Blink of an Eye (6 page)

Jay and Scott set the victim down in the middle of the street, then her brother stalked towards her with an angry stride. Oh hell, she didn’t really want to deal with this. She’d take care of her overbearing brother the way she always had.

She’d expected a full frontal assault on her being right in the middle of the shit. What she got was something else altogether. “Who’s the baby doc and what are you doing with him?”

“Scott Carnes, and I don’t think it’s any of your business, is it?”

“I saw the way he looked at you, Cass, and vice versa. Since when did you get into cradle robbing?”

She rocked back as if slapped. “What the hell? Did you just say what I think you did?” It didn’t matter that she’d thought almost exactly the same thing just moments before.

“Damn straight I did. What’s Mom going to say when you bring Junior home for dinner? Or are you just screwing him?”

Cassidy’s blood began to boil. Jay could be an overbearing ass, but this was over the top, even for him. “I have no idea what the hell is up with you, but we’re finished with this conversation. When you figure out what it was you were trying to say, in your muscle-thickened brain, you know how to get in touch. And there’d better be a fucking apology to start it off.” She whirled away, and her fury drained as she took in the scene unfolding before her. Jay’s butt-headed behaviour could never matter as much as this.

The firemen attending Corina and another patient who’d materialised from a different house had rushed to Scott’s side, ordering the civilian away to let them do their job.

Cassidy held her breath. Now she knew why she’d insisted on driving. She’d wanted, no, needed to see Scott in his element, to see what had been taken away from him. Would he accede to the paramedic’s insistence, or revert to the man honed by six years of battlefield experience?

Chapter Eight

Scott reached into his bag and located his field scissors, slicing through the man’s T-shirt before donning his stethoscope and laying the diaphragm on the victim’s chest. “Patient is approximately seventy, possible fracture of L5S1 from initial assessment.” He paused, fingers on the man’s pulse as he listened to his heartbeat. “BP is thready but not alarming. He’s not going defib, but he’s shocky.” He pulled the stethoscope out of one ear. “Y’all got a backboard on your rig or is there an ambulance en route?”

He met the paramedic’s eye. The medic stared straight back at him for a brief second, sprinted to his truck and returned quickly with the board.

His partner had taken over caring for the woman and was bundling her and Corina into the back of Jay’s cruiser.

“How bad is it?” Scott referred to the damage path of the twister as he and the fireman carefully shifted the patient onto the backboard.

“Just this neighbourhood. It sucked back into itself, but fucked up the streets enough that it was hell getting through with the rig. Ambulance should be along in just a minute.” The paramedic shifted his attention to their patient. “Sir? Officer Thompson will be taking your wife and granddaughter to the hospital in his patrol car. We’ll follow as soon as the ambulance gets here.”

Scott lifted his head, suddenly realising the area had become a swarm of law enforcement officials and rescue workers while he and the unnamed paramedic had worked on stabilising Grandpa.

He wasn’t needed here anymore, he could see that. But damn, it had felt good to be part of the action again.

He stood wearily as the adrenaline started to fade and noticed Cassidy standing next to the patrol officer, deep in conversation. She looked gorgeous, even though her sexy dress was dirty and her pantyhose had a huge run in them. Her hair had fallen out of its careful arrangement and hung to her waist, dishevelled. The sight made his chest ache. It didn’t help his struggle to stay mad at her for endangering herself, for going against his order to stay outside.

The cop glared at her angrily and she stared right back, obviously furious. Instant rage careened through Scott. Who in the hell was this guy?

Cassidy turned, caught his eye and smiled, a full-wattage, no-holds-barred smile telling him he’d done everything right. It was then that he knew he wanted her for more than a one-nighter. He hadn’t died when he’d lost his fucking eye, so there was no way in hell he was going to live like the walking dead. He’d figure something out, some way to make this work. The thought calmed him.

He remembered the paramedic talking to their patient, telling him Officer Thompson would be taking his family to the hospital. Thompson…her brother, he was sure. He looked hard and saw the family resemblance, even though both were obviously pissed off as hell at each other.

“Doctor?” The tone in the medic’s voice told Scott he’d queried more than once. “Where should I drop off your medical stuff?”

“Sorry.” He swept a hand through his plaster-crusted hair. What he’d done here today felt good, but he realised, really realised, for the first time, he’d never be a PJ again. Cassidy had been right, he’d needed someone to drive him, and, even though they’d been a great team, he’d never be a part of the brotherhood of the Air Force Pararescue Service ever again.

He caught the paramedic’s eye. “I’m not a doc. Don’t worry about my gear. I won’t be needing it again.”

The medic, Hayes, by his brushed-aluminium name tag, coughed and cast a quick glance at his eye patch, then dropped his attention back to their patient. “Whatever you say, doc.”

* * * *

Scott slid into the bucket seat of the SUV, more exhausted than he could ever remember. He’d come to too many realisations today, and it had wiped him out. While he might recognise, in his heart, that the woman in the driver’s seat was everything his horoscope had prophesied, he had no idea how to make it become a reality, not now when his brain was turning to Jell-O. “That was one helluva date, Cassidy. Let’s not do this again.” He turned to face her. “What the hell were you thinking, going in there after I told you not to?”

“You sound just like Jay. I knew what I was doing, so chill. Everything worked out all right.” She shot him a grin that bathed her face in pure beauty. Impossibly, his cock hardened. Apparently he wasn’t too tired for that. It made it really difficult to stay angry. “Relax, okay? I’ve got an idea.”

He rested his head against the slick leather, ignoring his throbbing dick. Right now, he was more than willing to follow Cassidy’s lead. He found himself dozing, and brought himself awake with a start. He’d never napped after an op unless he was with his team, and then it had been because any kind of sleep was an imperative. Doing so in her presence signified just how much she’d wormed her way into his head and heart in two short days.

He studiously ignored the surge of jealousy he’d felt… He’d been envious of many things in his life—family, belonging—but never of a woman. She wasn’t his to ‘own’. Hell, Cassidy Thompson would never be beholden to anyone but herself. And how could someone like him ever fit into her life? Did he even want to try?

The truck rolled to a stop in the small lot behind her building, and he pulled himself out with an effort. The culmination of the night, and the sudden realisation that Cassidy had become frighteningly important to him in such a short amount of time, had left him utterly desolate. It should have pissed him off that he was so weak, but he was too damned tired to be mad. The docs had told him he’d tire easily, but this was freaking ridiculous. He’d lost an eye, not a limb.

Cassidy led him inside and pushed him down into the easy chair. “Have a seat. I’ll be out in a sec.” He sank back into the plush fabric, staring blindly at the brick wall opposite him.

He dimly heard the sound of running water, the pad of her bare feet as she walked behind the chair into the open kitchen, and the soft clink of a bottle being uncapped.

He met her halfway across the open space of the living room/kitchen combo, gratefully accepting the beer she extended. He took a moment to appreciate the jade green robe draped silkily over her curves, making her fair beauty all the more startling. Her hair was piled on top of her head with one of those contraptions only women know how to operate, leaving the long curve of her neck exposed. He licked his lips. He’d never wanted a taste of something so badly in his entire life.

Cassidy shook her head with a smile, took his hand and led him into the biggest freakin’ bathroom he’d ever seen. He might have used the facilities the other night, but he hadn’t really noticed. The enormous tub frothed with bubbles pushed lazily by hidden Jacuzzi jets.

“I like your idea just fine.”

She smiled and stepped forward, tugged his filthy T-shirt over his head and dropped her hands to his belt. He set his beer on the side of the tub and took over the job of undressing, watching with avid interest as she loosened the robe and let it puddle at her feet.

He pushed his slacks and briefs past his stiffening cock, toed off his ruined patent-leather shoes and stripped off his socks before stepping into the warmth of the bath.

Cassidy joined him, hissing in a breath as she eased down into the water, the jut of her nipples just peeking through the foam. Her hiss turned into a long moan of pleasure that reverberated through his body.

He pushed away from his side of the tub. Her foot in the middle of his chest stopped him getting any closer.

“Down, big guy, we’ll have plenty of time for that later.”

Settling against the padded seat, he sighed, took a sip of his beer and really looked around for the first time. The bathroom, like the rest of the house, was simple and comfortable, but expensive nonetheless, with a top-of-the-line glass shower opposite the tub. Maybe now was the time to start getting to know who Cassidy really was, rather than who he imagined her to be.

“I don’t mean to sound nosy… But how in the hell do you afford all this?”

She looked uncomfortable for a moment, then answered forthrightly, “Brian and I drew up our wills before the wedding and I was all he had. So when he died…” She let the sentence trail off. “It took me years to accept that he would have wanted me to be happy. Years where I did the things I thought he’d do.”

“Like what?” he asked softly.

“Reserve cop, even though it gave Jay hives. I thought my Mom was gonna have a stroke when I started the volunteer fire department here in Guthrie and insisted on going on every call myself.” She lifted her beer to her lips and took a thoughtful swig. “In a way, I was trying to honour his memory.”

“And maybe kill yourself in the process?” Scott had seen it more than once in the line of duty. Survivor’s guilt. Her statement also reinforced what she’d said earlier about knowing what she was doing. He wondered if anything shook her, since she’d lived through and recovered from the worst.

“Maybe.” She hesitated. “A few years ago I walked past this building and could see the potential. It was way too big for the coffee shop alone, so I converted the rest into my home.”

“How is it we never met each other before?” Even though he’d been a kid, he couldn’t believe he’d missed a presence like Cassidy. “I mean, I may have been in and out of foster care after my parents died, but I should have run into you or your brother.”

She looked him in the eye, no pity or censure at his revelation. Being an orphan had been a sore point with him until the Air Force had become the first family he’d ever had.

“There’s quite a few years between us, Scott, and while it didn’t bother me when we were doing the one-nighter thing, now I’m starting to wonder.”

“Wonder what?” A sudden pang of panic went through him. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted from Cassidy Thompson, but he knew he didn’t want it to end so soon.

“Why it’s not bothering me more, since we’re getting past that stage.”

Scott pondered her words, still meeting her eyes. Relief flooded through him.

“So what do we do now? You’re probably strung tight from this evening, but I’ve got to tell you, I like you a lot, Scott, even though I don’t know you very well.”

God, her honesty was refreshing, as it had been from the first night. “The feeling is mutual, Cass. I’d still like to take you to dinner. I don’t have any idea what life has in store for me.” He shook his head and shifted the bottle to his other hand. “But I’d like to spend time with you, get to know you.”

Cassidy smiled. She had a pretty good idea of where Scott Carnes’ life might be going, even if he didn’t. She’d heard the paramedic’s words this afternoon. She could see ‘trauma surgeon’ written all over Scott, but that was a decision he would have to make on his own. Jay’s bitter words were something she was leaving until tomorrow to dissect.

“I think that can be arranged. Put down your beer and come here.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

He sliced through the water, grinning like a pirate who’d spied a particularly tasty wench.

She laughed, and he captured the sound with his mouth, diving deep with his tongue as he slid slippery hands over her breasts and down her hips. Moaning, she twined her hands around his neck, pulling his body between her thighs. He probed her pussy with callused fingers, drawing teasing circles around her opening. He captured her clit, squeezing lightly as he eased the head of his cock inside her.

“More,” she gasped, reaching through the suds to guide him into her more fully.

“Can’t,” he panted. “Protection.”

She fumbled behind her head for the box of condoms she’d bought that afternoon. Instead of the smooth, suave move she wanted to make, the package slipped in her wet fingers and the whole damned thing went tumbling into the Jacuzzi. Foil-wrapped packages bobbed like tiny little aircraft carriers.

Scott barked out a laugh and scooped one up and stood, tearing off the top.

“Wait.”

He froze, gazing down at her.

He looked like an ancient god, all tightly-hewn muscle, with his glorious cock jutting out, just begging for a taste.

She closed the short distance between them and circled her fingers around his shaft. Sucking him between her lips, she caressed the length of him as she did so, drawing a wrenching groan from deep within him.