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His hand still hovered over her cheek. And the way she cared for him…she didn’t have to. He was trained to defend himself, yet she worried more about what her ex-lover might do to him than what Vincente would do if he got his hands on her again.
That landed somewhere deep. Unsettled him.
She was still vulnerable. Still healing.
He needed to remember that.
As much as he wanted her, wanted this—whatever it was—he’d let her control their intimacy until she trusted him with her body and her pleasure.
He sat there on the exam table, staring at her like an idiot long enough that she noticed.
Her brows furrowed. “What?” She glanced at his thumb, her hand lifting to her face. “My makeup’s smeared, isn’t it?”
A knock on the exam room door gave him a reason to look away before he said something foolish.
Gia leaped back, putting a professional distance between them while she scrubbed her face to rid it of tears. “Come in.”
The door opened just enough for Jennie Tsosie to peer inside. “Zach needs to speak with Caleb as soon as you’re finished.”
Concern tightened her expression as her gaze lit on Gia’s red eyes and splotchy cheeks. She turned a steely-eyed glare on him, clearly deciding he was the asshole in the room.
Guilty as charged.
“We’re done,” Gia said.
She busied herself cleaning up the medical supplies while he slipped back into his t-shirt and hopped off the exam table. He needed to talk to his cousin about his phone call earlier with Nathan Long. He needed a new place to sleep.
A shadow of fear hovered like a bad omen at the edges of his brain.
If those bastards had come after Gia instead of him…
She couldn’t stay at her home either. Even though Ortega and his men hadn’t come after her today, it didn’t mean they didn’t know how to find her.
“As soon as I’m finished with Zach, we’re going home.”To pack. He grabbed his jacket off the chair, the leather making a faint creaking sound as he shoved his arms into the sleeves.
“My patients—”
“Will have to reschedule. Your safety comes first. Always.” He delivered his words on a knifepoint. Sharp and staccato.
Gia’s head snapped back, surprise widening her eyes before anger narrowed them. “You’re the one that got shot at.Again.Is avenging your mother’s death worth dying for?”
Fire licked his veins for a different reason now. She believed this was only about his mother?
Two steps. He gripped the counter on either side of her body.
His lips brushed the shell of her ear. “This isn’t about my mother.” Words meant only for her to hear. “It’s about you. Touching you is a privilege Vincente Lopez will never have again.”
He brushed past Jennie and went in search of his cousin.
Zach was in the lobby, on his cell. As soon as he saw Caleb, he hung up and tossed a small black object.
Caleb snatched it out of the air on instinct. A key fob.
Zach leveled a glare. “Not a scratch, Cousin. I asked one of my friends to drive it here.”
He made a beckoning motion. “Give me your hotel key. You know you can’t stay there anymore. I’ll get your stuff and check you out when I’m off shift.”
“Thanks.” Caleb pulled the plastic key card from his wallet. “I asked my colleague to find a safe house nearby for me and Gia to hole up in. Nathan’s making sure the rental’s under one of Dìleas’s shell company names—no paper trail, no way to trace it. Once he gets back to me, we’re out of here.”