Page 10 of Condor’s Vow

“It’s adorable.”

“I really want you to kiss me, Clay.”

Clay groaned and banged his head on the table lightly. “I’m about two seconds from diving over the table and finding out if that mouth is as sweet as I’ve imagined it is.”

He looked back up at her with a boyish grin that seemed to wipe away all the tiredness from his eyes. Hattie liked this man a lot, and it was the first time in a long time she’d felt such a pull for anyone, if ever, but he scared her too. Something in her realized that Clay had the power to hurt her. Not physically, she knew in her heart he’d never touch a hair on her head in anger, but she wasn’t so sure about her heart.

She could see herself with him twenty years from now as they watched their kids at a football game, or family Christmases and it was way too soon even to consider that. They hadn’t even been on a proper date yet. As nice as it had been at Cruz and Mickie’s, that hadn’t been a date.

“I won’t kiss you until our date. I want to do this properly.” He cocked his head as he stroked his thumb over her pulse, which was pounding as if she’d just run a marathon. “Something tells me you’re special, and I don’t want to mess this up.”

Hattie didn’t know what to say to that, but she wanted to be honest with him. She was too old for games and had never liked playing them. Had seen too many people in her emergency department lose the people they loved with so much left unsaid between them and vowed she wouldn’t do the same thing. “I feel the same way. I like you, Clay East.”

“Now I really want to kiss you.” His eyes were on her lips, and she wanted nothing more than to feel his mouth on hers, but as her beeper went off, she realized she wanted it to be when they wouldn’t be interrupted. Looking down at her pager she saw they had a pediatric trauma call coming in and she was needed. “I have to go.”

Hattie stood, and Clay followed suit, stepping so close she could smell the cologne he wore that drove her crazy and made her heart thud harder in her chest. “Mind if I check in later?”

They walked toward the elevator side by side, the arm of his suit jacket brushing her bare skin. “I’d like that but if I don’t answer straight away, don’t panic.”

Clay brushed a wisp of hair from her face as they entered the elevator and she hit the button for the ground floor. “You be careful out there, Hattie.”

“You too, Agent East. You’re the one chasing down dangerous criminals, I just patch them up when they come through my doors.”

Clay pressed a kiss to her forehead, which meant more to her than all the kisses that had come before, and she suppressed a sigh of pleasure.

He pulled away and winked, running his thumb over her bottom lip when her breath caught. “See you soon.”

With that promise, he was gone and Hattie got on with her day. One pediatric trauma after a little boy got hold of his mother’s gun. Two stab wounds, a dubious toilet brush where a toilet brush should definitely never be, three heart attacks, and various minor cuts and sprains left her with no time to think about Clay until she was opening her locker and saw her phone had a text.

Clay: You made my day so much better. I hope you had a good rest of the day. Make sure you eat and lock up when you get home.

Hattie wanted to hug the feeling his words gave her to her heart. It had been so long since someone had been invested in her, worried about her. She wasn’t a damsel in distress. Always the first to help in a crisis, she took care of everyone and mostly didn’t mind, but sometimes it would be nice to be the one being taken care of. Knowing that Clay was concerned for her welfare made her smile.

The feeling lasted until she got to her father’s place and noticed he’d left the oven on again. His episodes of lucidity were becoming less frequent and his forgetfulness more obvious. He’d even called her by her mother’s name the other day, which broke her heart. Her mother had been gone five years now, and her dad’s dementia had come on shortly after, but now it was advancing at an alarming rate.

Hattie feared it was time to talk to her brothers about more care and support for their dad. She dreaded it, knowing the last time it hadn’t gone well. She loved her brothers, but both lived away and were in denial about how bad their father’s condition was. She’d been happy to step in and care for her dad, but now it was getting dangerous, and she couldn’t protect them any longer. They needed to face the reality of the situation before something happened that couldn’t be fixed.