by J. S. Scott
“And you liked it?”
Dante shrugged. “I was satisfied. I think doing police work is kind of like a calling, the same as wanting to be a doctor. As a homicide detective, I was basically on the job twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Murders usually didn’t happen in my district in broad daylight.”
Sarah could understand that. “I never wanted to do anything else, either.” She’d dreamed of being a doctor all her life, starting to fulfill her dreams at the same time most girls were just noticing that boys existed.
“Guess you didn’t have much of a childhood, huh?” Dante mentioned casually, as though he had almost read her mind.
Sarah smiled wearily. “I don’t ever remember being a child. When most girls were dreaming of being cheerleaders, I was studying college-level biology. I’ve always been . . . different. Amesport is the first place where I feel like I actually belong. I’m socially awkward, but nobody cares. They talk to me anyway. There’s such a mixture of different personalities here that I guess I fit in.”
“You’re not different,” Dante growled. “You’re special. Gifted. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Alone is alone, right? For whatever reason it might be,” she replied, giving Dante a questioning look. He was looking at her strangely, a gaze that she could almost swear was somewhat possessive and heated, and she started to squirm, feeling like a specimen under a microscope. Breaking contact with his fiery eyes, she set Coco on the floor and got up. “You need to be resting. I’ll take you home.”
Dante caught her upper arm as she walked past him, pulling her body close to his before he snaked an arm around her waist. Sarah’s breath hitched as her hips slid between his jeans-clad thighs. With him sitting on the stool, they were nearly at the same height, and she was eye to eye with him, the fierce, stormy look he was giving her even more frightening up close and personal.
“No boyfriend?” he asked gruffly.
Sarah shook her head slowly, unable to break away from his enthralling eyes and powerful grip around her waist. Honestly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Even injured, Dante seemed to pulsate with raw power and dominance that drew her to get perilously close to him.
“Have you ever been with a man?” His question was low, and spoken in a tone that demanded an answer.
Sarah wasn’t even going to pretend she didn’t understand what he was asking. “Once. In med school. It was awkward and painful. I was dating another medical student, and I wanted to see what I might be missing. He broke up with me the next day. I guess neither of us really liked it. Or maybe I wasn’t very good at it. I couldn’t see what the big deal was all about. It’s mating for the human species, and that’s it. I’ve never really figured out what other reason there is to do it.” She was speaking the truth, but she had been curious. So she’d tried it, only to find out that she was really missing out on nothing.
“Christ! Are you screwing with me? Is it possible to be a doctor and stay that innocent?” Dante rasped, his gaze sweeping over her face as though he were looking for something.
Her heart was thundering against her sternum as she watched his face, the healing scar on his cheek almost making him even more appealing, even more dangerous. “I’m not innocent and I’m not a virgin. I just don’t like sexual intercourse. It’s not very enjoyable.”
Dante slid his hand through her hair and caressed the sensitive skin at the back of her neck as he smiled wickedly. “I think I just found one subject where you’re completely misinformed. There’s this little thing called sexual chemistry that you aren’t going to read about in textbooks.”
Okay. Yeah. Some people seemed to feel sexual chemistry and attraction, but she didn’t. Obviously, she understood medically why sex might be enjoyable, but for her, it just wasn’t. She’d never had the desire to try it again. “There isn’t a thing that I can’t tell you about the human anatomy. There’s no basis to believe in sexual chemistry. Sexual attraction is just people assessing the reproductive potential of prospective mates,” she argued, but she licked her lips nervously, wanting to lean into the intense heat that Dante seemed to be throwing off in waves from his ripped, hard body. Her nipples were beginning to get painfully hard, and she nearly moaned as the hand at her waist slipped beneath the hem of her shirt and started stroking over the bare skin at her waist and back. He made lazy little circles with his palm and fingers, sensitizing every area he touched.
“When I look at you, the last thing I’m thinking about is whether or not you can reproduce. I’m thinking about burying my cock inside you simply because it would feel so damn good,” he answered seductively.
Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but she wasn’t sure how to respond. Her body was reacting to his, and it certainly had nothing to do with his genetic potential as a prospective mate. Pure and simple . . . it was lust. “There’s no such thing as true sexual chemistry,” she answered weakly, even as her body said differently.
“You have no idea just how satisfying a great fuck can be,” he told her in a harsh whisper, the hand at the back of her head spearing into her hair, holding her in a way that didn’t hurt but definitely left him in control. “Kiss me,” he commanded huskily, pulling her head to him, their lips close together.
Oh, God. Sarah couldn’t catch her breath, and she was panting lightly with the need to breach the distance between their mouths. “Dante, no. You’re injured and hurting.” Confused, she tried to pull gently away from him, but he tightened his arm around her waist, and she didn’t have the willpower or the desire to pull harder to get free. She felt ensnared and captured, and she felt strangely compelled to devour the man holding her captive. Sarah’s core clenched as she felt his heated breath skitter along her lips, waiting.
“Kiss me, dammit,” he ordered again, this time with a persuasive tone.
“I can’t. I don’t want to hurt you,” she whimpered, desperate to be connected to him, feel his mouth against hers. “I’m your doctor.” She completely gave up arguing the sexual chemistry issue. Whether this was lust or sexual chemistry didn’t matter. It was something she’d never experienced before, and it had her dumbfounded.
“Screw your Hippocratic oath. I need this more than I need a doctor,” Dante growled as he pulled her mouth to his with a needy groan.
Sarah tried to remember that he was injured and she couldn’t grasp on to him. Instead, she curled her hands around the back of the chair and held on for dear life as Dante claimed her mouth with fervent possessiveness. The kiss swept every thought from her head except the delicious thrill of his tongue bursting through the seam of her lips to conquer and entwine them both in an embrace that rocked Sarah’s whole world. Heat engulfed her entire body as Dante squeezed the cheek of her ass and pulled her core flush against his pulsating erection. She moaned as she pressed her pelvis against him, cursing the denim that separated her from his engorged cock.
She completely lost herself in his sultry, heated kiss, squirming against him as he nipped at her lower lip and then swept his tongue over it soothingly, teasingly.
“I want you, Sarah. I’ll be the man to show you just how hot you can burn and how satisfying a hard, wild fuck can be.” His low baritone was strained and insistent.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Sarah’s entire body was vibrating with need, clamoring to be possessed by this powerful male, the first man to ever make her feel this way. It was exhilarating and frightening both at the same time.
“I hate to break up this cozy little interlude, but it’s time to go home, Dante.” The male voice coming from the doorway sounded mischievous and nonchalant.
Flustered, Sarah nearly leaped from between Dante’s legs, her face flushing as she turned to the incredibly handsome man who had just let himself into her house. She had no doubt that this was Jared, Dante’s brother. “You could have knocked,” she muttered, embarrassed.
“I did, actually. Several times. I guess you were both occupied,” he replied casually. “The door was un
locked so I finally came in.”
Oh, God. Sarah wanted to crawl under a rock somewhere and never come out. It was bad enough that she had been so involved in Dante’s kiss that she hadn’t heard the door, but he was her patient. Dante Sinclair had injuries that would have left any other man in bed crying for his mommy, even if he was taking something for pain. Yet she’d practically been mauling him and begging for more. “I’m sorry,” she said, mortified. “He does need to be home in bed.”
Jared lifted an eyebrow playfully.
“Alone,” she added hurriedly. “Sleeping.”
“Don’t apologize to him,” Dante told her in an irritated voice. “He just walked right into your house.”
Jared smirked. “Didn’t you hear me knock? You’re the cop.”
“I heard you. I just hoped you had enough sense to go away. Obviously I was wrong.” Dante glared at his brother.
Sarah watched the two men, one irritated and the other looking highly amused. She’d never met Jared Sinclair, but he was another powerful and attractive man, just like his brothers. He and Dante shared some of the same physical features, but where Dante was a bit raw, this man was . . . polished. Jared’s hair was more auburn than dark brown. Longer than Dante’s, it was cut in a manner that looked professional, but she could see a few curls in the sleek style. Jared’s eyes were almost a jade green, and the lashes surrounding those startling eyes were so thick that any woman would envy them. Maybe an inch or so shorter than Dante, Jared had the same muscular build as his brother’s, covered by casual slacks, a collared button-down shirt that was probably silk, and what looked like very expensive leather casual shoes.
“Take Dante home, Mr. Sinclair. Give him his meds and don’t let him leave the house for a week. He really should be resting so that he can heal faster. If anything hurts at all, he shouldn’t be doing it,” Sarah instructed almost breathlessly, ashamed that she’d let herself get so carried away.
“Call me Jared, please,” the man insisted as he shot her a playful grin. “And I’m sorry I came in. I was getting worried. I waited in the car, but it’s way past the time that Dante and I agreed on. I knew he shouldn’t be out for long.”
“I understand,” Sarah assured him hurriedly. “I should have taken him home as soon as he got here. Can you keep him at home for a while? It will help him heal up faster.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Both men answered at the same time, Jared in the affirmative and Dante with a negative. She couldn’t help but smile.
Jared opened the door and stepped through. “Let’s go, Princess,” he told Dante mockingly. “This is probably the one time in our entire lives that I can actually kick your ass. I’m taking advantage of it.”
“Only in your dreams, little brother.” Dante stressed the word “little” antagonistically as he glared at Jared’s back, but he headed for the door. Before he followed Jared, he stopped and silently looked down at her.
Sarah’s heart accelerated as he whispered in a husky voice, “We’ll finish this later. And don’t apologize for what happened. It didn’t hurt a bit.”
“It shouldn’t have happened,” she whispered back anxiously. “I’m your physician.” Her ethics were screaming at her now.
“It did happen, and it will happen again. Count on it,” Dante warned her ominously as he kissed her on the forehead and followed his brother. “Get off those feet,” he called back over his shoulder as he slowly followed his brother out to the car.
Sarah closed the door and leaned back against it, wondering what the hell had just happened.
She tried for the rest of the evening to figure out the logic for her brief interlude with Dante Sinclair, and she failed miserably, thinking maybe she needed to research all the recent data on sexual chemistry.
CHAPTER 5
One week later, Dante was restless and irritated as hell. True to his word, his brother Jared—with Grady sometimes filling in as his jailer—kept him confined to the house. He’d only seen Sarah for very brief visits, and he could tell she felt awkward. She was professional and matter-of-fact, and Dante hated it. He was desperate for another taste of the warm, passionate woman he’d discovered at her house last week.
No such thing as sexual chemistry, my ass. We were both about to go up in flames, and I wasn’t even fucking her.
His jaw clenched with impatience, and he was more than ready to give his adorable genius a few lessons on the subject of carnal pleasure. His time being idle in the hospital had been bad enough. Now being constantly inside was making him crazy. Granted, he’d liked catching up with Jared and Grady, since the brothers had seen each other so few times during their adulthood. But being stuck indoors was about to make him stir-crazy. He wasn’t used to having a spare moment to do anything. His job had always consumed him, left him almost no time to think about doing anything else.
All I can think about now is making Sarah come. His need was almost an obsession, and it got worse every damn day.
Dante’s body was healing, and he had stopped using the pain pills because he didn’t need them anymore. It still hurt like hell when he coughed too hard, but he was regaining his strength, and he wanted to spend some time outdoors.
I’m bullshitting myself. What I really want is to get my cock inside my beautiful physician and give her a taste of doing something just for pleasure.
“The week is up. I don’t need you two to babysit anymore, and I can go into the office to see a doctor when I need to be checked.” Dante looked up at Jared, who was sitting in a chair in front of his desk, doing some kind of work on the computer. “What are you doing?”
“Looking at a possible project,” Jared answered, sounding somewhat distracted.
Jared was a real estate developer and an architect. Dante knew that his brother had drafted the plans and personally helped build all of the houses on the peninsula except Grady’s. However, he rarely got all that involved in any of his projects anymore unless they were personal, which none of them really were. Jared bought, built, and sold commercial real estate to make money, not that he needed it.
“I’m going to town,” Dante informed him, getting up from the chair his ass had been warming for way too long. “You can go to your own house. Or stay here and finish. But you and Grady don’t need to be my keepers anymore.”
Jared looked up at him with a slightly wounded expression. “Look, I know you’re pissed. But we wouldn’t have been here if we weren’t worried.”
Dante knew that. “It isn’t that I don’t appreciate that you were concerned.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, having problems saying what he really wanted to say. His brothers might be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they’d been here when they thought he really needed them. “I’m just getting tense from sitting around for too long. I need to get out. I’m doing better now.”
And I need to get laid! Unfortunately, only one woman will do.
Jared stared at him silently for a moment before releasing a masculine sigh. “I’ll go to my house. You’ll call me if you need anything?”
“Yep.” Only if I’m dying. Dante needed a little space, a little time to think. He’d spent the last week in almost constant company with his brothers. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend more time with them, but not if it meant they were playing nursemaid . . . or jailer. He knew Jared planned on sticking around for a while this visit, probably until Dante was ready to go back to Los Angeles.
Jared stood up and shut down the computer. “It’s senior bingo night at the youth center. I was thinking of stopping by.”
Dante released a bark of startled laughter. “You? Since when do you play bingo?”
“I don’t, and the bingo is for the seniors. But I heard Sarah was playing the piano tonight before the games start. Grady says she’s better than most concert pianists. I thought I might stop by and check her out for myself.”
Dante pulled his hands out of his pockets and stared at his brother, giving him
a suspicious look. “What’s your interest in her?” Jared was very rich, very successful, and very much in the public eye. He was known for never being seen with the same woman more than once. Dante didn’t give a damn if Jared wanted to change women every day, but Sarah wasn’t going to be one of his daily specials.
“My only interest is in hearing her play. She’s a local doctor, Emily’s friend, and a woman who’s off-limits for me—just like she should be off-limits for you, Dante. She’s not the type of woman you can play around with. You’re going back to Los Angeles eventually. Don’t start something that’s going to leave her hurting. She’s a nice woman.”
Relieved that his brother wasn’t going to hit on Sarah, he replied, “I don’t want to play around with her. I actually like her. I can’t stop thinking about her.” He’d skip mentioning the sexual fantasies he had about her, and how desperately he wanted to fuck her.
“If you mess with her, Grady’s going to kill you if you make Emily unhappy. You know how he is about Em,” Jared warned ominously. “If she gets a hangnail, he about loses his mind.”
Yeah. Dante knew how protective Grady was about Emily, but he knew even that knowledge wouldn’t stop him from seeking Sarah out, trying to get closer to her. He felt like he was being lured by a feeling that was greater than lust. He wanted to fuck her, but there was something . . . more. “Maybe we could just be friends. I have several more weeks to recover. We could hang out.” Okay, it was lame, and a complete lie. But he was attempting to be nonchalant in front of his brother.
Jared broke into a loud snort of laughter. “Who the hell are you trying to fool? Dante, I’ve seen the way you look at her. Every damn glance says you want her naked. And I catch her sending you the same signals.”
