Page 34 of No One But You
I’d waited years for this kiss.I was in no rush.
Max’s hand curved around my hip, and he pulled me more tightly into his embrace.I went willingly, giddy when he dipped his head to kiss me again—this time of his own volition.
Somehow, that made it more real.
Not only was I kissing him, but he was kissing me too.
Eventually, our kisses slowed, and I snuggled closer, still using him as a pillow.His heart beat a steady but slightly elevated rhythm, and my own synced with it as I drifted to sleep, praying with every fiber of my being that he wouldn’t regret this in the morning.
NINETEEN
MAX
I was listening to Mrs.Paisley describe her indigestion issues in detail for the third time when Nate’s car pulled up outside the medical center and he got out.
I nodded and made appropriately sympathetic noises, secure in the knowledge that she had all the information and treatments available to her from her previous appointments and just wanted someone to listen to her woes.
Hopefully, she would wrap it up quickly, because if Nate was here during the work day, it was probably because he wanted to talk to Bailey, and I was impatient to know whether they’d made any progress with their investigation.
I also worried he might make suggestions that she’d feel obligated to agree to if I wasn’t there—like he had in the weekend, with that comment about hiking up to the scene of her attack.
Nate meant well, but he wasn’t always the most thoughtful person in the world, and he could run roughshod over her without realizing it.
Finally, Mrs.Paisley wound up her list of complaints, and I reminded her of the ways she could mitigate the worst of the symptoms and suggested—once again—that she take me up on the offer to refer her for a scan of her digestive system, just in case something was amiss.
I doubted anything was seriously wrong, or I’d push more strongly, but it would ease her mind.Unfortunately, she refused, as expected.According to her, no one had any business poking around her insides.She’d managed just fine for seventy years, and she’d keep doing so now.I saw her out, not bothering to charge her, since it was a quiet day and she hadn’t actually needed anything other than a listening ear anyway.
As soon as she left, I headed into the break room.Nate and Bailey were sitting at the small kitchen table with an array of photographs spread across the surface.
I wandered closer, paying close attention as Bailey picked up one of the photographs, examined it carefully, and shook her head.
“It wasn’t him,” she said, reaching for another photo.
I scanned the images.They all showed dark-haired men, ranging from those barely out of adolescence to a few with thinning hair or gray coming through.Recalling her description of the man who’d attacked her, I had to assume they were trying to identify him.
“I hope you aren’t pushing her too hard,” I told Nate, who was in the process of crossing off a name on a list.
“I’m fine,” Bailey said, putting another photo aside.“Not that one either.”
“Don’t strain too hard, or you risk getting a migraine,” I warned her.
She turned to me with a soft smile that warmed my insides and reminded me of how she’d tasted as we’d kissed in bed together last night.I’d never expected her to ask for a kiss, and it had been every bit as sweet as I’d imagined.She’d sighed into my mouth, melted into my body, and clung to me in a way I hadn’t dared to dream of.
We hadn’t kissed again yet.I was letting her take the lead, since she was the one who’d had a traumatic couple of weeks.
“My head feels good for now,” she assured me.“I only have a few left to go.”
“Who are they?”I asked, hovering over them.I recognized one or two faces.As the only doctor in town, I treated everyone who wasn’t willing to travel farther away.
Nate glanced up.There were shadows beneath his eyes, and the grooves in his forehead had deepened in the way they tended to when he was tired.
“People who live within twenty kilometers of Destiny Falls who have an adult criminal record,” he explained.“They’re the low-hanging fruit.”
Bailey dismissed another man and then quickly two more.“It’s none of them.”
Nate heaved a sigh and began to collect the photographs.“It was worth a shot.We’ll have to either look farther afield or widen our parameters.Bailey, do you think you remember his face well enough to sit with a sketch artist?”
Bailey hesitated long enough that I didn’t like it.I suspected her memory might not be as crystal clear as she’d like us to believe.
