Naked Pursuit

by Jill Monroe

  He slammed the spigot over to cold. The hard needles of the frigid water kicked his sorry ass. So she’d snuck out this morning. She’d saved them both an awkward goodbye. It wasn’t like anything more than great sex and a few laughs was going to come out of this weekend. His future was in Colorado. His past would stay in Texas.

  She’d done them both a favor.

  Owen reminded himself of that favor as he drove back to the hospital, her light berry perfume still haunting the truck. And he reminded himself again of that damn favor as he passed by the courtyard where he’d held Stella in his arms and she’d kissed him like she couldn’t get enough of him.

  The door to Gram’s room stood slightly ajar, and he maneuvered between the cramped space of the door and the frame in case the door creaked when he opened it and awakened her. Then he stopped, because there, sitting in a pool of lamplight, sat Stella. She’d changed her clothes and her dark, curly hair was still damp from a shower, but Owen had never seen anything better.

  Something must have alerted her to his presence because she stiffened and glanced up at the door. Her lips parted in a nervous smile, and he found himself smiling back. Probably like an idiot.

  “Hey,” she whispered.

  “Hi.” He crossed the room toward her, more relieved than he’d ever believed possible at discovering her in this room. “I thought you’d left.”

  She lifted a brow. “And did that bother you?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “More than I care to admit.”

  But the warm and sexy smile she flashed him made his confession worth it. “Good to hear.”

  “Why’d you leave?”

  “I wanted to catch morning rounds to speak to Charlotte’s doctor. Your grandma’s doing great. She’ll get to leave tonight. In the morning at the latest.”

  “No, I mean, why’d you leave?” Why did he sound like a whiny moron with this woman?

  She lifted a brow. “I did kiss you. You didn’t even budge. I figured you needed your sleep.”

  He crouched down in front of her chair. “Yeah, to recuperate,” he whispered. “I’m all rested now.”

  “Did you not get my note?”

  “You left a note?” Yeah, that would have saved him some agony.

  Her eyes widened. “Apparently we’re really bad at leaving notes.”

  He scratched at his chin. “You know, if you tried that morning kiss thing again now, you’d get a better reaction.”

  “Oh, would you two get out of here and let an old lady get some sleep?”

  Owen straightened. “Gram.” He leaned over the bed to kiss her temple. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  “Like someone ran me over with a truck, and when that didn’t work, they ran me over with a tractor.”

  “So just like new?” he asked, his voice teasing.

  * * *

  STELLA WATCHED THE pair talk quietly in the hospital room until his grandmother’s eyelids began to drift shut.

  Stella placed her arm on his bicep. “We shouldn’t wear her out. I’m sure a whole room full of Perkinses will be showing up any minute.”

  Charlotte’s unsteady hand reached for Stella. She leaned in toward the other woman. “I’m older than dirt and I’ve traveled the world and met a lot of different folks. One thing I’ve learned is that sometimes people come into your life exactly when you need them. That’s you.”

  The back of Stella’s throat began to tighten, and she felt her objectivity slipping. “I’m just glad I was there to be able to help you when I could.”

  “I was talking about Owen,” she whispered. “You came into his life just when he needed you.”

  “You wouldn’t fake being sick just to be a matchmaker, would you?” she teased.

  A slow smile spread across Charlotte’s lips.

  “Okay, ladies, break it up.” Owen stood and squeezed his grandmother’s hands. “You know how to make a birthday memorable.”

  “Always make an entrance...”

  “Always leave them wanting more,” he finished, obviously a fond ritual between the two.

  Owen matched his stride to Stella’s shorter one as he walked beside her down the hall. “How’d you get back home?” he asked.

  “I took a taxi. Janey was right. My car wasn’t there.” Had he been disappointed?

  “Our last mystery. Did you eat breakfast?”

  She shook her head. “I can just grab something at my apartment.”

  “You trying to ditch me now?”

  She stopped to face him, her hand on her hip. “Well, if that’s how you’re going to play it, you can take me out to breakfast and pick up the check, too.”

  He draped his arm over her shoulder, and they continued down the hall. “Was planning on it.”

  “Hey, you two.”

  Stella tried not to cringe at the sound of Karen’s voice. It was one thing for them to speculate that she might have spent the night with their son on Thursday night. But as he hadn’t come home again last night and they were together at the hospital early in the morning, there was no doubt where they’d slept—with one another.

  “Owen, are your parents fine with...”

  “With what?”

  “You know...us sleeping together.”

  He chuckled deeply. “Are you kidding? My mom phoned me with the safe sex talk that I’ve had every year since I was fourteen. And are you blushing? I gather your parents wouldn’t take so kindly to the fact their little girl was in my dangerous clutches last night?”

  “Of course I’m not blushing.” Was she? “It’s just, I don’t appreciate everyone knowing my very personal business.”

  “Spoken like an only child.”

  Karen greeted her with a warm hug, as did Owen’s dad. A family of huggers. Great.

  “How’s Charlotte?” Karen asked.

  Yes! A safe topic that was in her wheelhouse. “She had a good night. Responded well to the extra saline and is now resting comfortably.”

  “What a relief. And how was the Market Gardens? As gorgeous as everyone says?”

  “I, uh...”

  Roger patted his wife’s hand. “Honey, you’re embarrassing sweet Stella here.”

  Sweet? Driven, yes. Overachiever. Single-minded. But never sweet.

  Karen elbowed her husband in the side. “Oh, it’s not as if I asked how comfortable the beds were.” Then she leaned in. “How comfortable are the beds? We do have an anniversary coming up and—”

  “Mom.”

  “Sorry, my dear.” But a twinkle settled in Karen’s hazel eyes. The woman wasn’t the least bit sorry, and Stella suspected Owen’s mother knew exactly what she was doing. What had Owen called her? A tormentor like his sisters? It was kind of sweet, really. As if she was welcoming Stella into the family.

  Her mouth gaped. Welcoming her into the family? “Uh, I’m sure Charlotte would love to see you.”

  “Oh, yes. Catch you two later.”

  Stella watched as his parents entered Charlotte’s room.

  “That’s one way to get them out of your hair. I’m impressed,” Owen said. He tucked her arm through his. “Nice to have someone run interference. So I take it your parents are not so involved in your life?” he asked as they walked down the corridor toward the bank of elevators.

  “Oh, I know they love me. They always made that clear. But we don’t have the same kind of relationship you have with your family.”

  The bell above the right elevator dinged, and they stepped toward it at the same time. Even led off on the same foot. In fact, she was on his left side. As if they were still handcuffed together. The door swished open and they stepped inside and rotated to face the door. Still together. Still in unison.

  “My parents value personal space. Alone time. It’s not any better or worse than other people’s families. Just different. In fact, my parents were very supportive when I told them I wanted to follow them into medicine. They helped me by stressing the importance of detachment and not getting too invol
ved.”

  “But why?”

  “If a doctor gives too much of herself, she’ll be burned out in a couple of years. When she invests too deeply in someone else, it clouds her judgment.”

  Like now. Her shoulders slumped against the wall of the elevator. She was far from detached where Owen was concerned. He’d be leaving in a few days, and then where would she be?

  “So you just become emotionless? A robot?”

  “Just less like you. I mean, your emotions are crazy all over the place. No offense,” she teased.

  Owen towered above her and kissed her, a gentle caress of his mouth against hers. How could just that make everything inside her leap and seek more, more, more of him? “Crazy all over the place for you,” he told her.

  Then the elevator dinged. They’d reached the lobby, and Owen lifted his lips from hers. As they left the elevator, Stella moved to his right instead of his left.

  Owen drove her to a restaurant a little outside of town. At one time it must have been a farmhouse. In fact, she spotted cows in the distance and a chicken coop. Sprigs of winter wheat waved in the breeze. Now a large sign posted above the door proudly announced Anton’s Place.

  “You won’t get better pancakes than here. The flour comes right from the wheat grown on the farm, and the butter and cream are made here, too. Man, I forgot how much I missed this place,” he said as they stepped inside and he inhaled. A tinkling bell above the door signaled their arrival, and the torturing scents of baking biscuits and strawberry preserves filled the air.

  “Do you mind seating us near an outlet?” she asked the hostess.

  After they were seated, Stella dug into her purse and pulled out a wall charger. “Since I still don’t know where my car is, and that’s my only other way to charge my phone.”

  “Minivan.” His eyes crinkled at the corners. She’d be in some real trouble here if he ever decided to drag out the charm again.

  “I prefer to think of it as a car. Since I still don’t know where my car is, I grabbed the charger from my apartment. My plan was to plug in my phone at the hospital, but then I got distracted.” By hazel eyes. A tempting smile. And a tight as— Never mind.

  After she plugged in her phone, Owen handed her a menu. “Order whatever you want.”

  “That sounded a lot like a date,” she teased.

  “Nah. I just wanted you to know everything here is good. And since I’m paying, you can have whatever you want.”

  “Now it really sounds like a date.”

  Owen squeezed her hand. “Just go with it. What is that thing you say? Detach?”

  After the waitress took their order, they fell into easy conversation. Owen’s job sounded dangerous and exciting, and she caught a glimpse of why he was so intrigued by running into flames and fires to help, when most anyone else would be running away screaming. He wanted to hear about her life in Dallas, but she only shrugged.

  “Up until yesterday when I woke up handcuffed to you, my life has been a series of classes and tests.”

  “So I’m the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to you?” His hazel eyes twinkled.

  “Don’t get a big head.”

  Her phone buzzed and a smattering of texts and emails came into her phone. “Looks like the old girl is back in business,” she said, swiping it from the table and scrolling through the data. Stella couldn’t hide her frown. “Nothing from a lab, though. No texts. No emails.”

  “After we eat, we’ll search the directory for every Pharmawhatever there is around here,” he reassured her.

  Damn, but the man could be sweet when he wanted to. “Wait. I have another idea.” And she pulled up her recent telephone activity. “I think this is it. I called an unknown number on Friday.” She gripped Owen’s arm. “I made the phone call during our blackout time.”

  “Call it.”

  Stella pressed the Call Back button and then put the call on speaker so Owen could also hear.

  “You have reached the offices of PharmaTest. Our offices are currently closed. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, nine a.m. to five p.m.” Stella hung up without bothering to leave a message.

  “You have your car keys with you?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “I can drop you off to pick up your miniv—car after we eat.”

  Suddenly she wasn’t sure she could keep any food in her stomach. “Thanks. That would be great.”

  Then they would go their separate ways. Her, to finish off the rest of her vacation doing nothing but laundry and catching up on her reading. Owen would finally have the weekend with the family that he’d driven to Texas for in the first place.

  “So we have until Monday when the office reopens to get our answers,” he said, his fingers drumming along the table.

  “I thought you planned to head back to Colorado at the end of the weekend.” Because the man had just dropped the words we and Monday.

  He shook his head. “Called my chief. He gave me next week off. With the heavy rains a few days ago, fire season is officially over.” Owen reached for her hand. “What do you say, Stella? Want to fill your week with me?”

  9

  LARISSA ESCAPED FROM Mitch’s apartment on the pretext she had to pick up some clothes. Which was true, but she also had to find the two remaining subjects. This should have been a weekend of magic for her. She’d dreamed and pined and longed for nothing but the handsome doc for over a year, and now, when Larissa could finally hold him in her arms, stroke his amazing body and look into his eyes without fear of giving away her true feelings, she couldn’t truly shake her anxiety about the rogue patients.

  But when she got to PharmaTest, the beat-up yellow sedan and the red minivan were both gone.

  Her stomach clenched. How could she have been so stupid? If she’d only waited here, Larissa would have spotted the owners. Could have talked to them. Gotten them to re-sign the liability clause all over again—now with the drug fully out of their system—and then all this would be behind her. No secrets or fears.

  Just calm down. Larissa dragged a deep breath in, held the air deep in her lungs and then let it out slowly through her mouth. The cars were gone—that was a good sign, right? That meant the patients’ memories hadn’t been permanently wiped. They’d simply remembered where their cars were and driven them home.

  Of course Dr. Durant would want to know why the drug hadn’t been as effective for them, but it did stand to reason that if they hadn’t needed to stay at the testing facility to sleep, then they’d missed other effects of the medication. They were fine.

  Larissa keyed into the office just to be on the safe side. She’d left notes under the wipers of each car asking for the owners to contact her. It had been pretty windy last night, but maybe she’d lucked out.

  But PharmaTest’s voice mail remained empty. As Twelve and Ninety-Two had called in the wee hours of Friday morning, Larissa wasn’t as worried about them. Still, subject thirty-five didn’t live too far from her. Larissa could pop by her apartment, lay eyes on the woman and finally, finally put all her fears to rest.

  * * *

  MONDAY MORNING STELLA woke up to Owen’s smile. For a moment, she indulged in imagining how wonderful it would be to wake up this exact same way every morning. Saturday he’d asked if she wanted to fill her week with him. Hell and yes had come to mind.

  She’d protested when he reserved their suite for the week. “That place is far too expensive.”

  He’d only shrugged. “I live where I work. What else do I have to spend my money on?”

  They’d spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday indulging in each other, leaving the hotel room only to visit with Charlotte or his family. The all-clear for Owen’s gram came on Sunday morning, and they finally had the birthday party that had prompted Owen’s trip in the first place.

  “What do you think of getting away from this place overnight?” he asked on Tuesday.

  “Not a four walls kind of guy, are you?”

  He shoo
k his head. “Nope. How about camping?”

  “By camping, I’m picturing s’mores. Maybe flying a kite along the lakebed. Reading by candlelight?”

  His brow furrowed, as if he was considering her ideas. “I was thinking along the lines of hiking through the woods and searching for the legendary goatman.”

  She rolled over and groaned into her pillow. The goatman was Lake Worth’s resident monster. The stuff every child bravely told stories of during slumber parties and then feared when it was time to actually go to sleep. The goatman was right up there with Bigfoot and the chupacabra for frightening lore dating back decades. And Owen wanted to attempt to find the thing?

  “Are you trying to get me intrigued by the idea of camping or make sure that I hate it?” she grumbled and reburied her face in the pillow. “Didn’t you go tromping through the woods as a boy searching for it? Maybe along with a snipe hunt?”

  “I thought it would appeal to your sense of science.”

  She perched up on her elbow and gave him a fierce smile. “Now that’s just unfair.” Because it was true. Now instead of dread, Stella now wondered if the thing actually existed and whether they would be able to spot any signs of it. How had he gotten to know her so well in so little time?

  She rolled over onto her back and met his gorgeous eyes, more green this morning than brown. Wait, this was big. Owen wasn’t just asking her to go on an adventure he’d probably trekked a million times before. No, Owen wanted to share a part of his life with her.

  Stella wasn’t sure she was ready for that. Then again, jumping in with both feet had so far been good for her. And Owen was going home to Colorado at the end of the week. Was it that much of a risk? She stretched lazily between the soft sheets, pulling the blanket down to reveal her tight-nippled breasts. Owen’s gaze lowered, and she thrilled at how his eyes turned brown at the sight of her. Now instead of s’mores and kites or hikes and monsters she imagined making love by the fire. “Maybe we could invent a new game. Strip hiking? Whoever gets ahead has to lose an item of clothing.”