FOUR HOURS LATER, Jake was finally satisfied with how the patient was doing. She was stable and all of her deep wounds had been debrided and covered with moist dressings. Dr. Perkins had seen to the right eye and declared it a complete loss.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, that was the worst of her facial wounds, although the lye had eaten down to the fat layer on one of her cheeks and was certainly going to need some grafting and plastic surgery.
He wasn’t sure why he’d inserted himself between Jeremy and Elia earlier, other than the fact that he’d had an uneasy feeling about how close the man was to her and had reacted before he’d had a chance to think. Because really, Elia was right. She could have certainly gone to check on the scheduling at least.
But other than that, she hadn’t seemed to notice his gaffe. And he still wasn’t sure what that had been about. What he’d said about the parents had certainly been true enough. It didn’t matter. It was over and done, and Elia had done a great job in there. She hadn’t had a single bobble or paused at anything he’d asked her to do during the procedures. It was as if they’d seamlessly worked together for years rather than just a few weeks. The hospital had certainly uncovered a treasure when they found her.
“Thanks for everything,” he said. “I’m headed to my office to get some coffee. Can I interest you in some?”
She stretched, hands massaging the back of her neck for a second or two. “Yes. If I can sit down. I just want to get off my feet for a few minutes.”
“My thoughts exactly. Right now even the thought of getting in my car is too much. These cases are hard. Damned hard.”
As much as they’d tried to cover the worst of the burns to help ease the transition of her parents seeing her for the first time, they were certainly aware that the amount of bandaging was directly related to the amount of damage their daughter’s skin had sustained. They were understandably upset by how she looked. And with the amount of painkillers she’d been given, Dorothy was only semiconscious. She was able to nod, but certainly not aware enough to carry on a whole conversation. And talking prognoses was another hard topic, but one that needed to be discussed.
“Yes they are. You handled the parents well, though.”
“So I get a better rating than I did with Matt?” He could still vividly remember the first time he became aware of who she was. She’d been a fierce advocate of her patient and hadn’t given a flying flip who Jake was or wasn’t. He couldn’t stop the slight smile that appeared.
She smiled back. “I’d give you a B.”
“Not an A?” He was curious as to what her judging standards were. They reached his office and he unlocked the door, ushering her inside.
She seemed to think about the question for a minute. “My As are reserved for exemplary work. Which you may or may not have achieved. But I don’t want you to get a big head.”
That made him laugh. The horrors of what had happened to Dorothy weren’t banished, but talking provided the means to transition back to their personal lives after the hard things they saw and did each and every day. Jake had seen excellent medical personnel burn out or their family lives destroyed from taking their work home with them one too many times. He’d learned to actively combat it.
She helped him fix the coffee as effortlessly as she’d worked beside him while treating their patient. He took a deep breath and allowed himself to relax. “Did you let your folks know you’d be late?”
“I did. My mom called halfway through the debridement procedure, so I stepped out and Sheryll covered for me.”
He hadn’t even noticed. But then again, his attention had been fixed on cutting open blisters and removing skin that was no longer viable. “Did you tell her not to wait up?”
She looked at him for a second before answering. “She already knows not to. In fact, she and my dad headed home right after she called since I have to work tomorrow.”
“Hell, I’d forgotten that. And I drove us up here. Do you want me to just take you home?”
“No. Coffee sounds good. As long as you don’t mind if I curl up on your couch to drink it. I need some time to decompress.”
“Me, too.”
She fixed her cup and then handed him the creamer. He glanced at the shelf where his mugs were. “Sorry I don’t have espresso cups.”
“It’s okay. As long as your coffee is strong.”
“It is.” He followed her over to the sofa and sat next to her. And true to her word, she kicked off her Crocs and curled her legs up underneath her. It was cute and informal, and he found he liked it. A lot. “Not afraid the caffeine will keep you awake tonight?”
“It doesn’t usually, and I’m so keyed up that it will actually help bring me down a little. And yes, I know that that doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does. Because I’m that way, too.” He stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned back into the cushions like he normally did after he worked late. But he was always alone at those times. And he could pretty much count on himself to just fall asleep on the sofa. It was why he kept a clean change of clothes in his office. Fortunately his office had a bathroom connected to it. And the sofa actually pulled out into a bed. Although he couldn’t remember ever using it. He normally just kicked his shoes off and pulled the large crocheted throw one of his patients had made him over himself and laid flat out on the couch.
They sat there for a few minutes before he said, “How’s the leg?” As if worried about her reaction, he added, “Don’t get upset. I just saw you massaging your neck and it made me wonder if it was bothering you. There’s a blanket right beside you. You can use it if you’re cold.”
She frowned and glanced quickly down at her legs before tugging the fabric from her skirt to further cover her right ankle. Then she looked back up at him again as if trying to figure something out. She finally took a deep breath and blew it out. “No. I’m not cold, but thanks. And my leg is a little achy but not terribly. It’s used to me being on it for long periods. But being able to bend them when I’m resting takes the strain off the scar contractures and makes it feel better. Are you sure it doesn’t bother you? Some people don’t like people putting their feet on their furniture.”
“It doesn’t bother me. I kind of like seeing you do it.” The last sentence came out before he realized what he was saying.
But if she found it an odd thing for him to say, she didn’t comment on it. Instead she tipped her head so that her cheek was lying against the back of the leather couch. “It’s comfy. You should try it sometime.”
“I’m not even sure my legs would bend into that position without breaking in half.”
She smiled and, as always, it made something shift sideways in his gut. “Exaggerating at all?”
“Let’s not try it and find out, is all I’m saying.”
They sat there for a few seconds in silence. And he found he liked the quiet after the chaos in Dorothy’s room. Then he said something he’d wanted to say ever since he’d thanked her outside of the treatment room. “You were a great asset in that room tonight. It was like you anticipated my every request. Not everyone has that ability.”
“I think nurses overall do. But I also think because I didn’t know much English when I came to the States, I had to learn to read body language to understand if what people were saying was something good, bad or of little importance.”
That made sense. “Well, your English is excellent now, and I’m glad you haven’t lost the ability to read people.”
“I still have an accent that I can’t quite shake. Rs are hard for me because they’re pronounced so differently in Portuguese. ‘Rural route’ and ‘squirrel’ are superhard. I always want to put a w after the first r in squirrel. And rural route has three of those suckers.” Her laughter tickled his insides and made his smile widen.
He could definitely hear what she was talking about when she said the word squirrel, and she overpronounced the second r in rural route, but he still found it attractive. And he really liked that she could admit that it was hard. Not everyone would.
“I hope you never lose that accent.”
Her head was still resting against the sofa and she reached out to touch his arm. “That was an incredibly nice thing to say.”
“Was it?”
She got very still. “It was. And I hope you never lose the ability to be as caring and nice as you are to your patients. As you are to me.”
The world seemed to pause as he digested those words...as they found their way to a place inside that he hadn’t opened to anyone in a long time.
He stared at her for a second and then leaned forward and kissed her. Only, unlike the last time, this one was on her mouth. And when he lingered a little longer, her mouth clung to his, her head coming off the back cushions to make better contact.
His hand slid behind her neck to support her when he changed the angle.
God, her mouth was sweet. Much sweeter than he’d imagined in the dark places of his mind, when he let himself think about it. Places he hadn’t let surface entirely. Until now.
If she would have hesitated even the slightest bit, he would have stopped immediately and apologized, letting the chips fall where they may. But she evidently didn’t mind. At all. Had she been thinking about him the way he’d been thinking about her when they’d been eating dinner with her folks?
He remembered her knee pressing against his and his reaction to it. If that call hadn’t come in about an emergency, would the night have ended with a kiss the way it was now?
Too many what-ifs and not enough answers. But maybe that was a good thing. Because when she shifted her body so that she was facing him, she went onto her knees in order to do so, while his left arm went behind her back to pull her closer.
So much closer. Only it wasn’t close enough for the impulses that were starting to gather around him, each one part of a long line of wants that were waiting for their chance to be heard. To be felt.
When he shifted Elia again, so that they were front to front, it seemed only natural that one of her knees should come across his thighs and land beside it on the couch. He saw her eyes go to the door before they came back to meet his.
“Do you want me to lock it?” The words seemed to gather in the center of the room as he waited for her reply. Her answer would say it all. Either she would shake her head no and get off his lap, probably beating a hasty retreat from his office. Or she would say yes and...
God, he hoped she said yes.
“No.”
His hopes plummeted for a second before she added, “I’ll do it.”
Everything in him stood at attention as she did just that, climbing from his lap and going over to the door and turning the dead bolt above the handle.
He stood and went over to her, pulling her back against him, and then leaning over to kiss the nape of her neck. Her breath released in a whisper of sound that made his arms tighten around her midsection. All of a sudden he didn’t care that she’d be able to feel his clear reaction to her nearness. That she would know exactly where he was hoping this would lead. And he was hoping.
Because if she changed her mind now, he was going to have a hard time explaining to his body why it couldn’t have what it wanted. But he would. If she pulled away.
But she didn’t. Instead, one of her arms came up to curl around the back of his neck and eased his head against her cheek. And when she turned her head...
His mouth covered hers, and this time there was no pretense. He let her know in no uncertain terms that he was okay with the locked door and everything that went along with it.
There would be no one to interrupt them. Sheryll had gone home and the staff that replaced her would assume he and Elia had followed suit and left the hospital, as well. If anyone needed them, they would call.
And he hoped to hell they didn’t. At least not for a while. A very long while, if he got his wish.
When they parted, Elia turned toward him and he took a step back, using his index finger to signal for her to wait as he reached into his back pocket for his wallet, hoping he still had at least one of the packets he used to carry when he and Samantha were dating. He banished her name with a frown. He knew he had some at home, but to ask Elia to leave with him would spoil the mood and give him time to think about his actions, which he wasn’t super anxious to do right now.
He flipped his wallet open and sure enough, tucked deep into one of the credit card holders was cellophane-wrapped protection. More than one. He pulled a single one out and then tossed his wallet onto his desk, not really caring where it landed.
Elia licked her lips, making him shudder with all he wanted to do with her. The pleasure he wanted to give her. The pleasure he wanted to take for himself.
He walked toward her with slow deliberation, twirling the packet between his fingers. His ex had started talking about children right about the time he’d started to have doubts about whether or not their futures were entwined together. Except she’d wanted those children to be carried by a surrogate, and that made him even more unsure, although he completely understood her reasons, since she was at the height of her career. But he remembered his mom talking about how excited she and his dad had been when they’d learned they were expecting him. How they’d gone through it all together and how it had drawn them even closer together.
And why was he thinking about all of this now?
He reached Elia and palmed both of her hips, loving the feel of her as he drew her a step closer and then two, until she was pressed tight to him, reigniting his senses and driving everything else away, like he’d hoped it would.
She surprised him by taking the packet from him and placing it on the desk beside him. But when he frowned, she shushed him, pressing her fingers to his lips. “When the time is right.”
He swallowed. She was evidently all in but had some ideas of her own about how this was going to go down.
Her fingers trailed down either side of his face, starting at his temples, going over his cheeks, brushing over the stubble that wasn’t quite a beard on his face, before reaching his neck. This time she softly raked her nails down his skin, the light pressure hitting all erogenous zones he didn’t even know existed. He gave a low groan of approval and buried his fingers in the silky strands of hair beside her face, needing to touch her but not wanting her to stop what she was doing.
But she did stop. Long enough to reach for the bottom of his shirt and haul it up. He raised his arms and helped her take it the rest of the way off. Together they dropped it beside them. She cozied up to him, reaching up to place her lips on one of his shoulders in a warm, wet kiss that made him harden before nibbling her way down the front of his chest. And when she reached his nipple...
Heaven help him. Sensation rocketed out from where her teeth scraped over him and hit every nerve ending on his body. This time his groan was drawn somewhere from the pit of his gut, and he suddenly needed to touch more of her than was exposed. Needed something hot and intimate. She was still wearing the long gauzy skirt she’d had on for dinner, and he bunched it in his fist, moving his way down the fabric until he reached the hemline. Then he was at the skin of her left thigh and trailed up it, her mouth stopping its ministrations for a second before going back to what she was doing, her tongue licking over him like a cat.
A sexy siren of a cat who pushed all the right buttons and made him wish for more. So he gave it to himself, reaching the bottom of her panties. Without hesitation, he slid beneath them and found her wet and warm. So very warm. The urge to unzip and bury himself in that warmth came, and he waited until it passed before doing anything else. Because if he did what he wanted to, it was all going to be over much too soon. And he didn’t want it to be over. He wanted to draw this out and experience every single thing he could.
He couldn’t bury what he wanted to, but he could do other things. Like touch her. Slide into her with his fingers and use his mind to transfer the sensations to his own body as they happened. His thumb touched her lightly and she went stock-still. Then her hips inched toward him as if they couldn’t control themselves.
Hell, yes. Just like that, baby.
His free arm went around the back of her butt, pulling her into his touch just as his fingers entered her. She shuddered, her head coming up to look at him, teeth digging into her bottom lip as he pushed deeper.
“Jakob.” His whispered name came off her lips with a shaky tone that he loved. That contained that sexy little accent. That little stress happening on the last syllable, just like he thought it would.
He put his ear to her lips. “I love it when you say my name.”
Her breath hissed out when his thumb became a little more insistent.
“I love it when you do that...just like that.”
“Do you?”
“You know I do.” She rocked against him. “But I want more. Deus, I want you. Not just your hand.”
That did it. He was done fighting what he wanted to do. He withdrew and yanked her panties over her hips, going to his knees to let his hands trail the backs of her thighs as he carried them down. She tensed and reached for his arms, and he realized why when one of his palms crossed over a thick, uneven section of skin on her right leg and he realized it was her scar tissue.
“Shh...it’s okay.” His fingers stroked over the area with light wispy motions meant to soothe her.
He felt her muscles relax as she stepped out of her undergarment, only to stiffen up when he reached for the elastic waistline of her skirt. “No. Don’t. Please.”
His heart ached at the tone of her voice. Had someone said something about her leg? He remembered her wearing the long biker pants that covered everything up. And the skirt that came down to her ankles. He understood it, yet he wanted her to know she didn’t need to worry. Not with him. But he needed to be careful. He wouldn’t go against her wishes if she was set on staying covered up.
He looked up at her until he caught her eye. “Let me, Elia. Please.”
Her teeth worried her lip again before she gave a hard nod, giving him permission. When he reached for the top of her skirt again, she didn’t say anything, but her eyes closed tight, as if she couldn’t bear to watch him take it off.
God, Elia. She had no idea how beautiful she was, with or without her scars.
He slowly peeled her skirt down over her hips, pushing it past her thigh, her knees...her ankles. And yes, her scars were deep and knotted and uneven, but they also told a story. One of overcoming a pain that went deep. Deeper than her physical injuries.
She lifted her feet one at a time and let him ease the fabric past them. He gingerly set the garment on top of his shirt. His palms massaged their way up both of her calves, giving no more attention to one than he did the other one. He went up her thighs, resisted doing what he really wanted to do. This was about acceptance and letting her know that she was perfect exactly the way she was. He planted a kiss on her right thigh where it joined her body.
“You are gorgeous, do you know that? So beautiful that you take my breath away.” He climbed to his feet and used her hips to pull her back against him. “I want to do so much. So many things. But I don’t think I’m going to be able to hold on long enough to do them all.”
Her eyes reopened and the brown irises were warm, moist with what was maybe emotion. But he’d told the truth.
“You don’t need to hold on.” With that, she reached down and unzipped his trousers and unbuttoned them. He shoved them down and off his legs along with his briefs. Before he could reach for the condom, she beat him to it.
“Let me...please.” She repeated the words he’d used earlier, her fingers brushing over his erection and making it jump as electricity seemed to sizzle across his skin. Only unlike him, she didn’t wait for a response. Instead she tore open the packet and reached for him, palming him in her hand before her fingers closed over him, wrapping him in a tight band of warmth and stroking him.
“Hell... Elia. You need to stop.” He reached down and physically halted her movements before she drove him over the edge.
She gave a warm laugh and took a step back until her backside was pressed against the wood of his desk, avoiding the papers he had stacked on one side. Then she put her hands on either side of her thighs and hopped up until she was sitting on top of it.
He’d had fantasies of that desk, but in it she’d been leaning over it and he’d been behind her. But this...this was even better.
She held the condom up in one hand and motioned to him with the other. “Come here, Jake.”
He took a step forward, and she opened her thighs to let him come between them. Then she held him again, but not to torture him this time. Instead she rolled the condom over him until it reached the end of him. He wanted to be buried in her the same way...until he reached the very end.
He was so hard it hurt not to do anything.
But he didn’t have to worry. She finished what she was doing and then hooked her legs around him, evidently no longer self-conscious about her scars. Or maybe she was past the point of being worried about anything.
So was he, because she hauled him against her until there was nowhere to go but in. So he reached down and found her, his arms going around her ass and pressing home. The sensation was beyond anything he could describe, and he stood there wrapped tight in her heat for a few seconds before his mouth founds hers for a long searing kiss. His hands slid to her back, frowning slightly when they encountered fabric rather than bare skin. He leaned back so he could unbutton her blouse and let it fall open.
A pink bra met his gaze. It seemed so “Elia” that he let himself drink in the sight of those two perfect breasts cupped in lace. He pulled out slightly and thrust into her, watching them dance in time with his body.
Hell yeah. He loved the feel of her. The sight of her. He almost didn’t want to take the bra off. Wanted to pump to completion as he watched them move. But like she’d said earlier, he needed more. More than just an animalistic act. He stripped off her shirt and then reached behind her for the hooks.
“It’s in front.”
Her fingers found the clasp and rotated it. Then the pink gave way and released her breasts. He wasn’t sure why something that was made to feed babies created such an elemental reaction in him, but they did. He didn’t need to rationalize it or explain it. He just loved the beauty of the female body. Each and every curve of it.
And then Elia did the unthinkable. She leaned back until she was lying across his desk, her body wide open to him.
Elia’s eyes closed when his fingers curled around her hip bones and pulled her even more tightly against him.
Her nerve endings were singing, and between that and the way his body filled hers, stretching her, she felt things she’d never felt before, even though he wasn’t her first lover.
But he was the first to make her feel like she was more than enough. The first one to actually ask her to let him uncover her legs to his eyes. The first one who made her want to say yes. And never once had he reached for that blanket on his sofa. It had taken a second, but she believed his offer had been sincere and had been precipitated out of concern for her comfort, not because of her scars.
He leaned over her, thrusting into her in a way that made her back slide over the cool smooth wood of his desk with each stroke. It was erotic and naughty in a way that was new to her. She’d always made love in beds. And once in a car. But never in a colleague’s office.
She skipped over the boss part. He wasn’t really. He didn’t have the power to fire her. But he did have the power to light her on fire.
And he had. She was slowly being consumed by his heat. His eyes. The intensity of his body as he drew from her power, leaving her weak in the knees.
One of his hands left her hips and went up to cup her breast while still pumping inside of her. He didn’t stroke it or squeeze it. And yet there was something so sensuous about it, as if he were feeling for something. Something that was only for him.
She couldn’t stop the moan as her nipple went hard against his palm, as if trying to pleasure itself against his skin. She arched into his touch, her legs contracting against his butt, relishing the feel of the muscles in them as they tensed and released with each stroke of his body.
Keeping his one hand where it was, his other moved to where they were joined together and found that tiny little pleasure center and touched, pressing deep enough that her nerve endings were a ball of sudden need and heat. Jake leaned over her, his tempo changing.
Even though neither of his hands were moving in and of themselves, it was as if they were. As if they were stroking in time with his body, driving her higher and higher with each push and pull.
“Yes, Jake. Deus. Quero te. Agora, quero...”
He suddenly moved at a speed that caught up with her request and in a split second, he pushed her over the edge and into oblivion, where colors exploded behind her closed lids and her body contracted against his over and over again. Until his movements slowed. Still there was pleasure. Pleasure in the slow letdown that happened as his body came to a halt and rested against her. In the slow aftershocks that jarred her system and reminded her that she’d just been on top of a mountain.
One she needed to leave. In a minute. Maybe two.
Her hands fell to the sides and somehow managed to knock the stack of papers to her right off the side of his desk.
That had her plummeting back to earth. She sat up in a rush. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” He glanced to the side, then gave a slight frown.
He pulled free more quickly than she anticipated, and her body gave a twinge of protest even as he was bending down to where the neat stack had become a scattered mess. The shiny cover of an entertainment paper came into view with the picture of a supermodel she’d seen on ads in various places. Bold headlines declared something about a renowned surgeon who’d abandoned her in France. Jake hurriedly scraped together other papers and piled them on top of what could only be a tabloid.
Why was it in his office? Maybe it had been left by a patient with whom he’d consulted in his office.
The way he’d just consulted with her?
The ugly thought floored her and she quickly suppressed it. She had not been unwilling or even hesitant. She’d beckoned him over with every intention of this ending exactly the way it had.
Well, maybe not with her knocking stuff over and kind of ruining her slow slide back to reality.
She hopped off the desk, but when she went to help him pick stuff up, he waved her away. “It’s fine, really. There’s nothing important.”
And yet the way he was acting made her wonder.
Deus, she hoped things were not going to get weird.
Really? They were already weird. Really weird.
She bent down and grabbed her clothes, but when she made a move to yank them on in a hurry, he stopped her. Hauling her toward him and leaning close to kiss her, he murmured, “Everything okay between us?”
A second ago she would have said no, but the way he kissed her quieted those doubts. Her eyes skated over his desk, but the news article was nowhere in sight.
It wasn’t important. He’d said it himself.
Her glance met his again and she let his warm smile lull her back to solid ground. He wasn’t acting like things were awkward at all. But he also wasn’t pressing her for anything more.
Which was a good thing. Right?
What had happened had to have been a simple release of adrenaline after their chaotic night. After fighting to help save someone’s skin and possibly life, if the next few weeks were kind to her.
“Yes. Everything’s good. But I really should get home and at least try to get a few hours of sleep. Unless you want to just crash on your couch. I can call a friend to come and get me.”
She didn’t say which friend, because she couldn’t really see herself calling anyone at two in the morning. But she could call a taxi or an Uber.
“No, I’ll take you home. It’s not a problem. Can I have five minutes? Unless you want to shower before we leave. There’s probably room for two in there.”
It was said with a wolfish charm that melted her heart. Okay, so it wasn’t really like the proverbial “wham bam” scenario she’d just played in her head. Maybe he really would ease them back to more neutral territory. Like a one-night stand where acquaintances came together and then parted amicably, going back to whatever their previous relationship had been. People did it all the time.
Well, not her. Normally her exes disappeared into the mist never to be heard from again. Or she did. But there was almost never any contact between them again. She glanced at the undisturbed blanket on his sofa and a few of her muscles relaxed. This was a little more complicated because they worked together. But it didn’t have to be.
And she could always put it off for a little while. Especially after the offer he’d just made.
She sent him a smile. “Well, as long as there’s room for two...”
“If there’s not, we’ll make it work.”
With one last glance at his desk, she followed him into the bathroom, her body already starting to hum with anticipation.