Tattoo (Take It Off #7)(25)
Author: Cambria Hebert

He winced but didn’t pull away, kissing me through the pain.

“I’m sorry,” I said, finally disconnecting our lips, glancing down at the place I grabbed. The place he was shot.

I tried to push up off him so I could sit back and see if I did any damage, but he growled and pulled me back. “I’m not done kissing you yet,” he rumbled.

I giggled and surrendered willingly. The feel of him against me was too much to fight. When our lips connected once more, his hips surged upward and I felt his hard length straining against his jeans. It pushed against me, and I gasped.

He took the moment to sweep his tongue into my wide-open mouth, and I groaned. Oh my goodness, it felt like heaven. No, wait. It felt like sin. Delicious sin that would turn even an angel into an outlaw.

His tongue was thick and wide, taking over the inside of my mouth and lapping at my own with force and command. It slid past my teeth and spun around, almost like it was inviting my tongue to dance.

My body went slack in his arms, completely compliant to him and the spell he cast over me. I didn’t care if yielding made me weak… because I was. The driving force of his broad, insistent tongue turned me into nothing but a puddle of desire, and all I could think about was where else his tongue might travel.

We were so far gone in the each other’s arms that neither of us noticed the ambulance come to a stop. In fact, I barely heard the backdoors being opened, and I didn’t blink at the way the night air rushed over my flushed skin.

Brody grasped my face in his hands and pulled back, looking at me like we didn’t have an audience, like I was the only thing he saw.

“You still taste damn good,” he whispered, his voice husky with desire.

The IV line sticking out of my hand was tangled around him, and instead of pulling away quickly, knowing we’d been caught making out, he untangled himself with slow and deliberate ease, taking care not to cause me any extra pain.

The EMTs were amused when we made our way to the back of the ambulance, and when one of them reached up to help me out, Brody brushed him aside and reached in, lifting me and the portable IV out, anchoring me at his side.

“Lead the way,” he said to the men who could only stare.

Finally, they moved off toward the emergency exit and Brody nudged me along behind them.

As we were walking between the sliding doors and across the threshold into the chaotic ER, Brody leaned close, his breath fanning out over my ear and causing little ripples of longing to race across my skin.

“I’d get shot all over again for another kiss like that.”

I pressed my still-tingling lips together and smiled.

So would I.

13

Brody

As I knew, my wound wasn’t all that serious. The bullet grazed me on the way past, ripping the top layer of flesh and damaging some tissue on its way. It bled more than it should have, but that’s because right after it happened I threw us onto the stairs, ripping the skin farther, and then carried Taylor out of the building.

Once it was cleaned and wrapped, the doctor told me I could go and tried to give me a prescription for pain pills. I left the script lying on the bed. I didn’t take drugs, even if they were only pain pills.

There were times when I was undercover that I had to, and I knew how easily it was to jones for the next fix, to look for that high. I wasn’t an addict and I never planned on being one. If I needed drugs to get through the pain of this wound, then I was a damn pussy.

I walked down the hall toward Taylor’s room. The nurse tried to tell me I wasn’t allowed to see her (‘cause I wasn’t family), but I ignored her and kept walking. If they wanted to keep me out of that room, they could call security.

I smirked.

Security wouldn’t be able to keep me out either.

She must have realized because she didn’t even call after me as I walked away. Maybe she recognized the look of a determined man. Determined and exhausted. God, this had been a long fucking day.

I knew I had to get to the station; a mountain of paperwork was waiting for me. But I couldn’t leave until I checked on Taylor. I had to make sure the treatment I gave her while we were in that basement didn’t do more harm than good.

I didn’t knock when I arrived at her private room; I just pushed open the door and stepped inside. She was lying in a hospital bed, white blankets covering her past her waist. Her red hair was laid out across the pillow and her lashes were swept down against her pale cheeks. I never really noticed before how fine-boned she seemed, how fragile. But looking at her now made my stomach tighten into a hard knot as I thought about everything she went through earlier today.

She was hooked up to several monitors and of course an IV, and I glanced down at her hand to make sure it was taped up securely.

Her father was reclining in a nearby chair, his feet flat on the floor and his tie slightly askew. I wasn’t sure how old he was, but I would place him in his fifties. I wondered where her mother was… why she wasn’t keeping vigil beside her as well.

I took a step closer and Mr. Shaw stirred, opening his eyes and staring directly at me. I looked back, not necessarily challenging him, but not willing to back down either. I had a feeling this guy was used to getting what he wanted and people running to do his bidding. I wasn’t one of those people and he needed to know that.

“What are you doing in here?” he asked.

Wasn’t it obvious? “Checking on Taylor.”

“Wasn’t there a guard at the door?”

“Nope.” Although, I liked the idea of there being one.

He frowned and sat up, looking at his watch. “He should have been here an hour ago.”

“Might want to get someone more reliable. Taylor needs better protection than that.”

He regarded me coolly. “I agree.”

“Why don’t you go get some coffee, make a phone call, and fire the putz who didn’t show up?”

“You trying to get rid of me?” he asked.

“I wasn’t aware I needed to.”

We stared at each other once more, sizing each other up without saying a word.

Taylor shifted in the bed and made a small sound. Since I was already on my feet, I made it to her side before her father (which I took a little too much pleasure in) and rested my hand on the edge of her bed.

She looked up, her jade eyes focusing on me, and then she smiled. “Hey.”

That smile had the ability to melt icecaps. It certainly took away the sting of the wound in my side. “Hey.”

Her eyes ran over my face. “How are you? Why aren’t you lying down?”