Marisela Morales 03 - Dirty Little Christmas - Julie Leto Read Online Free PDF

started toward her with Marisela’s Smith & Wesson dangling inside an evidence bag. Marisela figured this was as good a time as any to let her eyeballs roll back in her head and pass out.
    * * *
    “Open your eyes, Ms. Morales.”
    Marisela must have dozed off. After remaining in a prone state for over thirty minutes, she almost obeyed. Luckily, the training Titan had put her through over the last year held and she remained still, her breathing slow but steady, her senses locked so that she would not react to any unexpected poke or prod. The voice was male, which meant it probably didn’t belong to the detective who’d been headed her way at the airport, but she couldn’t be sure. Police might mean to help, but they certainly meant delays.
    And with Marisela’s history, they’d likely do everything they could—including arresting her—to keep her from running off, vigilante-style, to find her sister—something she would do as soon as someone left her alone.
    “Ms. Morales, my name is Doctor McClarren. I’m your doctor, which means you’re protected by doctor and patient privilege. I know you’re awake, but to be on the safe side, I really need you to open your eyes so I can make sure you’ve suffered only a couple of scrapes and bruises. It’s sort of my job.”
    Marisela peeked one eye open. Standing above her in standard blue scrubs that did magical things to his turquoise eyes, was a floppy-haired blond who she wouldn’t mind giving her a very close examination.
    Though preferably not in a hospital.
    “Cops?” she asked, gagging as the antiseptic smells of industrial strength cleaners that seeped into her nostrils.
    He immediately flashed a tiny pen light in her eyes. “Detective Flores came in to check on you, but since you were impressively faking unconsciousness, I sent her away. Threw the nurses out, too. Thought I’d get a better shot at truly assessing your injuries if you didn’t have an audience.”
    Marisela glanced down at her shirt, which had been torn open so that the buttons were no longer attached. “Or maybe you just wanted a sneak peek at my rack?”
    “Do you have any idea how many breasts I see while on the job? No offense, but in this lighting, tits are nothing but obstacles to a heartbeat.”
    “You must be a ton of fun in bed,” she quipped.
    He leaned over her, his long hair swinging over those catch-your-breath eyes. “The lighting is infinitely better in my bedroom. You can ask my wife.”
    Under any other circumstances, Marisela might have socked him for flirting with her when he was married and unavailable, but she didn’t have the strength. She’d been prone and still for over a half an hour. Any quick movement could set off a cascade of pain she’d rather not experience.
    “Who are you again?” she asked.
    “Annoyed that you’re wasting my time.”
    “It’s for a good cause,” she assured him. “Where’s the detective now?”
    He shrugged. “No idea, but I don’t think she believed you were hurt.”
    “I’m not,” she said, grunting as she pulled up onto her elbows and yanked the saline solution tube from the IV imbedded in her hand.
    He cursed as he rushed around to the other side of the gurney to do the rest of the job himself. His hands were soft. Ridiculously soft. The kind of soft a girl could get used to, when she wasn’t about to run off and hunt down the men who’d kidnapped her sister.
    “I’m impressed you could remain so still while they put in a line,” he said, covering her stinging wound with an adhesive bandage.
    “You’d be surprised at what I can do when I’m perfectly still.” She waggled her eyebrows and the doctor’s suntanned cheeks pinkened.
    “Did I mention how much of my time you’re wasting?”
    He tried to look stern, but it was hard for him to pull off with those baby blues.
    “How’s my friend?”
    “In surgery,” he said, “but she’s going to be fine. The ophthalmologist was on site for another case, so he