Power Trip(7)
“You work at the hospital?” he asked, meaning Hudson General, just down the street. That would explain why she had been so comfortable tooling around this crappy neighborhood on her own.
“No, I work at a private lab.”
“I saw you talking to Jacob Fallon at the Lair. Is he your Dom?”
She burst out laughing. “He’s my brother.”
Since when did The Cobra have a sister?
She recovered from her laughing fit. “You need to go to the hospital. Give me your phone. Now.”
He tucked his cell into his waistband. “No.”
Did he think stuffing his phone into his pants would keep her from reaching for it? She was a doctor, for God’s sake. Audrey leaned down. “Give me your cell phone,” she repeated.
He sat motionless on the sidewalk, looking perfectly comfortable and at home, not at all in pain. He wasn’t sweating or swearing. His eyes were clear. He didn’t appear to be in shock. He was just being difficult.
“Look,” she said. “I took an oath. I can’t leave you here. You have to let me help you. Give me the phone.” Screw his whole don’t touch me bullshit. She yanked up his T-shirt and thrust her hand down the front of his pants.
He was hot. His abdomen felt charged with heat. He couldn’t have a fever yet, could he? He bent at the waist, trying to scoot away from her, but she moved forward. His motion trapped her hand against his stomach. Her hand tingled pleasantly. Without thinking, she flattened her palm on his hard abdominal muscles. She heard a low hum.
She swallowed. He wasn’t trying to get away from her anymore. Slowly, she raised her eyes. His pupils were dilated, the electric blue of his irises creating an eerie ring around them. Sweat beaded his upper lip and she had an insane urge to lick it.
His lips moved.
“What?” she asked, feeling dazed.
“A little lower, Doc.” He thrust his hips toward her hand.
The outraged shriek that broke from her lips was entirely unintentional. He grinned as she fished his phone out of his pants. It was the first time she had seen him smile. Christ, he was stunning. That she even thought about that fact made her angrier.
She pushed a button on the phone and discovered it was locked. She dropped it in his lap. Screw it. She was going to leave his uncooperative ass on the sidewalk and go back to Jake for help. If this idiot got rolled into the street by homeless people who thought his ridiculous leather coat would make a good tent, so be it.
A black car pulled up next to them. She pushed herself to her feet, relieved she wouldn’t have to abandon him, even if he was one of the most infuriating humans on the planet. She waited at the curb, on edge, hoping whoever emerged had a cell phone.
The passenger door opened and a pair of crystal-beaded high heels emerged, then long, bare legs. A woman got out of the car. Her dress was a short slip of silver sequins, and it hugged her tiny waist and dipped low over her breasts. By the time Audrey’s eyes landed on the woman’s sleek auburn hair, pale green eyes and perfect skin, she felt like swearing.
She gritted her teeth. This sort of woman made her feel plain and drab, especially tonight in her lab rat clothes, but this wasn’t about her. She needed a damn cell phone. She took a step toward the car. “Excuse me.”
A man was coming around the front of the car. Wait, it wasn’t a man, it was a woman with close-cropped hair, wearing a tuxedo. A thick watch gleamed on her wrist. Audrey couldn’t decide if she was handsome or cute. Both?
Matrix man spoke from the sidewalk. “About time.”
The two women stood over him, shaking their heads. “No appreciation, as usual.”
Audrey stepped forward. “He needs to go to the hospital. By ambulance, preferably,” she insisted. “Otherwise, he’ll have to wait in the ER. Do you have a cell phone?”
“We’ll take it from here.” The sparkling woman kicked off her shoes, dropped to her bare knees on the sidewalk and bent over his broken arm, giving Audrey a good look at the tattoo on her back, a snake coiled around a staff. The other woman held out her hand to Audrey. “I’m Sam.”
“Audrey Fallon.” Audrey automatically took her hand. She felt a tug, but not in her fingers, in her mind. She pulled her hand away, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at the woman, which is what she always did to Jake when he tried to whammy her.
Sam continued to stare at her. Audrey stared back, deciding she didn’t have to be polite either. It was eerie how much the tuxedo and the hair made her look masculine. Or was it the confident way she held her body? Her voice had been pitched low too. Audrey felt her mind shift to look at her as a man. Handsome, she decided.