Still, I’m not ready to leave.
“Go to hell,” I mutter covering my head with a pillow. There’s an extra one since Joanna hasn’t slept in her bed with me since…well, since the day I went to see Giselle and Katrina. For some reason, she’s acted like she’s been mad at me ever since, but she’s still been taking care of me like no one else has ever done before.
“Fine we will, but we’re taking you with us,” Malcolm declares as he rips the pillow away from my fingers and Silas pulls the bedsheets off my body. Thankfully, I’m wearing a pair of boxer briefs or they all would’ve gotten an eyeful.
“Go easy on him!” Joanna warns from the doorway, just the sound of her voice making my dick twitch before I see her beautiful face. “He’s still healing from two gunshots.”
“I’ll take his shit to the car,” Nash says as he throws my clothes into a big bag. On the way out of the bedroom, I see him pull a thick envelope from his back pocket and hand it to his sister. I didn’t know that until Wirth told me. Joanna still doesn’t know they’re related, and I’m not sure if Nash is ever planning on telling her. It’s just another reason why I shouldn’t have missed having her sleep next to me the past few nights.
“You’ve already paid me plenty,” Joanna says to him.
“Take it,” Nash insists. “For the time you missed from work and meds you had to steal. Least we can do.”
Dammit. That makes me feel guilty since it’s my fault she missed work. No wonder she’s so ready to be rid of me.
“Thank you,” Joanna says softly as she takes the envelope.
“No, thank you,” Nash replies before he walks out of the room with my bag of clothes.
“If you all have any other medical emergencies, you know where to find me,” Joanna says, meeting my eyes for a quick second before they’re sadly gone.
“You’re a goddamn saint,” Malcolm says, kissing her cheek on the way out with Silas and Devlin behind him.
“What the fuck am I supposed to wear home?” I ask when I finally look around and remember Nash left with my clothes.
“Hold on,” Joanna says before she goes to the closet. I watch her ass like a hawk, except I don’t think hawks look at women and think about getting them naked and underneath them. She pulls out a blue robe and brings it over as I stand up beside the bed. I let her help pull it on just so I can be close to her this one last time.
“Nice look, man,” Wirth teases. “Now let’s go.”
“At least you’re all covered up now,” Joanna looks up at my face and says when she tries to pull the two sides of the robe together, but my shoulders are too broad.
Fuck, I’m going to miss her like crazy, waking up and seeing her beautiful face every morning. That’s why I do something stupid.
My hands shoot out, cradling her face gently in them to hold her still so I can bring my lips down to hers. I expect her to push me away when she realizes what I’m doing. But she doesn’t. Her lips kiss me back as her hands grab on to my shoulders, and then she opens them for me to slide my tongue inside, tasting more of her, not rushing the kiss but indulging, savoring every second. When she moans, telling me she’s enjoying it as much as I am, I groan into her mouth.
“Fiasco!” Wirth yells my name, making Joanna and I both jump since I didn’t even consider that we may have an audience. Fuck it. I don’t care.
Joanna breaks the kiss first, taking a step backward, but I can’t seem to make my feet leave.
“Come on, buddy,” Wirth says when he comes over and grabs my elbow to urge me to go with him. “You’re still surviving two gunshot wounds. No reason to make Nash add a third or a fourth.”
“It would be worth it,” I say with a heavy sigh.
“What?” Joanna asks. “Why would Nash care…”
“Ah, see ya, Joanna. Thanks again for everything!” Wirth calls back to her before hurrying me out of the house.
Chapter Seven
Joanna
“You’re back!” Casey says when she finds me sitting in the hospital cafeteria pushing my fork around my salad the first day back after Phillip left my care.
“I’m back,” I agree and try to give her a smile.
I haven’t lived in town long, but Casey and I became good friends fast, not just because we work in the same hospital but because we’re both young divorcees who bonded over our pain-in-the-ass exes. Now I guess we both have crushes on bikers.
She pulls out the chair on the other side of the table to sit down right across from me. “Does that mean that your…patient is better?”
“He’s recovering well. The guys came and took him home yesterday.”
“Then why does your tone of voice make it sound like he died?”
“That’s ridiculous. I don’t sound like that.”
“You didn’t want him to leave, did you?” she says with a smirk.
“Of course I wanted him to leave!” I exclaim. Lowering my voice, I tell her, “My job was to make sure he survived, and he did.”
“Yeah, but now you’re missing having a hot blond man in your bed.”
“Casey, you know he only slept in it. Nothing happened.” I remind her.
“He was unconscious the entire time I was there, but even a man like him on his death bed would try and get you out of your panties.”
My face flushes in a rush, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Casey. “What aren’t you telling me, Joanna?”
“Nothing,” I say, but that’s a lie and she’ll know it. “At least not much. He kissed me yesterday before he left.”
“He kissed you? That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“And said he wanted to see you again?”
“No.”
“What?” she scoffs. “Then it was
