CHAPTER THREE
Kendra’s cell phone beeped incessantly, waking her up out of a restless sleep and alerting her to the fact that it was time to give Flint his pain medication once again. She yawned and checked the time. Three a.m. She was already exhausted and the night wasn’t even half over yet.
Thankfully, Flint had slept peacefully most of the evening and into the early hours of the morning. As for herself, sleep was harder to come by. Eventually she dozed off, curled up close by him in a reclining chair.
She watched Flint’s sleeping figure sprawled out on the couch and couldn’t help but wonder how he got involved with the Steel Infidels in the first place. His brother Jesse would probably have been a huge influence on him. And she remembered Jesse mentioning a younger brother Sam, who ran a tattoo parlor. So there were at least three brothers in the gang, maybe more.
Kendra had always been a person who tried not to judge others without knowing their circumstances first. For some reason, this time it was proving difficult. Sure, the economy was tough and jobs were hard to come by, but in no way did that justify breaking the law or selling drugs.
She wondered how low Flint was willing to go to make money. Steal cars? Cheat old people? Sell drugs? Murder? Who knew? These were the kind of questions that were none of her business.
Kendra stretched her tired muscles and walked into the kitchen. Leaning against the counter, she checked her cell phone for the hundredth time out of habit. No calls. Too bad she didn’t know Flint’s last name or she would already have checked out one of the numerous mug shot websites. She suspected they would be able to tell her plenty about how many times he had been arrested and for what. If she really wanted to know.
After eating a bowl of the butter pecan ice cream she’d found in the freezer, she walked back into the living room and turned on the lamp. Kneeling beside the couch, she whispered, “Flint, wake up. It’s time for your pain medication.” She gently touched his uninjured shoulder. “Flint.”
Before she had a chance to react, he grabbed her with his good arm, dragging her across his body and pinning her tightly underneath him.
“Who the fuck are you?” he growled, using his body weight to hold her down. “Who sent you? The Liberators? Is that who you’re working for?”
“What? Get off me!” She pushed futilely against his chest and tried not to reinjure his arm. Oh dear God! He was probably hallucinating from the morphine. Maybe she shouldn’t have given him so many without knowing his medical history. Maybe she shouldn’t have agreed to this ridiculous arrangement in the first place. This was bad.
“Flint, it’s me, Dr. Kendra Shaw,” she answered, trying to get him to focus. From her medical training, she knew people who were hallucinating or on drugs could be very dangerous. “Don’t you remember what happened? You were shot and I fixed you up. Your brother Jesse was here. Don’t you remember riding up here on your bike with Jesse and Tom?”
Flint’s green eyes glittered dangerously. He shook his head as if he didn’t believe her. “You’re lying,” he said, tightening his grip on her wrist, which he held above her head.
“Flint! Listen to me. You’re going to hurt yourself. And me. Let me go.” She stared back into his eyes, willing him to snap out of it. She couldn’t ignore the feeling of his hard muscles suddenly pressed against her breasts. She saw the uncertainty flicker in his eyes. She ought to do something to stop him, she told herself frantically.
Kendra’s hands settled on his chest and instead of pushing against him, she grew conscious of the thudding beat of his heart beneath her fingers. She realized hers was probably racing just as fast. A tremor slid down her spine. She stared up at him with wide eyes, speared by the sudden burning gleam in his gaze. What she saw there unnerved her and yet still she couldn’t pull away.
Damn! What the hell was wrong with her? One look into those damn green eyes and he made her feel weak with a longing that both shamed and excited her. Why was this man getting to her? Even as his head began to descend slowly on hers, Kendra made no move to protest.
“I don’t care who you are,” he added huskily, right before his mouth swooped down and crushed hers.
Flint’s kiss hit her like a tidal wave. The taste of his lips gave her a mad rush so intense that for a second she forgot how to breathe. Without hesitation, she slid her open palms down his back, feeling the strong muscles underneath her fingers. She knew this was so wrong. Touching him, feeling his skin beneath her hands. But for one brief moment in her life, she wanted to simply feel without thinking about the consequences.
Just one time.
What possible harm could come from that?
Kendra’s eyes fluttered closed and she made the biggest mistake yet; she parted her lips for his probing tongue. She heard his throaty growl of pleasure as her tongue clashed with his and sensed how his muscled body hardened in response against her ample softness. She responded back with a fiery heat of her own, knowing he probably wouldn’t remember any of it in the morning.
This hot, sexy man wanted her.
The instant the thought registered in her mind, he abruptly broke the kiss and rolled off her. Kendra stared blankly at him, her mind still muddled by the kiss and her reaction to it.
He sat up and winced in pain. “Jesus Christ! Why didn’t you stop me?” He rubbed a hand through his black hair. “For a moment there I was confused. I thought…I don’t know what the hell I thought. Shit! My arm hurts like a son of a bitch. Where’s my bike? And my crew? I need to get back to the clubhouse.” He tried to stand up and swayed unsteadily on his feet.
Kendra scurried off the couch and slid an arm around his waist. “Hang on, buddy. Sit back down before you fall and hurt yourself.”
He brushed her hand off him. “Where’s Jesse? I need to go.”
“Jesse is fine,” Kendra replied. “He left earlier this afternoon with the rest of the guys. Everybody is okay. You were the only one who was hurt. Now, sit back down. Please.” She guided him back to the couch and pulled the blanket up around his bare chest.
Flint searched her face as if he was trying to put the pieces all together. “Are you a doctor?” he asked.
“Sort of,” she answered. “I’m a veterinarian. I own the Shaw Vet Clinic and the Shaw Wildlife Center in town.”
His forehead creased in a sudden scowl. “I don’t understand. Why are you here? Are you somebody’s old lady?”
She laughed out loud at the absurdity of the question, knowing he wasn’t insulting her age but merely asking if she belonged to one of the other club members. “Old lady? Are you nuts?” She waved her hand down her full-figured body. “Do I strike you as the type of woman who would be some motorcycle guy’s old lady? That would be a quick way to throw eight years of college down the drain.”
After looking her over from head to toe, Flint frowned and shook his head. “No.”
“Well, that’s good, I guess,” she said. “You had me worried there for a minute. Here’s what happened while you were out cold.”
Kendra quickly gave him a brief rundown of how Tom had lured her there under false pretenses. “You were injured pretty badly. So I’m your nurse for the weekend,” she finished. “Whether you like it or not.”
“I don’t need a fucking nurse,” Flint muttered before leaning back against the sofa cushions and closing his eyes.
Kendra sighed. Flint was hot and sexy as hell, but he was clearly going to be a royal pain in the ass. “I can see that, tough guy. Now, swallow these damn pain meds and go back to sleep so I can get some rest.”
He didn’t answer since he was already dead to the world again.
“The things I do for animals,” she muttered, shaking her head at the fine mess she was in.