Until Harmony (Until Her 4)

“How about both?” he suggests, and I smile.

“All right, dessert pizza and Lo Mein.”

“I can do that,” he agrees, then his eyes soften, making my stomach melt. “Do you need a pain pill?”

“No, I’m okay,” I whisper, and he touches his mouth to mine then to my forehead before he stands and heads for the kitchen. Lying back against the arm of the couch, I listen to him place our order, and then I smile when Dizzy jumps up onto the cushion to lie down on my stomach. As I run my fingers through his hair, my mind wanders.

Two weeks ago, I was released from the hospital, and ever since, then the media has been clamoring for a story. Harlen had to unplug the phone and change our cell numbers, because the calls just wouldn’t stop. Hopefully, they give up soon, but I doubt they will. A woman getting kidnapped is big news. Over fifty women coming forward to admit they had been sexual harassed by Hofstadter, and then forced to quit or be fired when they went to HR about what was happening, was not just big, but huge, especially in our town.

My dad told me that Dr. Hofstadter was so crazy, so egotistical, that he believed if he got rid of me, his troubles would go away. He didn’t know that his time was already up. There were too many rumors; he had hurt too many women, and his family had run out of ways to cover it up for him. They had been doing it for six years, since the moment he transferred to town.

Hofstadter didn’t know he was already being looked into by an outside government organization, or that a few of the women he had harassed had gotten together and found a lawyer who was more than happy to take on the biggest hospital in four counties. Obviously, Hofstadter is now dead, but the story did not die with him, nor did the case against the hospital. The board changed members, and the CEO wisely stepped down. But even with that, there was a lot of backlash, and someone would eventually pay for what they allowed to happen and what they tried to cover up.

I, on the other hand, put in my resignation two days after I was released from the hospital. I’m not giving up my dreams of being a nurse and someday working in an emergency room. I’m just going to find someplace else to work, where I’m not constantly forced to remember how horribly Hofstadter’s family let me, and fifty other women, down. They had the power to stop him from the beginning, but they didn’t. Instead, they fed into his ego and made him believe he was untouchable. And for a while, he was. I wish I could say I’m sorry for him, but I’m not. He tried to kill me, and if Harlen hadn’t been there, he would have done it. Then he probably would have killed Hadley so there weren’t any witnesses.

“Food will be ready in about thirty minutes. You wanna come with me to pick it up?” Harlen asks, breaking into my thoughts.

I tip my head back to look at him upside down. “Can we ride your bike?” I ask knowing there is no way I can ride on his bike with him. Not yet anyways.

“Baby, we can’t carry pizza and Chinese on my bike,” he says, coming to take a seat on the couch and pulling my legs carefully over his lap.

“Really?” My brows draw together. “Then the first time we hung out, how were you going to get your pizza home?”

“I wasn’t going home. I was going to your place.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know that at the time.”

“I did.”

“You did?” I frown, and he smiles.

“Saw you, saw you get out of your car and go into the restaurant, pulled into the lot, parked, and followed you in. I placed my order right after you placed yours, and then I made my move.”

“Made your move?”

“Yeah. Evan and Wes had told me that you were in the middle of unpacking, so when I saw you, I knew you probably needed help with that. I figured that would be my way in, and it was.”

“You told me I looked beat.”

“Even exhausted, Angel, you’re still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.”

“What?”

“Not only do you have brains, which is sexy as fuck, but your body is unbelievable, those tits and that ass, the fullness of your thighs.” He shakes his head then focuses on me, his eyes roaming my face. “Your face is the stuff of wet dreams. Believe me, before I had you, I had a lot of those about you.”

“Oh my God,” I laugh, and he grins, resting his hand on my cheek, his thumb skimming over my bottom lip.