He rolled his eyes. “Just hold the damn candle so I can see what I’m doing.”
Dutifully, she did as he asked, and then hissed and tried not to flinch when he tucked the hem of her T-shirt into the side band of her bra so he could pass the bar of Dove soap over her wounded flesh.
“Sorry.” His scratchy Kiefer Sutherland voice sounded particularly intimate in the close confines of the bathroom. “We’re halfway there.”
True to his word, he quickly rinsed, medicated, and bandaged her puncture and scratch. But even after he let her shirt fall back into place, he didn’t immediately jump to his feet.
Instead, he stayed on his knees, which put him at eye level. She wasn’t sure if it was the light from the candle playing tricks on her, or if she was really seeing a spark of regret in his eyes.
“I don’t think you’re the lowest form of human life,” he said softly. “I think your choice of careers is questionable, but you? As a person? No.” He shook his head, and she had such an urge to run her fingers through his messy hair that she had to put the candle back on the windowsill so she could sit on her hands.
Her own voice was scratchy when she asked, “Are you ever going to tell mewhyyou hate lawyers so much?”
He was quiet for a while, which gave her time to study his face. The candle flame threw his features into harsh relief. The hollows under his high cheekbones looked more pronounced. The shape of his wide, full mouth appeared more perfect. The jut of his chin seemed more stubborn and unyielding. But most fascinatingly of all, the candlelight made the stubble across his chin and cheeks sparkle.
She’d always thought him good-looking, in a craggy, windblown, and weathered sort of way—he definitely had a young Clint Eastwood thing going. But in the light from the candle, he reminded her of some ethereal creature. He was just so fiercelybeautiful.
Finally he spoke. “What does it matter? It’s not like it’ll change anything. You’ve said a hundred times you don’t mix business with pleasure.”
She felt her eyebrows pinch together. “I’m not going to be your lawyer for much longer. You realize that, right?”
She would swear the air between them began to vibrate. And the silence inside the little bathroom was a stark contrast to the wind outside, which screamed around the house as if it was furious the structure had the gall to exist.
When he finally shoved to a stand, he did it so quickly her chin jerked back. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t…Wecan’t…” He raked a hand through his hair before gritting his teeth together so hard his jaw muscles flexed.
He wasn’t looking at her. She got the feeling hecouldn’tlook at her.
Although she couldn’t fathom why.
Lord knew she couldn’t rip her eyes offhim.
“Whycan’t we?” she finally asked.
His harsh green stare pinned her then, and she was reminded of her sister’s third grade science fair project. Carlotta had collected every beetle native to New York and affixed the dead bugs to a large piece of cardboard with pushpins. Doc’s gaze made Cami feel like one of those bugs.
“Because Iwantit too much,” he said through a clenched jaw.
Before she could ask him what the hellthatwas supposed to mean, he ripped open the bathroom door and stomped into the hallway. His footfalls were loud on the wooden stairs, and it sounded like he was taking them two at a time as he headed for the first floor.
She realized her heart was fluttering and pressed a hand against her chest in a bid to slow it down.
Why do I suddenly feel like Julia isn’t what I should be most worried about?
Chapter 4
12:14 PM...
Doc was in the middle of helping Dana load a plastic laundry basket with canned goods and packages of Pop-Tarts from the pantry when he heard Cami walk into the kitchen. He didn’t turn to look at her.
Hecouldn’t.
He wasn’t brave enough to see the question in her dark, hypnotic eyes. A question he knew she would ask aloud if he gave her the opportunity. A question he wasn’t prepared to answer because he’d revealed too much already.
He blamed his verbal diarrhea/momentary madness on the swiftness with which she’d admitted to wanting him. The easiness with which she’d suggested they might act on all the chemistry bubbling between them once her stint acting as his attorney was over.
Although maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by her candor.
The legal profession had a well-earned reputation for subterfuge and obfuscation. But in all the months he’d known Cami, not once had he known her to equivocate.
