Page 663 of Love Bites

“I’ve seen worse.” He closed his eyes for a moment as if shaking a memory. “I was a war medic during Vietnam.”

I met his gaze, and I could see he meant it. Even though he didn’t look it, Billy Bob had to be close to sixty-years-old. Undoubtedly, he’d seen a lot over the years.

“Come sit with me in the living room. I don’t want to be apart from you.”

I followed him to the couch, and we cuddled on it like two love-struck teenagers. I touched his cheek with my non-star clutching hand. “I’m sorry for your pain. I’d take it from you if I could.”

“My father never believed his dad could really talk to spirits, so when I began my journey as a spirit talker, he made my life in our community miserable. I joined the military as a way to escape my family.”

“Seriously?”

He smiled sadly and stroked my cheek. “I figured I’d rather face an enemy that I didn’t have personal or blood ties with. I walked over one hundred miles to the nearest recruiting station. A week later I was sent off to basic training. I became a combat medic because I wanted to heal people. To help.”

“And that’s why you became a doctor?”

“Yes, when I returned to the states, I made my mind up to go to medical school.” His silvery hair spilled forward, tickling my face as he kissed my forehead. “There were times when I thought Brother Wolf had abandoned me, and it took me many years to get to a place where I really trusted him.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Now I find out that you can talk to him any time you want.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Am I envious? Yes. Am I happy for you? Yes. I am glad Brother Wolf is with you. I’d spare you all this horror if you’d let me, but knowing our spirit guardian is with you, at least gives me some comfort.”

“I’m glad too, but I hope you know I wouldn’t thank you for treating me as if I couldn’t handle it.”

“I know.” He sighed. “It’s two in the morning. We should try to get some sleep. Are you going to open the restaurant tomorrow?”

“Today, you mean.” I made a mental note to text Sunny before going to bed to let her know I was okay. Ugh. I did not want to deal with her innuendoes, especially now that they would all be true!

He smiled.

“Yes, oh, wait. It’s Sunday.” The last three days had melded into one awful blur. “We’d planned to open for breakfast only.” I flinched as another thought occurred to me. “I have a lunch date with Dominic Tartan.”

Billy Bob’s lip curled, and his body began to vibrate with agitation. “No.”

“He might have some insight into the victim. He’d seemed to know the ex-girlfriend, Willy Boden, when she came into the police station. I think I should keep the date.”

“No.”

I patted his chest. “I’ve never seen you act this way, Doc. Don’t you trust me?”

“Fine,” he said, instantly changing his demeanor. “I guess I’ll keep my lunch date with Bethany Hilliard as well. She might know something about Blackwell too.”

“If she touches you, I might have to kill her,” I said.

“Same goes for Tartan,” he said without humor. The blazing intensity in which he stared at me made my heart race and my palms sweat.

“Oh God,” I groaned as a highly developed sense of possession overtook me, and I leaped up and wrapped my legs around him. I let him kiss me until I was light-headed, and when he said, “I’m taking you to bed,” I said, “Take me right here, and then take me to bed.”

The delicious roar that tore from his chest when he bent me over the coffee table made me cry out in triumph. After two spectacular orgasms, he took me to bed, where he made love to me, slower, gentler, as he whispered how much he loved me over and over until I cried.

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