Page 14 of The Hunt

Kissing her. Sucking her soul out of her right through her lips.

Okay, so maybe she did kiss him back. For a moment. For curiosity’s sake, that was all. All the nurses said how good he was at it.

Wow.

They had lied.

He was phenomenal at it. That could be a problem.

Genny pulled back, finally, when she needed to breathe. Definitely not as quickly as she should have, either. “You just stop right there, pal. We are not doing this. Not going to happen. You—you are the kind of guy who wants only one thing from a girl like me. I’ve dealt with your kind before, and got burned.And until a few days ago, you didn’t even like me. So what are you up to?”

He lifted her right off her feet, until they were practically nose to nose. “I am up togetting you, Genesis Hiller. You’d better get ready. Because I’m hunting you now. And you are not getting away.”

And then he just kissed her again. Before she could stop him.

But not that she really tried all that hard.

She was only human.

And the man kissed like a god, after all.

13

Chad Fieldswanted her.Doug had watched that bastard and little Genny while Fields’s sister had been on the third floor. It was obvious to him that Fields wanted Genny next, for his perverted pleasures. Then the bastard would just dump her like he had all the other women who thought Chad Fields was the key to a perfect life. Just like Randall Brown had after he’d used her that way.

Seduced her and hurt her.

It wasn’t going to happen again.

Chad Fields wanted Genny. He was the kind of arrogant bastard who would destroy a woman like her. Dim the light that shined whenever she cared for someone. She was one of the best nurses Doug had ever seen.

He had realized that for the first time six months ago. And he had watched her. He had always loved the nurses, and he had watched them. And he had seenher.

He loved watching her. He just wished she would see how much he adored her. How much he loved her.

He could be her key to a perfect life. He already had a home in Barrattville. It was respectable, a great size. He made a verynice income each year. He was a damned fine physician, too. Much better than Chad Fields, who spent all his time wiping runny noses and writing scripts for earaches.

It was because she’d grown up next door to Fields’s sister. That’s what it was. Fields thought she was his, because she was there for the taking.

Fields wasn’t going to take Doug’s angel. He wasn’t.

Doug followed her most of the day, when he wasn’t dealing with patients of his own. It wasn’t hard to do.

Doug made certain to be in the cafeteria whenever she was there. It wasn’t always easy, but he managed. All it had taken was a hundred dollars a month slipped to the kid who changed the trash cans and swept the floors and refilled the ketchup packets to make it happen.

Doug… lived for the day she saw him for who he truly was. He just lived for her. That was all.

He just didn’t know how to show her that. But he would. Someday. It was just a matter of time.

14

Genny had spentthree days at the Barratt—hiding with Chantal. From Chantal’s big brother Chad. Chantal had found that amusing.

And very ironic.

Especially since Chantal was busy trying to evade Genny’s own older brother, Gene. He seemed to be very determined, too.

Those two boys had just gone mad or something. That was the only explanation.