Fall of Darkness (The Chronicles of Darkness) (9 page)

“You awake?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Kate answered drowsily.

“Sounds like I kept somebody out past
their bed time,” he chuckled. “Let’s get you home to bed.”

“Really, I’m okay,” Kate protested with
a yawn. “It’s just been a long day.”

“You can keep trying to convince me
while we walk to the car.”

Curbing further argument, Dominic stood
and helped Kate to her feet. He gathered the blankets and remnants of their
picnic, slung the bags over one shoulder, and led Kate by the hand back to his
car.

The trip back to her apartment was far
too short. Dominic found himself standing with Kate on her doorstep, holding
her tight and wishing he didn’t ever have to let her go. She tasted like sweet
red wine and smelt of even sweeter strawberries. He wanted nothing more than to
make love to her until neither of them had the energy to move.

            What
he wanted and what he needed were two very different things. He needed to get
his head on straight, but there were not enough cold showers in the world right
now to clear his mind of Kate. All he knew is he’d never been so alive.

Wrapped up in the warmth of Dominic’s
arms, Kate never wanted to leave, but standing in the hall all night was not a
feasible option. Neither was inviting him in. That would only be asking for
trouble. Her overextended self control was already drawn well past its breaking
point. Her head, heart, and hormones waged a tumultuous war of indecision.

Kate wanted him with a boundless
desperation unfamiliar to her. She felt a sense of total rightness in his arms,
in every titillating kiss. Her heart and body yearned to surrender all to him,
but her mind protested such an irresponsible act of passion. Even if it felt
like a lifetime, she’d known him for less than twenty four hours.

Ever the gentleman, Dominic made the
decision for her. With a gentle kiss he stepped back, holding both of her hands
in his.

 “When can I see you again?” he asked.

“Tuesday?”

“Tuesday,” he agreed, disappointment
shadowing his face.

Kate couldn’t hide the pleasure that
quirked her lips into a smile. “I have to work tomorrow,” she sighed, wondering
if the department could survive one night without her. She could call in sick.
It’s not like she ever did. Tempting.

“Until Tuesday then,” he said softly,
feathering her lips with a kiss. “Sweet dreams,
cara
, for I shall see
you in mine.”             

Kate stepped through the door and shut
it firmly behind her, leaning her weight against it. Sweet dreams indeed. Who
would choose to dream when reality was so much sweeter?

Chapter
7

Kate wandered absentmindedly through the
Emergency department, trying her best to stay focused on her work. Or not stay
focused on her work that is. What was she doing again? Her mind kept wandering
to Dominic. Mmm, Dominic. What was he doing right now? Did he miss her? What
was he thinking?

Needless to say, her best was not quite
cutting it. With a sigh, she shoved his dark, handsome face to the back of her
mind for the millionth time in the few short hours she’d been at the hospital.
What was wrong with her? She was acting like a smitten teenage girl with her
first crush. If she wasn’t careful, she’d find her clipboard covered in hearts
and doodles trying out his name with hers in various ways. Kate Ridolfi. Kate
Murdock Ridolfi. Mrs. Dominic Ridolfi...

She had to get her head on straight.
Room nine needed an IV and bolus. Room ten needed a respiratory treatment and
steroids. The patient in room eight still needed to be seen. Her communication
badge chimed, interrupting her train of thought. It was Nancy. Walking into the
med room to pull the drugs for room ten, she accepted the call on her headset.

            “Hi,
Nancy.”

            “Hi
Kate. You have a visitor out in triage.”

            “Really?”
She never had visitors at work. The department was always too busy and her
friends and family knew it. “I guess have the clerk tell whoever it is I’ll be
out in a few minutes. I’ve got a bunch of things to get done first.”

            “When
are you planning to take your lunch?” Nancy asked.

            “Later.
I don’t know when. Like I said, I’ve got a lot to get done.”

            “Oh
honey, I’d go now if I were you. I’ll cover for you.”

            “What?”
Kate squeaked, beyond confused.

Had she heard her right? Nancy was a
great charge nurse, one of the best, but even she didn’t pick up someone else’s
workload so they could socialize. Cover starving staff on a hellacious night?
Sure. But tonight was not one of those nights and Kate was far from starving.
Unless hungry for a tall, dark, and handsome Italian counted, but she seriously
doubted it.

“Why?”

            “Have
you seen the guy out there waiting for you?”

            Kate’s
heart rate doubled in elated anticipation. Dominic. It had to be. Fantasize
about the devil and the devil appears. Mmm, what a devil.

            “No.
Why?” Kate asked nonchalantly, already knowing the answer.

            “All
I can say is ‘WOW!’ On a scale from one to ten, he’s a twenty. Hunky with a
capital H-U-N-K-Y!”

Kate giggled. “Thanks, Nancy. I’ll check
it out.” She gratefully updated the charge nurse on her patients and what still
needed to be done, thanked her again, and headed out to triage.

            She
found Dominic lounging lazily in a chair among the patients still waiting to be
seen, brandishing a single long stemmed red rose. He saw her and flashed that
sexy devilish smile. Her heart stuttered.          

“I apologize for interrupting your work,
but I’m afraid I couldn’t wait until tomorrow. I needed to see you.” Twirling
the rose between the pads of his fingers as he spoke, he extended it to her.
Kate flushed with pleasure and accepted the rose. He brushed a kiss to each of
her cheeks.

            “I
missed you too,” Kate confessed. “I couldn’t get you out of my head, which
coincidentally makes it next to impossible to get anything done.”
Understatement of the century, but who was keeping track? She sure wasn’t.

Kate scanned her badge on the card
reader and took his hand. She led him through the automatic double doors, back
through the department, and to the staff lounge. Impossible as it was, she
tried not to notice the female eyes following him as he passed. She tried even
harder to ignore the naked envy she saw in those same eyes as they openly ogled
her personal piece of man candy.

Women had died for lesser crimes. Okay, that
was a mild exaggeration. Lindsey’s hand might have been stabbed with a fondue
fork for setting a covetous eye on Kate’s last brownie on chocolate fondue
night. Kate pled the fifth. But let it be known, she was willing to fight for
what she wanted, as evidenced by the tine shaped scar on Lindsey’s hand,

            Before
the nasty little green monster could rear its ugly head and do something they
would both regret later, she and the monster that is, she pulled Dominic into
the break room and shut the door tightly behind them. He arched a teasing brow
at her.

            Kate
shrugged. “It gets loud out there.”

She could not be held accountable for
her actions if her coworkers kept looking at Dominic like a heaping scoop of
their favorite ice cream, drizzled in chocolate syrup with a big, fat cherry on
top. Not that the chocolate syrup idea sounded half bad. All the delicious
places she would like to drizzle and lick off said chocolate syrup danced
through her mind. She shook her head to clear it of the steamy fantasy.
Fantasizing about chocolate covered Dominic wasn’t going to help her get her
work done tonight.

Although, the thought definitely held
merit. Maybe she could throw in a little whipped cream or some caramel… Alright,
enough’s enough. She was hungry. Yeah, that’s it, hungry. Hunger could easily
cause her to dream about turning that man into an oversized sundae for one.

            Craving
something far tastier than her Thinner 4 Dinner, she walked over to the freezer
to pull out the cardboard dinner. Broccoli and potatoes in a light cheese sauce
would have to cut it.

A tan arm, muscular arm encircled her
waist, pulling her back against a wall of rock-hard man. His lips brushed up
her neck to her ear, sending delicious little shivers up and down her spine.
The man was invigorating.

            “Don’t
you want to try what I’ve brought for you?” Dominic asked, the movement of his
lips tickling the sensitive flesh of her ear. She turned around to face him,
basking in the heat of his body through the thin fabric of her scrubs.

Oh yeah, she wanted to try what he’d
brought for her. Too bad the ER wasn’t really the way it was portrayed on
television. Grrr, TV nurses had all the fun. Kate bit her lip and looked up at
him with a rueful grin.

            “I
don’t mean that,” he told her with a devilish grin, producing two enormous
black takeout bags from behind his back.

How had she not noticed those before?
Oh, that’s right, she’d been too distracted by the man to notice anything as
insignificant as bags of food. Mmm, delicious smelling food at that.

“I ‘cooked’ for you,” he told her with a
lazy grin. Dangling the handles of the bags on one hooked finger, he held them
out to her. Kate’s eyes widened as she read the name emblazoned in elegant
silver script on one of the sides.

            “Le
Jardin? How did you… I didn’t know they even did take-out.” Her mouth flooded
with saliva as she contemplated the exquisite delicacies that waited within an
arm’s reach. She inhaled deeply of the tantalizing aroma. Oh, it smelt
positively divine. To-die-for food paired with a to-die-for man. She could die
happy now. Really, anytime now.

            “There
is an exception for everything,” he said with a sly smile, leading her to sit
in an orange plastic chair at the small, round table. “Since you were
unavailable to take to Le Jardin, I thought I should bring Le Jardin to you.”

Lifting heavy black containers one after
another from the sack and setting them on the table in front of her, he rattled
off names of foods she’d never even heard of. With a flourish he removed the
last container, crumpled the empty sack, and tossed it into the nearby
trashcan.

Kate gaped at him in bemusement. The man
must have bought half the menu and it hadn’t come cheap.

Her high school French class had gone to
Le Jardin for a field trip once. Their prices were beyond exorbitant, but it
had been worth every hard earned, fundraised penny for that taste of Heaven.
Too bad she’d had to work. She would’ve loved to have eaten among the elaborate
indoor gardens, complete with roaming peacocks. Hey, she did remember something
from French class.

            “For
you, I brought the Baked Onion Soup and Crepe Champignon. No food with faces,
unless of course mushrooms have faces,” he said with that slow, heart stopping
grin. “There is also fresh fruit and salad here somewhere,” he added as he
searched, opening the containers to reveal their contents.

Sliding the containers of fruit and
salad next to her soup and entrée, he pilfered one filled with Alaskan king
crab and another with charbroiled Filet Mignon for himself.

            “Now
who’s trying to fatten up whom?” she asked with a bemused grin, eyeing the
ostentatious feast laid out before them. The two of them couldn’t eat all that
food. They hadn’t even broached the desserts yet.

            “What
makes you think I’m going to share?” he teased, shoveling a mouthful of food
into his mouth.

            Kate
shrugged before flashing a devious grin of her own. “Suit yourself. See if I
still want you when you’re all fat and fluffy.”

            Gaping
back at her in mock horror, hand over his heart, he countered with, “You mean
you only want me for my bulging biceps and washboard abs?”

            “No,
I love all of you,” she answered with a gentle shake of her head. Heat rushed
to her cheeks as she realized the implications of her words. She’d told him she
loved him. After two days. Wuh-oh. It was way too early to be using the L-word.
What was she thinking?

One scared away man, coming right up.

Kate suddenly found her food positively
captivating. Dropping her eyes, she watched the progress of her fork as she
played fungi hockey with a Portobello mushroom. The silence was deafening. The
warmth of his gaze weighed heavily on her face, but she couldn’t bring herself
to look up.

Dominic gently lifted her chin with his
index finger. When their eyes met, the world careened to a jarring halt.
Everything else melted away, leaving only them and that heart stopping moment.
His deep brown eyes were warm, searing with intensity. He leaned in close, lips
slightly parted, his mouth a mere breath away from her own.

Resisting the growing urge to lean in a
little bit closer, to close the sliver of space between them and press her
aching lips to his, Kate waited.  And prayed. Prayed he’d end the agony and
kiss her. Prayed he was falling half as deeply in love with her as she was with
him.

            “Kate,
I love all of you too,” he whispered, claiming her lips and stealing her breath
with a single kiss.

            “Really?”
she gasped when they broke apart.

            “Really.”
Stroking her lip with the pad of his thumb, Dominic added, “You are perfect
just the way you are.” A teasing grin spread across his face. “Even if you get
fat and fluffy, all the more of you to love.”

His mouth slanted over hers and she was
lost, lost in the intoxicating feel of his lips moving over hers, claiming,
coercing her mouth to open beneath his and surrender its hidden sweetness. Blossoming
beneath his gentle assault, she surrendered all to his ravenous heat, accepting
his delicious promise of pleasure.

Nothing existed but passion and need,
Dominic and desire. His hands crept up to tangle in the mass of sable tresses
at her neck as his tongue caressed hers with slow languorous strokes, teasing
and mating in a primitive dance. Hungrily raking her fingers over the muscled
contours of his shoulders and back, Kate relished the feel of tempered steel
and raw power stretched beneath skin of smooth golden velvet. The rhythm of her
erratic heartbeat thundered in her ears while the heavy pounding of his racing
pulse throbbed against her chest.

            “Well,
well, I see you guys skipped right to dessert,” an unexpected male voice
cracked from the now open doorway. “Mind if I join you?”

Kate shook her head to clear it of the
impassioned haze. Holy hell. Blushing a hot shade of scarlet from head to toe,
Kate thought she might melt into a puddle of shame on the floor and slink away.
Melting not a feasible option, she lifted herself from the compromising position
of straddling Dominic’s lap with as much dignity as she could muster.

How in the name of all that was good and
wonderful had she managed to climb into his lap? She definitely didn’t remember
that. Was there anything else she didn’t remember doing, like maybe shed a
little clothing? Frantically checking her state of dress, she was relieved to
find her scrubs thankfully still in place. Raising her mortified gaze to face
the intruder, she pasted a smile on her face.

            “Haven’t
you ever heard that three’s a crowd, Guy?” she asked sweetly, leveling a
baleful glare at her ex that should have spoken volumes. It obviously didn’t.
With a cheeky grin, the clueless man pulled out a chair and made himself right
at home.

With a flawless body, honed by countless
hours of self worship at the gym, classic movie star good looks, and an easy
charm that drew strangers to him like celebrities to rehab, he was every girl’s
dream for boy next door. Guy was the kind of man other guys insisted had to be
gay when their girlfriends gawked at him. He was also the kind of man that
women set out on mission impossible to turn straight. To Kate he was currently
the kind of man who was an unwelcome annoyance. The last thing she needed was
Guy crowding her time with Dominic, or God forbid, hitting on him.