Page 21 of The Doctor

“You’ll help me?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

Mario hesitated and the wait made my skin itch. I glanced over my shoulder, but no one was there. I grabbed my phone off the counter and pressed it to my ear just as he said, “Can I get back to you?”

“You really didn’t expect me to agree, did you?”

He huffed out a breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter but more clear. “One can never tell how long his reach is. But I’m grateful for your help, Zeno. I’ll get back to you as soon as I speak with them.”

“Tell Nadia I’ll do whatever I can to help them. She’s not in this alone.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I’ll talk to you soon.”

My phone rattled against the counter as I tossed it back down and picked up my coffee. With one long, fortifying sip—because it felt like my offer of help was a declaration of war—I started to turn around, only to get pinned against the counter as two arms wrapped around me from behind.

Fucking hell.

This girl. She grew up in the Syndicate. She knew what could happen if she snuck up on me or any of the other men and women who’d been trained to take out threats without a second thought. Yet she still clung to me the way she had when she was just a child, burying her face in my skin and holding on like I was the most important thing in her life.

And fuck. It felt too good to yell at her. It made my insides weak and warm, made my mind fuzzy while she drove me to distraction. Made me want to turn around and hold her like she could somehow fill that aching void that lived in my chest.

I heard her suck in a long breath. I expected her to let me loose and run along like she always had in the past.

But she didn’t.

Just clung to me like this was somehow okay.

“Clara?”

“Hmm?” She burrowed against me, pressing her face to the bare skin of my back.

I tapped her wrist. “You okay?”

Her head bobbed against me before she murmured, “Thank you.”

“For what?” This time, when I tapped her arm, she loosened her grip. I turned toward her, only for her to trap me there in her arms once again, this time with her face pressed to my chest.

She peered up at me, those big brown eyes glittering in the light of the sun shining through the window at my back. “For taking care of me. For letting me stay here last night.”

When did she get so tall? When did she grow until her face reached my chest, rather than my legs or my gut?

When did she get so soft? Her skin, her breasts pressed into my body as she held me tight.

Blinking as if I could blink away my indecent thoughts, I peered down into her pretty eyes and willed the blood flowing through my body to not make this whole thing worse. My hands itched to hold her, to grab her, to spread her open and taste those full lips and all the secrets and lies that skated across her tongue.

“Of course.” My voice was a broken rasp. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Sure thing, kid.”

She lowered her chin, once again pressing her face against my skin. I needed her to step away, to step back out of my grip before the scent of her turned me into a beast. Already, my mind was a whirl of thoughts I shouldn’t be having about her, and my dick was taking notice of her closeness and her warmth.

I needed to get laid.

I needed to sink my dick into someone.

Someone other than this girl.