“It’s all right,” I whisper. “I’ll go. I understand.”
Cullen’s brow twitches, and, moving with that same patent precision, he lowers his face and seals his lips over mine.
I have one moment to breathe in Cullen’s fresh masculine scent before the full force of his mouth on mine sends blazes of heat streaking along every fiber of my body. His tongue plunders me in luscious, possessive strokes that turn my knees to Jell-O. I gasp against Cullen’s demanding mouth, the feeling of his strong hand braced against my shoulders grounding me even as my breasts and thighs waken to the touch. Holy freakin’ Zeus. If we don’t pull apart soon, I’m going to get wet right here in the middle of the exam room. Surely that can’t be what Cullen is after just now?
And then I understand.
My heart hammering against my ribs, I rise to his challenge. Wrapping my hand in the fabric of his shirt, I kiss him back just as fiercely as he’s taking me and let the Tridents’ burning gazes be damned.
I’m breathless by the time he pulls away, tucking me against his side as he pins his focus to each member of his former unit one by one. “Are we clear?” he asks.
Silence.
Then Eli raises his hand. “Actually, sir, I didn’t quite catch that. Could you demonstrate again?”
Kyan smacks his knuckles into Eli’s diaphragm, the former SEAL grunting at the impact. Still, when he straightens up, Eli’s eyes twinkle with welcome, and Kyan’s visage relaxes slightly as he gives me a nod. Liam, being Liam, gives no indication of having heard or seen anything, but the tension in the room shifts palpably.
“So what else is going on, mate?” Eli asks, grabbing one of the tourniquets the nurses use for blood draws and wrapping it around his fingers like a toy rubber band.
Before Cullen can answer, Michelle walks in and wordlessly hands Cullen his chart, her face giving nothing away.
“Lab results?” I ask.
“Yeah.” Cullen scans the numbers, his jaw tight as he swears under his breath. “The lab is certain.”
“I had them run it twice,” Michelle confirms. “When you’re ready, let me know who you want me to call.”
“You pregnant, Cullen?” asks Eli.
“I’ve no prazosin in my system. Not any.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Liam snarls, making Michelle purse her lips at him for raising his voice in a hospital. He doesn’t look repentant, though. He looks pissed off. Still, he must respect Michelle, because he does quiet down as she walks out of the room. “I take it you didn’t stop the regimen?”
Cullen’s eyes flash. He doesn’t miss his doses. He’s downright religious about consistency. “You can do a fucking pill count if you want,” he says. “I just got a refill about two weeks ago.”
“About the amount of time it would take to clear it from your system.” Liam’s face darkens. “So either there was a mix-up at the pharmacy, which is as damn likely as me learning the violin in my sleep, or someone came into your house and tampered with it.”
Without waiting for an answer, Liam yanks his phone from his pocket and hisses orders to someone on the other end of the line. “Get everyone into the damn office. Now. I’m on my way.”
“Who’s he talking to?” I ask.
“Whichever employee on duty is in charge at his company, probably,” Cullen tells me as Liam swishes out like a galloping stallion, barking more orders into his phone. “If someone got into my house, Rowen Security Services will have footage.”
Kyan, who has been so quiet I nearly forgot he was there, now pushes off the wall where he’d been lounging. “Sky. Tell me everything you know about this photographer. I want to go have a chat while we wait.” There’s something so dark and menacing in the way Kyan says chat that I step back involuntarily. Cullen’s friend or not, Kyan has killed people. They all have.
“It’s all right.” Cullen pulls me over to stand between his muscled thighs, his amused gaze caressing my face. “You’re not about to become an accessory to murder, I promise. Keasley is the most reserved of us when it comes to breaking noses.”
Color rises to my face at having been so easy to read. Though maybe it’s just Cullen’s observations, because Kyan’s face flashes with a hit of surprise at my words.
“Make you a deal,” Kyan says, his arms crossing a wide chest that strains his button-down shirt. “I won’t do anything to get anyone arrested, and you call Jaz. She’s worried crazy, and if she learns I saw you and didn’t call, it’s my nose that’s getting broken.”
39
Sky
“So what now?” I ask, after Kyan saunters out through the curtain, leaving me, Cullen, and Eli in the treatment room.
“Now we sit tight for a few hours,” says Cullen. “Give Liam and Kyan a chance to work while Yarborough gets on the phone with every doc known to man to work out how to best get my drug levels up. Since he fully intends to operate, he’s probably interrogating the anesthesia department just now.”
I don’t realize my hand is squeezing Cullen’s shoulder until he covers my fingers with his own. “I’ll be all right. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t much like the idea, but the thought of having both my hands fully available for the things I want to do to you is rather appealing just now.”
I do turn bright red at that, especially since Eli grunts in hidden amusement. “Mate, you’re so out of practice, you’ll need a compass and guidebook just to find south.”
It says a lot that Cullen only flips Eli off without ever taking his eyes off me. “I’ve got a good medical team here. And afterward, with Addie Peterson being the best physical therapist in Colorado, I’ll be back on track in no time.”
“Addie.” My eyes wide, my fingers now dig into Cullen’s muscles for a different reason altogether. “Frank sent the video of your fight to blackmail her into letting her house go into foreclosure.”
Cullen shakes his head. “I told her I’ll take care of her. And one way or another, I will. No one blackmails my friends.”
“Have you met Adrianna Peterson?” I put my hands on my hips and glare at Cullen. “Does she strike you like the kind of woman who was going to take your ‘don’t worry, I got it,’ and let it go? She surrendered that house to the bank this morning.”
“She what?” Cullen is on his feet at once, though I have no idea where he thinks he’s going.
“Damn it, Addie. I’m calling the bank now and—”
“No, you’re not.” Eli stretches his back lazily. “Until we have Frank in a vise, let the bastard think he’s winning. Mason Pharmaceuticals is in the middle of a half dozen real estate deals right now, I’ll have some subcontractors tie the land up in an assessment. The house won’t go anywhere for a while, and we’ll deal with it on the back end.” Despite Eli’s easy tone, the experience and intelligence backing each word are so potent that even Cullen sits his ass right back on the table.
Leaving the men to discuss the details of property law, I wander out to get some food. On my way back, I stop by to greet Michelle, who is typing details from Cullen’s chart into a wheeled computer station instead of using the more comfortable seats that make the screen accessible to wandering eyes.