Page 101 of Bellini Bound

“Okay.” I set the tablet aside before pulling on a pair of gloves. “I’m going to gently palpate around your abdomen. Let me know if anywhere I touch causes discomfort.”

As I went about the examination, he grunted a few times, and I had to fight back a shudder of revulsion when I shifted to the lower quadrants, and he grew hard behind the fly of his slacks. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time someone popped a boner while being touched by a female nurse, but this guy was giving me the creeps.

He hissed when I put pressure around the spot where it would indicate an inflamed appendix, and I withdrew, removing my gloves to type notes into his chart.

I wiped the expression of disgust off my face to give him the fakest smile of reassurance I could muster. “I’m going to fetch a doctor to perform an ultrasound. Hang tight for a few minutes.” Then I slipped out through the curtain and breathed a sigh of relief.

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes later when Dr. McBride sought me out at the nurses’ station. “Allie, I thought you had a patient with suspected appendicitis for me.”

“Yeah. He’s in Bed Six.” I gestured in that direction.

The doctor shook his head. “No, he’s not.”

“What are you talking about?” Slipping off the stool I was seated on, I marched over to Bed Six and flung the curtain back to reveal crumpled sheets on an empty gurney. I let out a disbelieving exhale. “Where the hell did he go?”

“Thought maybe he slipped out to use the restroom, but when I checked, they were all empty,” Dr. McBride explained.

“Why would he just leave?” It didn’t make any sense to come into the emergency room, then take off without getting treatment for his ailments.

McBride shrugged. “You know how it goes; lots of folks come in without insurance and freak out when they realize how much a potential procedure is going to cost.”

I gripped my forehead. “If his appendix bursts, money will be the least of his problems.”

“We can only help those who want to be helped, unfortunately. If he happens to show back up, give me a page.”

“Yeah, okay,” I breathed out.

Some days, this job was fucking strange.

“Rough shift?” Enzo asked, eyeing the glass of white wine resting beside the open bottle on the counter as I cooked dinner.

My head tilted from side to side. “Not exactly. Just a little weird, is all.”

When he looped his arms around my waist from behind, I relaxed immediately. Then the kiss he placed right behind my ear turned me into putty. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Wish I could.” I sighed. “But that would break all kinds of laws.”

His stifled laughter sounded as he teased, “Yeah, we can’t have that.”

I shook my head. This wasn’t the first time he’d made light of his criminal activities, but the more time we spent together, the more I came to realize it was his way of protecting himself. He lived in a dark world, carried out dark deeds, and his humor kept him from getting sucked into the black hole of the soulless.

Turning in my husband’s arms, I rose on my tiptoes to fuse our lips together. After the day I’d had, I wanted to shut my mind off, and the best way to do that was to get lost in the man I loved.

Enzo groaned into the kiss, gripping me tighter. Hands shifting to my ass, he palmed the globes and squeezed, nearly lifting my feet off the ground.

My nails scraped along his scalp as our tongues battled, conveying without words just how much I needed him. When he pulled back, panting, I let out a whine, my teeth clamping down hard on his lower lip to express my displeasure.

His husky chuckle made my toes curl against the hardwood floors. “What do you say we put a pin in dinner?”

“It’s like you read my mind,” I breathed, pulling out of his arms to tug him from the room, but I turned back frowning when he remained immovable.

“Hold on.” He used his free hand to turn off the stove.

Oh shit, I’d gotten so distracted I could have easily burned the whole house down.

“Do you know what happened today?” A hint of a smile teased at the corner of his lips.

I cocked my head. “Uh, no?”