A breath caught in my lungs. I didn’t know what to say. The reverence in his tone; like he’d never heard me laugh before now and he’d do anything to hear it again. Hit me straight through the chest.
‘So it’s not the act of stalking, but the intention behind it. That’s what’s sexy?’ He carried on like the last few seconds hadn’t even happened.
‘Uh, yeah, I guess,’ I said as I cleared my throat. ‘Were you calling just to ask me about the book?’
His silence on the other end unnerved me. ‘George?’
‘Would you tell me to fuck off and hang up if I told you I just wanted to hear your voice?’
The warning bells that I knew should be clattering loudly in the back of my head somewhere stayed mysteriously silent.
It took me a minute to get the words out, but eventually, I said softly, ‘No, I wouldn’t.’
Comfortable silence settled between us.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked when I heard several odd noises in the background.
‘Cooking. I’m making lasagna.’
My stomach, who I’d been staunchly ignoring all day, gurgled loudly. I let out a soft moan.
‘You good?’ I heard the laughter in his voice.
‘Yeah,’ I grumbled. ‘Just jealous.’
There was a long pause. ‘Sweetheart,pleasetell me you haven’t eaten noodles for dinner.’ His tone turned pleading.
Biting back a smile, I said, ‘I haven’t, don’t worry.’
He made a sound of relief. ‘Thank you. What did you upgrade to? Because anything else isdefinitelyan upgrade.’
At my silence, George said my name in warning. My core tightened at how low his voice dropped.
Clearing the lust from my brain, I cleared my throat. ‘I’m on the night shift, I haven’t had the chance to get anything yet.’ Usually I bought something from home, but I’d forgotten. A running theme in my life at the minute. Alistair sometimes had leftovers in the fridge, so I’d probably scrounge in there for something.
‘When did you last eat?’ he demanded. The authoritative note to his voice made me roll my eyes.
It took a while to convince George that I was actuallyokay and wasn’t going to fade away from hunger. Given the concern in his voice, he thought that might be a genuine possibility. When I eventually hung up, I tried to focus my attention back on work. Doing my utmost to ignore the jittery feeling in my stomach that had nothing to do with hunger.
Forty minutes later, I unlatched the crate to double check the terriers bandage, making sure he hadn’t twisted them when my phone started buzzing again.
I frowned at the screen. ‘George, I told you I was fine?—’
‘Open up,’ he said in a deep rumble. The soft patter of rain sounded in the background of the call.
‘What? Where are you?’ My heart thudded a merciless rhythm in my chest.
‘Outside the clinic.’ Without another word, he hung up.
My feet skidded on the slick floor as I raced to the reception area. Most of the lights were off except for a few lamps to light up the corridor.
The entire reception was dark, the only illumination came from the street lamps casting an okra glow on the pavement. Highlighting the tall silhouette of a man standing outside the glass front door.
19
Her eyes wereas big as saucers. Body frozen in place as she stared at me through the window. Rain came down in a constant shower, saturating my definitely not waterproof coat. It was the first one on the rack that I grabbed when I left my flat. Too focused on getting here, I didn’t even remember to bring an umbrella.
She still didn’t move. Wide eyes locked on mine. Lifting the bag I was holding, I pointed to the door handle, making an unlocking motion.
