Page 32 of Zorro

He blinked several times. “I’m about to go absent without leave,” he whispered. His breathing was ragged. “Jesus fucking Christ, now I’m going to have to run with a freaking hard-on. That is squarely your fault. I don’t know how much more I can take from you before I lose my fucking mind.”

“I just humiliated myself in front of your whole team for God’s sake.” She blinked. “What did you just say?”

“Everly, I’ve got to go, or the guys are going to suffer because of me.” He took a hard breath, keeping his hands by his sides. “What do you have going on today?”

“What?”

“What is your schedule?” he said through a suddenly clenched jaw like a man who was barely holding on.

She frowned in confusion. “I have to go over my notes for the Welcome, then check in with the hotel for the tribute for my husband, then meeting Madeline for?—”

“Cancel everything except the Welcome.”

“But people are depending on me. I always try to be the best I can be. Why is that so bad?” Everly snapped.

Zorro stepped in, crowding her gently against the wall. “Does that fulfill you at night, when loneliness creeps in?” His voice dropped low, husky, the kind of tone that tingled down her spine and stayed.

She lifted her chin, defiant. “You don’t get to judge me.”

He leaned in until his face was inches from hers. Those wicked angles no respectable doctor should notice, but she always did. Damn him.

He smiled. That smile. The bad-boy one she associated with wild men and automatic weapons.

“Does it fulfill you?” he murmured, sliding a finger along her bare collarbone. “Does it touch your skin?” Her breath hitched. She didn’t move. “Does it kiss your mouth?” he asked, his lips a breath from hers. “Does it wrap around you…” His voice dropped to a dark hush, “until only one heartbeat remains?”

“Goddammit, Zorro! Get your ass in gear or Joker’s gonna have our tails in a sling!” Buck’s voice rang down the hallway.

Zorro held the moment a beat longer. Then he stepped back, and the loss of him made her knees threaten to buckle. Her hand came out instinctively, like she could catch the heat of him before it disappeared. But all she found was air.

That man was a dangerous fucking specimen, and she was going to kill Buck for ruining that moment.

Without even hesitating, her body burning to a crisp from the look in his eyes. “Yes,” she whispered. “I’ll cancel my afternoon…for you.”

“Zorro!”

He swore, took a heavy breath. “I’ll be looking for you come one o’clock.” Then he turned and sprinted down the hall.

It was long afterward that she got down to the lobby in her own running gear. She needed the exertion to get rid of this ache in her body. She stopped, seeing the team past the columns stretching out, causing a stir. Of course they were.

The hotel was so busy, she didn’t even register Bear until he and Flint were already on top of her.

Flint padded up beside him, his black coat sleek, those sharp, intelligent eyes locked onto Everly like he knew exactly how fragile she felt beneath the bravado.

He tilted his big head, looked up at her with solemn, liquid-dark sympathy, then let out a soft, mournful whine.

Like he was apologizing on behalf of all men everywhere.

Everly blinked. “Even the dog thinks I’ve lost all self-respect.”

Bear gave a low chuckle, the corner of his mouth twitching in what almost, almost, qualified as a smile. She bet he’d be devastating like Zorro if he ever let loose.

“No, Doc,” he said, voice calm, the kind that could settle storms. “He just thinks Zorro’s lucky.”

She swallowed, throat tight.

Then Bear added gently, “You okay?”

His eyes held none of the teasing. Just quiet presence.