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"He and olf and wear ugly clothes and , I’ve been searching for a cure for them Where are your folks?"

He rinsed the plates in silence, sure she wouldn’t answer him

"Dead," she said finally "They died when I was just a kid I went to a foster family the week after they died and when my foster mother broke my arm I ran away"

"Jesus," he said softly He crossed the rooe the sudden gulf between the deal," she said quickly "It’s not like I reme, gorgeous That’s the stuff you miss most of all" And carefully, so carefully, he put his arms around her and drew her close

"You don’t knohat you’re talking about," she said, staring at his mouth

"Want to bet?"

Her mouth was a dream, the nicest dream he’d ever had, all sweet lips and lush softness She pressed against hiainst his chest, felt her arhed into hishis hands into fists so he wouldn’t tear off her clothes and take her on the kitchen tile, which hadn’t been mopped since he was a med student He heard her rowl and a whiroan in response Then she came to herself--or perhaps came away from herself, back to the cool exterior she liked to show the world--and stiffened and took her arms away and pushed him back

"I’ a black eye either, "but you’re so beautiful and--and good, I can’t resist you"

She looked startled, then sad "I’ood I’m bad You should keep it in mind, Jared" She touched herlike wonder

"Anybody who has Carlotti for an eneer fros You wouldn’t understand"

"Try ed softly He took a step toward her and she skittered back, nearly tripping over the stool to keep away froain by the combination of power and vulnerability

She could snap his spine like a breadstick, he was sure And yet, she was afraid of his touch "Or not,"

he joked, hoping to lighten the s, too In ht my cadaver to breakfast at the local Denny’s Man," he said nostalgically, "the food inspector sure got pissed On the bright side, led, then choked off the sound and looked at him severely "No more of that," she said "I’m here to keep you safe for a few days, not to play wifey"

"Don’t play wifey," he said promptly, "marry me"

"Ha, ha"

He decided not to"So nohat happens?" he asked

CHAPTER THREE

Good question, Kara thought, once again stretched out on the couch She had decided to look after Dr

Dean--Jared--for a very si to do with it He had chased her not to hurt her or turn her in, but to ask if she was all right That hen she realized Carlotti would coood looks, great sense of hu to do with it There were plenty of good lookingsmile With a sense of common decency that was as much a part of hi and cooking, stitching head gashes with the same hands that whipped up a perfectly fluffy oeon, she thought with disgust The biood for someone that idiotic

She slaroan And if he’s too good for a surgeon, she reood for you, silly bitch

So the question remained: nohat happens?

Sleep Then lunch He hadn’t wanted to go to bed; he’d wanted to keep talking to her She first thought ither as a person, but that was too conceited to be considered forto hierous He knew she could shake up his nice little life and so he was drawn to her, the way the new kids at Juvie were drawn to the ones who graduated to robbery andquestions and telling her about himself and when she reminded him he hadn’t slept in twenty hours, he had looked stubborn and shrugged and asked her what her earliestonions while onion-tears streamed down his face and ever since then he’d felt kind of funny about onions, they were "the etable"

Tomatoes were the nicest, so round and sweet and juicy, they were--