We All Sleep Alone (Finley Creek #11) - Calle J. Brookes Page 0,109
the good guys showed up. After all the work was done. Figured.
Nikkie Jean surprised her by hugging Allen right there in the lobby. “Glad you’re back, Lieutenant. You were…missed around here. I’m glad to see that trip was so successful.”
Izzie was alive; she supposed that made that trip extremely successful.
That trip had changed her whole world.
“It’s good to be back. Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
His eyes were on hers. Oh yes. He hadn’t given up. Izzie almost felt like she was being hunted. A thrill went through her.
She was going to let him catch her the first chance she got.
90
Allen found her on the roof twenty minutes after Mr. Bell had been led away, ten minutes after Izzie’s shift ended.
Right there. She’d seen him wrapped up around the evil pharmacy tech fifteen feet from where he’d found her. Izzie stood there and remembered, contemplating everything that had changed in their world since that day so long ago.
His arms slipped around her, feeling like the most natural movement in the world. She softened against him.
“I thought you weren’t going to be back at the hospital until Monday.”
He’d taken off a few days to deal with helping his sister start the process of going through Logan Lanning’s parents’ house. It hadn’t been easy for either of them. “I was wasting my time at home. I missed you.” His hand wrapped around her elbow. Hot, strong. He’d shown her time and time again that he knew exactly how to use those hands of his. “Did he hurt you when he rushed you?”
She shook her head. “No. Although Nikkie Jean’s elbow caught me in the ribs. She’s little, but she’s boney. Those arms of hers are sharp.”
He laughed quietly. “I’ll bet. I missed you.”
“Allen…I saw you forty-eight hours ago.” A never-ending forty-eight hours ago. She didn’t want to do this. Every word he said made her wish they were back in that ridiculously opulent van, on a sandy beach somewhere. Damn it.
She’d known that when he came back, everything would rattle her senses again. Make her forget how the world actually was.
Then again, wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be when you loved someone?
She’d have to ask Nikkie Jean or Annie the first chance she had.
“Far too long.” He deliberately stepped back. “You torture me. You look delicious in green.”
“They’re scrubs. I look like a nurse.” Izzie felt the shift, felt almost bereft at the loss of his warmth. Where her day was ending, his was just getting started. As long as she was on thirds, they’d be like the two proverbial ships passing in the night. Not something she was all that happy about, either.
“Sexy. Sweet. I know all the sweet spots.” He brushed his lips over the sensitive spot under her left ear. She shivered. “I want to taste them all again. Come be with me tonight before you clock in.”
He knew all of her sensitive spots now. She felt the loss of him and wanted to curse. Which was stupid. He’d only moved away a few inches. To be honest, she wanted to press against his chest like she had so freely before.
She’d gotten used to touching him whenever and however she wanted. She knew exactly how those well-defined arms felt wrapped around her during the sudden storms that had struck at night next to the Gulf coast.
She knew what soft grainy sand felt like beneath her feet while he leaned over her for a kiss too special to describe with mere words.
The kiss where she had known something was going to change between them forever.
“I…I need to get back out there. They’ll be looking for me soon.”
He took another step back. “I—”
The intercom interrupted. His name. Apparently, everyone knew he was back.
Izzie breathed a sigh of relief when he took a step away from her, then turned fully. “We’ll discuss this later. I’m not letting you get away from me that easily, Izadora. You can count on that. I’m not going anywhere. Ever. I’m never going to leave you alone.”
She watched him as he walked away, wondering what she was going to do now.
Because one thing was clear. The world seemed a little less lonely when he was near.
91
Fury. It surprised Wallace at the intensity of it. Lizzie wasn’t just a number. Just a notch for a man like Allen Jacobson. Allen had women falling at his feet and always had. So effortlessly.
He didn’t have to work even half as hard as Wallace had with women.