AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His eyebrows shot up.
Now I grinned. “I mean the tea.”
“Anything you want is for you. Just say the word. Any word. Although the dirtier, the better.”
I stepped close to him, took the tea, then whispered, “Renifleur.”
“Which means?”
“Being turned on by scent.”
He closed the last inches between us. “Renifleur right back atcha, Red.” He bent his head and kissed me, then stepped back. “Now, Jensen wanted me to tell you to drink your antioxidants. His words, not mine, because I am not giving you medical advice.”
“Jensen is a bossy mother hen,” I said.
When Evan narrowed his eyes to focus on the now-tiny contusion on my temple, I was pretty sure Jensen hadn’t been the only one worried about me. Evan and I sat down in office chairs and I sipped the warm, berry-flavored herbal tea while he ventured to ask how I was feeling and whether I needed any acetaminophen. For once, I didn’t complain about someone making a fuss over me. It was easy to accept from Evan in a way it never had been with anyone else, not my parents or my friends or my fellow doctors. Maybe it was because I, the caretaker, had fallen under his care from the first moment we’d met. But it was also because his tender touch and smooth voice and solid presence soothed rather than annoyed me.
He asked about my day and seemed genuinely interested in the intricacies of managing medical supplies, completing medical reports on HEAT operatives, and catching up on the latest issue of JAMA Surgery. He told me about working out with Li, Kessler, and Penn, and cooking with Jensen. He didn’t need to say he fit in better with them than I did, a fact I’d already accepted and let go. In fact, I was glad he liked them and, for the past several days, hadn’t mentioned their incompetence in keeping me safe. But despite his cheery banter, his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
I set down my empty tea cup. I leaned forward and captured his hands in mine. “Is something wrong? Is Kerri doing okay with you being off the grid?”
“She’s fine. Thanks for asking about her. That means a lot to me.”
“She’s important to you, so she’s important to me. There’s something going on, though.” I used my bedside-manner voice. He always responded well to it.
He frowned. Maybe not always, then.
“Don’t ‘doctor’ me, Red. After yesterday, I’m worried about you.”
“You mean about me being sidelined.” I took in a deep breath and blew it out on an long, even stream. “I’m learning to accept it.”
“Actually, it was what you said to me about it being your last mission.”
I nodded. “I think it will work out for the best. I’ll still be here until they’ve resolved the issues around O’Dell’s death, but I’ll be in the background. It will give the team time to adjust.”
“Will they adjust?” He gripped my hands. “Just over a week ago, those people came face-to-face with the prospect of losing you. They’re hiding it pretty damn well, but it terrified them. They’re not ready to let you go, and they don’t even know yet that they should be trying.”
I stared down at our joined hands. “You care about them.”
“They’re important to you, so they’re important to me,” he said, echoing my words back to me. He laid a hand on my cheek. “The sooner they know, the sooner they can recover.”
“I know. It’s been on my mind all weekend.” I sighed. “I know TJ won’t want me to tell them before the mission.”
“But you need to tell him soon.”
I nodded. “I’ll tell him tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday, right after the morning meeting.”
“Will he try to convince you to stay?”
“No.” Of that, I was sure. “He knows how much the job takes out of every one of us. He’s compassionate and he’s realistic.” I kissed Evan’s hand. “And he’s not half as bad a boss as you believed him to be.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I might have overreacted. But I’d do it all again to keep you safe. Besides, being an asshole who wouldn’t return you to your team got me most of a night alone with you.”
“Not your only night, after all,” I said. “For example, there will be tonight.”
This time when he smiled, his eyes brightened and crinkled at the corners. “In the meantime, I have it on good authority that dinner won’t be ready for another hour. Whatever will we do to kill the time?”
I crossed the room, closed the door and flipped the lock, then returned to stand in front of him. I pulled off my sweater and jeans. Clad in my black lacy bra and thong panties, I slid onto his lap.
