I hugged her close, but she stood rigid. Her arms were at her sides. She didn’t lean in, didn’t relax.
“What did this guy do, Sam?” I murmured, leaning down so I could breathe in her scent. Harsh soap, fruity shampoo and something soft and feminine.
“How do you know it?
?s a guy?” she asked. She turned her face into my chest, nuzzled a little. Fuck, that felt good.
“I know.” I did. Women got pissed at each other. Snarled and hissed before an all-out cat fight. This wasn’t that.
“Why are you hugging me?” she asked, perhaps just realizing I was doing so. “I’m not much of a hugger. It’s highly unusual.”
“I think you’re going to learn pretty quick, sweetheart, we’re not like anyone else,” Hardin said.
She turned her head to look up at him. I liked seeing her in my arms, the confusion, the… fuck, innocence in her gaze. She was standoffish, but not with us. It seemed to be her nature.
“Look, if someone’s messing with you, we need to know.”
“Why?”
“Because an annoying coworker is the least of your problems.” I thumbed over my shoulder. “Someone slashed your tire.”
She stepped back and I let her go. She looked down at the tire, her long hair slid over her shoulder.
It was obvious someone had slit it. I’d seen it before, in a bar lot. But a hospital? It wasn’t as if it could have been done somewhere else and she drove here with it. No other cars had been messed with. Why her car? What had she done to someone? I doubted she even killed a spider. Probably studied it under a microscope, then set it free.
I didn’t like this. No one fucked with her. Not my doc.
Her mouth fell open, and she stared at me as if I’d just spoken Swahili. “I’m sorry, what?”
“The side wall’s slit,” Hardin explained, clearly trying not to clench his jaw at the intentional act.
Someone was screwing with her. Her.
“So the guy who’s got you all wound tight,” I said. “Think he did this?”
She studied the tire as she responded. “Doubtful. We were in surgery together until an hour ago. While it is physically possible for him to come out here and do it, realistically it would be beneath him. You said the security guys found the tire on their rounds; therefore they could have found him causing the damage. Besides, he wields a scalpel, not a knife.” She frowned, then pushed her glasses up. “No, it wasn’t him.”
“A scalpel could have done that,” Hardin commented, tipping his head toward the tire.
Some dickhead was clearly bothering her, but didn’t slice her tire. What she said made sense. Most people shared their problems, got help from friends. For her I doubted that was the case. She was asked a question, and she replied with fact. Assessing and analyzing was her thing. Feelings and emotions seemed to be a struggle.
We’d find out about the asshole, abso-fucking-lutely. But if he didn’t do it, then who the fuck did?
“Can you replace it?” she asked.
“Got a spare in the back?” I asked, thinking about how I’d grip those long tresses as I fucked her from behind. How Hardin would get her in the shower and wash them. He’d pamper the shit out of her. And she needed it.
I studied her. She wasn’t wound up. She was way too chill for that. Controlled, definitely. And wouldn’t it be fun to get her to give that up, just for me? Just for me and Hardin, because what she didn’t know was that she had two guys looking out for her. No fucking way could either of us leave her to deal with a tire slasher on her own.
She shrugged, but the gesture was barely noticeable beneath her coat. “I’m actually not sure.”
That was a surprise. I angled my head toward her car. “May I?”
She fished her keys from her pocket, clicked the fob. The vehicle beeped. I went to the back, opened the cargo door and lifted the cover for where the spare was supposed to be. “No spare.”
What would she have done on her own? Smart as she was, she’d have probably either gone to the security guys and they’d have called me, or she’d have gotten in touch with me directly. Either way we’d be right here, right now. I’d have missed seeing her face when she saw my dick for the first time, wouldn’t have caught on that I’d flustered and gotten her hot for it all at the same time.
“As in it’s missing or there never was one?” she asked.