Billionaire Boss, M.D.(36)

A keen escaped her as she crushed herself to him, silently demanding he stop holding back.

Unable to even contemplate it anymore, he pressed her to the wall again. He was devouring her whimpers, undulating feverishly against her when a one-note buzz jolted through them both.

His phone. The line he kept for his brothers.

Dammit.

Setting her down but unable to stop caressing her, he gestured an apology as he pulled the phone out.

It was an integral part of their brotherhood’s pact, to answer a call from a brother at once. They’d depended on one another to survive, then to escape, then to conquer the world. A brother’s call trumped everything. They never called one another on those special lines unless it was something serious. As the group’s doctor, he’d gotten many of those calls.

Then came the last couple of years. Since then he’d gotten calls that were serious only in his brothers’ eyes. After all, they considered any twinge their wives or children suffered the end of the world.

But this was Ivan. He wasn’t married and would never be if all remained right with the world. Ivan had never called him on this line. Not once.

His heart thudding in mounting trepidation, he pushed the answer button. “Ivan?”

“Tonio, I’m landing in LA in half an hour. I need you and your best surgical team ready. Code Whiteout.”

Code Whiteout meant he needed Antonio’s secret surgical facility, where he had a special team on standby and where he treated injuries they needed kept below law enforcement’s radar.

He gritted his teeth at the agitation he felt cracking his best friend’s usual Siberian composure. “Tell me.”

“A...friend and his sister. They were gunned down. I have a team stabilizing them. I need you to put them back together.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

Ivan ended the call without another word. Antonio turned to Liliana, found she’d walked away to give him privacy.

He rushed after her, caught her in a ferocious hug. “I have to go, mi amore. Emergency surgery.”

She almost jumped at his endearment, her eyes flooding with such exquisite delight. “Of course.”

“Do you know how I hate leaving you now?”

“If it’s as much as I hate you leaving, I pity you fiercely.” Her smile wobbled as she caressed his cheek. “But duty calls. To both of us. I’d better get back to work before the bright ideas I was working on evaporate.” He hugged her again as if afraid she somehow would. Seeming to read his paranoia right, she grinned. “I’ll be right here when you’re done.”

“From the preliminary report, I don’t foresee being done for the next twelve hours. If that.”

“Then I’ll see you whenever you can see me.” She brushed his hair back, her touch soothing and bolstering.

He got out his keys, pressed them into her hand. “I’ll text you my security codes and Paolo’s number. He’ll pick you up from your house after you get what you need. I want you there when I get home.”

Her eyes made him this promise, and so many more, all of which he knew she’d keep no matter what. Then she stood on tiptoes and kissed him, giving him a glimpse of the ecstasy they’d share.

Before he grabbed her again, she stepped out of his arms, turned him around and marched him to the door. “The sooner you’re gone, the sooner you’ll be back to me.”

As he stepped outside her lab, his heart lurched. Leaving her felt like leaving behind a vital part of himself.

“I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“Oh, no, you’re not rushing a surgery on my account. I’ll be there no matter how late you are. And if you’re not home by tomorrow morning, you know where to find me. Now, shoo.”

At her grin, he groaned and turned away, forcing himself not to look back. He’d be late if he did, and Ivan would kill him. He’d do his job then rush home to her.

The anticipation kept him flying high all the way to his secret facility on the fringes of LA. It was only when he was entering it that he realized something.

When he’d given Liliana his keys, he’d been asking her to move in with him. He’d texted her nonstop on the way, but from her answers it was clear she thought he wanted her there only tonight. Even thinking that, she’d taken the keys happily. It pained him all over again that she didn’t have any expectations, was truly content with anything he offered.

It made him wonder how such unconditional passion was possible, and how he of all people was on its receiving end.

But even if he didn’t deserve it yet, he would.

He would deserve her.

* * *

It was 2:00 a.m. by the time he finished the surgeries.