Lance leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead, bringing their bodies closer. The contact lingered before he murmured, “He served time for that, and his ex took the girl out of state as soon as the verdict came down. So, there’s that. But yeah.” He eased back. “Bishop isn’t his real name, and the bastard’s not from Washington. He created a whole new identity for himself and took advantage of a new hospital that was a little desperate for talented surgeons. Doesn’t excuse the weak background check or the lies, but that seems to be what happened.”
So, the hospital wasn’tasto blame as she’d thought for the past five seconds. That only eased the appalled fury in her chest so much.
Lynnette pulled one hand from Lance’s chest and looked down at the drive still held in her palm, pinned in place by her thumb. She could use the video he’d returned to her to set a lawsuit in motion. Doing so would bolster her own case for an unjust and targeted firing, andmaybethat would help balance out her reputation as far as getting a new job. In the meantime, she’d have to afford that lawsuit, after finding such a lawyer, and who knew how long she’d be unemployed regardless of it all.
He’s so much more of a monster than I thought.
She curled her fingers around the drive, then reached out and gripped Lance’s shirt again as she lifted her eyes back to his. “I don’t ever want to lay eyes on Gavin Bishop—or whatever the hell his name is—again. Do with that what you will.”
He smirked. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I’d also like to stop talking about him, or all of that.”
“No problem.” Lance trailed a hand down, his fingers blazing the side of her neck in a too-light, scalding touch.
The heat seared right through her and Lynnette moved closer. “Are you ever going to kiss me?”
“Fuck, yeah,” Lance said on a grunt. His hand settled at her nape and he bent down, sealing his lips to hers.
The kiss was demanding from the start. His hunger bled into her as the hand that had been cupping her jaw drifted lower, anchoring over the small of her back at the same time as he licked across the seam of her lips. She opened for him without hesitation. The drive fell, forgotten, from her grip as she reached up to curl her arms around his neck and the hand at her nape lifted to tangle into her hair. His tongue swept through her mouth, swirling along hers before separating to stroke each new surface, inevitably to return.
Lance sucked her tongue into his mouth as he held her tight to him and Lynnette heard herself moan. She could feel him pressing against her. She could feel the tension in his grip as he devoured her mouth. Their groans blended with each sultry swipe of tongue. The hand at her back dragged lower, curving over her ass in a heavy caress before catching hold of her thigh. He lifted her leg to his hip and rocked against her as his teeth sank into her lower lip.
Lynnette couldn’t contain the breathy gasp that escaped her, or the way her nails dug into the back of his neck. His fingers twisted tighter in her hair, pulling until delightful pinpricks of pain added more fuel to the fire in her blood. “Lance,” shemoaned as he broke completely from her lips and began trailing wet kisses over her jaw and down her throat.
He rumbled, but made no effort to remove his tongue from her skin.
And she liked that far too much.
Her brain was scrambled. No one had touched her the way he was in years. She couldn’t remember clearly enough to be sure her previous experience even compared. She wanted to feel more of him, yet at the same time a small part of her wanted to flee. Her pitiful history would surely deter him. She didn’t want that.
She was sure of it, as certain as she was of the trail Lance was actively licking along her clavicle.
“Lance,” she said again, putting more intention into her voice.
He vibrated against her, his teeth grazed her skin, and he lifted his head. His chest rose with a hard breath as he ran his tongue along his lower lip. “Sorry, sweetheart,” he rumbled. “Got a little carried away.” Without argument or instruction, he gently set her leg down, his touch lingering over her thigh before moving back to her hip.
Lynnette shook her head, trying to ignore how flushed she felt, and let her own hands lower only enough to curl into the shoulders of his shirt. “It’s okay,” she said. “I just—”What?What was she going to say? That she hadn’t been intimate with anyone other than herself in something like eight years? That the kiss they’d just shared had already blown at least one of her two prior sexual partners out of the water?That I am apparently in desperate need of a good orgasm.She still had just enough pride to swallow those words down.
Lance brushed a thumb over her cheek, desire still burning in his eyes. “Don’t be scared with me, Lynn. I’ll never hurt you.”
Her heart stumbled as a smile lifted her lips. He thought she was feeling skittish.
Aren’t I?
Well, there went her pride.
Lynnette drew a slow breath and moved her hands to curl them around his neck, letting her fingers splay across his skin just to feel his warmth. He shouldn’t have felt so strong when she’d so recently seen him immobilized in a hospital bed, but there was no denying it. A choked laugh escaped her before she could find the words she’d been searching for her, and the amusement lightened the confused tension that had built.
Lance arched a brow.
“You’re a terrible influence,” she said, smiling. “I always thought I held myself to two strict rules when it came to my personal life.” It would have required releasing him to count them off on her fingers, so she resisted the reflex and merely spelled them out. “No patients. And no military men.”
Amusement lightened Lance’s eyes and he curled his lower arm around her waist, drawing her closer to his body. “Whoops. Is there somewhere I should submit my apology?”
She leaned shamelessly into him, bending her arms behind his neck to dip her hands down between his shoulder blades. “We might be able to work something out. But only if you are truly invested.”
“Hm.” He slipped his hand from her hair to settle it again at her nape. “See, the thing is, I am incredibly invested—inyou.”
