She silently fumed at him. Saint didn’t budge.
“A bodyguard?” she asked, exasperated.
Saint wagged a finger at her. “You’re the one who came to me. So, you play by my rules. I need to know you’re safe at all times. Iron’s a good man. He won’t interfere in your day-to-day affairs. He’ll just make sure you get to and from work safely. Also, don’t forget. My security guy’s coming over to install your system.”
“You’ve been busy,” she remarked.
“Anything for my baby.”
Before she could protest the ridiculous nickname, he tugged her close to her. Their bodies touched. Her skin turned fever hot. She hungrily sought his lips and Saint thrust fire down her throat. She pulled away first, gasping for air. How could she deny this possessive and cocky biker?
Olivia knew she’d reached the danger stage. Saint could ruin her. He could still decide to shatter her heart into a thousand pieces, and she wouldn’t be able to pick herself up again. Yet here she was, taking the risk with him. She was reacting out of gratefulness. Her attraction to him hadn’t dampened over the years but rather, his absence only fueled her lust for him.
“I’m not your anything,” she managed to whisper.
“Yet,” he told her. He kissed her again, slowly and tenderly this time, leaving her speechless.
They ate breakfast in silence. Olivia was surprised Saint was a decent cook. In contrast, she was terrible in the kitchen and usually survived on take-out or frozen dinners. Brett and she hardly ate together because their schedules frequently clashed.
“You’re thinking about him again,” Saint said with a growl.
How curious. Saint actually sounded jealous, but why would he? They were still practically strangers to each other. Last night, they bumped into each other by accident, or had he chased her? Some part of Olivia wished to believe that Saint truly in love with her as he claimed. In lust more like, but Olivia would take what she could get.
“Nothing good, I assure you. I thought back to the meals I had on my own. I’m a terrible cook, so I always order out.”
“The two of you didn’t eat together often?”
“No. He’s usually on his way out to some party or social event by the time my shift at the hospital is over.” She shivered. “I preferred it that way. Only when I threatened to leave him then became violent.”
“The thought of losing you must’ve eaten him up.”
“It’s not like that. I don’t think he loved me either. I was just another possession to him and he hates losing his belongings. I don’t think he ever saw me as a person,” she admitted. Hearing the truth from her own lips only cemented the fact that leaving Brett was the right choice after all.
“I see you, Olivia. All of you.” His steel-colored eyes captured hers. Saint brushed his hand over hers and leaned over for a kiss she received.
Olivia shut her eyes. Everything faded away at the demanding press of his lips. Saint didn’t kiss. He plundered and consumed. He saw her, all of her. That should’ve scared her a little more, but it didn’t. Her heart beat erratically, and her breathing came out short when he pulled away.
“I got to get going before I’m late for my first day at the hospital,” she said lamely. “Let’s leave the dishes in the sink. I’ll take care of them later.”
“Then I’ll see you soon, baby. You have my number.”
“Wait. When did that happen?”
“I put my name and number on your phone last night, when you showed me Brett’s messages.”
Saint hopped off the stool and grabbed his jacket, which he’d left slung on the arm of the uncomfortable recliner he’d slept in. He blew her a kiss. Her unexpected laughter caught her off-guard. She actually felt good, lighthearted and more like herself for a change. Saint had that effect on her. Going down this road was dangerous, but Olivia knew it was too late to back off now.
Saint had sunk his hooks deep in her.
Chapter Seven
“This will only sting for a little while. One, two,” Olivia started.
She didn’t wait for three. Olivia gave her ten-year-old patient the flu shot. The boy squeezed his eyes shut then opened them. He looked at her in wonder.
“Done?”
“That’s right.” Olivia picked up the bandage he picked, the one with the Superman logo, and pasted it over his arm.
She wistfully watched Todd and his mom leave the children’s clinic. Olivia loved working with kids. For a time, she wanted kids of her own. Brett thought kids were too much work. In the end, not trying for kids with Brett had been one of the best decisions she ever made in her life. She shuddered to think of Brett being a father.
“Help, my husband’s been shot,” said a woman’s voice from the reception area.
St. Luke’s was a small hospital and as Olivia found out three days ago, it was also severely understaffed. No surprise there, given Redemption was a remote country town in Illinois. There were only two doctors on staff, three nurses including Olivia. Dr. Mitchell was on leave today, which only left Dr. Stone on duty. Right now, he was in the ER, operating on a patient. The two other nurses were assisting him with the complicated procedure, leaving Olivia on the floor.
Olivia took off her disposable gloves, disinfected her hands, and quickly walked to the lobby. Running might only send potential patients into a panic. Seeing the young woman with the hulking man who was holding his bloody left hand with his right, she called out to them. It looked like she had to handle this one on her own.
Good thing Olivia had a level head when it came to situations like these and the sight of blood didn’t make her feel queasy.
“This way, to the clinic,” she told them.
Olivia would take care of paperwork later on. Working at a small-town hospital was really vastly different from the private hospital she’d worked at before. The nurses certainly had to pull their weight here. It took her only a day to get used to how things were run at St. Luke’s.
“Olivia, is that you? I heard from Dad you were back in town,” said the young woman as she examined the bullet wound on the man’s shoulder. The guy was lucky because the wound wasn’t deep.
Finally, she looked up and recognition hit her at the sight of the curvy, dark-haired young woman.
“Bonnie?” She shook her head. No time to be distracted. She disinfected the injury. “We have to phone the police if a patient comes in with a bullet wound.”
“Go ahead,” the man grunted. “The cops are under our payroll.”
Olivia finally noticed the patch on the man’s leather jacket. Just great. Another of Saint’s men. This must be Bonnie’s husband. He must be twice her age, then again, she didn’t miss the look of worry in Bonnie’s eyes. Who was Olivia to judge, anyway? Saint must be ten years her senior, or even more.
“Okay.” She took a breath. “Bonnie, have a seat, I’ll need to inform Dr. Stone before I can do anything. Sit tight.”
It took the better part of two hours to extract the bullet from Hawke’s arm, mostly because they had to wait for Dr. Stone to finish with his other patient. Once it was Hawke’s turn, Dr. Stone extracted the bullet with Olivia’s assistance.