the ones with a chocolate kiss in the middle of a peanut butter cookie—Brooke would get a kick out of that, and every time the six-year-old gave him a happy smile, a fist squeezed around his heart. He and his brothers hadn’t grown up with that kind of excitement. Hell, they’d never celebrated Christmas, although he had vague memories of Hannukah. Their parents had been Jewish, keeping the faith throughout their short lives. After their murders, Remi and his brothers had been on the streets.
Not much call for celebrating when you were literally fighting to survive. Sometimes he couldn’t believe how fucking far they’d come from the scraps of flesh and bones they’d been in the past.
The steel elevator doors split open, breaking into dark thoughts better left locked away. In the beam of light that spilled into the garage, his Leah exited, her gaze locking immediately on his SUV, her steps beelining for him like she had a homing device implanted. Maybe she did. He sure as fuck knew exactly where she was the second he entered a room. She was the lodestone that drew him no matter where she stood—or walked, in this case. A quick lean and pop and the passenger-side door opened to invite her to join him.
“Hey,lev sheli.”My heart.And she was. No sooner had her ass hit the leather than his hands were on her hips, pulling her closer. Her mouth opened in surprise, and he took full advantage, covering her lips with his, tongue taking no prisoners as he delved deep. Beneath the layers of hospital cleanser and humanity that she always wore at the end of her shift, he found the feminine scent that belonged solely to her and savored it, drew it into his lungs as if it were his first real breath of the day.
Leah returned his kiss with her own intensity until they were both breathless and the ache in his cock had him eyeing the back seat. Her little laugh as she eased back sent precum seeping into the material of his boxer briefs. “It wouldn’t do for any of the staff to catch their head ER nurse making out with some stranger in the parking garage,” she said, voice husky with need.
“Then close the door,” he growled. “You didn’t think we tinted the windows this dark just so targets couldn’t identify us?”
She slammed the heavy door closed. A smirk tugged at her lips. “Oh, so you were thinking about getting women alone in here, then?”
“Not women—one woman.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, whatever, Romeo.”
“I’ll show you Romeo.”
He pulled her back into his arms, and for long minutes nothing but the feel of her against him, her mouth yielding to him, filled his awareness.
It was Leah who pulled away the second time too, and he frowned. Seriously, he needed to up his game if she was this capable of actual thought when he was kissing her. But then he noticed the dazed look in her eyes and felt his chest swell like a fucking asshole. He’d put that look on her face. Tonight he’d make it last—
“Much as I really want to do this with you”—she brushed her blonde hair back with a shaky hand, and he grinned—“I still need to go visit my patient, and doing that with beard burn would be totally inappropriate.”
He eyed the delicate color surrounding her mouth. Her skin was so fair. “Too late.”
The color spread to her cheeks, and she backhanded his chest with a limp hand. “Thanks.”
