Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
It was clear Vic wasn’t buying it.
“Stay…away,” he growled. He came to stand beside Torri and put one massive arm protectively around her shoulders. “Don’t…touch!”
O’Toole shot him another look and then skittered out of the deserted hallway, his pale pink scrubs flapping around his skinny legs.
“Whew!” Torri looked up at Vic, who still had a protective glare on his face, and laughed shakily. “Thanks—I thought I was really in trouble there for a minute! How did you know where to find me?”
“I heard…your heartbeat,” Vic said, as though it was normal to hear someone else’s heartbeat from a distance. “Beating…too fast. Sounded…scared.”
“Well, I was scared,” Torri admitted. Vic still had his arm around her and she let herself lean her forehead against his broad chest for a moment, just as she did in her dreams. She was still feeling shaky from what could have been a really nasty encounter.
“Torri…” Vic didn’t seem to know what to say but he pulled her closer and stroked her hair with his free hand. “It will be…all right,” he said. “I won’t…let him…hurt you.”
“Thanks, Vic.” She put her arms around his waist and leaned closer. God, he smelled good! She didn’t know if she’d ever noticed that about him before—maybe because she’d never been this close to him except in her dreams. But he had a warm, comforting scent that was like leather and spice and some clean, masculine essence that was indefinable but undoubtedly male.
It was the first real hug Torri had been given in three long months and it fed a hunger inside her she hadn’t even known was there. A lonely void that had grown the whole time she’d been stuck in St. Elizabeth’s with no one to touch her gently. Vic seemed to feel it too, because he stroked her hair tenderly and murmured her name in that deep, rumbling voice of his that seemed to vibrate through her entire body.
“Torri…” he murmured and she felt something soft and realized he had leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
“Vic,” she whispered, looking up at him. His eyes in the dim hallway seemed almost to glow and he cupped her cheek tenderly in one big, warm hand.
“Torri,” he said again, holding her eyes with his own and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her.
But I can’t—can’t let him—I’m married! she reminded herself. Still, his eyes were so blue and he smelled so good and no one had touched her in so long and his hands were so gentle…
Torri could have stood there, holding onto Vic all night, arguing with herself, but she heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway that crossed the one they were in. If a nurse or a caretaker caught them touching each other, they would both be in trouble. Touching between patients—especially intimate touching—wasn’t allowed for obvious reasons.
Reluctantly, she pulled away.
“Thanks, Vic,” she said, looking up at him. “Um…maybe we should go to the lounge now. We can watch TV or I’ll teach you how to play cards or something.”
He seemed to understand why she had ended the hug because he nodded, though he still held her eyes with his.
“Cards…sounds nice,” he said in that halting way of his.
“Come on, then. We, uh, don’t need to be found in a dark hallway together. People might get the wrong idea.” Torri blushed as she said it.
The wrong idea—or the right idea? whispered a guilty little voice in her head. You almost let him kiss you. Remember you’re married, Torri! Remember your vows!
Yes, she had to remember. She wasn’t going to be in here forever—she and Vic would have to part ways eventually and she would have to try and patch up her marriage with Chuck. It was better if she didn’t have any kind of cheating on her conscience when she did that.
But I have at least one more week with Vic, she told herself. One more week to spend with a man she was becoming more and more intrigued with and attracted to.
One more week to avoid O’Toole, too.
If she knew what was good for her, she would stick close to her new friend’s side. At least with Vic around, she was safe from getting groped…or worse.
She just hoped that Vic had frightened the nasty orderly enough to keep him away from her.
But that night, she found out differently.
Seventeen
Torri was restless that night—uneasy, though she didn’t know why. It reminded her of the way Nana had always been restless right before a big storm.
“There’s trouble, brewing, Torri,” she used to say, a frown creasing her well-worn and well-loved face. “I can feel it in my bones…”
That was how Torri felt tonight—as though something bad was about to happen. But at last, she fell into a thin, uneasy sleep. And, as though it had been waiting, the night terror took her immediately.