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She didn’t deny it, saying, “Your disappearance made no sense. Above and beyond that…”
“Yes?” he feigned a coy tone as he prompted her.
“I just wanted to know what had happened to you, Damen. And to all the staff who’d attended to you.” She sat up, shifted, faced him and asked point-blank, “Do you really think Garcia’s reasoning is legit?”
> He eyed her curiously. “You have cause to doubt it? To doubt her?”
This wasn’t a challenge—he wanted to know her thoughts on this.
She said, “It all makes sense, in that she knew we were both trying to reconnect—she was privy to how we interacted, even if mostly one-sided, while we were at that hospital.”
“And yet…?” he queried.
“I don’t have an and yet.”
“Meaning you don’t want to trust anyone.”
“I was shot at tonight,” she reminded him.
“As though I could ever forget,” he asserted.
Nikki raised her hand from the bubbles and glided her fingers along his throat. “I trust you, Damen.”
His gaze narrowed on her. “But…?”
Her lips swept over his. “I once followed this directive to strike the word but from my vocabulary, because someone claimed once you said that word, your audience ‘wouldn’t hear’ anything you said before it. Which isn’t totally accurate, because, if they’re actually listening to you, they’ve heard every word before the but.”
“Is there a point to this, Doc?” he asked with a quirked brow.
“Yes. I said I trust you, Damen.” She stared deep into his eyes. “Not ‘I trusted you in my time of need.’ I’ve outright declared I trust you. Then and now.”
“For which I’m grateful.” Still, he eyed her quizzically.
“I don’t know how this is going to end,” she said. “And maybe that’s okay, because in all my training, in my profession, I never know the end result. I know the desired result. That’s what I strive for.”
“And in this instance,” he intensely inquired, “what’s the desired result, Nik?”
18
“I don’t actually know,” she confessed. And tried not to choke on a lump of emotion.
Damen groaned. “Try to pick a side, Nik.”
Her fingers skimmed over his jaw. “That’s a no-brainer.”
“Yeah? Maybe I need to hear it.”
Her mouth pressed to his.
Naturally, he took the kiss a step further, deepening it. Until she was breathless.
Against his lips, she murmured, “Please understand, I’m battling a lot of unexpected reactions here, Damen.”
“So am I. And it’d be really helpful at this juncture if you threw me a bone.”
She smiled suddenly. It took her by surprise as much as it seemed to take Damen by surprise.
Because he very quickly added, “Don’t fuck with me.”
