Page 74 of The Troublemaker

Gemma’s skin came alive, Cole’s soft, familiar voice sending an unexpected curl of heat through her tired body. She turned to him and he stepped closer, the warmth of his body reaching out to her and overwhelming all her senses. As he looked at her with dark, perceptive eyes that knew far too many of her childhood secrets, she jerked her head to the right. “Let’s go into the other room.”

She pushed through the surgery doors and Cole followed her into the lobby where she could put a measure of distance between them.

“Is Charlie going to be okay?” Cole asked again, raking his hands through short, dark hair that had been cut to military standards.

Gemma rubbed her temples and leaned against the receptionist’s counter. “He’s lucky you got him to me when you did.”

For the first time since stepping into her clinic, his shoulders relaxed slightly. “He’s going to be okay?”

“Yes. He’s going to be fine.” She drew a breath and stared at the man before her, hardly able to believe that he was here in her clinic. Shortly after her botched seduction some ten years ago he’d enlisted in the army and had gone out of his way to avoid her.

As she considered that further, she decided to brave the question that had been plaguing her since he’d darkened her doorway. She waved her hand around the front lobby. “Why did you bring him here? There are other clinics closer to Sherwood Park.”

Silence lingered for a minute, then in a voice that was too quiet, too careful, he said, “Because you were here, Gems, and I wouldn’t trust Charlie’s care in anyone else’s hands but yours.”

Her throat tightened at the use of his nickname for her, and while her heart clenched, touched at the level of trust he had in her, her brain cells made the next logical leap. “You’ve been back for a while, then,” she stated in whispered words.

An expression she couldn’t quite identify flitted across his face as he said, “A week now.”

“Oh.” Gemma shifted slightly, trying not to feel wounded that he’d been home for seven long days and hadn’t even bothered to say hello.

She averted her gaze to shield the hurt but when he added, “I wanted to come sooner,” she knew she could never hide anything from him.

She held her hand up to cut him off. “I understand how difficult this must be for you,” she assured him, her mind going back to the last time they’d seen each other. Even though he’d been in a tremendous amount of pain at Brandon’s memorial service, suffering as he said good-bye to his lifelong friend and fellow soldier, Cole had tried to console her, watching over her and taking care of her the same way he used to when they were kids.

It warmed her heart to know her brother hadn’t died alone in the line of duty and that Cole had been there to care for him until the end. Her gaze panned his face. She took in the dark smudges beneath even darker eyes and couldn’t help but wonder, who was taking care of him?

His eyes clouded as they stared blankly at some distant spot behind her shoulder. Hating the unmasked hurt on his face, as well as the awkwardness between them, she touched his arm. The air around them instantly changed. Cole flinched, his entire body tightening as if under assault. Gemma snatched her hand back, his rejection all too familiar. Even though she was all grown up now, a woman who wanted him as much today as she did all those years ago, he’d never see her as anything more than his friend’s kid sister.

Just then the puppies broke out into a chorus of howls and Gemma couldn’t help but wonder if they were on to something. Maybe the big, bad wolf did exist, and maybe she was staring at him. Perhaps she should heed Victoria’s warning and arm herself with silver. There was no doubt that if she wasn’t careful the man looming close could shred her heart into a million tiny pieces.

The second Gemma had touched his arm she lit a dangerous fuse inside him. Cole had immediately disengaged, knowing it could only end up backfiring and blowing up in his face. He hated the familiar hurt in her eyes when he recoiled, hated that he’d put it there—again—but he knew nothing good could come from the firestorm inside him, one that had been brewing since their youth. Gemma had tried to hide the pain, the hurt on her face, and she might have succeeded with someone who didn’t know her the way he did.

“Gems,” he whispered. He clenched his fingers and fought the natural inclination to pull her to him and comfort her like he did when they were younger. But if her body collided with his—one part in particular—she’d know how she affected him. And he couldn’t let that happen. He had to stay strong.

Instead of acting on his needs, he took that moment to pan her pretty features, noting the way she’d tied her long, chestnut hair back into a ponytail. His gaze left her face to trail over the supple swell of her breasts as they pressed against her V-neck top. He shifted, uncomfortable as he perused her slim waist and the way her sensuous curves turned a pair of green surgery scrubs into a Victoria’s Secret spread. Christ, she was even more beautiful now than she was when they were kids. But no matter what, and no matter how he felt about her, when it came to Gemma, there was a line he wasn’t going to cross.

Her assistant came out from the back room. “He’s stable and ready to go to ICU.” When her words met with silence, her gaze tennis balled between the two, a sure sign that she felt the tension in the room every bit as much as Cole did. “Ah…Danielle will be here shortly. If you guys want to go, we can finish up.”

Gemma exhaled slowly and pushed off the counter. “Thanks, Victoria. I’ll come in early to check on him.”

Cole stiffened. “He has to stay the night?”

“He needs to be monitored for at least twenty-four hours.”

“Then I’m staying.”

“It’s not necessary. My night assistant will be here shortly, and I’m on call twenty-four seven. He’s resting soundly and by the looks of you, you should be doing the same.”

After a long moment, he gave a nod of agreement and Victoria slipped into the back, leaving them alone once again. Cole turned his full attention to Gemma and stretched his neck, working the night’s tension from his shoulders.

Moving with an innocent sensuality, she walked around the counter to grab her purse from the drawer. Cole became fully aware of the woman standing before him and exa

ctly what she meant to him. He shifted on his feet and tore his gaze away, looking for a distraction before his mind took him back to that hot summer night when she’d lured him into the barn nestled at the back of her old homestead. Christ, it had taken all his effort not to lay her onto the soft bed of hay and take what he wanted.

But at seventeen she was a kid, as well as the younger sister of his closest friend. Of course, those weren’t the only things stopping him from acting on his urges. No, when his own parents had been emotionally absent—too busy looking for happiness in the bottom of a bottle—her folks had practically taken him in. Cole would never be disloyal to the family who’d treated him like a son by sleeping with their only daughter.

“It’s late and it’s dark. Why don’t you let me walk you home,” Cole said, breaking the uncomfortable silence hovering like the sharp blade of a guillotine.