Intrigue Me (5 page)

He quietly cleared his throat. “Anything else I should know about?”

She looked sideways then back, her gaze cautious. “Nope. I figured one STD was plenty.”

Right. If he could have kicked his own ass around the block, he would have. “I’ll go find out where the nurse is. Then we can finish up quickly. I’ll be right back.”

“Quickly. Yeah. Sure.”

He left exam room 3. Lisa had been on his mind most of the day, but this was the first time he’d let it interfere with an examination. Not just the first time today, but ever. He was meticulous about patient care, and he never took his responsibility lightly. He would be damn sure it wouldn’t happen again. Right now, though, he needed a female nurse to sit in on Ms. Weeks’s exam. After his patient had been taken care of properly, he would do what he should have done earlier—wait for Lisa to have a break and then ask her to dinner.

* * *

I
T
WAS
GETTING
RIDICULOUS
. After spending all morning working on the divorce case for Logan, Lisa had looked forward to coming to the clinic after lunch. But she’d been pulling files since one o’clock, which had sounded easy enough until she’d realized these weren’t the files in Valeria’s office, but in a storage room that smelled of dust with a hint of mildew. These were old files, patients who hadn’t been seen in six years or longer. The manila folders with the colored key tabs had been stuffed so tightly into rickety shelves that she hoped all the paper cuts she’d suffered didn’t land her in one of the exam rooms.

Although if it was Dr. Cassidy doing the examining, she wouldn’t mind one little bit.

“Ouch!” Lisa yanked back her hand, muttering a few cusswords that seemed to help the sting. Once again, the box of tissues she’d put on the counter came in handy.

Okay, so it wasn’t just the tightly packed files turning her poor fingers into a battlefield that was the problem. She couldn’t stop thinking about Daniel. Not too smart since her interest in him might’ve earned her this hellish job. Apparently her exile was courtesy of Eve.

She shoved another five files into the open box, still debating her next move. Valeria had asked if she would like to make another commitment to volunteer. Lisa hadn’t given her an answer.

The easy thing would be to say no. That way, Lisa Pine would disappear into the city, end of story.

The less easy thing would be to agree, but without a locked-in commitment. She had a full-time job with flexible hours, which was important for more reasons than her paycheck. Logan depended on her now. Mike, the only other employee, had transferred some of the office work to her so he could be of more help with the security side of the business. But she wouldn’t mind coming to the clinic when she had some free time.

Since Tess had stolen her identity and everything else that mattered, Lisa hadn’t interacted with many people outside of work assignments. Her choice. She didn’t want to make friends. She’d barely wanted to make acquaintances.

But the Moss Street Clinic had made her rethink a few things. Leaving aside the issue of Daniel, she liked working there. It had been only two and a half days, yes, but there was a vibe to the place that let her breathe. It felt safe. Bangers from different gangs could sit in the waiting room without killing each other. Homeless people weren’t harassed, and sex workers were treated with respect and courtesy. Everyone was cared for, regardless of past mistakes and bad choices.

So, yeah, she could see making this a part of her life. A few hours here and there.

And then there was Daniel.

Now that Cory’s email had given him a thumbs-up, she felt reasonably certain that one night of sex with Daniel would not only be safe, but would cure a lot of what ailed her. It would be a very big step, but she didn’t know when she’d have another chance like this. If it worked out, then maybe she’d check into the trading-card thing for herself. But that would be later. Much later. Or maybe never if it made her feel this shaky. What were the odds of her picking the one psycho in the bunch. Pretty damn high.

Besides, she was too busy fantasizing about Daniel Cassidy to even think about strangers on cards.

The question now wasn’t whether to sleep with Daniel one time. But whether she could have both a single night of down and dirty sex and a semi-regular gig at the clinic.

She could imagine volunteering as a form of long-term therapy. The clinic was an ideal place to learn how to function now that she had her new armor in place. The idea of actually helping people instead of finding evidence of adultery or embezzlement or tracking down deadbeat dads would help her feel more productive.

Having sex with Daniel would be the first step to embracing her new definition of
intimacy
. Feeling pleasure? Fine. Getting sweaty and wearing herself out? Fantastic. Letting herself trust or feel or care? Never again.

After a heartfelt sigh, another five files went into the box. Then another five.

Even though her shift was over, she kept on working. There were still patients out there, and she hadn’t managed a moment alone with Daniel.

A few minutes later he showed up and nearly got himself a knee to the groin. She let out a breath and shifted to give him room. “You scared me.”

“Sorry. Wasn’t sure you’d be here.” He looked good. Tired, but good. “In fact, what are you still doing here?”

“I wanted to finish the row of files I was working on.”

His smile increased her already rapid heartbeat. “Don’t you know they multiply the moment you turn your back?”

He’d taken off his lab coat, leaving him in jeans and a blue shirt. When he leaned back against the table where the finished boxes went, she moved closer to identify the weird marks on his tie. Viruses, maybe? Bacteria?

“You getting hazard duty pay for this?”

“What?” She looked up, then at the stacks of files still left to do. “Oh, right, I really should, huh?”

“How did you end up with this job?”

Lisa shrugged. “Somebody has to do it,” she said and jerked with a start when he touched her cheek.

“Dust,” he said, holding up the smudged pad of his thumb as proof.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure I’ve got dust in all kinds of places.”

Daniel’s look of amusement faded as his gaze lowered to her hands. “Jesus.” He caught her wrist and inspected her fingers.

Self-conscious, she drew back and pulled out the tissue she’d been using. “They’re only paper cuts,” she murmured.

“You should be wearing nitrile gloves. That’s one thing we’ve got plenty of in the clinic.”

“I hadn’t thought of it but you’re right.” She stared down at her hands and then at his, stunned at how much she wanted him to touch her again. Her cheek, her fingers, she didn’t care—she just wanted to feel his warm skin against hers. It had been so long.

She cleared her throat.

Searching her face, he gave her a gentle smile. “May I?”

Wadding up the tissue, Lisa stared down at his extended palm. She laid her hand on his much larger one and didn’t even blink when he cupped her elbow and drew her closer.

His hands were solid, comforting and everything she needed. He studied her fingers, but his other hand moved from her elbow to her back. When he stood, they were close enough to kiss.

Looking at him, she could see her own hunger in his gaze. He’d started breathing faster, which made her pulse race.

“I’ve thought about you all day.”

“That’s...nice,” she said, wondering whether she was supposed to make the first move. Or if him pulling her almost against his body was the first move, and now she was supposed to react.

“And last night.”

“Oh,” she said, understanding perfectly. “I hope I didn’t keep you up late.”

He inched forward. There was no longer any shred of doubt that he wasn’t just inspecting her paper cuts. This was it. Her big chance. With a man she’d wanted from the moment she’d seen his picture. One night of down and...

She took a step back as panic ripped through her.

5

D
ANIEL
HAD
FELT
her tense several seconds before she backed up. Something had changed. She seemed...frightened. He got the feeling that with one wrong move, she’d bolt. At least, after his own step back, he could look at her hand properly. A scar near her thumb caught his attention. It must have happened a few years ago, definitely not more than ten. Someone had done a bad stitching job. The mark could have been barely visible with just a bit more care.

Lisa sighed, and Daniel noticed he was petting the scar with his thumb as if he could fix it. “No more filing for you,” he said. “Doctor’s orders.” He relaxed a little when he saw her smile.

“I’ll be sure to tell Valeria you said so.” She drew her hand back, but before she turned away, she rubbed her scar.

“Valeria sent you back here?”

Lisa nodded. “Apparently Eve left her a note.”

Of course word had spread about the lounge incident. That was inevitable. But Daniel would have a talk with Eve. Find out what the hell she was thinking. Now, though, he took the box from Lisa and stacked it on the others. “So, this is it? Your last day?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, wiping her hands on another tissue and then looking around the room as if she’d forgotten something. “Valeria asked me to come back.”

He was of two minds about her returning to the clinic. It would be a lot easier to ask her out if she was finished, but the clinic needed all the help it could get. “I’d say no, if they’re just going to stick you back here.”

“If everyone did that, the files would never get done.”

He shrugged. “You’re right. It’s late. I’m hungry.”

“Oh?”

“Are you?”

The look she gave him made his heart beat faster. Her eyes lit up with pleasure, and he was certain she was going to say yes. But the joy vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “I’m not...” Her sudden interest in his tie sent his hopes plummeting. “Avian flu viruses?” she asked with a laugh.

He glanced down. “Hey, this one’s my favorite.”

“I have to admit, you didn’t strike me as the novelty-tie type.”

“Eve bought me a couple the first week I started here. I thought she’d lost her mind. Then I had three more made.”

“I think they’re great.” She checked her watch. “Wow, I have to get moving. Grand Concourse gets crowded this time of day.”

“That’s right. You live on the Lower East Side?”

She shook her head. “Close, but not quite. Bed-Stuy.”

“You know, we could get some dinner. If you wanted. Just dinner.”

She sighed, looked at the floor. “Maybe next time.”

“Fair enough,” he said, keeping things light. “Would you mind some company to the subway?”

“No, not at all. I’d like that.”

Her response seemed earnest. He was glad he hadn’t pushed. Soon enough they were headed down Moss Street. It was still light out, which was a pity. Everything was more romantic at night. “I’ve been curious,” he said, as he let the bustle of the city settle around them.

“About?”

He slowed his pace to match Lisa’s. “I know you came in at one today. Yesterday, you were here in the morning.”

“Are you asking if I work?” she asked. “I have a job, but I do it mostly from home. I choose my own hours.”

“What do you do?”

“I work for my brother’s company. He does security and investigations. I do a lot of paperwork.”

They passed a bar that was notorious for blaring hip-hop from their rooftop. The ongoing battle between the police and the owners had started in the ’70s and never quieted down. “Sounds interesting,” he yelled.

She laughed and waited until Lil Wayne faded to a bearable level. “Paperwork is rarely interesting.”

“Then you come to the clinic and get asked to do filing. That has to suck.”

She looked as if she was holding back a laugh. “I like helping out.”

He wanted to make her smile all night.

“To tell you the honest truth,” she said, “I’m about as boring as they come.”

“Somehow I doubt that. When do you catch your train?”

“In twenty minutes.”

He’d hoped for more time with her. “We could share a cab.”

“We live in opposite directions, remember?”

He opened his mouth to lie about forgetting something he had to do in Bedford-Stuyvesant, but Daniel couldn’t even recall when he’d last been to that part of Brooklyn.

They walked a little more slowly and a little closer together. At just past seven, there were a lot of people around, but not half as many as there would be in another hour or so. All the guys eyed Lisa, but she ignored them. Otherwise, no one paid them much attention as they passed a bodega, a pawnshop, Blimpie, a tattoo parlor and another bar. This one kept the music mostly inside.

“Have you always lived in New York?” He pushed his left hand into his pocket to stop from touching her.

She met his gaze again. Their steps slowed to a crawl, but she didn’t seem to mind. “Born and raised in Brooklyn. What about you?”

“Also a native,” he said. “Upper East Side.”

“Did you always want to be a doctor?”

“Yeah,” he said, and then someone bumped his shoulder. Daniel angled himself in front of Lisa, but the man kept walking, cursing him in Spanish. Easing back to her side, he didn’t settle into his stride again until their shoulders brushed. “My father was a doctor. I used to go to his practice when I was a kid. I liked looking at all the books and the big anatomy pictures on the walls. Come to think of it, I was pretty creepy. Destined to end up as a doctor or a zombie hunter.”

“I think doctors earn more than zombie hunters, so I’d say you made a great choice.”

“Yeah, but I would have had an awesome business card.”

She completely stopped before she looked at him this time, her eyes so bright with amusement, he changed his tune about the night. He’d never have seen the gold flecks in her irises if he hadn’t walked with her in sunlight. The moment stretched and neither of them blinked.

After a quick nod, she said, “Go for it. Not too late to switch careers, right?”

Surprised, he laughed. “This from the woman who thinks she’s boring?”

“Or you could just have the cards made up. Pass them around at parties.”

“That would make me a head case, not a neurologist. But I can see how people might get confused.”

“Best to keep them guessing, don’t you think?” A tiny twitch at the corner of her mouth ruined her attempt at a straight face.

So did the mischief in her eyes. He could stare into them for hours. That blue. Was it cerulean? What the hell? He had no idea what cerulean looked like. All he knew was that they were beautiful, just like the rest of her. Damn it, he wanted her. Screw the clinic, he hoped she decided not to come back so he could take her to every great place in Manhattan. Right now, he’d settle for touching her hair. Letting it sift through his fingers. A prelude to the moment it brushed against his bare chest.

“Come on, keep it moving. You’re blocking the damn sidewalk.” A bodybuilder nudged Daniel’s shoulder as he pushed his way in front of them.

Daniel tried to recapture the moment, but the idiot had blown it. Lisa walked faster, which wasn’t a tragedy in itself, but still.

They rounded the corner, and he could already smell the food carts near the subway. He wished they’d gone to dinner. Somewhere they could share a good bottle of wine. Followed by great sex at her place. “You know...if I got us a cab...”

Her step hesitated, her eyes lowered. Shit. His own misstep was worse. “Thought not,” he said, “but the night feels too good to just go home.”

She nodded, walking again at his side.

While his attempt at getting her on a real date had ended ignominiously, the play would go on. There were too many looks between them not to try again. If she decided to come back to the clinic. Or she offered her phone number.

“Actually,” she said finally, “I still have work to do for my real job.”

“Ah. Right.” It occurred to him she might be meeting a boyfriend. Maybe she even lived with a guy. He hoped not. “When will you decide about coming back to the clinic?”

“I’ll call Valeria tomorrow morning.”

That told him nothing.

She glanced at her watch again, and this time she really sped up. He should have paid more attention to the clock. When they reached the top of the steps, he spotted an empty cab stopped at the light. They looked back at each other and their gazes locked again. Two seconds later, he leaned down while she tipped her chin up.

He kissed her. Hadn’t planned to. Thankfully, she kissed him back. Pulling her closer caused the kiss to deepen. The feel of her against him tested his self-control. He kind of liked the way they met along the high points. The very tips of her breasts, her right hip, his right knee.

He wanted to part his lips and hope for the best, but he didn’t. She was in charge. When she touched his arm and brushed her lips across his, the tip of her tongue followed the same path. He hoped she would leave her lips parted, but instead she stopped the kiss, but didn’t step away from his arms.

God, she smelled fantastic, even after being in that horrid room. He honestly hadn’t realized how petite she was until they were this close. Of course, that wouldn’t matter when they were both horizontal.

“I have to go,” she said, turning toward the stairs. She took the first step then she paused. “I’ll come in tomorrow afternoon. If Valeria needs me.”

“I’m pretty sure she will.”

She tilted her chin down. “My train.”

He tilted his to the left. “My taxi.”

She laughed. It was the best.

* * *

L
ISA
MISSED
HER
STOP
. She got out at Nostrand and caught the C going south. She didn’t mind. She hadn’t lied about the work waiting for her at home, but all she wanted to do was remember that kiss. Not just the kiss, which was far too rushed and too public, but the man who let her set the pace.

It had been perfect. A soft reentry to the world of dating. He’d wanted to deepen the kiss, hold her tighter. His body had thrummed with energy and desire. For
her
.

She hadn’t even meant to turn him down for dinner, but she’d gotten scared. God, she was like a stalking survivor or something. What did you call it when someone stole your identity and the rest of your world?
Identity theft
didn’t cover it.

Unwilling to go to the dark place when she wanted to ride the pheromone train all the way till morning, she touched her lips. Remembered. God, she’d tasted him. Just a little, but enough to know she wanted more. If she did her work superfast, she could go to bed early. She wouldn’t even need her vibrator.

* * *

D
ANIEL
HAD
JUST
finished going over a patient’s chart and was about to enter room 3 when a woman’s scream stopped him cold. It had come from the waiting area and was followed by more shouting and children crying. Staff and patients were sticking their heads out of exam rooms as he ran down the hall to the front. The real fear hit when he saw the unflappable Hector frozen behind the reception desk.

That was all Daniel could see but he heard the mounting hysteria, then felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see that it was one of the nursing students. She looked terrified and could barely croak out, “He’s got a gun.”

“Have the police been called?”

Eyes wide, she seemed confused. “I think so.”

“Make sure they have.” He glanced over her head at Valeria, who looked equally frightened. “Stay back. I’m just going to check out the situation.”

Walking slowly and calmly, he put down the chart in his hand. Then he rounded the corner. A man he didn’t recognize was waving a gun. He was short and whippet-thin. The room was crowded with adults sitting in the plastic chairs and wide-eyed kids staring from the play area in the corner.

“Sit your ass down,” the guy said when a young woman tried to reach her crying child. “Or I’ll shoot you both.”

With a choked sob the distraught mother sank back in her seat.

Hands up, Daniel walked into the main room, ignoring Hector and everyone else. All he could see was that the gunman was high on something. Likely meth. From the look of him—torn Kanye T-shirt, filthy jeans, huge pupils—Daniel figured he was tweaking now, when he was least stable.

“Who the fuck are you?”

It was everything Daniel could do not to duck when the bastard waved his weapon at him. “I’m a doctor. If you tell me what you want, I’ll make sure you get it. No one needs to get hurt.”

“I already told you Nancy’s in there. She stole my shit. That’s what I want. You’ve got two minutes to get my shit, or people are gonna die. You got that?”

He waved the gun so wildly, Daniel was afraid it would go off any second. But he needed to stall until the police came. “Is Nancy a patient here?”

“What the fuck do you think? She ain’t no doctor. The lying bitch.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hector carefully getting the people closest to him to duck low and run around the corner to the hallway. But it was the little ones who had Daniel worried. They were too far away from Hector. Where were the goddamn cops?

“Okay,” he said, taking one step closer to the junkie. He could crash anytime, or worse, stay tweaked. “I’ll go back and get her and your stuff. As soon as you let the children go.”

The weapon stilled for the longest moment, pointed straight at him. Shoving back his greasy blond hair, the guy’s unfocused gaze shifted to Daryl, Alexis Washington’s nine-year-old grandson. “I ain’t letting anybody go,” he said and grabbed the boy’s collar. “I’m gonna shoot you first. Then I’m shooting this kid. How you like that, Doc?”

Mrs. Washington let out a screech and lurched off her seat. The women on either side of her caught her arms. But she screamed at the junkie to let her baby go. He swung the gun toward her.

“Hey,” Daniel said, hoping someone could shut her up. “Look at me. I’m the one who can help you.” Holding his hands up higher, hoping the idiot’s eyes would track them, Daniel lost what he was going to say when the front door opened and Lisa walked in.