NYC Angels: Flirting with Danger Read Free Page A

continued shivering was the only reason he’d handed her the glass of whiskey in the first place.
    He couldn’t do anything about her damp hair—the loose strands a charming melding of blond and red—but he could slip her coat off and at least let her sleep in dry clothes.
    His fingers went to the knot at her waist, and he frowned at how tightly she’d cinched the thing. If he’d had any doubts about leaving her in it, that quashed them. He worked at the tie until one loop loosened then slid free. Taking a deep breath, he parted the edges of the coat. The air whistled right back out of his lungs at the sight that met his tired eyes.
    Holy hell
.
    A black negligee—opaque lace on top with a floaty skirt made of some kind of see-through fabric—was all she had on … well, other than the tiniest pair of panties known to mankind. Panties that were clearly visible. Clearly sheer.
    He swallowed hard, torn between the desire to devour her with his eyes and wrap the coat tightly back around her. His body was having a tough time knowing which of his mixed signals to obey, although he might as well finish what he’d started and take the coat the rest of the way off, so she could at least sleep in comfort.
    Unlike him, who’d probably have this image seared onto the backs of his eyelids for the rest of his life.
    He slid the coat off her, turning her body to the side as he pulled it out from under her. What in God’s namehad Chloe been thinking, walking around downtown New York like this?
    She was the cautious one. The one who’d balked at riding on the back of his motorcycle, even after he’d tamed some of his wilder urges.
    And yet here she was. In his apartment, like a sexy flasher from one of those secretary fantasies. She sure as hell hadn’t come here to seduce
him
with the get-up.
    Then who?
    He remembered the smeared mascara. The haunted look in her eyes.
    It suddenly became clear in a rush. Jason’s random comments about his brother-in-law took on new meaning. How he’d said Chloe never complained but Jason was convinced something was wrong with their marriage and had been for a long time. Travis always seemed to be off somewhere or other on business, leaving Chloe at home alone.
    Brad pulled the covers over her, hiding her from his own prying eyes—something that he was now thoroughly ashamed of.
    He could almost bet Travis was in a hotel room somewhere in New York. And that Chloe’s shoes were there as well. He could easily guess why she’d come to town and what she must have found once she’d arrived. His fingers tightened around the coat in his hands until his knuckles ached as he stared down at her long lashes, the dark circles under her eyes … the slight swelling on her lip.
    Damn that man
. He’d hurt Chloe.
    If it was the last thing Brad did, he was going to make Travis Maroni pay for his sins.

CHAPTER THREE
    “I GOT A CALL this morning. He’s looking for her.”
    Jason’s worried voice met him as soon as Brad answered his cellphone. He looked up from the case notes of Angel’s newest prenatal patient, a thirty-five-year-old woman whose ultrasound scan had revealed a fetal heart defect. The baby was fine
in utero
, but would die within minutes once out of that safe environment if something wasn’t done.
    To top it all off, he’d arrived at his office that morning to find a snarky resignation letter from Katrina, his date from the previous evening. She’d evidently not been as blasé about being shooed from his apartment as she’d seemed to be at the time.
    Which meant his unit was now short-staffed.
    That’s what he got for getting involved with a colleague. Never again.
    “Brad, you still there?”
    “Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Just trying to think.” That was another thing. There was no way he was going to let Chloe head home before he knew exactly what was going on between her and that scumbag husband of hers. “She wasn’t in good shape last night, Jason, which is why I called. I