“I’m pressing charges on him, officer. You need to arrest him too. He punched my friends, and my thumb’s out of joint.”
Anger pulsed from Jo as she faced blue shirt. “Really? Well considering the knife you dropped and the video surveillance I’ll be pulling from this parking garage, you and your friends will be up for attempted murder, and that’s just for starters. I heard from Dr. Carmichael that you were calling my fiancée a fag and you didn’t want ‘his sort’ treating your people, which pushes this into a hate crime. And as I have already dealt with one set of bullies yesterday, I’m fine with continuing the streak.” Jo’s lips curled into a smile that intimidated even Rhys. “You know, with a hate crime attached this falls into Federal Jurisdiction and if it’s attempted murder as well . . . well, those Federal prisons have a heck of a lot more bullies that are bigger and badder than you all will ever be.”
“Jo, I’ll fill out the paperwork, and these assholes aren’t pressing charges on Rhys. What with Dr. Carmichael running into the hospital yelling for you and me because Rhys was getting gay bashed.” Sullivan snorted and shook his head. “Sorry, that was just funny, seeing as how he’s engaged to you. And the security video. They’ll be in plenty of trouble.”
When that still didn’t seem to settle her, Sullivan clapped her on the shoulder. “You handled my problem with those two teenagers. Let me do this for you.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Okay.”
Two rookies came out of the doors, and Sullivan pointed to the other three as he snapped handcuffs around the massive man and lifted him up as if the guy weighed nothing. The move was unexpected given that Sullivan was as scrawny as a scarecrow. A walking skeleton who could eat his weight in food.
“I’ll see you after I’ve had a few hours’ sleep. Otherwise I might show up cranky.”
“Christ, drink coffee if it’ll make you less cranky, please.” With that, he shoved the perp toward the rookies. “We should check on Ned later too.”
“Nancy said she’d let us know if there was any change so we can get his statement.”
Turning to his boss, Rhys asked, “Dr. Carmichael, should I stay?”
A wave from the doctor shooed Rhys on his way. “Go, I’ll handle the incident report.”
“You’re going to need to come down to the station too, Doc.” Sullivan pushed the guy toward security.
A heavy sigh as Dr. Carmichael raked his hands through his hair. “I know.” Catching Rhys’s gaze, he pointed to hospital. “They can talk to you when you come in for your shift.”
“Thanks.” Exhaustion pulled at Rhys’s limbs. He needed sleep as much as Jo.
A quick grin crossed Dr. Carmichael’s face. “You made sure we didn’t get our heads bashed in, consider us even.”
“They seemed to only be after me.”
The doctor shrugged. “I think if I’d have come out first it would’ve been me, and I am nowhere near able to defend myself as well as you are.”
Maybe the man wasn’t as bad as Rhys had thought. Dr. Carmichael ushered two orderlies with gurneys to red shirt and blue shirt, who were both coming around, and had the men lifted onto the rolling beds and whisked away with the officers and Sullivan following.
~ ~ ~
Jo followed Rhys into the house, but they made it no further than the kitchen table before they were mauling each other. She needed to see that he was okay, that he was whole and unscathed except for his busted lip and a bruised jaw. He hadn’t realized he had been punched until she touched his jaw.
They pulled apart, and Rhys went to work on her black button-up shirt. “Rhys, wait.”
His hand stilled while Jo’s eyes bounced to the doorway that led to the laundry then the other door that led to the hallway. The silence was absolute. No thump of the washer spinning clothes. No hum of the dryer. Granted, it was still early, but Marta should be bustling around them by now gathering laundry or vacuuming. Jo loved the woman dearly but hearing the drone of the vacuum cutting on and off could break the mood when she and Rhys were making out on the couch in the family room. There was rarely any privacy to be intimate in the house, during the day Marta was here and at night Rian.
“Where’s Marta?”
Rhys grinned. “I gave her the day off. And Rian’s at GlenCare for the day.”
“We’re alone?” Heat flooded into her as her inhibitions were pushed aside.
“Yes.”
Jo returned the smile, stepped away from him, and hurriedly stripped. “Get naked. We’re hitting every surface we can before we pass out then we’ll wake up and hit a few more before Rian comes home.”
Rhys laughed. “There’s my Jo.”
In record time she was out of her clothes just as Rhys stepped free of his black slacks and briefs.
The man was a work of art, a study in power and strength. The rippling muscles in his shoulders and back, his golden skin, narrow hips. All of this hidden beneath his baggy scrubs or covered by the suit jacket he wore, she loved that no one else saw his form. It meant he was all hers.
His molten gaze burned her. He lifted her to the table. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
She groaned. “You’re the gorgeous—” her voice bottomed out when Rhys took up the space between her parted legs, pushing them wider, his hands traveling from her knees to the juncture of her thighs.
Unable to stay vertical she sprawled across the table.
He leaned over her and claimed her mouth. Slow and languid. No hurry in his movements. She released a deep sigh and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close. She needed to feel his hard body, the strength of his arms enfolding her, and the beat of his heart letting her know he was here. Safe.
They’d been together for two years now and every time
