Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“Ivy Carter.”
“I’m Jack Jones. Thanks for the tips.” The guy flashed a full-wattage smile.
Ivy blushed. “Ah, all right. Senator? Would you come with me, please?” She walked gracefully around the reception desk and opened the door to the rest of the clinic.
“Of course.” The senator followed her, leaving an oaky cologne trail in his wake.
Jack looked at the older guy, who had grayish blond hair and was typing furiously on his phone. “Pete? This’ll take a few minutes. Let’s go grab coffees. The senator will want one.”
Ah. Peter Langford, the senator’s chief of staff. Ace had seen him on television the other day campaigning for his boss. Peter looked up from his phone, nodded, and turned on a polished Italian leather shoe to head out the door. Didn’t say a word.
The younger Jack followed him, also tugging out his phone and starting to text.
Ace couldn’t remember where he’d even left his own phone. He glanced down at May, who stared at the now closed door, her face pale. “May?”
She jumped and then turned, facing him. “Oh. Sorry.” Squinting, she looked up at his face. “Let’s get a bandage on that.”
He grasped her arm, warning flowing through his veins. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head, sending her platinum blonde hair spinning over her narrow shoulders. Her sapphire blue eyes were sharp behind her oval-shaped glasses. In her lighter green scrubs with a pale white shirt beneath them, she looked both smart and fragile. “Nothing.”
That was bullshit if he’d ever heard it. “Let me help you.” Not the words he intended to say. At all.
She blinked. “I don’t need help.”
Frustration had him clenching one hand into a fist. “How do you know the senator?”
“I really don’t.” There was enough irony in her tone that Ace’s spine stiffened. He had the most basic urge to go punch the politician in the face, which wouldn’t hurt his day in the slightest. It might get him arrested, however. “Do you want me to come in with you?”
Her finely arched brows drew down. “To get the bandage? Yes, Ace. I need your face in the examination room.” Light pink slid into her cheeks.
At least he’d brought color back into her face. “Tell you what. You go deal with the senator, and I’ll wait right here in reception until you’re finished. Then you can fix my face.” He expected a smart ass comment about there being no fixing his face. Or an eyeroll. Hence his shock when she paused, looked at him, and then slowly nodded.
“Okay,” she said faintly. Then she visibly steeled her shoulders, turned, walked beyond the reception desk, and made her way down the long hallway.
He stood for a moment, watching her, letting surprise take him. The woman wanted him to stay in the clinic while she tended to the senator. Why? Fear wasn’t an emotion he equated with May. She seemed fierce on a daily basis. So he sat and checked his pockets for his phone. Excellent. He’d shoved it into his back one. That was rare. Pulling it out, he looked at the screen. He had three brothers, all with different skills and backgrounds.
Damian probably had the best connections. Ace punched in a number.
“Hi, Ace. Tell me you’re not in jail,” Damian answered easily.
“Not today.” Ace looked at the now empty hallway. “D? Tell me everything you know about Senator Kyle Mercer. And I mean everything.”
Chapter Two
May finished digging the wood chips out of Kyle’s knuckles while Ivy patiently handed her gauze. The exam room smelled faintly of antiseptic and expensive cologne that didn’t belong in a place with paper-covered tables and stainless steel trays. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead. May kept her focus on the small, precise work of cleaning the abrasions, ignoring the way familiarity tugged at her senses.
“You’ll want to keep some antibacterial gel on this for the next few days,” she said, wrapping tape over the gauze. “Nothing’s broken, though. You’ve got a decent sprain. I’d suggest icing it on and off for the next twenty-four hours or so.” She took a step away, all too familiar with Kyle’s cologne. She’d thought it appealing once. That memory arrived with an old, dull ache she refused to examine. “Ivy can help you get checked out, Senator.”
He smiled. “I have another matter I’d like to discuss with you, Doctor.”
May slowly peeled off the blue latex gloves and tossed them into the nearest trash. The snap of elastic sounded louder than it should have. “Go ahead.” She looked at him. Yeah, in his mid-thirties, he was handsome. He sat on the examination table wearing a dark blue, probably Armani, suit with a red and silver striped power tie. He’d loosened the knot and released the first button on his starched white shirt. His dark brown hair was mussed, his blue eyes as charismatic as ever. That hadn’t changed. Of course it hadn’t.