Maybe that was it.
He stayed where he was, watching her settle in and work the desk phones. With the cast, she wouldn’t be allowed to do any patient care because of the contamination risks. She could make herself useful in other ways.
It was good. She wouldn’t be able to see him well at all behind the desk. He stayed there, until a loud disturbance erupted at the other end of the hall.
Wallace turned, to see an obviously intoxicated man in full glory hustling down the hallway, little Nikkie Jean and a nurse he didn’t recognize trailing in the naked man’s wake.
Wallace stood, and slipped through the pneumatic doors and out into the sun, memories of what he’d done on constant replay in his head.
He slipped around the rear of the building almost without thinking. There was still a stairwell there with poor camera footage. It led to the rear of the roof over parts of what were the original 1920s building. He’d be able to hole up there for a while.
He was going to wait. Watch. Make certain little Izzie made it home tonight.
It was the least he could do. Someone had to watch out for her. Girl had no real family. That uncle of hers that Jennifer was going on about. So alone.
Pity. Everyone should have a family to love them. To cherish.
Losing his was the greatest sorrow of Wallace’s life.
89
Well. This was a great welcome back present.
Not the kind of show she ever wanted to see. Izzie really wanted to cover her eyes. To look away. She couldn’t. Someone had to stop Mr. Bell before he walked around the hospital—displaying that. It wasn’t the first time she’d been flashed, but it was the first time it had ever been at...full mast. In the midst of the largest waiting room in the hospital.
“Izzie, can you ring Psych? I think we may have a...live one,” Nikkie Jean said, right behind her.
Other patients were squealing. They had at least a dozen kids walking around the place, too. Izzie shifted, trying to block Mr. Bell’s goods from being an impromptu sex ed class. Nikkie Jean shifted closer.
“No problem,” Izzie said quietly. She hit the button and relayed the problem as quickly as possible.
Then stepped out from behind the desk.
“I’ve also rang security. Be here in two minutes,” Hannah said. Hannah was cool—that was for sure. Izzie had to give her that as the newbie approached on Nikkie Jean’s other side.
“Mr. Bell, we have children in this area of the hospital. You will put on a gown,” Nikkie Jean said firmly. She stepped closer, but they were all careful to stay out of the man’s reach.
He was a big guy—and Izzie didn’t mean in the underwear area. It was everywhere else. He was definitely not a grower—or a show-er.
It was still more of a stranger’s penis than she wanted to see today.
“I don’t want to. I’m feeling free! You want to be free with me? All three of you? I’ve never had three pretty ladies before!”
She would not look where the guy’s hand had dropped. Izzie just wouldn’t.
“This guy is as high as a kite, Nik.”
“No kidding. We just need to be a wall until security gets here. Stay back. I don’t think any of us are in the mood for some frottage right now.”
“Tell me about it.” Izzie, Hannah, and Nikkie Jean together didn’t make what this guy weighed. If he wanted to go right through them, he could.
Nikkie Jean didn’t need to be close enough to be bowled over. “You keep back, Nik. You don’t need him knocking you and my godkid down.”
“I’m on your left, Dr. Netorre,” Hannah said quietly. Izzie understood—Nikkie Jean had made it clear to everyone she had a blind spot there. Apparently, Hannah had made note. Technically, Izzie wasn’t supposed to be coming into any contact with patients for the time being, either. She should have stayed behind the desk—but no one else was around right now to help with this particular little…problem. “We’ll keep him contained. If he charges, you get out of the way.”
Hannah was new, but Izzie had to admit the woman was fearless and knew her stuff. “Second that.”
“Believe me: if I get the chance, I am so running from...that.” Nikkie Jean’s typical snark was itching to escape, apparently. “Watch the arm, though, Iz. No more breaks for you.”
They stayed where they were—ignoring the man’s wildly suggestive and completely anatomically impossible suggestions to the three of them—until Vince arrived. He had two tall strong men with him. Rafe…and Allen.
Izzie was totally thrown off stride in an instant.
Allen was back on the schedule for emergency calls, then. Good. She’d missed him. Nothing felt right without himthere next to her.
A doofy little smile threatened to escape.
Had the situation not been so imperative, it probably would have.
She’d missed him. Missed his arms around her as she’d slept, too. Trying to sleep during the day, curled up with Oliver and a ticked off ginger cat hadn’t been the same. Those two had chosen their sides of the bed and war ensued if one dared to cross.
Rather like Izzie and Allen had that first night together in the van.
She pulled in a breath. It was time she focused on what she needed to do to find normal again.
To build a new normal with him. First, though…
She, Hannah, and Nikkie Jean had nowhere to go, with Mr. Bell in front of them and the reception desk behind them. Not without putting Nikkie Jean directly in the man’s...line of fire.
Izzie got the feeling Mr. Bell was enjoying this strange little show in which he was the star. Immensely. That meant there was probably only one inevitable conclusion.
Izzie’s eyes met Vincent’s. The head of security wasn’t bothered by anything FCGH could throw at him. He was awesome.
Vincent nodded at her. Then moved, revealing the two men behind him.
Izzie jumped out of his way—and physically blocked Nikkie Jean when Mr. Bell started to run straight at them, grabbing for girl parts.
Hannah’s arms went over hers, and the three of them slipped to the side—out of the way of the three larger men behind them. Izzie made certain to take most of Nikkie Jean’s weight to keep her friend from slamming to the tile floor—and to keep her new removable cast from bumping her friend when they landed. Her old one had been structurally weakened by the bullet graze. Rafe had had a new, removable cast ordered for her that first afternoon.
She didn’t know how they’d managed it, but they had. Within seconds Mr. Bell was contained. She’d have a few new bruises in the morning, but she was almost getting used to that. It was kind of becoming her way of life.
The men got Mr. Bell covered appropriately, to his dismay, and hauled off to Psych.
“You ok, Nik?” she asked the smaller woman next to her. Nikkie Jean was pulling herself back to her feet.
“I’m good, but that? I’m in shock.”
“It was enough to turn a woman off of penises for life.”
“That was the ugliest furried thing I have ever seen,” Nikkie Jean whispered. “The things he said—let’s just say I am glad I got pregnant before I saw that. Or I would never have risked getting Caine’s clothes off. I think I’m scarred for life—even more than I was.”
Izzie laughed outright. No kidding. She was beyond thrilled Allen didn’t look like…that. “Hey, we survived.”
“No kidding.” Nikkie Jean grinned back at her as the inevitable jokes started. “Never a dull moment in the ER.”
“You three ok?” a male voice asked from behind Nikkie Jean.
Izzie’s eyes met his. He had that little half smile on his face. The one that told her he was having wicked thoughts. Which inevitably involved her.
He’d heard what she’d said. Heat hit her cheeks, but she kept her mouth shut.
No use giving him ammunition he’d use against her—at least not until she’d have a way to extract her revenge.
She loved being able to play with him.
&nbs
p; It had taken a few days of them together on the beach for her to realize that she trusted him enough to do just that.
She’d trusted him more than she ever had any man on the planet—including her uncle.
“No lasting damage,” Nikkie Jean told Allen. “But...if that ever happens again, I’m transferring to Barratt County.”
“Uh-huh. We all know that’s so you can be with the big guy there himself,” Virat said from behind them.
Now, all the good guys showed up. After all the work was done. Figured.
Nikkie Jean surprised her by hugging Allen right there in the lobby. “Glad you’re back, Lieutenant. You were…missed around here. I’m glad to see that trip was so successful.”
Izzie was alive; she supposed that made that trip extremely successful.
That trip had changed her whole world.
“It’s good to be back. Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
His eyes were on hers. Oh yes. He hadn’t given up. Izzie almost felt like she was being hunted. A thrill went through her.
She was going to let him catch her the first chance she got.
90
Allen found her on the roof twenty minutes after Mr. Bell had been led away, ten minutes after Izzie’s shift ended.
Right there. She’d seen him wrapped up around the evil pharmacy tech fifteen feet from where he’d found her. Izzie stood there and remembered, contemplating everything that had changed in their world since that day so long ago.
His arms slipped around her, feeling like the most natural movement in the world. She softened against him.
“I thought you weren’t going to be back at the hospital until Monday.”
He’d taken off a few days to deal with helping his sister start the process of going through Logan Lanning’s parents’ house. It hadn’t been easy for either of them. “I was wasting my time at home. I missed you.” His hand wrapped around her elbow. Hot, strong. He’d shown her time and time again that he knew exactly how to use those hands of his. “Did he hurt you when he rushed you?”
She shook her head. “No. Although Nikkie Jean’s elbow caught me in the ribs. She’s little, but she’s boney. Those arms of hers are sharp.”
He laughed quietly. “I’ll bet. I missed you.”
“Allen…I saw you forty-eight hours ago.” A never-ending forty-eight hours ago. She didn’t want to do this. Every word he said made her wish they were back in that ridiculously opulent van, on a sandy beach somewhere. Damn it.
She’d known that when he came back, everything would rattle her senses again. Make her forget how the world actually was.
Then again, wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be when you loved someone?
She’d have to ask Nikkie Jean or Annie the first chance she had.
“Far too long.” He deliberately stepped back. “You torture me. You look delicious in green.”
“They’re scrubs. I look like a nurse.” Izzie felt the shift, felt almost bereft at the loss of his warmth. Where her day was ending, his was just getting started. As long as she was on thirds, they’d be like the two proverbial ships passing in the night. Not something she was all that happy about, either.
“Sexy. Sweet. I know all the sweet spots.” He brushed his lips over the sensitive spot under her left ear. She shivered. “I want to taste them all again. Come be with me tonight before you clock in.”
He knew all of her sensitive spots now. She felt the loss of him and wanted to curse. Which was stupid. He’d only moved away a few inches. To be honest, she wanted to press against his chest like she had so freely before.
She’d gotten used to touching him whenever and however she wanted. She knew exactly how those well-defined arms felt wrapped around her during the sudden storms that had struck at night next to the Gulf coast.
She knew what soft grainy sand felt like beneath her feet while he leaned over her for a kiss too special to describe with mere words.
The kiss where she had known something was going to change between them forever.
“I…I need to get back out there. They’ll be looking for me soon.”
He took another step back. “I—”
The intercom interrupted. His name. Apparently, everyone knew he was back.
Izzie breathed a sigh of relief when he took a step away from her, then turned fully. “We’ll discuss this later. I’m not letting you get away from me that easily, Izadora. You can count on that. I’m not going anywhere. Ever. I’m never going to leave you alone.”
She watched him as he walked away, wondering what she was going to do now.
Because one thing was clear. The world seemed a little less lonely when he was near.
91
Fury. It surprised Wallace at the intensity of it. Lizzie wasn’t just a number. Just a notch for a man like Allen Jacobson. Allen had women falling at his feet and always had. So effortlessly.
He didn’t have to work even half as hard as Wallace had with women.
He had no business with Lizzie.
None at all.
Izzie.
The girl was Izzie. Perfectly capable of making her own decisions. Girl had no problem with that, or standing up for what she thought. All those times she’d snipped at him in the ER had proven that.
If she wanted to be the next on Allen’s list, well, so be it.
It wasn’t Wallace’s business.
He heard every word that man said to her.
They echoed words Wallace had said to Jennifer so long ago.
When she had been just as scared of a relationship with a man like him probably for similar reasons.
He’d tried. Wallace had honestly tried to keep his promises to Jennifer. To keep his vows.
It had been too hard. He had failed. Had hurt the woman he loved most of all.
Allen…he would be the same. Start off with good intentions and then turn…weak. Look at how easily led the man had been with that viperous pharmacy tech.
It would be little Izzie that was hurt this time. Wallace would hate to see history repeat itself. He’d have to clean it up, for her.
Before…before he did what he had to do.
92
There had been a seashell in her locker, with SPI painted on it. A tiny statue of a puppy that looked remarkably like Oliver. Izzie knew immediately who they were from. She’d found it the evening after Allen’s first shift back at the hospital. What she didn’t know was how they had gotten there. There were only four people in the building who knew her combination. Lacy, Jillian, Nikkie Jean, and Annie.
Four possible suspects.
Her money was on Nikkie Jean. She was the one who was the closest to Allen. Either her or Lacy.
Izzie was going to have to do some investigating. Focusing on the how distracted her from the who.
She missed him.
She told him that as she snuggled against him three nights later.
With her swinging between second and third shifts, and him mostly on first, their time together was going to be severely limited. Precious.
Izzie cherished every minute of it.
Izzie should have known before she’d even rung his doorbell at five thirty exactly where she was going to end up tonight. There was no way she was going to be alone with him and the two of them not take each other’s clothes off. Not tonight, when she actually had the night off.
He wrapped himself around her, his arm resting in the same spot it had before.
It felt right. For the first time since she’d returned to Finley Creek, she actually relaxed and slept.
When she woke, he was there, leaning over her. “Shouldn’t you head back to the warden’s? I’d hate you to miss curfew or something.”
“What time is it?” She should at least call. Let her uncle know nothing had happened to her. Jake was a big worrywart, after all. He wasn’t happy with her new relationship with Allen at all.
Jake was becoming almost unbearable lately. He had been sidelined from most of his bigger cases o
nce the connections between her and the others were suspected. Jake was not a happy camper, by any means.
He was directing his frustration out on her relationship with Allen.
“Almost midnight. You slept a while. I must have worn you out.” He grinned at her. His hair was all mussed—from her fingers. He’d trimmed the beard, making it look perfect.
Like that new nurse had said today, he looked nibble-worthy.
A thrill of satisfaction went through her. She was the one doing the nibbling now. “It’s from the exercise.”
“I’ve ordered takeout. Only thing open this late was pizza.” He tossed her a shirt, and she slipped it on. It smelled like him and fabric softener. She buttoned it quickly, then rolled up the sleeves over the cast.
“You keeping the beard? I heard no less than three nurses and an obstetrician getting all swoony over it. Between the beard and the tan, they think you’ve been up to something mysterious wherever you disappeared to. Which…I suppose you were.”
“Depends. Are you swoony about it?”
Damn right.
She’d officially become a cliché, showing up at a lover’s place and falling straight into bed with him immediately. How the mighty fell.
“I was worried about you.” That was what had really had her grabbing Oliver, then heading back over here to him. He and Nikkie Jean had lost a patient. Both were understandably upset. Nikkie Jean had Caine, but Allen…Allen had her.
She’d wanted to be the one to take care of him. It was as simple as that. As natural as breathing.
“I’m…ok. It was an expected outcome. Odds weren’t great going in. The patient knew it and wanted to risk it. I told him that even before you and I left together.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No. I didn’t. I thought there might be other, less risky options at this point.”
“You’re a good physician, Allen. Your patients are lucky to have you.”
She saw the pain in his eyes, even though he wouldn’t admit it. Every loss hurt him; she knew that on a core level. He hadn’t become a physician for prestige or money or anything like that—he’d become a physician to help his patients.
We All Sleep Alone Page 28