Read An Indecent Longing Online

Authors: Stephanie Julian

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Erotica, #Romantic, #Romance, #Contemporary

An Indecent Longing (8 page)

BOOK: An Indecent Longing
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No sense wasting time on things he couldn’t change. Especially not when he needed to pick up his pissed-off client from last night and escort the dick back to the airport.

At least the guy was leaving.

* * * * *

Dorrie received the message at 2:03 p.m.

Incoming. KW. Shoulder. 25. Male.

She was in the middle of examining a thirty-year-old single mother of two who had barely been able to drag herself and her children out of their apartment. Her fear of losing her job if she didn’t have a valid doctor’s excuse was greater than her inability to breathe.

Dorrie grit her teeth against the urge to text back and tell whoever had messaged her to take the asshole with the knife wound to the emergency room because she was with someone who needed her more.

Only…that’s not how her arrangement with her dad worked.

Double-edged sword.

That’s what her mom had said when Dorrie had told her what her dad had offered. And her mom knew about those firsthand.

Dorrie had decided the pros outweighed the cons. And, for the most, they had.

Then there were days like this.

She texted back.

Life-threatening? ETA?

Probably not. Ten minutes.

It would take her that long to walk back to her office. At least the incoming patient probably wouldn’t die before she got there. Probably.

Damn it.

“Gloria, I need to leave for an emergency but I want to continue our discussion. I’m going to give you a script for antibiotics and a note for your employer. And I want to see you again Monday but I want to see you at my office.”

Working out the details took a few minutes but Dorrie didn’t rush.

So her next patient was already waiting for her when she got back to her office.

“Jesus, Doc. What the fuck took you so long? This fucking hurts.”

The unfamiliar young man sitting on the exam table in the private room accessible from a separate entrance couldn’t have been more than twenty and dressed like a gangbanger. Low-slung baggy jeans. Black wife-beater. Flat-brim baseball cap.

The snarl on his lips made his handsome face much less attractive, and his expression when he looked up at the man standing by his side made Dorrie want to stick her fingers into his wound before she shot him up with painkillers.

He was one of “those.” Men who thought women were only good for one thing and she didn’t mean cooking.

Before she could respond, however, the man who stood beside the table smacked the gangbanger on the back of the head.

“You better keep your mouth shut or I will tell the doc to let your stupid ass bleed out on her table. Sorry, Dr. Haverstick. He’s young and stupid.”

“Hey! What—”

One look from Gennady Marcov and the guy shut his mouth with an almost audible snap.

Barely containing her smile, she grabbed gloves and pulled them on.

“How are you, Gens? I haven’t seen you for a while.”

An anomaly among the hulking tribe of men her father employed as muscle, Gens stood a solid six-two but was built like a runner rather than a brick outhouse. His light brown hair and warm blue eyes gave him an air of approachability. But she had no doubt he was just as deadly. Maybe more so because he looked so…normal.

“I’m good.” A faint smile graced his handsome face. “Everything okay here?”

Dorrie knew exactly what he was asking and why he couldn’t elaborate. Not many people knew he and Blank were friends. A security measure put in place by her dad.

“Yes. No problems.”

Gens nodded. “Good to know.”

“So now that you two are all caught up, can you get back to my fu—uh, shoulder now?”

Ah, yes, her surly patient.

With a sigh, she tilted her head toward the door. “I can take it from here, Gens. Why don’t you wait in the back?”

Where he could spend a few minutes with Blank, who was going stir-crazy and threatening to leave the second her back was turned. Since she’d left him here alone for several hours with only a nurse, she figured he knew he needed more rest.

Gens’s narrowed eyes sliced to her patient. “You sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’ll just shoot him up with tranqs if he doesn’t behave.”

The scowl on the young guy’s face deepened while Gens’s smile widened.

“You have my permission. I’ll be back in a few.” Then he turned to the gangbanger again. “You get out of line and it won’t just be me you’re dealing with. Best advice? Keep your mouth shut. It does you no favors.”

With that parting shot, Gens left the exam room and she turned her full attention to her new patient, who now watched her every move with narrowed eyes.

“You don’t look old enough to be a doctor.”

Not exactly what she’d expected as she began to poke and prod at the wound. And since it wasn’t a question, she ignored him. She provided care for her dad’s men because that was the agreement, but she didn’t have to talk to them.

Which makes you a total bitch.

Suppressing a frown, she stood in front of the guy, who watched her with the wary gaze of someone expecting to be hurt.

“How did this happen?” she asked.

He meant to shrug but winced instead and the pain on his face made him look about twelve years old.

“Asshole with a knife and a bad attitude. Didn’t move fast enough. Story of my life.”

The tone of his voice tugged at some string inside her as she ran through her examination and began to clean and dress the wound.

She’d already noticed the network of scars all over his body. A pattern of abuse, probably from childhood, if the age of the scars was anything to go by.

“Maybe you need a different line of work.”

“Yeah, and maybe I need to win the lottery but for now I gotta eat and feed my kid.”

Jesus, this kid had a kid. “How old?”

“Me? Twenty.”

“Your child.”

The hard-ass expression vanished and his smile transformed his face. “Two. She’s great.”

“I’m sure she is.”

Which begged the question, how had he gotten wrapped up with her father? But that wasn’t a question she could ask. That was another one of the rules of the arrangement. No questions.

“You wanna see her picture?”

She couldn’t say no when she saw the way his eyes lit up just talking about his daughter, and when he whipped out his wallet and dug out the picture of a smiling little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, she couldn’t help but grin.

“She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, she is. And she needs to eat so I need to be able to use my arm. How about some painkillers, Doc?”

Twenty minutes later, her patient and Gens were walking out the door, leaving her alone in a much-too-quiet office. She assumed her nurse was with Blank, who would probably be able to go home tomorrow.

She’d managed to sidestep Blank’s interrogation all day. She knew he wouldn’t discuss personal matters while her nurse was within hearing distance. Blank trusted very few people, and Dorrie’s nurse wasn’t one of them.

But she’d avoided him for as long as she could. If she waited any longer, he’d know something was up.

On her way to his room, she thought about how much to tell him. He’d made a few veiled reference to finding someone else to cover her back while he was out of commission, but she planned to fight that tooth and nail. Even though she knew if her dad had anything to say about it, she’d find herself with another man in her life whose only purpose was to make sure she didn’t have any fun at all.

And that wouldn’t work for tonight. Tonight she planned to have fun if it killed her.

After telling the nurse to take a couple of hours and get some lunch, she took a second for a few deep breaths before she walked into his room.

“So, how are you feeling today?”

Blank’s scowl would’ve made a grown man shrivel. She’d gotten used to him over the years.

“Like I’m going to dissect the next person who asks me that question in that tone of voice.”

It appeared Blank was back to his normal self.

“Glad to hear it. You gave me a pretty decent scare last night. I’d kind of prefer you didn’t do that again.”

His scowl turned into a grimace in a blink. “Shit. Sorry.”

“I’m really glad you’re going to be okay.”

And there was the smile she’d been trying to coax out of her normally stoic bodyguard. “I had no doubt you’d fix me up right. So’d the kid hang around and take you home?”

And there was the first land mine. But he’d phrased it in a way that she didn’t have to lie. “Yes, he did.”

“Good. Now when the hell can I get out of here?”

She laughed and his smile grew. “Tomorrow.” She held up a hand when his mouth opened to complain. “And if you fight me, I’ll make you stay until the next day.”

He scowled. “Now you’re just being mean. And you look tired. You sure you’re okay?”

Pulling up a chair next to the bed, she sat down. “I’m fine. I’m just curious about something. How do you know Ian Keller?”

She didn’t know what she’d expected when she’d decided to ask Blank about Ian, but it hadn’t been this. He looked like he was smiling. Blank barely ever smiled.

“I’ve known him for years, grew up in the same neighborhood. Then he went into the service and I stayed home.”

She could tell there was more to the story but he didn’t continue. So she gave him a nudge.

“Did you keep in touch? Are you still friends?”

Blank leaned back in bed and she didn’t notice any sign of discomfort. “We were never really friends. I’m three years older than Ian, and he didn’t have a lot of friends back then anyway. Always pretty much a loner, except for Ben. Kept to themselves pretty much. They lived with their grandmother and she was pretty old so she relied on them to— Hey, what’s wrong? Dorrie?”

Her brain had started misfiring and it must have showed on her face. “Did you say ‘their grandmother’?”

“Yeah, Ben and Ian are cousins. Why?”

“I just didn’t…realize they were related.”

Now Blank’s gaze narrowed. “And that’s a problem, why? What happened?”

She shook her head, forcing a wry smile for the man who could read her a little too well. “It’s not a problem. You know I met Ian a while ago and I just don’t see a resemblance.”

She wasn’t sure Blank was going to let her explanation slide as he continued to stare at her. But finally, he shook his head. “True. So what are you doing tonight?”

Apparently, she was going to dinner with the cousin of the man she still had erotic dreams about. And then she remembered that Ben had told her he was living with his cousin.

“I’m going home. I’ve got a date with a bottle of wine, a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels, and two hot guys.” When Blank’s eyebrows drew down in a hard frown, she actually found she could laugh. “I’m watching a TV show about two brothers fighting monsters.”

With a sigh, Blank shook his head. “I don’t know whether to be glad you’re staying in or worried that you’re not going out.”

Sliding off the bed, Dorrie patted Blank’s arm and made for the door before she made some stupid comment and he knew something was up.

“It’s just another night, Blank. You have a good one and tomorrow you can sleep in your own bed.”

“Dorrie.”

She stopped in the doorway and looked over her shoulder.

He looked like he wanted to say something but then thought better of it. “Don’t get too comfortable on that couch. You might never leave the damn thing.”

And maybe she was safer there.

“Sure, Blank. See you later.”

She was able to make it to her car before the anxiety set in. But when it hit, she could barely breathe.

Sitting in the driver’s seat of her car in the parking garage beneath her office building, she gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled hands and forced herself to breathe deeply.

Did Ben know about her and Ian? He’d been deliberately vague any time she’d asked about his cousin and—

Holy shit.

They lived together. And she’d slept in Ian’s bed last night.

Her heart began to race so fast she thought she might actually stroke out.

What if—

No. No, he wouldn’t have done it. Ian wouldn’t have slept with her. He hated her.

Jesus. What the hell did she do?

Should she cancel?

What if it turned out Ben knew nothing about her and Ian? What if it was all just a huge cosmic joke that the first man she’d been attracted to after being dumped by Ian was his cousin?

What would Ian think when he found out she was dating Ben? Should she even care what Ian thought?

Maybe she should be more worried about what Ben would do when he found out she and Ian knew each other.

Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel. She had to cancel. Call Ben and tell him something had come up.

I don’t want to cancel.

She liked Ben. Liked the way he made her feel, like she was sexy and interesting and desirable.

And when he finds out you know Ian?

Or I find out he already knows?

What then?

Too many questions. Not enough answers.

So what are you going to do?

* * * * *

Three hours after his discussion with Adam, Ian breathed a sigh of relief as he walked through the back door and into his home.

Christ, the asshole client from hell hadn’t shut up the entire drive to the airport, and Ian had a fucking headache that wouldn’t quit.

At least he had the rest of the weekend to ignore the world.

He had an entire house that needed work, and physical activity was just what he needed to get his mind off…well, everything else.

And by everything, you mean Dorrie.

Yeah, that’s exactly what he meant.

Shit.

Now that he was home, the only thing he could think about was Dorrie.

In his bed. Soft and warm and wanting him.

I’m going to fucking punch Ben.

Since his cousin wasn’t home, he decided to take out his frustration on the oak banister that led from the first floor to the second. The thing was going to be a bitch to sand because of the intricately turned rails, but he needed a challenge to keep his mind off all the other shit in his head.

Stripping down to a pair of cargo shorts, he grabbed what he needed from the basement then set to work on the mind-numbing activity.

BOOK: An Indecent Longing
4.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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