Forgetting my plan, I went back to studying the pictures. He’d been all over the world, posing in front of historic monuments with some guy wearing a ballcap so low it cloaked his face in shadow.
I felt Joe’s presence behind me. His warmth blossomed along my spine. For the first time, my lady bits celebrated and I didn’t disagree.
“That’s my brother.”
“You guys have been everywhere.”
“Almost.”
“Did you have a falling out?” I turned, surprised to find myself face to face with a man I’d called my nemesis just a few days ago.
A man who infuriated me more than anyone.
A man who knew just what to say to get under my skin.
A man whose blue eyes narrowed as he recoiled.
“Why would you ask that? I mean, for one, who says ‘falling out’ anymore? And for two, why would you think we had one?”
“You two were close enough to travel the world together, and now here you are, doing pro bono work for strangers, while living in what might as well be a storage shed. It doesn’t add up.”
“The same could be said for you. You’re a working medical doctor donating her time to a free clinic.”
“I want to do something real.”
He pointed a finger my way, a smile ghosting his lips. “There you go.”
“No, no, no. You’re not getting off that easy. That’s my reason. What’s yours?”
“It’s the same.” Joe shrugged and flared his hands. “I’ve lived his life. Now I want to live mine.”
I studied the man in front of me, then the pictures, then the man again, suddenly overwhelmed to be so close to him. To be in his space. Breathing his air.
The incredibly charged air.
Maybe Delores hadn’t been so wrong to mention chemistry.
I stepped toward the door, toward freedom, toward the ability to think in a straight line. “Anyway.” I cleared my throat and brought myself back to reality. “I thought, since you’re not going to be able to do a whole lot on your own, you could use an assistant.” After several awkward moments of silence, Joe grumbled something I couldn’t make out. I raised my hand. “That’s me. I’ll be the assistant.”
“Oh, no.” He gave the first real laugh I’d heard from him and it sent shivers rushing across my skin. “You’ve done enough when it comes to me, don’t you think?”
“I’ve done enough damage, that’s for sure. I know I’ve been a pain and I want to make that up to you. Look, I’m good at following directions. We don’t have to be friends. We don’t even have to talk beyond basic instructions. I’ll be your arms and hands while you heal and that’s it.” I did everything but wag my tail to look as friendly as possible.
Joe shook his head, fighting a grin. “You’ll be in the way.”
“I’ll prove you wrong. You think you have me all figured out, but you don’t.”
The same was true in reverse. I knew it as clearly as I knew his shoulder had dislocated the second he hit the ground.
I thought I had Joe Channing figured out.
Look at me.
Wrong again.
Chapter Fourteen
Joe
Something had changed in the way Kennedy looked at me and I didn’t hate it.
In fact, I liked it.
A lot.
Her eyes hit mine with heat—and not the kind spurred by hate. The kind that sent my blood rushing away from my brain in the most uncomfortably pleasant way possible, considering the woman in question was staring directly at me.
I leaned against the wall and crossed my legs at the ankle, absently running a hand along the straps of my sling. “You can be my assistant, but only if you promise to do everything I say without question.”
My brain offered several not-so-helpful, X-rated suggestions as to what I might tell her to do. Most of them involved her lips. All of them had some part of her body coming into contact with mine. Another rush of blood from my brain to my pants had me shifting my position as covertly as possible. I definitely hit the ground harder than I thought when I fell off that ladder. Or maybe seeing Penny Dreadful be nice to her adoring patients broke my brain.
Who would have thought she was actually a doctor?
Maybe one of those unquestionable orders I give her should include her white coat and stethoscope…
Kennedy blushed enough to make me wonder if her inner horndog was causing her the same kind of trouble mine was, then broke eye contact. “Why do I get the feeling I shouldn’t agree to that