Ada squinted, vision blurring in fear. Out of the darkness, a tall figure emerged into the dim light.
It was Theo, still wearing the slacks and button-up shirt he wore around the office before changing into his motorcycle clothes. He stepped forward, stopping a few paces in front of them, then folded his arms as he raised an eyebrow.
“Is everything fine here?” he asked, as if inquiring about the weather.
“Yep. Just picking up my girlfriend,” the man said, his voice suddenly warm and casual, as if greeting an old friend.
Ada wanted to scream, cry out for help. She pled with her eyes to Theo. But when he looked over, he acted as if he didn’t know her.
“Well, how nice of you, considering the time of night,” Theo said with a nod. “Get her home safe.”
“I will,” the man replied coolly, flashing a fake grin that didn’t reach his eyes.
At that, Theo turned away, heading back to the hospital and throwing a wave over his shoulder. Even as the mugger forced her back in the direction of his truck, Ada couldn’t help looking over his shoulder to see Theo’s silhouette slowly disappear into the darkness.
“What a sucker.” The man chuckled.
Tears finally bit at Ada’s eyes, making her vision go wet as she tried to keep things together.
Maybe he’d seen the knife? Maybe he was going to go call 9-1-1?
But even still, she couldn’t forget the cold, uncaring way he’d looked at her, his own co-worker, as though he’d never seen her before in his life.
Ada’s entire body was numb. And as the mugger opened the door to his truck, shoving her in and slamming the door behind her, she didn’t even feel it.
The man laughed one more time to himself as he made his way to the other side of the truck. She tested the handle of her door, hoping for one last chance to make a break for it, but the handle did nothing.
Hopelessness set in as coldness overtook her.
The only sound she could hear was the tap-tap of the mugger’s heavy boots as he came around the front of the truck.
Then suddenly they stopped.
Ada heard a muffled sound and looked forward.
“What do you take me for, an idiot?” She heard someone’s voice, angry and calm, piercing through the silence of the night but muffled by the closed truck surrounding her.
In the pervasive darkness, she saw two shapes ahead of her. She focused, and her eyes adjusted. First, Ada made out the mugger, in his jacket. And in front of him was a much taller person. It wasn’t until she could see the stoic, carved outline of his profile that she recognized him.
Theo.
Ada heard a raspy hurk, like a tube sucking for air while blocked, and watched as the mugger was lifted off the ground so high she could make out his legs flailing beneath him. At the base of his neck, Theo’s arm held him by one hand, fingers tightening as the man gasped helplessly.
Then suddenly Ada saw the knife in the man’s hand, but before she could call out, he stabbed forward.
Theo slapped the man’s hand away, as if he were swatting away a fly, and Ada heard a light clinking on the asphalt near hear.
Then Theo turned toward the truck, slamming the man down onto the hood. A deafening rumble reverberated through the cabin as the entire vehicle groaned and shook from the impact and the thick metal of the hood bent inwardly.
Then to Ada’s shock, Theo leapt up onto the hood like some superhuman predator, making the shocks of the truck pump and wobble from the added weight as he looked down at his victim.
“Did you really think I was that stupid? That your little act could fool someone like me?” Theo’s voice was eerily calm, thinly veiled rage and contempt dripping in his words as he leaned over him.
The mugger flapped one arm to the side, dazed and barely conscious, and Theo sneered at him before grasping his neck again. Like some feral beast with its prey, Theo pulled the man up, then rammed his head back down into the hood, further mangling the metal into a human-shaped crater.
For a moment, Ada thought she was dreaming. That at any moment she might wake up. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening.
Finally, Theo looked up at her, and for a second, Ada could swear she saw red in his gaze, the color of blood reflecting the distant lights from the parking lot.
But then it was gone. A trick of the dim light, she supposed.
“Are you okay?” he asked. Suddenly, it was his normal voice. It was Dr. Lancaster again.
The best Ada could muster was a nod.
“Then let’s get you out of here. I’ll take care of this guy.”
Chapter 6
Present Day
By the time Ada walked out of the hospital and into the brightly lit parking lot in the early evening, she’d finally calmed down somewhat about Theo’s earlier actions.
It had hurt to see him making light of something he apparently knew she had always wanted but he was only giving her because she was about to go.
She wouldn’t be manipulated by him, and she thought she had made that quite clear in his office.
Where he had looked so damn handsome and so confused.
She crossed to the lot where her car was parked and groaned when she saw a familiar face waiting for her.
It was Matt, a frequently seen ER patient who seemed to be getting the wrong idea about her kindness when she and Theo did ER shifts.
Theo had needed to step in a few times for her in the past with different patients, and it was strange how well he seemed to somehow be there at the right moment. Luckily, Matt was more annoying than dangerous.
“Um, Matt? What are you doing here?” She stopped a few feet from the car, just in case he was on something or more trouble than she presumed.
“I was waiting for you,” Matt said, holding out a bouquet of cheap flowers and stepping forward. “I could tell you were wanting me to come see you. I could see it in your eyes.”
She put up both hands, tired of men for the day. “I’m sorry, Matt. I treat you like any other patient, but I never meant to send any other kind of message at all.”
Matt’s eyes narrowed, and he brushed back his unruly brown hair. He was younger, probably just out of college, and maybe just didn’t understand how the world worked yet.
“No, you’re too nice to me for it to not mean anything.” His words dripped entitlement as he came toward her, and a prickle of fear worked its way up her back as she took a step backward.
She kept her hands up, a barrier between them, and glanced around the lot. No one yet, but she wasn’t too far from the building. “I need you to go before I call security.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
In a second, Matt cleared the distance between them and grabbed her by the arms, jerking her close so she could smell alcohol on his breath. “You wouldn’t do that to me, would you? I’ve seen how you look at me. I’ve—”
He was cut off as something jerked him away from her, and as his butt hit the ground, she looked up to see Theo standing there still in his white coat from consultations, glaring like someone had just shat on his breakfast.
One dark eyebrow went up and his lip curled in a sneer. “She doesn’t want you. Get out of here, and if you step one foot on our campus, I’ll call the cops on you myself.” He crouched next to Matt, who was clearly terrified. “And if needed, I’ll hold you down until they come.”
Matt scrabbled backward and stood up, running as fast as he could toward an expensive car parked on the other side of the lot. Perhaps just a kid who’d been handed everything and thought he could just take whatever he wanted.
Including nurses, apparently.
Ada rubbed her arms, unsure what to say to Theo as they stood there in the cool evening air.
His white lab coat was open and flapped in the air, and he looked as if he’d rushed out to help her. Had he seen her somehow? There was no view from his office.
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. “I was just trying to catc
h you before you left, not stalking you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you were.”
Theo cocked his head, short hair ruffling slightly in the wind. “I never know what you’re thinking. But given how honest you are, I suppose you tell me.”
“I do.” She folded her arms. She let out a sigh, hating the tension between them when they’d been friends for so long. “Thanks for that.”
Theo nodded. “He shouldn’t be back. How long has this been going on? Is this why you’re leaving? Because I can do a better job of protecting you from patients.”
She flushed, seeing he was serious. His hands were in his lab coat pockets and his muscular legs were spread in a powerful stance. “No, you’ve done a great job of it already.”
Which hadn’t helped with the whole “falling in love with him” thing.
“Listen,” he said. “I need to go finish a couple things up in my office. Will you come with me? I need to talk to you.”
She sighed, not feeling she had much of a choice. She’d gone off on him that morning, and if they were going to work together for the rest of her two weeks, they needed to get some things straight. “Okay.”
She followed him into the building, down cold white halls to his office, and sat on a chair while he packed up.
She tried not to ogle him as he shrugged out of his lab coat and pulled on a black leather jacket that looked perfect on him.
He pulled something out of the fridge in his office, a white box of some kind, and tucked it under his arm.
His dinner maybe.
When he was ready to turn the lights out, he faced her. “I’m sorry, Ada.”
“What?”
She stared at him as he held the door for her and gestured for her to follow him out of the office. He locked it behind them and led the way casually down the hall, and Ada still felt the tension between them, though he didn’t appear to.
“I’m sorry about the gifts. They were inappropriate.”
She nodded. “They were.”
They walked in silence until they were outside the hospital, automatic doors closing behind them.
They walked through the lot to where his motorcycle was, and she had to admit it was a thing of beauty, especially with the world’s hottest physician seated atop it.
When he got to the bike, he opened the storage compartment and put the white box he was carrying into it. Then he pulled something out, and Ada noticed it was a helmet.
She watched as he threw a leg over the bike and then looked up at her.
He held out the helmet. “Want to ride with me?”
Her jaw dropped. Theo never let anyone ride on his bike. She’d seen countless nurses attempt to ask for it, but he’d shut them all down, sometimes multiple times.
Why would he let her ride now? Why all the flowers?
Was he aware of her feelings and using them or just the most oblivious jerk in the world?
“Where did you get a helmet in my size?”
“I bought it this morning.”
“Before or after you ordered the flowers and chocolates?”
“Before.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “What is this? Theo, we’ve never even seen each other outside of work, and now you’re trying to court me?”
Theo frowned. “Is it unwelcome?”
“Yes!” Ada shouted, louder than she meant to. “I’m leaving, and this isn’t going to stop me.” Because it was all fake.
Theo folded his arms and leaned against his bike thoughtfully. “What if I just want to spend time with you? What could it hurt now that you’re leaving?”
She had to admit he had a point there. And his bike did look tempting. The thought of holding his waist, feeling the fresh air on her face…
It was too much to resist.
And he did seem to be utterly unaware of her feelings. Perhaps this was how he would try to get any nurse to stay.
Perhaps she should just enjoy whatever he was offering, because she wouldn’t get another chance after moving.
So many unfulfilled fantasies she’d had while working with him whispered to her, filling her heart.
Maybe… she would go with him.
She stepped forward and took the helmet, tugging it against her chest. “I’ll go.”
His brows rose and he looked genuinely happy, a hint of a smile quirking his lips as he took the helmet from her and undid a strap, pulling the foam back so he could help her slip it over her head.
When it was on, he pulled up the visor covering her face. Her cheeks felt squished.
“It’s tight,” she said.
“Good. That’s how it’s supposed to fit.”
“What about you? Aren’t you wearing one?”
He shook his head. “I don’t need to.”
“What protects you, then?”
He smiled as he got back on the bike and gestured for her to join him. “The same thing that protects you. Me.”
Her heart nearly melted at that, and she got onto the bike and balanced uneasily on the seat behind him, trying to leave a few inches between them.
But Theo reached back, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her in close. Then he grunted in frustration and took both her arms, wrapping them firmly around his waist.
“It’s easier if you hold on like this.”
She felt self-conscious, her thighs, hips, belly, breasts trapped against him. Surely he could feel how chubby she was. Working a lot didn’t leave much time for the gym, and—
“You feel great,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her with a smile.
God, he was handsome.
Then he turned back to the bike, and she felt him put the kickstand up. A second later, he started the engine and it kicked to life with a snarling rumble that buzzed beneath her, making her feel odd and tight inside.
As she relaxed her helmeted head against his leather jacket, she was able to enjoy the feel of his hard abs beneath her hands.
It felt so good to hold him. She really had it so bad.
He revved the throttle a few times, and she jolted when the bike moved forward, rolling along the pavement of the parking lot.
She’d never been on a motorcycle, had always seen them as dangerous, but for some reason right now, with Theo, she felt incredibly safe.
“Hold on tight,” he called back to her as they reached the junction to the main road, and he revved the engine again as they waited for an opening.
She’d never been so eager to follow one of his commands, and she wrapped herself against him completely as they took off into the cool night, wind hitting her knees.
Chapter 7
Being on the back of Theo’s bike was even more exhilarating than she’d thought, and as they took each curve, leaning gracefully around the sides of the canyon roads, she never wanted the ride to end.
She loved the feel of the wind, the sense of freedom as she looked out at the trees winding around them, the mountains they were headed into, the sun setting over the city.
Was this the way he always drove home?
Most of all, she loved holding him, being allowed to be close to him, touch him, as she never had before.
It was better than any of her fantasies, too good to possibly stop.
So she just watched the sunset with a sense of wonder as they climbed up into the mountains, watching the world become smaller and more beautiful beneath.
Theo stopped when they arrived at an overlook. There was a place for cars or motorcycles to pull off and a graveled parking lot, plus some picnic tables by the view.
But Theo drove past them to the edge of the gravel and then stopped and parked the bike.
He got off first, then reached out to lift her, and even though she could get off on her own, she let him help her, enjoying the feel of his hands.
After all he’d put her through, she should be allowed to enjoy stuff like this.
When she was safe on the ground and successfully removed her helmet, she
saw Theo taking something else out of his storage container.
It was the little white box he’d put in there earlier and a small blanket that must have been beneath it.
He held out an arm for her as he walked up the side of a small hill above the overlook and helped her up with him.
When they were safely ensconced in a nice, grassy area surrounded by trees and cut off from the overlook, he spread the blanket out and gestured for her to sit down.
She did, enjoying the cool feel of the grass through the thin blanket.
It was a cool night, but not a cold one, and she gave a small shiver, wishing she’d worn more than a cardigan over her tank top to work that day before changing into scrubs.
Theo shrugged out of his jacket and handed it over wordlessly, then started rummaging in the white box.
A delicious smell wafted toward her, and she realized what he had brought. As she wrapped his warm jacket around her shoulders, luxuriating in his scent, she smiled.
“You packed a picnic?”
He grunted. “It’s not much. I’ve spent my time doing surgery, not cooking, but I think you’ll like it.” Inside were sandwiches from her favorite eatery, plus little wrapped brownies and cakes. Also a thermos with two small cups and two water bottles.
“The thermos contains wine,” he said quietly. “I know it’s probably ruined in there, but I thought it would be romantic.”
She frowned as he spread everything out on the blanket in front of them, arranging their plates. In the distance, a magnificent sunset was lighting the sky in pink and red and orange, contrasting with the dark-green pine trees all around them.
She sighed and leaned back on the blanket, taking a sandwich from Theo when he handed it to her. She chewed quietly, thoughtfully, wondering how different the sunsets would look after she moved home.
When she finished her sandwich, she accepted a cup of wine from Theo and sipped it slowly, savoring the taste.
This moment should have been everything. Up in a beautiful place with a vista in front of them, the man she had feelings for sitting beside her.
Yet it was all so wrong.
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