Safe From the Dark Read Online Free

inner cop were in complete agreement.
    Her
train of thought was interrupted by Jocelyn pulling the bloody gauze away to
swab at the wound with something that stung like the devil, and Evie sucked in
a pained breath.
    “Fucking
hell.” The words just slipped out.
    Jocelyn
was matter-of-fact. “I’ve got some topical anesthetic, but this is still going
to hurt like a son of a bitch. I’ll work as fast as I can. Colin, sit here.”
    Colin
joined Evie on the couch, letting Jocelyn push and prod them until Colin was
supporting her, with Evie grasping his arms while he held her steady, partially
tilted on her side.
    “Need
something to bite down on?”
    Evie
was ready to reply with a stinging report, until she saw his face – he was
serious, and sympathetic. She shook her head.
    “Okay,
then. Hold on tight.”
    Jocelyn
leaned forward, needle in hand.
     
    STITCHES
ARE NOT SEXY, Colin thought to himself as Evie bit her lip and held on, her
nails digging into his biceps. Jocelyn’s hands were sure as she closed the
wound with efficient movements. Even seeing the obscenely torn flesh firsthand,
Colin couldn’t wrap his head around it. People in his world didn’t get shot. But Evie had been shot. It was hard to believe anyone would physically harm
this beautiful woman, and he reminded himself that she had been NYPD. She was
hardly a delicate flower. But when he ignored the jagged wounds that marred her
creamy skin, the rest of her didn’t exactly scream tough-ass cop. He had to
force his eyes to remain on her face, and not drop to her naturally full
breasts, not too big or too small, cupped lovingly in simple white lace, or the
matching panties, demure and yet disturbingly hot, shaping an ass that he
really, really wanted a closer look at.
    Pretty
pervy, Daniels ,
he thought, Quit ogling the gunshot victim.
    He
wondered what color her nipples were, and his stupid cock twitched behind his
zipper, clearly eager to find out whether it made him a total perv or not.
    Evie
let a whimper past her tightly clenched teeth and Colin suddenly felt like pond
scum.
    “Almost
there,” he murmured.
    Ten
minutes later they were done, and Jocelyn smoothed a new sterile bandage over
the stitches. Evie was shaking, damp with sweat, and clearly exhausted, and
accepted the painkillers Jocelyn handed her, gulping them down with half a mug
of tepid tea. Colin was equally shaken, but hurried to make up the bed in the
spare room and get the electric heater going, and then returned in time to hear
the last of Jocelyn’s lecture.
    “…and
when I say take it easy, I mean it, or you’re going to wind up with a lot worse
than a mild fever and a few popped stitches. Colin, can you help Evie get to
bed?”
    Colin
didn’t give Evie a chance to argue, but scooped her up into his arms, careful
of her wounds, trying to ignore her long legs and softer than soft skin against
his hands. She held herself stiffly until he set her gently on the bed and
pulled sheets and a handmade blazing star quilt up over her, gently tucking her
in. Her eyes clouded with confusion as he impulsively stroked a lock of hair
back from her face, savoring the silken strand against his fingers, which he
was sure his prickly new neighbor would never let him get away with if she
weren’t drugged and off her game.
    “Get
some sleep.”
    Her
eyes were already drifting shut as he reached for the lamp switch and then
softly shut the door behind him.
    Jocelyn
was packing up her equipment, shaking her head.
    “Frannie
would be spinning in her grave if she knew that little girl had gotten herself
shot up like that. I assume you’re staying?”
    “I
– uh – ”
    “Take
the couch. Those painkillers will knock her out for a good long stretch. Make
sure she eats when she gets up, but don’t let her overdo it for the next couple
of days.”
    “Jocelyn,
I’ve got a million things to do tomorrow. I can’t – ”
    The
diminutive doctor paused in the middle of pulling on her slicker to