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“Can I have a moment with the patient?” I was on my feet, towering over the woman who smiled up at me politely but something about her grin didn’t reach those deep brown eyes.
“Oh, of course. I’m sorry. Let me walk around and check on some patients, then I’ll come back.” I waited for the door to slide close then I walked over and pulled the thick curtain back a bit, giving me a view into the hallway. I stared at her back as it moved down the hallway, then I walked over to Sanai’s bed.
“Okay, so maybe you’re right,” I surmised, lowering my eyebrows.
“Yeah. Of course I’m right, Bakari. Like I said, there are ears everywhere. You think you know these people because you work with them, but you don’t know shit. Anyone walking beside you down the hallway could be a killer. Not everybody is all love, peace, and harmony like you.” She rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing her pile of clothes from the chair.
“But…that shit was weird, though. Nurses know to step out of the room until I’m done with a patient if I request privacy.” It was perplexing me when it shouldn’t have. I knew how to put logical pieces of a puzzle together.
But maybe I was being paranoid.
“That nurse could have been having an off day,” I reasoned.
“She could have. Or she recognized my name and is one of the few people in Bellmore who knows exactly what I really do and who I really am.”
“Your family doesn’t…” I held my words now, feeling the full weight of paranoia dropping onto my shoulders. “Do jobs in Bellmore for that exact reason. Correct?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop people from coming to Bellmore in search of us.” She rubbed her forehead and sighed heavily. “Not a lot of people know who we are. If we do our job correctly, then nobody knows who we are except for our clients. Our clients aren’t in Bellmore and we’re rarely tracked. It’s only happened once in my lifetime. We took care of it and it hasn’t happened since.”
“You think you’re being tracked now?” I asked her. Her only response was a shoulder shrug, but her mind seemed to be elsewhere. She stared down at the blue and white patterned tiles on the floor while her teeth worked her plump bottom lip. Something gnawed at me to help her.
Help her do what, though?
I cleared my throat and said, “So um…the nurse said you had a rash on your thigh. Is your scar okay?” If I didn’t focus on what I was good at, my mind would sink itself into a million possibilities. I didn’t have time for that. Even though Sanai was standing in front of me, I was still at work and I had to act like it.
She blinked a few times then focused on me. “It’s fine. You can look at it if you want to.” She lifted her leg, placing her socked foot on the bed. The hospital gown fell between her legs, covering her most intimate parts. The parts that I found it hard not to concentrate on.
My fingers slid over her satin skin, examining the perfectly square scar. It was still pinkish, but I saw where caramel splotches were starting to dust the surface. Her new skin was coming in nicely.
“It looks…really good.” I wet my lips and brushed my hand over the spot once more, stealing a little indulgence for myself.
“I’ve been taking care of it,” she told me, putting her leg down.
“Good. I’m glad you can follow directions in at least one area of your life.” I smiled at her and she smiled right back. In that small moment, everything seemed still.
“So…” Sanai said, with a voice much too high and a smile now pulled entirely too tight. “I guess I should get dressed and get the fuck out of here before that nurse comes back.”
“Yeah. You should do that.”
“I’m going to find solid evidence about Junior. I know you wanted to know what my plan of action was. That’s it. I want to find proof that he’s trying to bring down the Temple.”
“Why?” I asked, my ears prickling and burning.
She untied the string at the back of her neck and rolled her lips between her teeth. “Because…I need you to believe me. I know who I am and what I do, but it gets under my fucking skin that you think I’m lying. So I want to prove it to you. Then I’ll kill Junior.” She took a couple of steps toward me. Lowering her voice so that even if someone else was in the room, I was the only one who could hear her.
There was a hint of citrus and spice lingering on her skin that was an unusually beautiful combination. I wanted to investigate it deeper with my nose. I wanted to run it along the delicate lines of her collarbones. I’d been trying to pluck out the notes that clung to her body heat since yesterday. Being able to discern the different fragrances excited me.
“You smell fucking incredible,” I blurted. My gaze locked onto hers and I noticed a warmth in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before. It was swept away almost instantly, but I saw it.
“Thank you. I always mix two perfume oils and…you probably don’t give a fuck.” She chuckled then shook her head.
“I wouldn’t have offered the compliment if I didn’t care. I’ve never smelled anything so…unique.” There was a slight flicker beneath her skin. Right at the shallow dip between her collarbones. Like a heartbeat stutter. My lips and tongue burned to lick her there.
“So you were sniffing me?” She tried to bend her lips into a smile, but it didn’t work.
“Maybe.” I tipped my head to the side and Sanai turned away from me. I knew I wasn’t tripping. If there was anything I could sense beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was when women were feeling me.
Sanai was definitely feeling me.
