First Do No Evil: Blood Secrets, Book 1

by Carey Baldwin

  “I’m not quite done with our conversation.” She pulled her knees up and opened for him.

  With his erection nudging insistently against her, she bucked her hips and guided him inside. Groaning, he thrust himself deep once, twice, and then stopped.

  “Don’t…stop.” She heaved a sigh. “Why did you stop?”

  “Hurry up and say your peace, because I’m about to take your breath away.”

  His body slick with perspiration, his face flushed with desire, he ground his hips tauntingly against her pelvis. Her body went weak, weak, weak. All liquid and soft. Then every muscle in her body went tight…so very, very tight. That fast, she neared climax, and her blood pulsating with joy, she cried out, “Don’t. Stop.”

  He stopped.

  She wanted to scream with need, but she knew he was waiting for her to say her peace before they lost themselves in bliss. And thank the Lord, she did have something worth saying, something worth staving off this almost unbearable desire for one more moment. Her hands reached for his, and their fingers entwined.

  “I love you, Danny,” she whispered close in his ear. “With all my heart.”

  His cheek against hers was moist, whether from her tears or his or both she didn’t know. She closed her eyes as he rained the tenderest of kisses on her forehead, her eyelids, her nose. The softest meeting of the lips, and then he growled and sank deep with the fiercest of thrusts, with kisses to match, and then, just as he’d promised, he took her breath away.

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  In her arms, she held Gabriel Collins. As the baby cooed and gooed and batted her stethoscope, Sky cast a grateful glance around the interior of the modular building that now housed her medical practice. Whisking aside one of the plasticized curtains that served to partition off the exam areas, she smiled. This place might be modest, and with its paneled walls and brown chairs, it might look more like the DMV than a family medicine clinic, but it would do just fine until construction on the new office building was complete. And it had been generous, more than generous, of the mayor to convince the town council to donate the use of it for her clinic, rent-free.

  Having finished performing Gabriel’s well-child exam, she dropped a kiss onto his chubby cheek, then passed him to his father. Like a wide receiver ready to make a run at the goal posts, Casey Collins tucked the baby beneath his arm.

  “Gabe’s growth and development are perfect.” She handed Casey his paperwork. “Drop that off with Soyla in the administrative trailer, and she’ll set up an appointment in three months for more shots.”

  “More shots?” The color drained from Casey’s face as he protectively drew Gabe closer to his body.

  Reaching out she placed her palm on the top of Gabe’s head and said gently, “I’m afraid this is the tip of the iceberg. You and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other over the next few years.”

  Her gaze fell on the folded papers sticking out of Casey’s back pocket. “Did we get to all your questions?” Heaven only knew there had been a lot of them scribbled on the loose-leaf paper.

  He scratched his head. “I know there’s something I’m forgetting… But if I think of it, I can call you, right?”

  “You got my cell.”

  With a Spider-man diaper bag slung across his shoulder, and the baby slung across his hip, the young man opened the door that led outside, and took a careful, sideways step down the porch stairs. Casey Collins earnestly tending to his son was a welcome sight, one that truly lightened her heart.

  Nevaeh’s baby was going to be okay. No doubt, these two young men had a tough road ahead of them, but, with a son to protect, Casey had responded to personal tragedy with both courage and honor. He was turning out to be just the kind of father—just the kind of man—he was meant to be.

  As Casey made his exit, Sky shaded her eyes against the sunset, and saw Danny standing at the bottom of the porch, the hard angles of his face overrun by a cocky grin. If her heart had felt light a moment ago, it now decided to defy gravity in earnest.

  Danny clapped Casey on the back as he passed. “Gabe’s getting big.”

  Casey hesitated, and then a look of recognition lit his smile. “Sorry, detective, I didn’t recognize you at first.”

  Danny raked his hands through his hair, and sunset light shimmered off sable curls. “Don’t think I’m trying to put my nose in where it doesn’t belong, Casey, but if you ever want to talk about anything…well, I’ve probably been there. I’ve been a single dad a long time.”

  “Thanks.” Casey patted the list of questions in his pocket and looked at his son with the oddest mixture of terror and rapture. “I’ll take you up on that offer. Dr. Sky already mentioned you might be willing to give me some pointers.” Casey looked from Danny to Sky, and then his face flushed. “I should leave you two alone. I guess you’ve got stuff to talk about.”

  Danny grinned. “Yeah. Stuff. We’ve definitely got stuff.”

  And then Casey was gone.

  Danny bounded up the steps, and the way his warm brown eyes fixed on hers made everything else in the world disappear. There was no faux-wood paneling. There were no buzzing fluorescent lights, no progress notes waiting to be written, and no labs waiting to be reviewed. Not anymore. Right now, in this moment, there was only him. Him and that devastating mouth of his.

  Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she smiled, and then in an absurdly breathy voice, she managed, “Hi.”

  Danny hopped the top step, and entered the trailer, banged the door closed behind him, and twirled her beneath his arm. “You done for the day?”

  She leaned back against the door. “Uh-huh.” Her gaze swept him from head to toe, savoring every delicious inch. Even more breathless than before, she added, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Mom’s picking Katie up from therapy, and then they’re going for pizza. I think Katie might even spend the night at Mom’s place.”

  “Really? She hasn’t done that since…”

  “I know. But, Katie hasn’t had a nightmare in over a month. She said she’s ready to try a night away from home.”

  Sky nodded her approval. She was glad Katie’s therapy seemed to be truly helping her, and that she was moving slowly but steadily toward normalcy. As for Sky, she had gone back to see Dr. Greene twice, and then opted not to resume counseling. She’d been grieving over her father’s murder for fifteen years, and though she still had her desolate moments, especially when her mind turned to Nevaeh, she’d at long last come to a realization:

  Happiness is a choice, and you postpone it at your own peril.

  Danny was studying her face, so earnestly, so tenderly. “If you’re all finished here, how ‘bout I buy you a coffee?”

  A smile curled in her heart.

  “Thanks, but no.” Looking up through her lashes, she playfully tossed her hair and delighted in the way that small gesture triggered a ripple of movement in Danny’s throat.

  “Flirt and run’s a crime,” he said, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. “Don’t make me arrest you.”

  “You’re right. I was flirting…and I never flirt. It’s my bad. I apologize.”

  “I refuse to accept.” Pushing aside his jacket, he flashed her his gold detective’s badge. “What’s it gonna be? Coffee or cuffs?”

  In a voice softened with happiness, she said, “I’m afraid you don’t understand, detective. I’m meeting someone…my fiancé.”

  Danny’s fingers slid around her left wrist, pulling her hand close for inspection. “Nice rock.” He winked.

  Reveling in the sweet pleasure of his fingertips grazing her skin, she kept her hand in his. “The ring is a bit ostentatious for the office, but my fiancé insists I wear it.”

  Leaning in, he reached one arm out and settled his palm on the wall, half-caging her between his body and the door. “Damn straight I do.”

  His head bent low. His breath warmed her neck, and she drank in his scent—pine trees and salt. Low in
her belly, muscles softened and ached. His damnable mouth was brushing against her cleavage. A small cry escaped her throat, and she took his chin in her hands, pulled his face up and kissed him hard.

  “I’m so in love with you,” he whispered hoarsely against her lips. Trailing fire down her spine, his hand skimmed the small of her back, then settled on her bottom. He pulled her against his arousal.

  On a sigh, she pushed on his chest and leaned back. “Danny?”

  “Mmm.” He nipped softly at the flesh behind her ear.

  She clenched her hands for control. “Can we be serious for a minute?”

  “Oh, but I am being serious.” Nuzzling her neck, he parted her thighs with his knee and pressed against her. “Can’t you feel how very, very serious I’m being.”

  She could, yes, she really could. “It’s just…” she stammered, “…it’s just that I was going to call you. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about Bella.”

  Opening his eyes, he burnished a kiss across the hollow of her throat, and then took three steps backwards. “Sorry. I guess I really do have the manners of a polecat.” Yet another step away, and then he said, “I’d totally forgotten that today is the day you were expecting to hear from the FDA. The investigation complete?”

  Nodding, she looked down at her toes, and tried hard to keep the frustration from her voice. “Bella stays on the market…”

  Apparently, though, she couldn’t hide anything from this man. He arched a quizzical brow at her. “But…that’s good, right? I mean that is how you expected things would go.”

  She held up her hand. “Bella stays on the market, but only with a black box warning on the package insert.”

  “I don’t understand. Didn’t the medical examiner’s findings prove that Edmond’s patients had West Nile Virus? I thought that was why the malpractice suit was dropped. Nothing more than what Edmond did for those women could’ve been done…and if Bella had nothing to do with their deaths…” He turned up his palms. “What am I missing here?”

  “Nothing. The autopsies did prove the women had West Nile. But the FDA thought it best to issue a black box warning anyway—with the notation that there was no evidence linking Bella to their deaths.”

  “What kind of double talk is that? The FDA says, hey, we’re not pulling our approval, and we’re leaving the vaccine on the market, because all the evidence indicates that it’s safe…but if anything bad happens, don’t say we didn’t warn you?”

  “Exactly.” She shrugged and walked over to the lab.

  Danny was close on her heels. “Are you okay? Do you regret filing an adverse events report?”

  “I’ve never been better. And I absolutely do not regret filing a report. I can’t say I’m happy about the warning label, but on the other hand, three women did die, and the public has a right to that information. Garth believed that because he was brilliant, he had the right to decide what was best, not just for himself, but for the public. He thought Bella should be above suspicion, and not subjected to public scrutiny.”

  Opening the refrigerator, she pulled out a box of prefilled syringes, selected one, and returned the others to the fridge. “But he was wrong. All we can do is tell the truth. People are entitled to make their own choices. Which is what I’ve done. I’ve made my choice.”

  He looked at her, quietly waiting for her to finish.

  “I’ve been waiting for the FDA to wrap up their investigation, but now that’s done with. And since the vaccine shortage is over, and there’s plenty to go around, I’m going to take Bella.”

  Worry lines appeared on his brow. “I don’t know, Sky. Are you one hundred percent certain the vaccine is safe?”

  “Not one hundred percent, no. But I’m as sure about Bella as I am about any other drug out there. The one thing I am one hundred percent certain of, Danny, is that I love you, and I intend to do all that I can to squeeze every last drop of happiness out of my life.”

  She touched her fingers to his lips, then drew them back. “What I stand to gain by taking Bella is a longer life with you. And that far outweighs any risks.”

  “You’re sure about this?”

  “Very sure. The real danger doesn’t lie in taking Bella. The real danger lies in failing to do everything I can to take care of myself, failing to take advantage of the medical breakthroughs that are out there because of fear.”

  She handed him the syringe. “Anyway, I was going to ask Soyla to give me the injection before I left today. I don’t want to wait any longer. But since you’re here, I’d like you to do the honors.”

  “I’ve never given a shot in my life.”

  “I’m sure you can manage.” Handing him the syringe, she smiled. “All you have to do is point…and shoot.”

  Danny held up the syringe and depressed the plunger, eliminating an air bubble and suspending a drop of fluid on the tip. He aimed his magnificently crooked grin—that three surgeries had not been able to straighten—at her. “All right then, Rocky, roll up your sleeve.”

  About the Author

  Carey Baldwin is a mild-mannered physician, still practicing full time, who happens to write edgy romantic thrillers. What’s a nice girl like Carey doing writing scare-you-silly romantic thrillers? When you are a former clinical psychologist, writing about psychopaths comes naturally, and when you are a hopeless romantic—well, you do the math!

  Carey can be found at www.CareyBaldwin.com and on facebook and twitter as CareyBaldwin. She loves to hear from readers, so let loose with those @replies or shoot her an email at Carey@CareyBaldwin.com.

  He’s handsome, hot, hunted and hurt…a plea for help from this detective is one her heart can’t refuse.

  Stowaway

  © 2011 Becky Barker

  Keri Merritt desperately needs her long-overdue vacation, preferably as far as she can get from anyone with a badge. It’s not that she doesn’t respect those modern knights, but between her job as a trauma nurse and her overprotective law enforcement family, she’s overrun.

  When she finds something in the back of her truck she definitely didn’t pack, all hope of a peaceful break from reality burns away in the heat of a dark, fevered gaze. Behind those chocolate eyes lies everything she wants to avoid.

  Nick Lamanto is in trouble. He’s tracked the mastermind of a gunrunning operation from Florida to Tennessee, only to wind up with an attempted murder warrant hanging over his head, a bullet in his arm and no one he can trust. Except the sheriff’s petite, strong-willed daughter, whose jittery finger is on the trigger of the .45 pointed between his eyes.

  Lucky for Nick, Keri’s healing instinct kicks in. And so does a powerful attraction sharper than the needle with which she stitches him. As the threads of his investigation connect with unanswered questions about Keri’s past, keeping her safe matters more to him than his next breath. Even if it’s his last…

  Warning: If you have a weakness for dark-haired, dark-eyed law enforcement officers with strong protective instincts, prepare to lose your heart.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Stowaway:

  Sweat matted her hair flat to her head. Her cheeks had a deep blush of exertion. She needed to find a way to disguise both. If Russ showed up at the door, she had to look totally innocent. Stripping down to her underwear, she tossed her sweaty clothes into the shower and searched for something concealing to wear.

  Her mother’s old, full-length terry bathrobe still hung on the back of the bathroom door. Keri shook the dust off it, pulled it on and cinched the belt at her waist. She wrapped a towel around her head turban style. Body shaking with nerves and still struggling for breath, she searched the bathroom cupboard. After finding a jar of pasty white cleansing cream, she slathered it on her overheated cheeks.

  Now she looked as though she’d just climbed from the shower except she smelled of sweat and fear. The dogs would tear her apart if the militia men didn’t shoot first and ask questions later. Another quick search unearthed some old talcum powder. Partially caked, she th
umped the container against the sink and then powdered herself liberally.

  The suffocating cloud of sweet-smelling dust gagged her and threw her into a coughing fit. She’d just caught her breath again when the banging started at the front door. Someone yelled her name. Russ. He’d sure made good time.

  “Coming!” The walk to the door helped her steady her nerves and breathing. Switching on the living room light, she approached the front door with one last deep breath.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Keri, it’s Russ. Open up!”

  Her hand shook as she grabbed the door knob, and she willed herself to settle down. Opening it just a crack, she saw Russ and three other men in full combat gear. The dogs went wild at the sight of her. Teeth bared, they leapt in the air, straining against their leashes. She quickly slammed the door again.

  “Get rid of them!”

  He gave an order. When the sounds of their barking diminished, she cracked the door again.

  “Russ, it’s late. What in the world are you doing here?” Then inspiration struck, and she allowed some of her panic to show.

  “Dad? Has something happened to Dad?”

  “No, no.” He shook his head and stepped closer.

  “Jack?”

  “No, nothing’s wrong with either one.”

  “Then why in the world are you here with those vicious animals?” she asked, hoping she sounded more indignant than scared. “They sure aren’t coon hounds!”

  “We had intruders at the compound. The dogs followed the scent back here.”

  “Well, that’s no big surprise. My scent is probably the only human one in the woods.”

  “You haven’t seen or heard anything tonight?”