She couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. “You really have it bad.”
“Yes, and I fear you’re going to use that against me every chance you get.”
Lifting one shoulder she side-eyed him. “Maybe,” she drew the word out.
God, she needed this. This light banter after such a stressful day. There were a few times she’d tensed whenthe doors had burst open, fully expecting a gunman to come in and drag her away. It wasn’t something she expected to feel, but she had.
They reached his car and he opened the door for her. Once seated she placed her bag at her feet and pulled the seatbelt on. They were approaching the exit when she broached the subject that their teasing had pushed to the back of her mind. “How come you didn’t text me today?”
Can I sound any more needy?
Her hands were clasped in her lap and she was gazing out her window, all of a sudden too afraid to look at him, in case he was looking at her in disgust at her neediness.
“Doc? Look at me,” he said softly.
She became aware that they were stopped, he’d pulled over just past the exit of the hospital car park. Marie took a second and then faced him. His hand came up and cupped her cheek. She had a moment to prepare before his mouth descended on hers. The seatbelt inhibited her, but she leaned as close as she could so that he could deepen the kiss.
This was what she wanted him to do in the ER waiting room. She wanted him to possess her. Why she required the reassurance that he was still attracted to her, she didn’t know. Perhaps it was the conversationshe’d had with Fiona. Or the way she hadn’t freaked out with the ‘touch her and die’ vibe everyone thought Isaac gave off. Whatever it was, having this physical connection was what she needed most.
When they broke away they were both breathing hard, and she clutched at his shirt as if it was her only connection between life and death.
Why was she being so dramatic? She never allowed her emotions to riot out of control like they were right now. Even with her ex she’d never felt this need. Was it because of the circumstances with which they’d met—both times?
The time to examine it all wasn’t now, it was later when she was alone and could process everything.
“I wanted to text you many times, but I didn’t want to bother you. I know how important your work is. How stressful it can be. But…” He pulled out his phone and held it out for her to see.
On the screen was her name and one long unsent message. “You wrote all these out and didn’t send them?”
There were maybe ten or twelve messages. Not long, just letting her know he was thinking of her. Hoping the day was going well. She laughed at the one where it was the vomit emoji with the wordshope this doesn’t happen. But it had.
“I did. Whenever I thought of you and wanted tocontact you, I opened it up and just added what I was thinking. I guess I was psychic with that one.” He pointed to the one she laughed at.
“A little.” Before she handed it back, she pressed the send button. “There, all sent now.”
“Yeah, they are,” he said quietly, taking the phone from her. His eyes were dark, almost black, and she shivered at the unfettered desire shining in them. He took her hand and kissed the top of it before putting the car back in gear and pulling out onto the street.
They’d been traveling for a while when the places they were passing registered. “This isn’t the way to my apartment. Where are we going?”
“My place.”
“Why not mine?” She didn’t mind that they were heading to Isaac’s place, she wanted to see where he lived, but after working all day and feeling dirty after dealing with patients, she wanted nothing more than to shower, change into comfy clothes, and chill out in front of the television before she had to think about making something to eat.
“I’ll tell you when we get there. We’re not too far away.”
Everything in her burned to question him. To get an answer, yet with looking at the firm set of his jaw, the way his lips were pressed together tightly, she wasn’t going to get anything out of him. “Fine.”
His sigh reached her ears, and she felt bad for being curt with him, but also a sense of dread was filling her. There had to be a very good reason why he was taking her to his house and not hers. And she suspected it had to do with what happened this morning.
How had her life become so dramatic?
Chapter Seventeen
“Why do you have a different car?”Marie asked when he closed her door behind her. He’d been surprised that she hadn’t asked him when they got in at the hospital. The car he’d driven that morning had been a dark red SUV. The one he was driving now was a silver SUV.
“I can’t believe it’s taken you this long to notice,” he said as he opened the door from the garage to his house. He waited a few seconds to make sure the roller door went down before he followed her inside.
“I guess I had other things on my mind.”
