much. “I’m not going to faint. If you don’t shove your hands into his chest, we’ll all be fine.”
The zipper slid down with a hiss.
Donnie’s face seemed stained with bruises. Purple and dark blue spots stood out in stark contrast on his chalky skin.
Ruben rooted around in the body bag and pulled up… “Here you go. Right hand.”
She leaned closer. Tried not to inhale. “Show me the left.”
He shoved the right hand back into the bag. Pulled up the left.
Her gaze darted to Donnie’s face once more. Nope, nope. Stop it. She dragged her gaze off his face and—
“That’s a tan line,” Chloe said.
Ruben pulled Donnie’s rather pudgy fingers toward his eyes. “Sure is. Guy must’ve had a ring here. A pretty big one.”
“A championship ring.” She nodded. “Glory days. You keep what matters close.”
Ruben lowered the hand. “Did you just solve something again?”
“No, I just confirmed something. Solving will take time.” Her stomach was knotting. She’d noticed the Y incision on Donnie’s exposed chest. Oh, God. “I’ll be waiting at your desk. I have some phone calls to make so…” She spun. Almost slammed into Joel. “Oh, you are close.”
“He told me to move close enough to catch you, remember?”
“I don’t need catching.” The knots were worse. A glass of water might be good. Deep breathing would be good. Getting out of that exam room would be good. “Come find me when you’re done.” Then she practically ran away.
The door swung shut behind her.
In the hallway, her eyes squeezed closed. The past tried to shove its way through her mind. The bodies…
No. She dug her nails into her palms. I’m not losing control. Chloe tried Cedric’s technique of counting to ten. He swore that method always calmed him down. And then…
“Chloe, are you okay?”
Joel’s voice. Joel had followed her out and she hadn’t even heard him. Her eyes immediately opened. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine. And you turned very pale before you walked out.” Now she could hear his steps shuffling toward her. She should have heard them before. She’d been too distracted. That couldn’t happen again.
He paused behind her. She could feel him.
“Want to talk about it?” Joel asked.
“Talking about it is the last thing I want to do.” Her spine was as stiff as she could make it. She took a determined step forward—
He caught her shoulder. Swung her around to face him. “So it’s okay for you to know every single secret I possess. For you to poke and prod at all my dark places, but I don’t get to know anything about you?” He bent close to her. “You share nothing with me?”
Her breath froze in her lungs. “I don’t share with anyone.”
His gaze searched hers. “You do now.”
“Joel—”
“So…yes…” Ruben cleared his throat. Of course, he’d come to the hallway, too. “Perhaps you both missed it before when I said Richardson was coming over. I’m sure Cedric is being his usual amazing self and trying to stall the guy, but Cedric has other things to do, too. You know, detective work and all. It would be very beneficial if you and your partner focused on the matter at hand and saved the hot, intense times for later, yes?”
“This isn’t a hot, intense time,” Chloe responded even though she couldn’t break eye contact with Joel.
“Sure appears like it is to me,” Ruben threw right back.
She kept staring at Joel. “You need to go look at the body.”
“Because you can’t?” Joel asked. “Because that’s your one weakness and something you need me for?”
“Because you’re the one with the medical degree. Because I know killers. I don’t know human anatomy nearly as well as you should. But if you insist on me doing this part…” She retreated a little from him and the warmth that seemed to surround him. “I’ll go back in there and I’ll take care of things.”
“For the love of God,” Ruben gasped from his position near the door, “don’t let her take care of things!”
Joel shook his head. “I have this.”
“Wonderful.” She nodded, as if everything had been settled. “As I said before, I’ll wait for you—”
“No.”
“No?” Her voice rose.
“It’s not wonderful. It’s not even a fair exchange. Consider this a warning, Chloe. I will find out your secrets.”
Laughter slipped from her. Her hand rose and lightly patted his cheek. “That is adorable.” Now she pushed up close to him and brought her mouth near his ear. “Lots of people have tried. No one ever really does.” She started to ease back—