Chapter 21

When my alarm goes off, I'm in my bed, my thoughts groggy, and it takes me a moment to recall what happened last night.

But memories flood through me, and I shoot up into a sitting position, oddly happy that I'm alone in my room.

"Holy shit. You…okay. Fuck."

Everything is at war in my mind as I try to reconcile the fact that I let Luke go down on me and he lapped me up like a damned sundae. All while I'm still living with him, technically as his doctor.

The shock blends into a pleasant reminder of how freaking good he made me feel, and my eyes close as I sit there in the bed, clenching my thighs.

"That man is skilled with his tongue."

I laugh, my eyebrows shooting up as I realize how dirty that sounds.

I've never been a prude or anything like that.

Sex is a normal way of expressing feelings with another person and a healthy part of many relationships.

Still, I am a total newbie, and I'm not sure Luke truly understood that.

I just leave myself no time to date. I'm a busy surgical resident, and it never seemed all that appealing before.

Clara, you know this about yourself. You've identified as demisexual for years now.

"Apparently, Luke is that rare case. A genuine connection that's sparking…all of this."

I shake my head, still not quite believing it really happened.

Sure, the occasional male student would catch my eye, and we'd try dinner, but that's usually as far as it went.

I invited a man to my apartment exactly one time, and it ended with me kicking him out because I didn't want to have sex, so…

"And Luke was okay with it. He didn't even leave during the movie to take care of himself."

As far as gentlemanly manners, it was a hilarious representation of how unlike all the other guys he was.

But then I remember—once again—that Luke is paying me to help him. That fact, together with the other that I'm staying with him because of the Cobras, puts a damper on the romance.

"Okay, enough."

I stand up, going to the bathroom to get showered for my next shift at the hospital.

As I strip, I meet my eyes in the mirror. For the first time ever, my gaze travels down my body, actually considering it as something sensual.

Warmth builds behind my cheeks as I remember how Luke talked about my nipples, how obsessed with them he seemed.

I'm not a well-endowed woman. Hell, I'm not an endowed woman. My body type is more on the sporty side, and I've always liked it that way.

I have zero interest in fashion or makeup. I'm not a girly girl in the slightest.

I've never thought that was bad. It's just not me.

And none of that turned Luke off or turned him away.

"Huh."

As I step into the warm shower and wash up, I think about everything Luke and I have to discuss.

Complicated. Just what I didn't want.

Still, I can't deny, no matter how hard I might try, what Luke did was spectacular. I loved every damn minute.

I finish up, going to the closet to pull out some new scrubs, and today, I actually choose one of my nicer underwear sets.

Just in case.

When I pad out to the kitchen to get some coffee and slip on my sneakers, I see Luke at the Keurig fixing two travel mugs.

I smile, just watching him for a moment, and then he turns around, startling me out of my musing.

"Hey, doc."

His grin is sinful, already trying to seduce me, and it's only 6:50 a.m.

"Morning." I just shake my head with an easy smile. "Is one of those for me?"

"Indeed, it is." Luke screws on the lid to one of the cups, sliding it over to me. "I don't know about you, but relocating from the couch totally woke me up, and I couldn't get back to bed."

I laugh. "Nope. That's on you. I slept great."

He comes around the counter, wrapping his arms around my waist.

As much as the logical part of my brain is saying hey, don't take what happened too seriously, I absolutely let him pull me against him.

He just feels so good there.

"Probably because you orgasmed hard enough you might as well have run a marathon."

"Luke!"

"What?"

His eyes flare wide in playful offense, and then he kisses me. I'm lost to the feeling of his lips on mine, and that serious debate gets even more muddied.

When we separate, I'm not sure if it's been hours or just a few seconds. But I am sure I need to go, so I smile, my cheeks heated, and start for the door.

"I'll see you later. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." He winks.

With a laugh, I pull on my shoes, snagging my keys and jacket.

"I think I'd find your list of wouldn't-dos is very small." I open the door. "And I wouldn't do even half of the things you would do."

Humming to himself, Luke smirks at me. "Oh, I don't know, doc. I think your penchant for taking risks is growing."

He's not wrong, and still, embarrassment floods me, and I just shake my head as I leave for work.

Trouble, Clara. You are in so much trouble.

* * *

The hospital took that "slow day"to heart, apparently, and after a few hours of being slammed, I'm absolutely exhausted.

Luke texted after he got to work, saying he dropped the notes with Cameron, who'll discuss the situation more with the police.

I've never thought about needing a lawyer in my life before, and I'm thrilled more than I can articulate that Luke has taken the hard work out of finding one.

I do not have time for that.

At the nurse's station, signing off on a few prescription orders and looking over my next patient's chart, movement catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.

This floor is quieter than downstairs—more serious cases up here—and the quick jerk of something dark down the hall just doesn't sit right.

When I turn and look, I don't see anything, though, so I just shrug it off.

"You're being paranoid, Clara," I whisper to myself.

The sound of my pen scratching across the paper fills the silence once more, and then, from my other side, someone calls my name.

"Just a moment."

I finish my sentence and then look up. There's no one.

Looking at the nurse, Candance, a few feet away from me, I quirk a brow.

"Did you say my name?"

She shakes her head. "No, Dr. Stewart."

When her reply hits me, I realize that's not what I heard. I didn't hear someone say "Dr. Stewart."

They said Clara.

Ice coats my veins, and I walk toward where I heard the noise.

It's stupid, and I should just ignore it, but if someone is here, I want to be able to guide security toward them.

"Hello?" I round the corner down the hall toward beds ten through fifteen. "Is someone here?"

My hand is on my pager, thumb poised over the emergency button, and I take a few more steps down the hall.

"Hello?"

I let my voice carry down the hallway louder this time, and as I blink, the image of that movement that spooked me before hits me.

Dark coat. Red something on the sleeve.

Prickling creeps along my spine as I pass room after room. No one comes out. No one answers my call. The patients here are all sleeping or unconscious.

"Hello?" I reach the end of the line, needing to turn around and go back. "Hel?—"

I run smack dab into someone and let out a yelp.

"Dr. Stewart! It's me."

Candance is right in front of me, my stethoscope smashed between us as I'm frozen in place.

"Oh." I let out a shaky breath, my shoulders slumping. "Sorry, Candance. I didn't, um, what now?"

"They need you downstairs." She furrows her brow at me. "Are you all right?"

I nod, the pounding of my blood slowly receding. "Just startled me. I'll head there now."

Leaving Candance a little confused, I hurry toward the elevators and take them downstairs.

You're losing your mind, Clara. Christ.

* * *

Dread still crawlsdown my spine, coating me like a wet blanket as I drive home, again a little faster than I should.

All through the rest of my shift, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me.

Everywhere I looked, there was too deep a shadow or someone who could be a Cobra.

I even thought I heard my name again.

The entire situation with them is obviously getting to me, and I need some good fucking news right about now.

Getting into the penthouse is a little different this evening as well.

There are at least two more bicycle cops I haven't seen before, and the guard at the front desk rechecks everything with my swipe card.

"Did Luke ask you guys to do this?" I look at the friendly guard behind the glass partition.

"Yes, ma'am. We're stepping up everything with security."

It's stupid, but my heart warms at the thought. Luke is actually doing something about how scared I've been.

He's helping.

"Thank you."

I head inside, and when I see Luke set up at the island again, an invisible cord cuts loose in my mind.

It's the one that's been saying no to this, to him.

That damned cord—that tether to the overly logical part of my brain that despises risks and demands I stay securely in my own lane—is just gone.

Walking up to him before I can talk myself out of it, I pull him around to face me, kissing him.

The crash of his lips against mine is exactly what I need right now, and to hell with every single rule or propriety that says I can't have this.

After a moment, Luke pulls back. "Well, hello. Nice to see you, too."

"I…" I hold Luke's eyes, and his amused expression dies as he takes in my energy. "I thought I saw one of them at the hospital. A Cobra."

His hands come to my biceps. "Oh my God, Clara. Are you okay?"

I shake my head, rolling my eyes a little. "Physically, sure. Emotionally…"

"Hey, I'm here. You can?—"

"Luke." I stare into those beautiful eyes, and finally, fucking finally, I just say what I've been thinking. "I want you. Desperately. I have since the moment I saw you. I realize how we got here is…less than typical, but there it is. I can't pretend anymore. I don't want to. Please, please be with me. I can't turn away from the one thing that feels right in all this chaos."

His eyes are blown wide, and Luke's grip on my arms grows tighter.

For a second, we just hang there in the in-between, not where we were and not quite yet where I want us to go.

"Clara, I…" He closes his eyes, sucking in a pained breath. "Fucking hell, I want you, but are you sure? Really?"

I take a moment to just look at him, breathing deeply through my nose before exhaling long and hard.

"Yes."

And then I kiss him.