Page 8 of The Naughty One
Mac shrugged. “Fair point. Are you okay? You look donein.”
“It was a long night.” In more ways than one. “Is Dr. Allende all right? He had it worse thanme.”
“He looks good, but then he alwaysdoes.”
“Truestory.”
Mac grinned at her. “So you’re not immune to the good doctor’s charisma then? I thought you were the one hold-out.”
Romy cursed silently but faked a smile. “I’m here to work, not getlaid.”
“I’m just saying … out of all us, I reckon you’d be histype.”
Romy shrugged off the conversation. “Did you hear the news this morning? The murders in New York? The same ashere?”
“Yeah. Jesus, humans,huh?”
“Humans.” She agreed. Her pager went off a second before Mac’s. “We’resummoned.”
It was eveningbefore she even saw Blue again. There was so much paperwork from the murders and the subsequent medical procedures that Romy was sequestered with a police team most of the day. They went over everything again and again. Romy told them again how Yasmin Levant had been stabbed so viciously that her abdominal artery had been shredded, that she had simply bled out before they could attempt any kind ofrepair.
“What about her left femur?” Det. Halsey asked her eventually. “Did your orthopedic department attend thesurgery?”
Romy nodded. “But, to be honest, it was secondary to the abdominal wounds. I’m not an expert, but I assume he—or she—broke her femur to subdue her enough that she couldn’t fight him—or her—off.”
“We’re pretty sure it’s a him,” Halsey saidquietly.
Romy, overtired bristled. “Because women aren’t strong enough to do that to aperson?”
Halsey held his hands up. “I meant no offense, Dr. Sasse. We found DNA on the victim. MaleDNA.”
Romy backed down. “I’m sorry. Badday.”
“Of course. Look, we need to talk about the survivors’ injuries. We got the report that they weren’t as serious as the deceasedvictims.”
“No, that was strange,” Romy said. “They were badly beaten, and they’ll probably need serious psychiatric counseling, but yeah, it is odd that he didn’t finish the job, so to speak.God.”
“And Ms. Levant was the only one with a brokenfemur?”
Romy’s own leg ached and she rubbed it unconsciously. “Detective, the femur is the longest, strongest bone in the human body. The force it takes to break it … it would take anger. Rage. It’s sadistic too … but then, that’s what we’re talking about here, isn’t it? He’s asadist.”
“He is,” the detective agreed, then smiled kindly at her. “You’ll tell your friends to be careful when they leave atnight?”
Romy gave a hollow laugh. “Detective, you’re talking about everyday life for a woman in thisworld.”
Not even halfway throughher shift, Romy was hollowed out through and through. She didn’t know if she even had the strength to walk out of the hospital for a breath of fresh air, when Blue appeared in the breakroom. He didn’t say a word, helping himself to coffee nonchalantly before stepping into the supplycloset.
She knew he was giving her a chance to choose, and choose she did. Dragging herself out of her seat, she joined him in the small room and locked thedoor.
“This isn’t ‘keeping it out of work’ Dr.Allende.”
Blue reached for her. “Shut up and kiss me,woman.”
He crushed his lips against hers, his arms snaking around her waist, pulling her hard against his body. Romy moaned as she felt his erection, hard against her belly. For just a moment she let herself sag, let him carry her weary weight … “God, I want you,but…”
Reality reasserted itself and gently she extricated herself from his arms. “Bad boy.” She wagged her finger at him and helaughed.
“Come home with me tonight and I’ll show you just how much of a bad boy I canbe.”
