Chapter Three
Five minutes.
He performed emergency surgeries on people who clung to life by a mere thread.
This was harder.
“I shouldn’t have left you the way I did.”
“Wrong.” Her voice was sharp, a tone he’d never heard from her before. The laughter in Piper’s voice and eyes was the first thing that caught his attention. He was drawn to the joy in her every move and gesture. “You had to go to the hospital. The guy on duty was puking up his bad sushi. Work wasn’t the problem.”
“Okay. It was the other part I screwed up. The after part.”
“Bingo. Why?”
Jacob shifted up on his side, mirroring her position while maintaining his contact with the silky soft skin of her arm. The touch kept her listening. She liked it. He could tell by the way she didn’t pull away and her soft shiver when he grazed over the spot where “strength” was tattooed in a flowery script.
When the call came in the night of their date, he was lying on her floor with his shirt gone and pants undone. She was wrapped around him, naked except for the little skirt he’d fixated on getting under all night long. He’d been drunk on the taste of Piper, the feel of her soft, creamy skin under his hungry hands, and the blatant need in her eyes. He’d almost told the hospital to call someone else.
“I considered refusing the call to come in. Almost thought about making up an excuse — saying I’d been drinking . . . something. A lie.”
“Jake.”
Her voice was just shy of a whisper. So low he couldn’t decide if he detected censure or not. Jacob searched her green eyes to see what she was thinking. People said the eyes were the window to the soul and with Piper it was true. He’d learned quickly to make eye contact if he wanted to see the real girl behind the two-tone hair and tattoos.
“Jake.” She rewarded him with the light caress of her hand on his cheek. And it was a prize. Damn, it felt like winning the lottery. “So, why the cold shoulder?”
Oh, that was easy too.
The way she made him feel scared him shitless.
It was more than lust. Somewhere between their first date and that night he’d fallen for her. He wasn’t ready to call it love, but he didn’t rule it out either.
“I’ve never put anyone before the job. It threw me for a loop and I ran.” It wasn’t so hard to say it out loud when a slight smile softened her expression and lit up her eyes. He decided to go for broke, reaching out to drag her close until their bodies were locked together from breast to thigh. “But, I’m not running anymore.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, taking advantage of her gasp to dip in with his tongue and taste her sweetness. He kept it light, teasing, coaxing her response as he traced a path along her jaw to the sweet spot just above her fluttering pulse.
“What if I’m the one running now?” Piper asked on a moan.
“Well, then . . . I guess I’ll have to chase you.”
